5 out of 5

It initially seem odd to see Byrne’s name on this, but if we look forwards in time to the years when all the B.P.R.D. stuff is (essentially) authored by other writers and backwards in time to a point where the Mignolaverse didn’t exist and Mike was coming off of other projects, it makes sense.  And I think before I had that perspective, I viewed this volume a little differently, as important but lesser-than in some way, like it wasn’t a real Hellboy experience.  …Which is tripe.  It all begins here.  While, yes, Byrne’s comicy wordniess makes it more narrative heavy than the series would eventually favor, the tone and sensibilities of Mike’s world simply cannot be toppled.  That five rating is thus not affected by favoritism or in some acknowledgement of a classic; rather, you can tell you’re reading something special almost as soon as the story begins.  Seed of Destruction is as compelling and fresh now as it probably was then, and I can only imagine how excited I would have been had I read it at the time, anxiously awaiting more: more to the story, more to the world, and more Hellboy.  (Thank goodness all of that eventually would come to fruition.)

Seed of Destruction is by no means Hellboy’s first case, but it’s the first one we witness.  We get a brief overview of his appearance – important also for introducing some returning Nazi / paranormal bad guys – before we’re in the present, at the end of HB’s father-figure Professor Bruttenholm’s life post an ended-in-catastrophe research mission.  And thus like all great BPRD stories to come, HB – as part of that bureau – sets out with Liz and Abe to investigate the homestead and matriarch of those that had joined Bruttenhold on the mission.  While the Mignolaverse has certainly been a work in progress, all of the promise is here: hints about the Hand of Doom; about HB’s reason for having appeared on Earth; frog monsters; the Ogdru-Jahad.  Byrne, as mentioned, over-exposits a bit, but he still gets the mix of camp and pulp and thus doles out the chuckles and thrills in kind, handling the tip-toeing into mythology building with a nice, illustrative voice.  It’s sort of mind-boggling seeing story elements dropped in that would grow into major plotpoints down the road, but it’s exactly that sense of promise that inflates this initial mini-series into something eventful.

Mike’s glorious shadow-blocked art is already fully refined.  His preference for cutaway shots isn’t here yet, but it’s interesting to note how he loves square framing within his panels, which is sort of a preview of that stylistic quirk.  I also hadn’t noticed on my first read – as I didn’t have the comic history to inform this opinion then – how much Mike’s style seems influenced by Simonson / Workman.  The lettering first caught my eye – the winding tails and organic effects feelings very Workman-esque – which then had me thinking of Simonson’s angled figures and weighty characters. which are two traits Mike absolutely shares.  Colorist Mark Chiarello favors a very flat palette which certainly works but lacks the subtlety of eventual regular Dave Stewart (whose work appears on the cover).

The collected edition packs some pre-Hellboy sketches in and pre-Seed of Destruction shorts (also scripted by Byrne) to round out the pages, but the series would be worth a full-priced trade tag on its own.  Yes, I came from the movies, and Seed confused me somewhat at the time by being sort of like the first film, but it was enough to get me reading the ongoing series.  Going back and reading it now, having stuck by the Mignolaverse all this time, I am truly shocked by how exciting and fascinating it is.  Good thing there are plenty more trades / comics to reread.