Hellboy: Seed of Destruction #1

(March 1994)

[Credits] (Table of Contents: 1)

credits, title page / 1 page (report information)

Pencils

Mike Mignola

Inks

Mike Mignola

Letters

Kevin Nowlan (logo); Mike Mignola ? (design); typeset

Characters

Hellboy

Reprints

• in Hellboy: Semilla de Destrucción (NORMA Editorial, 1995 series) #1 (Febrero 1995)

Indexer Notes

The inside front cover has logo, credits, indicia, and frontispiece.

Seed of Destruction [Chapter One] (Table of Contents: 2)

Hellboy / comic story / 23 pages (report information)

Script

Mike Mignola (plot); John Byrne (words)

Pencils

Mike Mignola

Inks

Mike Mignola

Colors

Mark Chiarello

Letters

John Byrne; Mike Mignola (see Notes)

Genre

adventure; horror-suspense

Characters

Trevor Bruttenholm (introduction); Cynthia Eden-Jones (introduction); Malcolm Frost (introduction); Ilsa Haupstein (introduction); Hellboy (part origin); Karl Ruprect Kroenen (introduction); Leopold Kurtz (introduction); Tom Manning (introduction); Grigori Rasputin (first appearance in Hellboy series); Torch of Liberty; Klaus Werner von Krupt (introduction); 1st Sgt. George Whitman (introduction); Sven Olafsen (introduction; cameo; flashback); Emma Cavendish (introduction)

Synopsis

1944: In East Bromwich, England, specialists from the British Paranormal Society have gathered at church ruins where Lady Cynthia Eden-Jones has sensed a disturbance in the ether. When a demon child appears in an explosion of flame, Trevor "Broom" Bruttenholm dubs it Hellboy. 1994: Bruttenholm tells Hellboy about his recent expedition to the Arctic. Frogs then swarm into the office and Bruttenholm retreats from the room only to crash back into it dead. Hellboy battles and kills the froglike beast, then calls the head office of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense.

Reprints

• in Hellboy - Les germes de la destruction (Dark Horse France, 1994 series) #1 (1994)
• in Hellboy (Dark Horse, 1994 series) #[1] - Seed of Destruction (October 1994)
which is reprinted
• in Hellboy: Ondskabens frø - Tegneserien bag filmen! (G. Floy Studio, 2004 series) (2004)
• in Hellboy: Semilla de Destrucción (NORMA Editorial, 1995 series) #1 (Febrero 1995)
• in Hellboy: Seed of Destruction (Dark Horse, 1995 series) #[nn] (March 1995)
• in Hellboy (Egmont Polska, 2001 series) #[1] - Nasienie zniszczenia ([październik] 2001)
• in Hellboy (Cross Cult, 2002 series) #1 - Saat der Zerstörung (January 2002)
• in Hellboy (NORMA Editorial, 2002 series) #[1] - Semilla de Destrucción (Abril 2002)
• in Judge Dredd Megazine (Egmont Fleetway Ltd, 2001 series) #10 (30 April 2002)
• in Hellboy: Seme uništenja (System Comics, 2005 series) #1 (2005)
• in Hellboy Library Edition (Dark Horse, 2008 series) #1 - Seed of Destruction and Wake the Devil (May 2008)
• in Hellboy: Seed of Destruction (Dark Horse, 2008 series) (June 2008)
• in Hellboy: One for One (Dark Horse, 2010 series) #1 (August 2010) [story only has 22 pages; original story credited with 23 pages]
• in Hellboy: Edición Integral (NORMA Editorial, 2011 series) #1 (Enero 2011)
• in Hellboy Omnibus (Dark Horse, 2018 series) #1 - Seed of Destruction (May 2018)
• in Hellboy: Seed of Destruction #1 25th Anniversary (Dark Horse, 2019 series) (2019)
• in Ултимативна комикс колекция (Артлайн Студиос [Artline Studios], 2021 series) #1 - Хелбой: Семето на разрухата (2021)

Indexer Notes

Mignola drew balloons and sound effects; Byrne lettered the dialogue with font based on his hand lettering. Neither is credited. // The Nazi officers are identified on the final story page, presented as a dossier on Project Ragna Rok. Manning's first name is revealed in a future storyline. Emma Cavendish's identity is revealed next issue. // Hellboy first appeared in a story in San Diego Comic-Con Comics (Dark Horse, 1992 series) #2 (August 1993), given away at the convention, and was seen in John Byrne's Next Men (Dark Horse, 1992 series) #21 (December 1993) as a fictional character a few months before this miniseries was released.

[Afterword] (Table of Contents: 3)

Hellmail / foreword, introduction, preface, afterword / 1 page (report information)

Script

John Byrne

Pencils

Mike Mignola

Inks

Mike Mignola

Letters

Mike Mignola ? (design); typeset

Who Are Monkeyman and O'Brien? [Chapter 1] (Table of Contents: 4)

Monkeyman and O'Brien / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Arthur Adams

Pencils

Arthur Adams

Inks

Arthur Adams

Colors

Matt Hollingsworth

Letters

Lois Buhalis

Genre

adventure; science fiction

Characters

Monkeyman [Axwell Tiberius] (see Notes); Ann O'Brien; Akiko Oki (introduction); Oniko O'Brien (introduction)

Synopsis

The daughters of "famous inventor and adventurer" Prof. William S. O'Brien, Ann and Oniko, argue in an underground lab at the San Francisco estate of their missing father. When a program is accidentally activated that opens a rift between dimensions, a suited humanoid figure and a severed ape head hurtle through as the sisters are caught in a blast of strange energy.

Reprints

• in Hellboy: Semilla de Destrucción (NORMA Editorial, 1995 series) #1 (Febrero 1995)
• in Monkeyman and O'Brien Special (Dark Horse, 1996 series) (February 1996), (February 1996) [final page only]

Indexer Notes

Monkeyman and O'Brien appear as a duo on the splash page only. Tiberius is not seen out of his suit until Chapter 2 and is named in Chapter 3. The characters' first published appearance, like Hellboy's, was in San Diego Comic-Con Comics (Dark Horse, 1992 series) #2 (August 1993), although the events of this story predate the duo's exploits in that issue.

Experience the Power of John Byrne's Next Men (Table of Contents: 5) (Expand) /

Next Men / promo (ad from the publisher) / 1 page (report information)

Next Issue (Table of Contents: 6) (Expand) /

Hellboy / promo (ad from the publisher) / 1 page (report information)

On Sale Now! Chaykin Power & Glory (Table of Contents: 7) (Expand) /

Power & Glory / advertisement / 1 page (report information)