Reviews

Hellboy Omnibus Volume 1: Seed of Destruction by Mike Mignola, John Byrne, Dave Stewart, Mark Chiarello

Only show reviews with written explanations

russell183's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Stunning art with striking use of color and shadow; great world building, delightful spooky vibes. At times the story was a little big abstract/confusing or arcs would wrap up in a few punches which I found unsatisfying. Like interesting setting, interesting villian, interesting motivation, punch, the end. But all-in-all a lot of fun.

Content Warnings

jadelikesbooks's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

this is a fantastic omnibus!

the collection of stories build off of each other in such a satisfying way. i want to read this again, already!

the sketches at the end were a welcome addition as well! they added a level of humility i didn’t expect coming from— SLEEP LOL sleep now, fix review later lol

1. Seed of Destruction
i love the art. i love the world. i love the whole b.p.r.d. idea and like this was a super fun comic.

full disclosure, i have seen all three of the feature film adaptations of Hellboy, but i have not seen any of the animated adaptations (except the Amazing Screw-On Head). i don’t like the underdevelopment and pitiful appearance of Hellboy’s adaptive father. it all felt very cold and emotionless in a comic full of emotion.

is this supposed to be Hellboy’s most harrowing adventure yet? otherwise, it just kinda proves how much everyone sucks. the girl gets turned evil literally instantly. Hellboy gets his a** kicked over and over and barely survives. Abe Sapian does almost nothing the ONE TIME there’s actually water for him to swim in. i stg i always seem him walking on land, he’s like Aquaman.

i can’t wait to read more tjis was a whole lot of fun. i love alternate history paranormal sci-fi action with dark imagery

2. Wolves of St. August
i like Hellboy’s “been there, done that” attitude paired with this determined professor’s ambition to get on the field. there’s not a whole lot else for me to say…?

the art is fantastic as always, and the “mystery” felt cut short so there could be as much action as possible. regardless, this was a fun lil’ read

4. Wake The Devil
this was so much fun

i love the whole rebirth thing at the end, that was my favorite part

the whole comic was a lot of fun. i love how technology continues to fail Hellboy over and over, it’s such a fun gag. his gun exploding confused me because i didn’t initially understand what happened lol, but he probably didn’t either so i digress.

this was such a good follow up to Seed of Destruction. I’m reading an omnibus that connected vol 1 to this with “The Wolves of Saint August” and “The Chained Coffin”, which felt like necessary reading to understand the characters seen in this. i can’t overstate how much i enjoyed this volume.

even though Grisceu was dead, he got so much development, he became an interesting character. that’s really saying something too because the whole cast of surrounding characters is super interesting. i love how many little things happen off screen, and how the characters seem to really care about one another. granted, they have to move on when allies fall, but the ones that are alive live life to the fullest :)

the art style is still fantastic and i missed the black pages from seed of destruction.

ridanwise's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

If you come to the comics after the movies, you are gonna be somewhat disappointed. Luckily, it does get better after the first two or so stories. The art’s out of this world tho.