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Robert Bloch's That Hellbound Train
Jump onboard Robert Bloch's That Hellbound Train! Martin, an out-of-luck orphan, struggles to fulfill the American dream -- but fate conspires against him at every turn. On the verge of giving up hope, our young protagonist is visited by a monstrous train, one whose conductor might just have a ticket to fame and riches... if Martin is willing to pay the price!
Scribes Joe and John Lansdale (30 Days of Night: Night, Again) and artist Dave Wachter bring this unique tale of American folklore to life!
Scribes Joe and John Lansdale (30 Days of Night: Night, Again) and artist Dave Wachter bring this unique tale of American folklore to life!
104 pages, Paperback
Published November 8, 2011
113 people want to read
About the author
Joe R. Lansdale
826 books3,915 followersChampion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale is the author of over forty novels and numerous short stories. His work has appeared in national anthologies, magazines, and collections, as well as numerous foreign publications. He has written for comics, television, film, newspapers, and Internet sites. His work has been collected in more than two dozen short-story collections, and he has edited or co-edited over a dozen anthologies. He has received the Edgar Award, eight Bram Stoker Awards, the Horror Writers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the British Fantasy Award, the Grinzani Cavour Prize for Literature, the Herodotus Historical Fiction Award, the Inkpot Award for Contributions to Science Fiction and Fantasy, and many others. His novella Bubba Ho-Tep was adapted to film by Don Coscarelli, starring Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis. His story "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" was adapted to film for Showtime's "Masters of Horror," and he adapted his short story "Christmas with the Dead" to film hisownself. The film adaptation of his novel Cold in July was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, and the Sundance Channel has adapted his Hap & Leonard novels for television.
He is currently co-producing several films, among them The Bottoms, based on his Edgar Award-winning novel, with Bill Paxton and Brad Wyman, and The Drive-In, with Greg Nicotero. He is Writer In Residence at Stephen F. Austin State University, and is the founder of the martial arts system Shen Chuan: Martial Science and its affiliate, Shen Chuan Family System. He is a member of both the United States and International Martial Arts Halls of Fame. He lives in Nacogdoches, Texas with his wife, dog, and two cats.
He is currently co-producing several films, among them The Bottoms, based on his Edgar Award-winning novel, with Bill Paxton and Brad Wyman, and The Drive-In, with Greg Nicotero. He is Writer In Residence at Stephen F. Austin State University, and is the founder of the martial arts system Shen Chuan: Martial Science and its affiliate, Shen Chuan Family System. He is a member of both the United States and International Martial Arts Halls of Fame. He lives in Nacogdoches, Texas with his wife, dog, and two cats.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 3, 2024
Not bad adaptation, it still got the point and twist same as original story, but somehow it didn't hit me as good as Bloch's original...
March 4, 2025
Issue one of a comic book based on a Robert Bloch story adapted by Joe Lansdale. Neat.
December 21, 2014
قصة عقد الصفقات مع الشيطان ليست جديدة بل أن أعظمها ما كتبه جوتة و هى قصة الدكتور فاوست الذى باع روحه للشيطان ( ميفستوفوليس) مقابل المعرفة , لكن قصتنا هذه ليس موضوعها العلم و لكن موضوعها السعادة , فمارتين البائس الشرير الذى يذهب إليه الشيطان كى يقنعه بعدم الأنضمام لجيش الخلاص يعرض عليه ساعة توقف الزمن فى أكثر لحظاته سعادة مقابل روحه و يركبه القطار المتجه الى الجحيم مع أمثاله من الأشقياء . لكن ما يلفت النظر أن مارتين لم يستخدم الساعة مطلقا خلال حياته طمعا فى سعادة أكثر حصل عليها من خلال العمل الشاق و الشريف و أكثر لكنه أستخدمه بعد أن ركب قطار الجحيم مع الشيطان حين حانت لحظته الأخيرةو رأى مرح و عربدة الأشقياء فى رحلتهم نحو الجحيم غير مبالين بأى شىء فطباعهم مجبولة على عدم الأهتمام إلا بما يعيشونه فى اللحظة هذا و أنه كان قد أقتنع خلال رحلة حياته أن السعادة الحقيقية هى فى الصحبة و هنا أستخدم مارتين الساعة و أدار عقاربها الى الخلف و أوقف الزمن لجعل هذه الرحلة أبدية ثابتة لا تنتهى و بهذا خدع الشيطان ذاته
February 5, 2023
This should have been a five-star for me. All the elements are there: Robert Bloch is a favourite author, and Joe R. Lansdale is as well. I'd go so far to say that Lansdale is one of a very small group of authors that I drop everything to read when he releases something new. Dave Wachter's art, while not a favourite, still manages to evoke both the day-to-day and the supernatural quite well.
As for the original story, I'm sure I've read it, as I've read virtually everything Bloch has written, but I'm guessing I read it so many years ago that I've forgotten it, which means I came into this story cold.
While there were nice touches throughout, both from brothers Lansdale and from Wachter, the whole story felt somewhat truncated. Martin's first meeting with the Conductor happened with seemingly little provocation—the Conductor just knew he wanted to meet—and Martin's subsequent rise in success was over in a few panels. And while I understand that this is not the main thrust of the story, I felt that Martin wasn't explored enough for me, as the reader, to truly care when he won or lost.
I love Bloch and Lansdale, and I love them because the two are both masters of both pacing and writing scenes that are rich and do so much. I haven't felt the same wonder when I've read Lansdale's comic work, which is a shame.
I'm sure there's a great Lansdale comic out there, but this isn't the one. It's okay, but it's not fantastic.
As for the original story, I'm sure I've read it, as I've read virtually everything Bloch has written, but I'm guessing I read it so many years ago that I've forgotten it, which means I came into this story cold.
While there were nice touches throughout, both from brothers Lansdale and from Wachter, the whole story felt somewhat truncated. Martin's first meeting with the Conductor happened with seemingly little provocation—the Conductor just knew he wanted to meet—and Martin's subsequent rise in success was over in a few panels. And while I understand that this is not the main thrust of the story, I felt that Martin wasn't explored enough for me, as the reader, to truly care when he won or lost.
I love Bloch and Lansdale, and I love them because the two are both masters of both pacing and writing scenes that are rich and do so much. I haven't felt the same wonder when I've read Lansdale's comic work, which is a shame.
I'm sure there's a great Lansdale comic out there, but this isn't the one. It's okay, but it's not fantastic.
June 24, 2024
This is an excellent read, even better than I thought it would be. This mini-series is based on a 1958 shorty story by Robert Bloch (Psycho and Yours Truly, Jack The Ripper), who studied under H.P. Lovecraft.
The gist(spoiler free): An orphan whose father worked for the railroad and told him stories about a Hell-bound train ends up encountering this train in adulthood. He makes a deal with the conductor, who is really Beelzebub, and it becomes a game of wits between the two. This is a fast paced yet thoroughly satisfying read that I would recommend to all comic book fans of discriminating taste.
The gist(spoiler free): An orphan whose father worked for the railroad and told him stories about a Hell-bound train ends up encountering this train in adulthood. He makes a deal with the conductor, who is really Beelzebub, and it becomes a game of wits between the two. This is a fast paced yet thoroughly satisfying read that I would recommend to all comic book fans of discriminating taste.
February 3, 2026
Story: 4/5
Art: 3.5/5
I thought the core theme of never being satisfied was executed well and with a classic devil’s dealings twist. The art had very good iconography and some pretty cool, infernal, surreal visuals to accompany the hell adjacent portions.
Art: 3.5/5
I thought the core theme of never being satisfied was executed well and with a classic devil’s dealings twist. The art had very good iconography and some pretty cool, infernal, surreal visuals to accompany the hell adjacent portions.
December 31, 2017
After adapting Robert Bloch's classic "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" into a graphic novel in 2010, brothers Joe and John Lansdale teamed up again to adapt his 1958 Hugo-award winner "That Hell-Bound Train".
This adaptation is fairly faithful to the source material, reusing much of Bloch's original prose. The artwork is a fantastic blend of dark, moody panels sprinkled with stylish fantasy elements. The various covers and frontispieces are stunning.
The original short story seems at first like a simple affair, only a few pages long, but the author displays tremendous craftsmanship. The tale opens on a young boy Martin whose father is a railroad man and a drunk. From his earliest memories, Martin's life is influenced by his father's superstition of a midnight train that takes sinners to hell when they die. After becoming an orphan, Martin seems content to knock around his whole life as a homeless drunk like his dad, until one night he makes his own deal with the devil. Satan gives him a silver pocket watch with the power to stop time. Martin must promise to ride the train to Hell after he dies, but his plan is to cheat death by stopping time when he finds a moment of true happiness.
Creating this moment of perfection infuses Martin with ambition he did not have before. His life unfolds to include wealth, marriage, and fatherhood, but then it is undone by an affair. Martin rebuilds his life but is never happy again. He dies an old man, but he never found the perfect time to use his watch. In the end, however, he is still able to trick the devil. Once he boards the train to hell, he finds it full of his favorite kind of people--drinkers, gamblers, skirt chasers--so he unwinds the pocket watch on the train itself. He can spend eternity and it will never pull into the station.
The Brothers Lansdale make two significant changes in adapting this tale for the graphic novel. First, the mistress who ultimately destroys Martin's marriage is seen to be a tool planted by Satan. This provides a reason for the devil to keep popping up in the narrative, something that did not happen in the prose version. This was a wise decision, since the sequences featuring the hell-bound train with Satan-as-conductor are the most visually striking and interesting parts of the book.
The second change was to end the story shortly after Martin's divorce, omitting how he rebuilds his fortune and dies alone. This allows for a happier ending--Martin gets to live eternity with his hot mistress--and it side-steps what would be a long section of narrative devoid of any characters other than Martin himself, something that might have been difficult to achieve in a visual medium. However, this change also robs the graphic novel of some of its gravitas. The comic does not succeed nearly as well as the short story in establishing its theme that most people miss the best moments of their lives and that the journey is sometimes more important than the destination.
This adaptation is fairly faithful to the source material, reusing much of Bloch's original prose. The artwork is a fantastic blend of dark, moody panels sprinkled with stylish fantasy elements. The various covers and frontispieces are stunning.
The original short story seems at first like a simple affair, only a few pages long, but the author displays tremendous craftsmanship. The tale opens on a young boy Martin whose father is a railroad man and a drunk. From his earliest memories, Martin's life is influenced by his father's superstition of a midnight train that takes sinners to hell when they die. After becoming an orphan, Martin seems content to knock around his whole life as a homeless drunk like his dad, until one night he makes his own deal with the devil. Satan gives him a silver pocket watch with the power to stop time. Martin must promise to ride the train to Hell after he dies, but his plan is to cheat death by stopping time when he finds a moment of true happiness.
Creating this moment of perfection infuses Martin with ambition he did not have before. His life unfolds to include wealth, marriage, and fatherhood, but then it is undone by an affair. Martin rebuilds his life but is never happy again. He dies an old man, but he never found the perfect time to use his watch. In the end, however, he is still able to trick the devil. Once he boards the train to hell, he finds it full of his favorite kind of people--drinkers, gamblers, skirt chasers--so he unwinds the pocket watch on the train itself. He can spend eternity and it will never pull into the station.
The Brothers Lansdale make two significant changes in adapting this tale for the graphic novel. First, the mistress who ultimately destroys Martin's marriage is seen to be a tool planted by Satan. This provides a reason for the devil to keep popping up in the narrative, something that did not happen in the prose version. This was a wise decision, since the sequences featuring the hell-bound train with Satan-as-conductor are the most visually striking and interesting parts of the book.
The second change was to end the story shortly after Martin's divorce, omitting how he rebuilds his fortune and dies alone. This allows for a happier ending--Martin gets to live eternity with his hot mistress--and it side-steps what would be a long section of narrative devoid of any characters other than Martin himself, something that might have been difficult to achieve in a visual medium. However, this change also robs the graphic novel of some of its gravitas. The comic does not succeed nearly as well as the short story in establishing its theme that most people miss the best moments of their lives and that the journey is sometimes more important than the destination.
June 12, 2013
This cool graphic novel is adapted from a classic Robert Bloch short story. I am assuming that Joe and John Lansdale are father and son, but not sure about that. I love Lansdale’s novels, but also like his comic books which have included some great Conan scripts. I read the original story many years ago so the comic did a great job of capturing the feeling of the story.
What a great tribute to a lesser known work by author most known for having written psycho. Even though Bloch was from the north- Wisconsin this story always felt southern. Lansdale captures a great vibe.
The art is fantastic. The train looks nasty and gives a vibe to the book overall. Quick read, but I loved it.
What a great tribute to a lesser known work by author most known for having written psycho. Even though Bloch was from the north- Wisconsin this story always felt southern. Lansdale captures a great vibe.
The art is fantastic. The train looks nasty and gives a vibe to the book overall. Quick read, but I loved it.
September 7, 2016
With gorgeous art by Dave Wachter, how could you go wrong? There's a sort of fairytale feel to this book that I really enjoyed. It's also nice to see some horror/dark fantasy getting its due. I only wish there were more comics like this being published.
December 12, 2011
The graphic adaption is good only because the orignal story is amazing. Something is lost, it doesn't quite capture what the story does, but overall still a gread read with great art.
July 3, 2012
Bought for Dave Wachter's artwork (as seen in
The Guns of Shadow Valley
), mostly. It's a lot of fun!
Read
August 4, 2016I haven't read the graphic novel, but I'm marking this down since I adore the short story.
April 29, 2014
Euphorically brilliant
July 24, 2014
3.75 stars
I really enjoyed this!
I really enjoyed this!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews