Dr. K's Waiting Room

Story Title: “Seed of Destruction” (Part One to Four)
Published: March 1994 to June 1994
Writers: Mike Mignola and John Byrne
Artist: Mike Mignola

The Background:
Born in Berkeley, California, artist and comic creator Mike Mignola grew up with a fascination of monsters and a love of gothic, Victorian fiction. Mignola started his career as a comic book artist working for The Comic Reader before bringing his trademark dark, moody art style to mainstream publications DC and Marvel Comics. After years of working for hire, Mignola teamed with legendary writer and artist John Byrne for his first creator-owned comic book, Hellboy. Hellboy’s visual appearance evolved over Mignola’s career, beginning as a drawing for the 1991 Great Salt Lake Comic Convention booklet before eventually becoming the “World’s Greatest” gruff and witty paranormal investigator. Hellboy’s adventures began with these four distinctively Lovecraftian, widely successful issues and expanded into a wealth of further comics, spin-offs, and crossovers thanks to Mignola’s unique blend of folklore, horror, and pulp adventure. Hellboy has also seen not inconsiderable success beyond the comic books, featured in a handful of largely mediocre videogames, some well-regarded animated ventures, and some amazingly detailed action figures. Hellboy also made a splash on the big screen, especially in Ron Perlman’s peerless portrayal of the character in Guillermo del Toro’s cult favourite films. While Hellboy’s subsequent silver screen ventures was somewhat divisive, he remains one of the most enduring and visually iconic cult comic characters whose adventures have seen him effortlessly jump between multiple genres.

The Review:
Hellboy’s story begins in 1944 at the tail end of World War Two where a special squad of Army commandos, representatives from the British Paranormal Society, and costumed adventurer Paul Gibney/The Torch of Liberty gather in a remote village in East Bromwich to tackle a lingering Nazi threat known as “Project Ragna Rok”. While First Sergeant George Whitman is sceptical, Professor Malcolm Frost, “paranormal Wiz Kid” Trevor Bruttenholm/Broom, and medium Lady Cynthia Eden-Jones believe that Adolf Hitler’s “spook squad” are experimenting with black magic to raise the dead. Thanks to Broom’s meticulous research and Cynthia’s clairvoyance, the squad learns that maniacal mage Grigori Rasputin is performing a dark ritual powered by a mystical incantation and bizarre equipment, including two hefty gauntlets worn by Rasputin. Although Klaus Werner von Krupt is unimpressed by Rasputin’s light show, Broom and the others are surprised by a sudden burst of supernatural fire and the appearance of a child-like demon. Despite Professor Frost wishing to kill the creature, Broom accidentally names it “Hellboy” and the demon is adopted by the regiment, spending the next thirty-five years being raised by Broom, whom he sees as a surrogate father. Thus, Hellboy is pained to see his mentor aged and struggling with his memory of the “Cavendish expedition”. Thanks to Hellboy’s encouragement, Broom recalls that he accompanied the renowned Cavendish explorers to the ruins of an ancient temple. There, flanked by a statue of the monstrous, cephalopod-like Sadu-Hem, Broom discovered Rasputin in deep hibernation. Barely escaping from or remembering the carnage that followed, Broom summoned Hellboy for aid, only for his adopted son to watch in horror as a plague of frogs herald the arrival of a vicious frog-like monster, which kills Broom and attacks the enraged Hellboy.

At a disadvantage in the dark, Hellboy is disarmed and wounded by the creature’s caustic tongue, so Hellboy gives the frog-thing a taste of his mysterious, stone-like right hand and sends it crashing into a sarcophagus. When the creature tries to flee, Hellboy puts it down with a single shot from his pistol, stunned when the monster disintegrates. Concerned, Hellboy calls the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD), receiving condolences from Doctor Thomas “Tom” Manning and ordered to assemble a team to investigate. Hellboy recruits pyrokinetic Elizabeth “Liz” Sherman and fish-man Doctor Abraham “Abe” Sapien to accompany him to the decrepit Cavendish Hall to question Lady Emma Cavendish about her sons. Welcoming their direct questions, Lady Cavendish relates that her family were keen explorers for nine generations and that their fortune was built by Elihu Cavendish, who cursed his bloodline seeking the temple Broom found in the mountains. While she offers them sanctuary, the trip seems to be a dead end and the group are unaware that Rasputin is manipulating Lady Cavendish from the shadows, promising to return her sons for her co-operation. While the group rests, Hellboy’s inner monologue provides some background on Liz and Abe, revealing that Liz accidentally killed her family and several others before mastering her pyrokinesis with the BRPD and Abe was discovered in an abandoned basement of Saint Trinian’s Hospital on the day President Abraham Lincoln died. After Abe and Hellboy ponder Lady Cavendish’s butler, who seems familiar to them, Abe takes to the water to scout around and is horrified when Liz mentions frogs being in her room. Rushing to her aid, Hellboy finds only a smouldering cigarette and the aforementioned butler, who turns out to be a frogman in disguise! While Hellboy fights and ultimately defeats the creature, Abe discovers only “old death” beneath the flooded mansion and Hellboy is distraught to find Lady Cavendish has been killed in the same manner as his father.

While mourning the old lady, Hellboy is approached by the enigmatic Rasputin, who takes credit for bringing him into the world and demands he kneel in his presence. When Hellboy naturally declines, he’s suddenly ensnared by a gigantic tentacle and dragged into the darkness to fulfil what Rasputin calls his “destiny”. Hellboy is deposited in a dark, cavernous pool beneath the house, which Rasputin declares is rich with the screams of those sacrificed to the “Serpent”. For eight centuries, mortal men sought to free the unknowable “Seven Beasts”, the Ogdru Jahad, who whispered to Rasputin (through his dreams) the means to release them. Though Rasputin claims to be able to command Hellboy, the demon blasts him in the head with his pistol, only to be sent reeling from an incantation by the seemingly immortal wizard. Stunned, realising the talismans he’s collected over the years have been neutralised, Hellboy opts to stall Rasputin until he can think of a solution. This leads to another long monologue about how Rasputin has constantly evaded death thanks to the Ogdru Jahad, who wish him to cause the apocalypse. Hellboy is then attacked by another, even bigger frogman, one of the Cavendish twins hideously transformed by black magic, and is hopelessly manhandled. While Abe follows the trail left by the other frogmen, the battered Hellboy learns of Rasputin’s travels to Europe, how he researched Ragna Rok and allied with the Nazis to gain the resources to enact the Ogdru Jahad’s plot. Though disheartened after Hitler’s death, Rasputin took solace in knowing he’d summoned Hellboy and was drawn to the temple where, while hibernating, he learned from the Sadu-Hem that the horrific Ogdru Jahad is actually seven creatures imprisoned beyond our understanding and longing to avenge themselves upon the Earth.

After untold years of planning and preparing, Rasputin prepares to fulfil his master’s wishes using Liz’s raw power, much to Hellboy’s dismay, alongside the restored (and enlarged) Sadu-Hem. While using the enchanted Liz as an unwilling a conduit, Rasputin offers Hellboy the chance to join them in death and destruction, which Hellboy naturally rejects despite being near-paralysed from the frogman’s saliva. As Rasputin begins his incantations, Hellboy forces himself to retrieve a concussion grenade from his belt and stuffs it down the frogman’s throat, obliterating it. Rasputin’s dark magics see the Ogdru Jahad slowly awaken and attack their prison, but his mad plot is suddenly interrupted by Abe, who’s possessed by Elihu’s vengeful spirit and first impales the wizard on a spear before releasing Liz from his grasp, sparking an inferno. As Sadu-Hem and the Cavendish estate erupt in flames, the restored Abe rushes Liz to safety, leaving Hellboy behind as he insists on finishing the wraith-like Rasputin. Despite Rasputin boasting incredible power, Hellboy easily trounces the wizard, rejecting him and his offer to know the truth of his origins and shattering Rasputin with his mighty stone fist. From the ruins of Cavendish Hall, Abe relates his confusion about his possession, which Hellboy believes was the old man’s way of putting things right and avenging the many years of losses suffered by his family. While Liz also doesn’t remember much from her time under Rasputin’s spell, she feels an inexplicable relief at having unleashed her full power for once. Though Abe and Liz show concern for Hellboy, he keeps quiet about Rasputin’s final words and his own doubts about himself, and the story ends with the awakening of Rasputin’s old allies, Ilsa Haupstein, Karl Kroene, and Leopold Kurtz, in an abandoned Nazi laboratory…

The Summary:
I’ll be the first to admit that my primary source of exposure to Hellboy comes from the movies and cartoons. In fact, “Seed of Destruction” is the only Hellboy story I’ve ever read as of this writing, which may or may not be blasphemy. It’s not that I don’t like the character and his world, which has a fun, gothic horror aesthetic that speaks to the Lovecraft fan in me. My hesitancy is largely because of my dislike of Mike Mignola’s art style which, again, is probably sacrilegious. I liken Mignola’s heavy use of shadows and simplistic forms to Frank Miller, who made a career out of exaggerated shadows and sketches. It’s a very eccentric and unique art style, for sure, and don’t get me wrong: it really works for Hellboy. However, it’s just not very visually appealing for me so I tend to veer away from Mignola’s works. That’s a “me” thing, obviously, as like I say the art really adds to this unique comic book world. Mignola clearly has a reverence for horror, gothic architecture, the arcane arts, steampunk-style technology, and Lovecraft, seeping every panel and page in dark, brooding inks, sparingly using bold colours and relying on silhouettes and murky darkness to create a constantly foreboding atmosphere. Mignola’s writing is also far better than a lot of Miller’s, if I’m comparing the two, with Hellboy being a somewhat snarky, eccentric character who’s respectful to Broom and treats his associates with respect but isn’t afraid to talk a bit of trash to his enemies. Hellboy’s inner monologue reveals a half-human creature fully aware of his flaws (his quick temper, rash decisions, and poor marksmanship chief among them), somewhat curious about his true origins, and with fifty-odd years of paranormal investigating under his belt.

Unlike the films, where he’s portrayed as an unruly child at times, Hellboy is largely professional here, calling in situations for the BRPD to investigate and largely conducting himself well while at Cavendish Hall. While Liz admonishes his curt demeanour, Lady Cavendish welcomes the discourse and, most notably, shows no fear or panic when met by a literal demon. While it doesn’t play a big role in this story, it’s clear Hellboy and his allies are far more public figures in the comics and have been accepted by society. Interestingly, the only person who shows any fear or suspicion of Hellboy is Professor Frost; everyone else accepts, respects, and shows concern for him. While Hellboy and Liz have a purely platonic relationship here, unlike in the films, he seemingly admires her for overcoming her traumatic past and she asks if he’s okay in the finale, showing they’re more than just colleagues. Hellboy is seen to be closer to Abe, discussing their suspicions and the case, and these three have clearly worked together in the past. Interestingly, Broom is offed very early on and his relationship with Hellboy isn’t as deep as in the movies. Sure, Hellboy thinks of him as a father figure and is seen to be angered by his murder and driven to track down those responsible, but he’s noticeably more blasé about it, even in his inner monologue. Similarly, Hellboy seems to either be not bothered by his true origins or hiding it extremely well, sparing little thought of where he came from and what his true purpose is. Although Rasputin inspires him to think differently about this, the true extent of Hellboy’s origin and purpose is merely alluded to here, with him said to have a part in the end of the world but it’s not clear what that is. Hell, Rasputin doesn’t even use him in his summoning ritual, instead focusing his power through Liz, leaving me with a sense of intrigue regarding Hellboy’s true purpose in the comics.

Indeed, we learn more about the maniacal Rasputin that we do Hellboy, which has its pros and cons. The pros come from maintaining a sense of mystery about Hellboy to be explored in subsequent issues, while the cons come from having to suffer through panels and panels of exposition and monologuing from the depraved mage as he rambles on about his past. It’s somewhat necessary as it shows just how long the Ogdru Jahad have been influencing him and longing for their release, and how many others have tried to free them through less refined rituals and means, but it does get a bit tedious after a while. I liked that the Ogdru Jahad are kept largely mysterious despite Rasputin’s many words, appearing to be interdimensional, alien, demonic, or even divine monsters trapped within a crystalline prison somewhere beyond our comprehension. They establish a foothold on Earth through the equally monstrous Sadu-Hem (a similarly Lovecraftian beast that barely factors into the plot as it just looms there, grabs Hellboy, and then bursts into flames) and Rasputin, who’s revealed to be unnaturally long-lived and partially undead. Wielding incredible arcane magic and having manipulated the Nazis into providing him the resources to summon Hellboy, Rasputin is obsessed with being the linchpin for the apocalypse, delighting in deceiving others into doing his bidding and giddy at the thought of his masters raining destruction upon the Earth (though, again, it’s unclear what role Hellboy would play in this apocalypse). I feel it might’ve been better to have Rasputin merge with Sadu-Hem rather than take Liz hostage, or as well as using her powers, to give a bit more punch to the ending. It was interesting seeing Elihu get his revenge through Abe, but it did mean Abe and Liz played diminished roles in the finale. Still, while this isn’t a perfect story, I enjoyed this introduction to Hellboy, the familiar elements I recognise from the films, and I am interested in reading more of his adventures…I’m just not sure where to go from here.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

Were you a fan of Hellboy’s first four issues? Did you pick these up at the time or did you discover Hellboy later, as I did? Do you think I’ve committed blasphemy by criticising Mike Mignola’s art style? What did you think to Hellboy’s appearance and demeanour? Which Hellboy stories are your favourite? Whatever you think about Hellboy, feel free to leave your thoughts below, check out my other horror-related content on the site, and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest other Hellboy stories for me to review.