What do you think?
Rate this book
Hellboy (Ongoing Order) #3
Hellboy: Seed of Destruction #3
Earth teeters on the brink of destruction in Hellboy: Seed of Destruction #3, with only Hellboy, the World's Greatest Paranormal Investigator, there to right the balance. Things get even uglier as Hellboy explores the decaying temple beneath the Cavendish mansion and discovers an ancient evil that threatens to unleash dark, unholy forces from the dawn of time, using Hellboy's companion Liz as its unwitting tool.
26 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 7, 2015
About the author
Mike Mignola
1,827 books2,567 followersMike Mignola was born September 16, 1960 in Berkeley, California and grew up in nearby Oakland. His fascination with ghosts and monsters began at an early age (he doesn't remember why) and reading Dracula at age 13 introduced him to Victorian literature and folklore from which he has never recovered.
In 1982, hoping to find a way to draw monsters for a living, he moved to New York City and began working for Marvel Comics, first as a (very terrible) inker and then as an artist on comics like Rocket Raccoon, Alpha Flight and The Hulk. By the late 80s he had begun to develop his signature style (thin lines, clunky shapes and lots of black) and moved onto higher profile commercial projects like Cosmic Odyssey (1988) and Gotham by Gaslight (1989) for DC Comics, and the not-so-commercial Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (1990) for Marvel. In 1992, he drew the comic book adaptation of the film Bram Stoker's Dracula for Topps Comics.
In 1993, Mike moved to Dark Horse comics and created Hellboy, a half-demon occult detective who may or may not be the Beast of the Apocalypse. While the first story line (Seed of Destruction, 1994) was co-written by John Byrne, Mike has continued writing the series himself. There are, at this moment, 13 Hellboy graphic novel collections (with more on the way), several spin-off titles (B.P.R.D., Lobster Johnson, Abe Sapien and Witchfinder), three anthologies of prose stories, several novels, two animated films and two live-action films staring Ron Perlman. Hellboy has earned numerous comic industry awards and is published in a great many countries.
Mike also created the award-winning comic book The Amazing Screw-on Head and has co-written two novels (Baltimore, or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire and Joe Golem and the Drowning City) with best-selling author Christopher Golden.
Mike worked (very briefly) with Francis Ford Coppola on his film Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), was a production designer on the Disney film Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and was visual consultant to director Guillermo del Toro on Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008). He lives somewhere in Southern California with his wife, daughter, a lot of books and a cat.
In 1982, hoping to find a way to draw monsters for a living, he moved to New York City and began working for Marvel Comics, first as a (very terrible) inker and then as an artist on comics like Rocket Raccoon, Alpha Flight and The Hulk. By the late 80s he had begun to develop his signature style (thin lines, clunky shapes and lots of black) and moved onto higher profile commercial projects like Cosmic Odyssey (1988) and Gotham by Gaslight (1989) for DC Comics, and the not-so-commercial Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (1990) for Marvel. In 1992, he drew the comic book adaptation of the film Bram Stoker's Dracula for Topps Comics.
In 1993, Mike moved to Dark Horse comics and created Hellboy, a half-demon occult detective who may or may not be the Beast of the Apocalypse. While the first story line (Seed of Destruction, 1994) was co-written by John Byrne, Mike has continued writing the series himself. There are, at this moment, 13 Hellboy graphic novel collections (with more on the way), several spin-off titles (B.P.R.D., Lobster Johnson, Abe Sapien and Witchfinder), three anthologies of prose stories, several novels, two animated films and two live-action films staring Ron Perlman. Hellboy has earned numerous comic industry awards and is published in a great many countries.
Mike also created the award-winning comic book The Amazing Screw-on Head and has co-written two novels (Baltimore, or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire and Joe Golem and the Drowning City) with best-selling author Christopher Golden.
Mike worked (very briefly) with Francis Ford Coppola on his film Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), was a production designer on the Disney film Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and was visual consultant to director Guillermo del Toro on Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008). He lives somewhere in Southern California with his wife, daughter, a lot of books and a cat.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 25, 2026
It’s the penultimate issue so you know what that means…villain monologue time!! And I couldn’t ask for a better one but I have to provide a huge clarification…when I said the bald headed priest character was very Rasputin-esque…that was a joke with no knowledge he actually is THE Rasputin, lol. We jump into this issue immediately from the last as He’ll oh is dragged into the floor of the Cavendish mansion. He hits the water below as he gathers his thoughts and stands back up to investigate as he follows the strange familiar voice of the priest which summoned him in the first place. The air around them is filled with death as the priest goes on about how 800 years ago men worshiped and sacrificed to the serpent…but all the serpent cared about was freedom and he now has that power. All around them is Hellboy’s true purpose he was brought to this world for, to fulfill his destiny and unleash true power. Hellboy is of course not going to do that willingly, but the priest does not care as he commands him. Hellboy responds by raising his gun and blasting a hole in the priest’s head, only for it to regrow back with some form of spell as Hellboy is knocked away. Which is especially troubling as Hellboy has gathered a lot of protective charms over the years and he shouldn’t be thrown around that easily either magic, which either means he neutralized all of them or is too powerful…so Hellboy decides to try and stall.
He compliments the priest of the putting together his head trick, prompting the priest to mention he is not the first to try and destroy him as 80 years ago in his mother Russia, at the palace of the Prince Yuasupov, he was poisoned, shot, and hurled into the frozen Neva (all confirming he is Rasputin, lol). But in those icy waters the serpent called out to him, he bade him to rise and fulfill his purpose…showing the priest visions of a world transformed by Holocaust and fire so the priest may preside over the fall of mankind. But Hellboy isn’t buying into the vision, according to him he has his own plans for the apocalypse. But the priest still doesn’t see this as a choice, and suddenly a very large and much stronger version of the frog creature Sven changed into, as he has continually been evolving this entire time, comes up behind Hellboy to attack him. He is the first of a new breed of titans to inherit the earth. The priest also tried with the three Cavendish brothers with less success as after they killed their mother a flicker of humanity activated in their hearts…Sven doesn’t have that problem. Speaking of the two remaining brothers…as Abe continues to explore the grounds, and all the graves which seem rooted through, he comes across the two frog life forms holding their mother’s corpse in the water. The moment they see Abe they slip away under the water, leaving him properly freaked out as he backs up with his pistol in hand as he feels a wooden doorway into a back room. There he sees a shadow given shape into the form of Elihu Cavendish in the rotting flesh just sitting there…what?!
Hellboy is having a hell of a time with the transformed Sven, and he isn’t even trying t hold back because this thing was once human. He continues to try and use his growing anger against the creature, but it barely gives him a moment to catch his breath as the two go under water. Hellboy is successfully beaten and thrown back to the surface where he now lays in front of the priest, he would be no good to them dead. His weakened state now presents a good opportunity for the priest to provide more context for this entire situation. He goes back to a time shortly after his assassination as he left Russia and fled to Italy where he spent 20 years in isolation regathering his power and praying to the serpent, occasional preaching to brave souls who dared to approach him. He waited for a sign which finally came in the form of a man named Himmler, come to hire him and take him to Germany where he met Hitler and joined his coalition of paranormal scientists at the prospect of using their unlimited resources. Rasputin was impressed by their lack of morality and worked closely with the three he deemed most rational as they formed project Ragna Rock. This of course led to the events which would summon Hellboy, an event the nazi group believed failed but the priest knew better even if he wasn’t sure exactly what was summoned. But then the tides of war came and Hitler’s Germany was destroyed, Himmler was dead, and the rest scattered…Rasputin found himself alone for the first time until he once again heard the voice calling out to him and telling him to go North to the Arctic wastes. He brought together a team which he spelt used to feed on to sustain his journey as he finally arrived to the fabled temple of the Ogdru-Jahad, built by the first race of men and within its wall where the Sadu-Hem, led by the Ogdru-Jahad so they may have a foothold on the world where they were banished, rests. To most it would seem like a statue, but not to the priest as he felt its mind waiting for him. He seated himself at the base of the statue as it sent him into a trance where he reached out and witnessed with his own eyes the imprisoned forms of the seven beasts. He joined them in their silent state and let the years pass until he was awakened by the touch of a human hand…Bruttenholm. And by that touch Rasputin’s mind was filled with the memories of Hellboy. The Sadu-hem woke up hungry, but the priest bade him to spare the mortals so he may use them for a greater purpose. We saw how the explorers were transformed with the seed of the serpent and how Rasputin allowed Bruttenholm to escape to pull Hellboy in. Along the way Rasputin also pulled in the other humans at the base camp for the expedition to transfer the Sadu-Hem into the boat, where he then allowed them to be used as food for the beast, and it continued to eat all the way here to this mansion.
But it seems the priest’s patience was doubly rewarded as Hellboy brought with him an extra spied elf power for the priest to pull from…Elizabeth! Hellboy is growing angry as he tells the priest to leave her alone. She doesn’t have a connection to any of this, but Rasputin can feel the living power inside of her and believes he can give it the room it needs to grow. Looking out into the rest of the room, the large tentacle form of Sadu-Hem inches towards them as Rasputin adds Liz’s power to his own as he offers Hellboy one last chance to join him of his own free will. “Go…to…Hell…” But there is no need as “hell is coming here!!” Hellboy knows for sure he needs help here, so he can’t help but wonder where Abe is…turns out he is a little unconscious in the room he found earlier with the ancestor of the Cavendish family who is looking oddly more human now as if he is forming back to life…hmmmm.
He compliments the priest of the putting together his head trick, prompting the priest to mention he is not the first to try and destroy him as 80 years ago in his mother Russia, at the palace of the Prince Yuasupov, he was poisoned, shot, and hurled into the frozen Neva (all confirming he is Rasputin, lol). But in those icy waters the serpent called out to him, he bade him to rise and fulfill his purpose…showing the priest visions of a world transformed by Holocaust and fire so the priest may preside over the fall of mankind. But Hellboy isn’t buying into the vision, according to him he has his own plans for the apocalypse. But the priest still doesn’t see this as a choice, and suddenly a very large and much stronger version of the frog creature Sven changed into, as he has continually been evolving this entire time, comes up behind Hellboy to attack him. He is the first of a new breed of titans to inherit the earth. The priest also tried with the three Cavendish brothers with less success as after they killed their mother a flicker of humanity activated in their hearts…Sven doesn’t have that problem. Speaking of the two remaining brothers…as Abe continues to explore the grounds, and all the graves which seem rooted through, he comes across the two frog life forms holding their mother’s corpse in the water. The moment they see Abe they slip away under the water, leaving him properly freaked out as he backs up with his pistol in hand as he feels a wooden doorway into a back room. There he sees a shadow given shape into the form of Elihu Cavendish in the rotting flesh just sitting there…what?!
Hellboy is having a hell of a time with the transformed Sven, and he isn’t even trying t hold back because this thing was once human. He continues to try and use his growing anger against the creature, but it barely gives him a moment to catch his breath as the two go under water. Hellboy is successfully beaten and thrown back to the surface where he now lays in front of the priest, he would be no good to them dead. His weakened state now presents a good opportunity for the priest to provide more context for this entire situation. He goes back to a time shortly after his assassination as he left Russia and fled to Italy where he spent 20 years in isolation regathering his power and praying to the serpent, occasional preaching to brave souls who dared to approach him. He waited for a sign which finally came in the form of a man named Himmler, come to hire him and take him to Germany where he met Hitler and joined his coalition of paranormal scientists at the prospect of using their unlimited resources. Rasputin was impressed by their lack of morality and worked closely with the three he deemed most rational as they formed project Ragna Rock. This of course led to the events which would summon Hellboy, an event the nazi group believed failed but the priest knew better even if he wasn’t sure exactly what was summoned. But then the tides of war came and Hitler’s Germany was destroyed, Himmler was dead, and the rest scattered…Rasputin found himself alone for the first time until he once again heard the voice calling out to him and telling him to go North to the Arctic wastes. He brought together a team which he spelt used to feed on to sustain his journey as he finally arrived to the fabled temple of the Ogdru-Jahad, built by the first race of men and within its wall where the Sadu-Hem, led by the Ogdru-Jahad so they may have a foothold on the world where they were banished, rests. To most it would seem like a statue, but not to the priest as he felt its mind waiting for him. He seated himself at the base of the statue as it sent him into a trance where he reached out and witnessed with his own eyes the imprisoned forms of the seven beasts. He joined them in their silent state and let the years pass until he was awakened by the touch of a human hand…Bruttenholm. And by that touch Rasputin’s mind was filled with the memories of Hellboy. The Sadu-hem woke up hungry, but the priest bade him to spare the mortals so he may use them for a greater purpose. We saw how the explorers were transformed with the seed of the serpent and how Rasputin allowed Bruttenholm to escape to pull Hellboy in. Along the way Rasputin also pulled in the other humans at the base camp for the expedition to transfer the Sadu-Hem into the boat, where he then allowed them to be used as food for the beast, and it continued to eat all the way here to this mansion.
But it seems the priest’s patience was doubly rewarded as Hellboy brought with him an extra spied elf power for the priest to pull from…Elizabeth! Hellboy is growing angry as he tells the priest to leave her alone. She doesn’t have a connection to any of this, but Rasputin can feel the living power inside of her and believes he can give it the room it needs to grow. Looking out into the rest of the room, the large tentacle form of Sadu-Hem inches towards them as Rasputin adds Liz’s power to his own as he offers Hellboy one last chance to join him of his own free will. “Go…to…Hell…” But there is no need as “hell is coming here!!” Hellboy knows for sure he needs help here, so he can’t help but wonder where Abe is…turns out he is a little unconscious in the room he found earlier with the ancestor of the Cavendish family who is looking oddly more human now as if he is forming back to life…hmmmm.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 2, 2016
Just gets better and better.
July 23, 2024
The story so far...
On the trail of the villainous forces that killed his adoptive father, Hellboy—the World's Greatest Paranormal Paranormal Investigator—visits Cavendish Hall with his fellow investigators, Liz Sherman and Abe Sapien, where the family matriarch recounts the curse that has claimed generations of Cavendish men. After mysterious fates befall Liz and Abe, a sinister figure appears to reclaim Hellboy, an integral part of his evil scheme...
Having enjoyed the 2024 free-comic-book-day one-shot, I found myself in a Hellboy mood. With Amazon offering me a free trial of Kindle Unlimited, and with the Hellboy single issues being included, it felt rude not to start from the beginning.
The Occult, Nazis, Demons, Lovecraftian horrors, (At the Mountains of Madness and Cthulhu mythos vibes), Poe-esk villains (think The Fall of the House of Usher), the mad-monk of Russia, and good old Hellboy (who will forever be Ron Perlman in my eyes); what's not to love! 5 stars.
On the trail of the villainous forces that killed his adoptive father, Hellboy—the World's Greatest Paranormal Paranormal Investigator—visits Cavendish Hall with his fellow investigators, Liz Sherman and Abe Sapien, where the family matriarch recounts the curse that has claimed generations of Cavendish men. After mysterious fates befall Liz and Abe, a sinister figure appears to reclaim Hellboy, an integral part of his evil scheme...
Having enjoyed the 2024 free-comic-book-day one-shot, I found myself in a Hellboy mood. With Amazon offering me a free trial of Kindle Unlimited, and with the Hellboy single issues being included, it felt rude not to start from the beginning.
The Occult, Nazis, Demons, Lovecraftian horrors, (At the Mountains of Madness and Cthulhu mythos vibes), Poe-esk villains (think The Fall of the House of Usher), the mad-monk of Russia, and good old Hellboy (who will forever be Ron Perlman in my eyes); what's not to love! 5 stars.
March 26, 2017
Colour me both surprised and addicted. I have been randomly selecting a graphic novel every now and then since a Book Riot challenge a few years back. They interested me and amused me during the read but never really gripped me until this volume. I've slowly been becoming more appreciative of the art form and that may be part of it, learning to accept that the character development isn't what I expect from it and can't be as in depth as a novel. Hellboy grabbed me right from the first few pages and I loved this volume, characters, storyline and drawings. Odd, because if you'd asked me I would have said this series wouldn't have appealed. I only selected it because a/ I was recovering from dental surgery and couldn't face anything too wordy and b/ because it was included in my Amazon Prime reading options. Now I have to read the rest.
December 17, 2017
In Hellboy: Seed of Destruction #3, Hellboy meets the man behind his arrival on this planet and the guy who is trying to destroy the planet by releasing 7 demon/squid things on the Earth.
Abe is missing, Liz has been captured and the bad guy is chanting. It's time for Hellboy to do something, and do something is what he does best. Can Hellboy beat the bad guy and his minions before time runs out?
Abe is missing, Liz has been captured and the bad guy is chanting. It's time for Hellboy to do something, and do something is what he does best. Can Hellboy beat the bad guy and his minions before time runs out?
May 14, 2017
The story continues
The suspense is building as hell boy finds himself in a difficult situation. I highly recommend to anyone that likes reading comic books. I typically don't read bell boy however I'm finding myself enjoying this story.
The suspense is building as hell boy finds himself in a difficult situation. I highly recommend to anyone that likes reading comic books. I typically don't read bell boy however I'm finding myself enjoying this story.
October 23, 2017
Deep into the Cavendish manor
Its hard to judge this issue in isolation, probably not as strong and immediate as issue #1 and #2 in the seed of destruction arc but amazing nonetheless. Rasputin's back story is great.
Its hard to judge this issue in isolation, probably not as strong and immediate as issue #1 and #2 in the seed of destruction arc but amazing nonetheless. Rasputin's back story is great.
June 13, 2020
Bad
This issue can definitely be skipped. Its just the back story of the satanist and its really boring. The only reason its even remotely worth reading is because there is a some action scenes.
This issue can definitely be skipped. Its just the back story of the satanist and its really boring. The only reason its even remotely worth reading is because there is a some action scenes.
November 22, 2017
Fantastic
This a series with a lot of lore mixed in quite nicely and has never failed to entertain. I must read for Hellboy fans new and old
This a series with a lot of lore mixed in quite nicely and has never failed to entertain. I must read for Hellboy fans new and old
December 29, 2017
....
Bellboy has a very distinct feel and tone to it, that's for sure. I don't think this could be mistaken for any other story, or hero.
Bellboy has a very distinct feel and tone to it, that's for sure. I don't think this could be mistaken for any other story, or hero.
June 30, 2018
Awesome.
Huge fan of Hellboy. The comics are always amazing and the art is always excellent. I can't wait to read more.
Huge fan of Hellboy. The comics are always amazing and the art is always excellent. I can't wait to read more.
March 29, 2019
Nice one I think
Very well I hope to be a good fit in your company as a team member so that you are the only ones
Very well I hope to be a good fit in your company as a team member so that you are the only ones
December 30, 2016
Lot's of exposition in this one.
March 30, 2017
After fizzling out on quite a few YA and fiction books for the last three weeks, I'm kinda loving this palette cleansing comic run
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews