- Paperback: 200 pages
- Publisher: Titan Books Ltd (24 Jan 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1840235691
- ISBN-13: 978-1840235692
- Product Dimensions: 22.4 x 15 x 1.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,377,158 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
Ottakar's Outland Magazine Issue 31, Autumn 2004 : "Rather like an X'-File' investigating the 'X-files', the lantern chinned, wisecracking Hellboy is one of the most endearing heroes to have emerged in comics for a long time, coming across as fresh, inventive, and, above all, highly entertaining."
Product Description
From the pen of prolific horror author Christopher Golden (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Of Saints and Shadows), with illustrations by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, comes a novel to chill the blood and bring out the cold sweats...When Hellboy is detailed to investigate a missing British archaeological team who have anished near the "Great Sand Sea", a vast mass of desert near the Libyan border, he has no idea that his investigation will reunite him with old flame Anastasia Bransfield...or that he'll find himself in direct conflict with MI5, an ancient evil, and an army of the undead - not to mention a vicious sandstorm which threatens to engulf both him and the Lost Army!
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First Sentence
The Bentley was in flames as it crested the hill. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
The Bentley was in flames as it crested the hill. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Hellboy is a great comic character, and if you've not read the graphic novels, go and do it now!
This is the first of the Hellboy novellas I read, and it really could have been so much more. An excellent central character, rich source material, a dynamic narrative tradition, all excellent raw materials for the writer of fiction to get to grips with, but sadly the opportunity has been squandered here. If I were Mignola, I'd be very cross with this effort.
My reservations about the Hellboy love-tryst aside, I think much more could have been done with Lost Army. Hellboy himself seems much more ineffectual than he does in the comics. We spend a lot of time with the eminently more vulnerable human associates of Big Red, but none of them really stand out as particularly loveable.
But oh, the errors are there aplenty! What are MI5 doing in the middle of the Sahara when their remit is purely UK domestic counter-intelligence? Why does a member of the Church of England cross himself? And why, if Reagan is mentioned several times as being the White House incumbent in 1986 (the book's setting), is the British prime minister referred to as 'he'?
It all goes towards undermining the overall impact of the book. I really wanted to like this one, I really did. If you're a Hellboy afficionado, and need more details on the HB universe, then get it for the sake of completeness (and the bonus Mignola illustrations).
If you're looking for a good read, go get Mignola's Seeds of Destruction instead.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Until now, Hellboy has been a visual experience. Mike Mignola's artwork has been, and still is, 90% of what defines Hellboy. Understandably then, I was sceptical of the written Hellboy. Luckily, my scepticism was unwarrented. This is a fine book. The characterzation is right on the mark, the supporting cast is great, and the locale and mythology are intriguing. And Mignola's occasional illustrations are just enough to remind us that Hellboy will always be a graphic character. I could've done without the water serpent and the giant spiders, but regradless, bring on more of the same!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
9 reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Golden captures the spirit of Mignola's creation
10 Aug 2004
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Mike Mignola's Hellboy character and the universe he inhabits is one of the most engaging and interesting comic creation. Mignola took a large helping of H.P. Lovecraft, added in a healthy dose of James Bond and finished it off with a good dash of European folklore and mythologies and he comes up with Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.
Hellboy was originally just in comics and graphic novels, but Christopher Golden was given a chance by Mike Mignola to try and come up with a novel-lenght story to give Hellboy a new medium to appear in. Golden succeeds with this first Hellboy novel titled The Lost Army. It helped that Mignola drew some illustrations for the book and these illustrations help explain some of the words Golden has wrought.
There really is no need to explain the plot since Amazon has conveniently copied the back cover summary to explain the book. The story is very Lovecraftian in its tone as most of Hellboy's comic book exploits have a tendency to be. Unlike the comics, Golden's novel allows more of Hellboy's inner personality and feelings to come through. It has only been hinted in the comics, but in Golden's story Hellboy's past history and his current unfolding situation are allowed for some romance.
The Lost Army is very much more adult than the comics, but the overall theme and story fits well with the canon that Mignola has created for Hellboy and his universe. I have to admit that the ending has abit of Deus ex Machina to it that lets off Hellboy and crew too easily, but it is really just a small quibble on the overall satisfying read The Lost Army turned out to be.
Hellboy was originally just in comics and graphic novels, but Christopher Golden was given a chance by Mike Mignola to try and come up with a novel-lenght story to give Hellboy a new medium to appear in. Golden succeeds with this first Hellboy novel titled The Lost Army. It helped that Mignola drew some illustrations for the book and these illustrations help explain some of the words Golden has wrought.
There really is no need to explain the plot since Amazon has conveniently copied the back cover summary to explain the book. The story is very Lovecraftian in its tone as most of Hellboy's comic book exploits have a tendency to be. Unlike the comics, Golden's novel allows more of Hellboy's inner personality and feelings to come through. It has only been hinted in the comics, but in Golden's story Hellboy's past history and his current unfolding situation are allowed for some romance.
The Lost Army is very much more adult than the comics, but the overall theme and story fits well with the canon that Mignola has created for Hellboy and his universe. I have to admit that the ending has abit of Deus ex Machina to it that lets off Hellboy and crew too easily, but it is really just a small quibble on the overall satisfying read The Lost Army turned out to be.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
A great transition from comics to prose
2 Jan 1998
Format:Paperback
More monsters than you can shake a giant stone hand at! I loved this adventure - especially the constant tension provoked by Hellboy's recurring realization that he's a monster fighting monsters. It was also a treat to discover that Hellboy has a sex life. Who woulda guessed?
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
The Army That Marches On Its Bandages
4 April 2005
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I'm going to have to read the Hellboy comics. I've seen the film and loved it, now I've a Chris Golden novel and loved it, it's really time to jump into to world of the next closest thing to Indiana Jones since, well... since Indiana Jones. Assuming the Indiana Jones had red skin, a tail, weighed a quarter ton, and shave his horns. And lived in Fairfield, Connecticut, of course. Yes, ladies and gents, this irascible romantic and charming human wannabee is the foremost occult investigator on the planet - the poster child for the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Development. When a team of British archeologist vanishes into the desert sands where 2500 years before Cambyses the Persian lost an army of 50,000, there's only one guy to call.
Fresh from crashing a Bentley, Hellboy is parachuted into the Egyptian desert to find himself with his old flame Anastasia Bransfield, a team of archeologists, and a hardnosed egomaniac MI5 team. In no time, the missing archeologists aren't missing any longer, they are dead, their pieces decorating trees in the oasis. And Hellboy finds himself going mano a mano with some very skilled, very dead Persian soldiers. Never has the phrase "it doesn't get any better than this," been more true. The soldiers are pushovers compared to the seam monsters, spiders, and diabolical wizards that are next on the agenda.
As you can probably tell this isn't a loving adventure story told with infinite detail and character building. Hellboy's basic strategy is to find the badness, get an arm free, and punch it into the next solar system. When you are that big and strong this works most of the time. And when it doesn't, well, that's what this story is about, because Hazred the magician has what it takes to stand off the US Army, slam Hellboy down on an altar and call Mar Ti Ku (another, even bigger, bad guy) back to life. Does our red-skinned hero find a way out? Find that out for yourselves (hint: this is a series).
I'm not going to quibble over whether this is a true presentation of the comic Hellboy. Suffice it to say that Mike Mignola, Hellboy's creator, drew some 75 illustrations for this story, so it can't be all that bad. Chris Golden certainly manages to put capture the spirit of crazy adventure and sarcastic, in your face dialog that is Hellboy's signature style. So open the book, grab some popcorn and get read to root for the hero and boo the villains. This is just plain fun.
Fresh from crashing a Bentley, Hellboy is parachuted into the Egyptian desert to find himself with his old flame Anastasia Bransfield, a team of archeologists, and a hardnosed egomaniac MI5 team. In no time, the missing archeologists aren't missing any longer, they are dead, their pieces decorating trees in the oasis. And Hellboy finds himself going mano a mano with some very skilled, very dead Persian soldiers. Never has the phrase "it doesn't get any better than this," been more true. The soldiers are pushovers compared to the seam monsters, spiders, and diabolical wizards that are next on the agenda.
As you can probably tell this isn't a loving adventure story told with infinite detail and character building. Hellboy's basic strategy is to find the badness, get an arm free, and punch it into the next solar system. When you are that big and strong this works most of the time. And when it doesn't, well, that's what this story is about, because Hazred the magician has what it takes to stand off the US Army, slam Hellboy down on an altar and call Mar Ti Ku (another, even bigger, bad guy) back to life. Does our red-skinned hero find a way out? Find that out for yourselves (hint: this is a series).
I'm not going to quibble over whether this is a true presentation of the comic Hellboy. Suffice it to say that Mike Mignola, Hellboy's creator, drew some 75 illustrations for this story, so it can't be all that bad. Chris Golden certainly manages to put capture the spirit of crazy adventure and sarcastic, in your face dialog that is Hellboy's signature style. So open the book, grab some popcorn and get read to root for the hero and boo the villains. This is just plain fun.
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