Product Description

Since Mike Mignola's Hellboy first hit the stands in 1993, it has become a cultural sensation, racking up a dozen Eisner Awards and inspiring numerous spinoffs, from a novel line, to video games, to feature films. Now, Dark Horse is pleased to present the comics that started it all, collected in deluxe hardcover editions. Sized at 9" by 12", and handsomely bound to match The Art of Hellboy hardcover, each volume contains two full story-arcs - the equivalent of two trade-paperbacks. Each volume of the Hellboy Library Editions also includes extensive supplemental materials, including previously unreleased sketches and designs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10141 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 278 pages

From Booklist
This handsome collection of the first two Hellboy arcs is comparable in splendor to DC’s slipcased Absolute gatherings of Sandman and The Dark Knight. Arc one, Seed of Destruction (1994), is Hellboy’s origin story (but see Hellboy Junior, 2004, for his prehistory), revealing how Nazis were behind it all, though they were being used by that old Russki bogeyman, Rasputin. The somewhat longer Wake the Devil (1997) shows Hellboy putting the kibosh on the worse-than-Nazis scheme Rasputin got rolling in Seed. Scott Allie introductorily opines that Hellboy isn’t the red demon we know and love ’til Wake, but Mignola’s Ben Shahn–meets–the Austrian Secession–meets–Mervyn Peake style is uniformly magnificent. --Ray Olson

Customer Reviews

Very impressed
Hasn't been long since i really dove into reading comics, and searching for collections of series in hardbacks (like this one). The Hellboy Library really impressed me, it doesn't look like marvel omnibus or DC absolutes. I thought the cloth cover made it look very unique and stylish (although one reviewer said its a dust magnet, which isn't far from the truth, i liked the limited edition leather cover they made for hellboy seed of destruction which i sadly missed, this is a great collection)

I love how big it is and how well the art looks, the quality is fantastic for the price its totally worth every penny, i really can't wait to read more of it and can't wait to put Vol.2 right next to it. (which is already being pre-orderd on amazon :-D) I sure hope they do something like this for B.P.R.D. As well as hope they come out with covers like this for other popular dark horse series!!

Only thing i would have liked would have been a higher page count.

Absolutely Incredible
This volume was my introduction into the world of Hellboy, and let me just say that I am impressed. Not only is the story both intriguing and engrossing, but it's also just plain fun. The writing is great, and the art is gorgeous, especially in this format. The inks and lines are sharp, the paper is very high quality, and the extras are well worth checking out. The cover, as another reviewer noted, does tend to get dirty quickly, but it's easy to clean just by wiping it off. This is definitely one of the best collections of a comic book I've seen, and it's well worth the price. If you're a fan of Hellboy, I'm guessing you own this already, and if you've ever been curious about Hellboy, or comics in general, you should definitely check this out. I've already pre-ordered volume 2, and I'll be getting any others Dark Horse wants to put out.

Spectacular
In the tradition of Marvel's huge Omnibus collections, and DC's wonderful Absolute Editions, Hellboy is now here in a deluxe hardcover edition from Dark Horse. This first volume of the Hellboy Library Edition encompasses the first two storyarcs in Mike Mignola's spectacular series, Seed of Destruction and Wake the Devil. Both stories are bound in this handsome oversized hardcover, along with a good deal of extras to boot. With the new Hellboy sequel on the way, now has never been a better time to get introduced to, or re-acquainted with, Hellboy, the rest of B.P.R.D., and the wonderful world that Mike Mignola created years ago. All in all, if you've missed out on Hellboy over the past few years, this first Library Edition is an absolute must own, and a perfect introduction to the wonderful world of Mike Mignola's Hellboy.