Hellboy: The Lost Army

Hellboy Novels #1

by Christopher Golden, Mike Mignola (Illustrator)

In 525 B.C., the Persian king Cambyses sent fifty thousand soldiers across

the conquered Egyptian desert to take an oasis city not far from where the Libyan border stands today. According to Greek history, a hurricane-force sandstorm struck near the end of their six-hundred-mile trek. The army - all fifty thousand men - vanished without a single trace. Fast forward to 1986. A British archaeological team, sent to the edge of the Great Sand Sea to exhume evidence of the incident, has also gone missing. It's up to Hellboy to find the missing Brits and to discover what became of The Lost Army. This illustrated novel is written by Christopher Golden, best-selling author of the book Of Saints and Shadows. Hellboy creator Mike Mignola has done sixty-eight black-and-white illustrations for the story.

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Comics, Fiction, Supernatural, Science Fiction, Adventure

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 3, 1997

About the author

CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN is the New York Times bestselling, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of such novels as Road of Bones, Ararat, Snowblind, Of Saints and Shadows, and Red Hands. With Mike Mignola, he is the co-creator of the Outerverse comic book universe, including such series as Baltimore, Joe Golem: Occult Detective, and Lady Baltimore. As an editor, he has worked on the short story anthologies Seize the Night, Dark Cities, and The New Dead, among others, and he has also written and co-written comic books, video games, screenplays, and a network television pilot. Golden co-hosts the podcast Defenders Dialogue with horror author Brian Keene. In 2015 he founded the popular Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival. He was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. His work has been nominated for the British Fantasy Award, the Eisner Award, and multiple Shirley Jackson Awards. For the Bram Stoker Awards, Golden has been nominated ten times in eight different categories. His original novels have been published in more than fifteen languages in countries around the world. Please visit him at www.christophergolden.com

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christopher Golden's first collaboration with Mike Mignola. Golden really gets Hellboy. This thing reads exactly like a Hellboy comic. Plus, he gives Hellboy a sex life. You gotta love it.

Hellboy heads to Libya to help an old flame. A group of archaeologists have vanished in the desert while searching for a lost Persian army. Hellboy parachutes in to investigate. In his typical stone-fisted way, he uncovers an ancient sorcerer who's trying to bring a god to our reality. Along the way he fights zombies, giant spiders and krakens. Mignola provides 50 or so illustrations as well.

[TK421 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me say that I am big big big fan of Hellboy. I love the story, the concept, even the character in movie and book and comic format. But HELLBOY: THE LOST ARMY did nothing for me. I found it rambled in too many spots and the story was just a jumbled mess.

I understand where Golden was trying to take this, and I can appreciate that, but if he would have simplified the storyline and remained true to the character of Hellboy, then this would hav come out much better.

Perhaps this "novel" was merely an experimental project for a next Hellboy movie. I admit, I would watch that.

WASTE OF TIME

[Wing Kee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hellboy and the Mignolaverse is just so dense and amazing that no matter the format the stories takes, if the writers understand it and respect it, you will have a wonderful story.

I've never read Christopher Golden's books, I've never even heard of him before this, but when Mignola announced that he would be writing HB's first novel format story I was very much intrigued. This is actually the third time I've read this book (so yes, expect me to say that it's pretty damn good) and every time I read it I am reminded of how much Golden understands what makes HB and his world a fun place to explore:

World: Golden right from the start understands what HB's world is about. It's about mythology, monsters, the occult and weird and unexplained stuff...and it's about how HB bashes all of them with his right hand. How does Mignola's world translate without his iconic art? Fear not, for throughout the book you will find Mignola art showing key moments, characters and settings, it's a good little added bonus that makes this novel awesome. That's not to say that Golden needs those picture to world build, cause he does not, he understands this world and his writing is descriptive enough but not to the point of being an info dump, it's well realized. One little thing that could have been better was the amount of mythology, if there was a smidgen more it would have been awesome.

Story: Straight forward and to the point, there is no subtlety here, there is not deeper meaning, this is simply 1) HB is called in to investigate supernatural phenomenon 2) supernatural phenomenon starts killing people 3) HB solves it by fighting said phenomenon by beating it into submission. This is a HB story to the core, it is a ride and that's what it is. I did however, find the action which Mignola is known for (the big spectacle fights) to be a bit bland, it's just the nature of the different format, but it's a little thing. I don't complain there is too much action in the comic book but the amount of action in the novel actually kinda made me bored. Oh well. I also would have liked a bit more mythology and more mustache twirling by the villain explaining his story but also oh well. It's solid and it's fun.

Characters: Wow, HB has a sex life, good for him! The characters are quirky, not really deep and it's fine, it's an action book, it's about HB bashing things and the people around him just need to be deep enough for you to care. Honestly, other than Anastasia all the other characters are paper thing and it's fine. I did like the added pages and words for HB's internal dialogue as it takes advantage of this format's strength.

It was a fun read, if you like the HB comic books you will like the novel, it has the same DNA but with a different face, it's just different enough to be fresh and just the same enough for people who like the comic books to also enjoy this. Good stuff!

Onward to the next book!

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this one's a DNF. I managed it to the halfway point but then I had to admit I'd just had enough.
This book is, for want of a better phrase, two-dimensional. There's no depth to anything here, not the characters, the world or the prose. The whole point, surely, to novelising a comic series is to add depth, emotion and insight that can't easily be achieved in a comic panel. I'm not sure if the author was restricted in what he was allowed to write, via his own imagination or if Dark Horse Comics dropped a Trade Paperback in front of him and said, "Just write what you see." Either way, it was a big miss for me.

Sorry, Fred, I tried.

But! I will not be beaten! There are nine Hellboy novels, I think, most written by other authors. So I'll definitely be delving into some of those to see if they can do a better job of what should be an amazing opportunity.

[Aranluc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Compré en pack las dos novelas de Hellboy por Christopher Golden y los dos recopilatorios de historias cortas de Hellboy, todo publicado por Norma, en un arrebato porque estaban muy baratos y porque qué puñeta, es Hellboy.

No es nada especial, el Hellboy de esta novela recuerda más al de la película que al original de los cómics, es demasiado hablador y gruñón, el de los cómics es un tío muy callado que te deja hablar tranquilamente hasta que se cansa y procede a mandarte a la mierda, puños por delante. Porque los que sueltan parrafadas en el cómic son, en el 75% de los casos, los malos. Mignola dice que no sabe escribir, que lo suyo es la imagen, pero el caso es que el texto del cómic tiene un estilo, un tono muy particular que no está en esta novela, y no culpo a los traductores, aunque es verdad que parece que les faltó una revisión antes de entregar el texto y que usan unas expresiones que no me acaban de convencer, pero uno nunca sabe, sin tener el original en inglés, si la culpa la tienen ellos o el autor.

En definitiva, esto es como leer fanfiction aceptablemente bien escrito, y encima aprobado e ilustrado por el mismísimo Mignola. P'a qué queremos más. Intuyo que los recopilatorios de cuentos cortos me van a gustar más, pero eso era de esperar.

[Camilo Guerra · Rating 4 out of 5]

El libro suda Pulp en cada pagina:

-Ejercitos antiguos perdidos, zombies con espadas y hachas, mounstruos Lovecraft style, arañas, oh asquerosas arañas, brujos, ciudades perdidas, además de estar acompañado por preciosas imagenes de Mike Mignola.

¿como no amar este libro?

[Sol · Rating 2 out of 5]

Summary:
Set in 1986, after killing a tentacled monster, Hellboy is recalled to B.P.R.D. headquarters, and is told he will not be joining Bruttenholm, Abe and Liz in a mission to Edinburgh, but instead is going to Egypt. Anastasia Bransfield, an archaeologist and Hellboy's lover, asked him to investigate disappearances in the Egyptian desert. He is parachuted near an oasis close to the Libyan border. Michael Creaghan and his MI5 agents rush to Hellboy and nearly shoot him, but Anastasia and her colleague, Arun Lahiri, arrive and explain.

Anastasia explains that an entire archaeological expedition (one of which was a royal cousin, Lady Catherine Lambert) disappeared without a trace. As they arrive, Creaghan informs Anastasia that the Americans have begun bombing in Libya in retaliation for a bombing in West Germany. Arun explains that in 525 B.C., the Persian emperor Cambyses sent an army of 50,000 men into the Egyptian desert to conquer an oasis city, but they also disappeared without a trace, and Anastasia believes this is the same legendary oasis of Ammon. The freshly killed and mutilated remains of the expedition are unexpectedly found scattered about the shore of the, and three Persian soldiers emerge from the oasis water.

An axe-wielding soldier claims they have no quarrel with Hellboy, but must kill the "trespassers" at the behest of their master, who is enslaved to a being called Mar-Ti-Ku. Hellboy refuses, and they fight, Hellboy and MI5 soldiers killing the Persians. Hellboy learns the others could not understand what the soldier said - Hellboy can "hear the voice of evil".

That night MI5 retrieves the head of Lambert, and Hellboy comforts Anastasia, but American troops arrive and advise everyone to leave. Lambert's head begins speaking, saying the souls of the expedition are trapped in the oasis by the sorcerer Hazred, who worships Mar-Ti-Ki, who was once a Sumerian priest. Hellboy takes the head in case it speaks again.

The next day, Anastasia allows those wish to leave to do so, and Hellboy dives into the oasis, where he is attacked by a half buried soldier. At the same time, Arun finds a medallion with the image of Anubis that he hides from Anastasia, which causes him to experience rapacious and murderous desire for Anastasia. Hellboy dives again, unearthing a tablet, freeing a large tentacled creature in an underwater cave system. It kills two people, but Hellboy drives it back by dropping a grenade on its eye.

Anastasia dismisses the rest of the expedition except herself, Arun and Hellboy. They and three MI5 members (Burke, Carruthers, Meaney) enter the above-ground caves. Burke, is killed by sliding into a snake pit, and a door closes behind them. Pressing on, they sidle along a ledge, but Meany is bitten by a large spider, and after seeing and shooting a man-sized spider, they fall onto webs below. Hellboy fights a massive spider while the others are entangled, and Arun experiences the desires of the locket, angering Anastasia. Meaney transforms into a spider, and Hellboy is overwhelmed and enveloped in silk. Anastasia knocks sense back into Arun, and the two light his jacket on fire, frightening the spiders and preparing to free Hellboy. As they do so, Hazred, a pale and sickly sorcerer, appears and speaks into their minds, and sends his deformed albino servants to gather the survivors. As they are led away, Carruthers taunts his guards and is killed, and Hellboy breaks the webbing. Hellboy begins fighting, but agrees to come quietly to protect Anastasia. They are led to a large cavern with a stone village, dominated by a bronze citadel and centred around a pool of glowing green water, inhabited by albino humans, with the deformed living in the surrounding caves. Arun becomes more unstable, attacking Anastasia and being restrained by the albinos. Hazred descends from the citadel, and explains his history.

Hazred once lived in a village around the oasis of Ammon, and left to learn the secrets of the world. He eventually learned of Mar-Ti-Ku, a Sumerian sorcerer who became one of the most powerful men in history, and sunk Atlantis. He was eventually banished from the physical world by the combined efforts of many sorcerers. Hazred became his servant, and was granted immortality. He returned to the oasis in 567 B.C., where he had the inhabitants swear loyalty to Mar-Ti-Ku to save them from a sickness. 42 years later, Cambyses sent an emissary to the oasis, demanding submission, which they refused. The army of 50, 000 men was sent to the oasis, and struck by the sand storm called by Hazred. After the storm, the oasis-dwellers retreated underground where they have lived for thousands of years since. Martiku hoped one of the survivors would be strong enough to be his physical vessel, but they were not. Instead, Hellboy will be his vessel.

Hazred appears to recognize the power of Hellboy's right hand, and Hellboy attacks him, but is rebuffed by magic. Hazred reiterates that the others will not be harmed, and pulls the medallion from Arun's pocket, revealing that he created it. He places it on Arun's neck and activates it, saying it has awakened his dark desires. Arun transforms into a jackal-man, and attacks Hellboy. Hellboy tries to hold back, the two fall into the central pool, and Arun drowns to death, dropping the tablet, which Lambert warns Hellboy will need before disintegrating. Hellboy is led to an altar, where Hazred opens a dimensional rift, from which pour scarabs which attack everyone in the cavern. The distraction allows Hellboy to escape, and he attacks Hazred as he is possessed by Mar-Ti-Ku, killing him, revealing that Hazred was as dead as the Persian soldiers. The bronze citadel cracks apart, and the cavern begins collapsing. Hellboy and Anastasia enter the pool, and swim past the lair of the lake monster. The tablet protects them, but Anastasia begins to drown. A shockwave pushes the two into the lake, and Hellboy performs CPR on Anastasia, who survives.

Simultaneously with the cavern expedition, Creaghan's men are overrun by a sandstorm. His soldiers hide in the caves, while the Americans flee to the oasis basin with hundreds of casualties. Creaghan sees a pair of searching eyes in the centre of the sandstorm, and unknown to them, the Persian army begins to rise from the desert in the exact spot Hellboy landed. An MI5 soldier sees the undead soldiers descending into the oasis, and they leave the cave to warn the Americans, and set up a defensive circle. The Persians advance and are cut down, but get closer and closer as their corpses form a barricade, until they reach the circle itself. As the soldiers begin dying, the ghosts of the previous expedition begin attacking the Persians, but it is not enough to stop them. Eventually the leader of the Americans is killed, and only Creaghan and four other soldiers survive. At the last possible moment, the Persians collapse at the same moment as the shockwave. The survivors are rescued by the U.N., and Hellboy and Anastasia part ways as he returns home.


A mediocre side story, told in a mediocre manner. Not fundamentally bad, but there were far too many moments where my inner editor activated for clunky narration, though it improved as it went on. At the very least it was neither rambling nor repetitive, and I have no complaints about the dialogue or overall structure. On the plus side, there are many black and white Mignola illustrations, with each chapter having several.



Though it was published very early (the same month as volume 2 of the comic, June 1996), it isn't badly out of sync with the comic going forward. The worst (still mild) offender is Hellboy's aversion to studying, while we learn in The Right Hand of Doom that he learned the Old Lemurian language as a boy and prided himself on having read Pinocchio rather than watched it. There are interesting ideas, foremost giving Hellboy a love interest. I always thought of Alice as Hellboy's potential-but-unrealized-for-tragedy love, and that same idea occurs here. This wouldn't be a serious problem, but this book has been quasi-canon for a long time, having been referenced in The Drowning, and she's now in the process of getting a comic spinoff, Hellboy in Love. I prefer Alice, as her connection to the supernatural made her separation from Hellboy even more tragic, rather than the conventional normal/abnormal dichotomy seen here, and Alice was involved in the main story.



While not strictly speaking a detriment, Arun's desire to rape Anastasia is also jarring in comparison with the comics. Hellboy features a fair amount of nudity, but there tends not to be much real sexuality (with minor exceptions like "Makoma"). Likewise with the use of real world political events. Events like the 1986 West Berlin bombing and the retaliatory US bombing of Libya are not only mentioned but plot relevant. Again, not bad per se, but it doesn't "feel Hellboy".

-Hellboy has read Dune (or at least seen the movie)
-Is not a virgin
-Anastasia suggested his hair style
-Weighs nearly a quarter ton (500 pounds)
-Doesn't drink coffee
-Abe listens to Dire Straits but Hellboy isn't a fan
-Oasis of Siwa
-Dracula the novel exists
-Mar-Ti-Ku sank Atlantis

[Burton Olivier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book! Nice pacing and characterizations. Good, simple plot. Really like Anastasia.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

In concept a decent enough Hellboy adventure, but pretty lacking in execution. It's a bit weird for a prose Hellboy novel to exist in the first place (and to be considered canon, in my opinion), but the wonky tone, uneven plotting, and weak characterizations add to the uncanny valley feeling of the book.

If anything, this feels like officially endorsed fan fiction more than a true Hellboy story. The prose is blunt, describing everything going on with a directness that feels more like reading a movie treatment than a horror novel. Characters are introduced with loads of physical descriptions and backstory, only to either disappear altogether from the book or stick around never to serve much of a purpose. There's a subplot involving rival MI5 and American military officers that truly goes nowhere and ends abruptly, with no sense that the characters we spent so much time reading about ever actually mattered to the story, or carried any sort of emotional weight.

The thing is, Hellboy the comic book (and its spinoffs) actually do carry a lot of emotional weight. They never treat characters like cannon fodder: everyone matters, and you grow to care deeply about them. In a novel, where far more time can be devoted to this sort of development, you'd think there would be even more of this kind of thing. But there just isn't. Even the romantic relationship between Hellboy and Anastasia (probably the most interesting part of this book) feels flat and distant, not lived in or important. It's all pretty strange.

And yet, readable. I never felt particularly burdened by this book. It's relatively short, and the story keeps moving, regardless of the quality of the prose itself. I'd much rather this have been a comic adaptation, but for what it is, it's totally fine. Just definitely not anything I would ever read again.

[Steve Bal4 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!

The beauty and the novelty of Hellboy: The Lost Army , by author Michael Golden -- the first Mignola/Hellboy-universe novelization -- lies in its humanizing the titular character, while still delivering on the mash-up of pulp-noir/adventure/monster genres that the comic book fans all know and love so well. Golden has a solid grasp the flavour and motivation of Hellboy, but gets to flesh him out and create nuances throughout this story. What does he smell like? What does his skin feel like? What does he think and feel when he isn't smashing monsters?

Oddly, both Mike Mignola, and many reviews here cite Hellboy being given "a sex life" in The Lost Army -- and yes, it's indicated -- but it's only referred to in a past tense, with a sub-plot concerning his former relationship with the strong, new female lead, Anastasia Bransfield, and speaks much more about his "love life" -- current and remembered; Hellboy is capable of, and has shared, a very human love.

Along with revealing that Hellboy is familiar with intimacy there is much devoted to the aspects that make him human, despite his supernatural origin and appearance, and his consistent drive to protect humanity from "the things that go bump in the night". Aside from brute strength and ability, Hellboy is a hero because he chooses to fight the evil forces that made him; the constant internal and external struggle at the root of this great character.

But of course, Hellboy: The Lost Army wouldn't be complete without a dire and arcane event to ignite and propel the story through, and here, Golden reaches back into that wonderful mixed realm of history and myth to pit Hellboy, and new attendant cast, against a 2000 yr. old Persian army of the undead, giant spiders, sorcerers, shape-shifters, mutants, ghosts, inter-dimensional beings, lake monsters, and sand-storms. So much sand...

There is a good pacing throughout with the focus shifting between characters, sub-plots and arcs at just the right time. The mystery and tensions build nicely as the story progresses, and there is a suitable balance of action/danger vs. revelatory dialogue and exposition. Michael Golden remained true to Mike Mignola's creation and opened up that world in the best of ways in this novel. Not too shabby.

⭐⭐⭐

[Martin Pinkerton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The BLUFF: Fun enough, wouldn't read again but don't regret reading it, will likely read the sequel (since we already own it)

Equivalent of: reading an comic book with mature content
Ideal for: fans of the character and/or sci-fi occult stories, not young kids

This book was enjoyable enough. It's about a comic book character and read like a text version of a comic book. The original artist/creator drew the illustrations so that's a plus. I had bought it and its sequel for my oldest son years ago. I like occulty sci-fi and needed a book to read when Littleman was reading his Star Wars books so I figured why not. It was fun jaunt if not fairly predictable. It does have some mature concepts so i wouldn't recommend it for younger children.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe this was the first Hellboy novelization, and it's certainly still one of the best. Golden does an excellent job of capturing the spirit of the comics, and all of the characters rang true to me. The plot is more complex and detailed than could be done in graphics form, and this edition includes many terrific illustrations. It's a real page-turner!

[Gonzalo Oyanedel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aunque la premisa no ofrece demasiado riesgo (tomando en cuenta las coordenadas en que se mueve el personaje), Christopher Golden muestra oficio y habilidad en una historia cuya caracterización de Hellboy recuerda por momentos su versión cinematográfica. Entretenida y bien narrada.

[Leila Anani · Rating 2 out of 5]

This ticks a lot of my boxes: Hellboy, Ancient History/Myth, Zombies, tentacle monster, metamorphosis... and it gives Hellboy a love interest, but somehow it wasn't nearly as good as it should have been.

I think part of the reason is that this takes Hellboy out of his element and puts him on a solo mission with completely new characters - So there's hardly any Abe, Liz, professor Bruttenholm and no Nazi or steampunk elements and I'm sorry but these trappings are as much as what makes Hellboy great as the HB himself.

So his archaeologist ex calls him out into the desert where a previous team is missing and indeed it seems there have been many more disappearances going right back to 525BC where Cambysis II managed to lose an entire Persian Army. The army of course make a sand zombie reappearance and HB and co have to work out what's reanimating them an stop it.

Other than the utterly brilliant premise - What happened to Cambysis' Lost Army? The story is rather uninteresting and unoriginal. The novel also spends much of its time harping back to Hellboy's previous relationship with Anastasia. This romance never gets rekindled and I was getting sick and tired of the novel reiterating all the time that they were now just friends but still cared deeply for each other - Now this came out well before the first movie so I think it was the first time HB was given any kind of love interest but since the films came out his relationship with Liz has become so part of the HB mythos that having him with someone else just feels wrong somehow. the personal elements also really mess with the pace of what would have otherwise been a fun pulp action story.

Far from my favourite foray into the Hellboy universe but still OK.

[Kyle Pinion · Rating 2 out of 5]

Being a longtime Hellboy reader that’s basically exhausted everything in the universe, I thought I’d finally read one of Christopher Golden’s two canon novels. This one seemed a little more intriguing to me, because it came out in 97, right after Mignola had released both The Corpse and Wake the Devil and figured out what a Hellboy story looks like. Golden takes that pattern and runs with it, and the results mostly just feel like an inventory list of Hellboy tropes…mysterious artifacts? Check! Ancient Sorcerer? Check! A plot to use Hellboy to bring about cataclysm? Check! Tentacle monster? Check! Underground society…you get it.

It’s all the stuff you’ve come to expect but without Mignola’s evocative art, except in small doses within chapters (always a thrill to see it when it pops up), or his dry humor. Basically the most worthwhile aspect Golden brings to the table is the introduction of a love interest for our big red hero, which is done well and pretty sweet. Again this was pretty early on, so Hellboy being in a romantic entanglement would have been especially novel then. And I liked the desert setting, which is atypical territory for the series.

Still, unless you want to see what Anastasia is all about before reading the current comic that brought her back, or are just desperate to read every canon Hellboy story, this is definitely skippable. More a historical curio that both established Mignola and Golden’s creative partnership, and also highlighting Dark Horse’s attempts to break into the book market of the late 90’s.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christopher Golden always gives a good story. This time he’s writing in the world of Hellboy, a character I’ve been aware of for a long time but know very little about. Hellboy works for an agency that identifies and eliminates supernatural threats. He’s called to join a search and rescue team in the Sahara after an archaeological team disappears. It turns out they disappeared in the same area that 50,000 Persian soldiers vanished more than 2000 years before. And yes, everyone knows from moment one that there is a connection between the two events.

The book is very fast paced. It pulled me right in and kept me reading when I really had other things I should be doing. Hellboy is a fun character. He’s got attitude, and he’s really tough, and he’s exceedingly brave. He’s also, despite his name, a really and truly good person—much more so than many of the other characters in the story. He’s happy to destroy supernatural threats but very worried about ordinary humans coming to harm—even those possessed by the bad guys.

There is great atmosphere in this book as well. The supernatural permeates everything that happens whether it is dead soldiers coming back to life, a lake monster, giant spiders, mystical oracles, or the big bad guys. I’m definitely going to read more of these Hellboy novels.

[SteveL · Rating 3 out of 5]

When an archeological expedition disappears mysteriously in the desert, Hellboy is brought in to try and figure out what happened. As more details emerge, the world's greatest paranormal detective realizes he has to solve an ancient mystery involving a lost army of 50,000 soldiers and what is causing them to rise from the grave.

This was another audio book and my second Hellboy novel. I loved the Bones of Giants, which was the second book written by Golden about Hellboy, so I thought this would be right up my alley. It wasn't bad but I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped. I do think the narrator might have had something to do with that, while they did an overall good job, the voice they used for Hellboy felt a bit off, more like a cartoon character than the big red guy. It grew on me by the end, but it took a lot of getting used to.

The plot was solid, but did feel a bit basic for the deep lore of the Hellboy universe. I think where it really shined was Hellboy's personal relationships, including a former romantic one playing a major role. That is where the book really shined as Hellboy's relationships carry the novels slower moments. It was a good read and made me want to re-read the follow up book.

[Pavel Pravda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zpočátku jsem měl problém se začíst. Tempo bylo pomalé a vyprávění bylo plné vnitřních monologů a nevyřčených úvah. Ale jak začala atmosféra příběhu houstnout, tak se zvyšovalo i tempo vyprávění. Na konci už příběh uháněl jako splašený kůň a já jsem hltal stránku za stránkou. Není to první beletrie, kterou jsem s Hellboyem četl. Už před lety jsem četl Melouchy a bylo to skvělé, Hellboy fungoval i mimo komiks. Takže jsem měl velké očekávání i od Ztracené armády. A musím říct, že nejsem zklamaný. Má to skvělou hororovou atmosféru i esenci komiksového Hellboye. Některé scény jsou docela brutální a v čistě psané formě možná působí intenzivněji než v typické hellboyovském komiksovém artu. To mi připomíná, že musím zmínit, že kniha je plná úžasných černobílých ilustrací Mika Mignoly.
Příběh odhaluje mnoho i z Hellboyova citového a milostného života. Skoro nic není řečeno nahlas, natož aby k něčemu fyzicky došlo. Všechno to zůstává jen v úvahách a ve vzpomínkách. Přesto to hraje v příběhu svou roli. Když na konci hlavní hrdinka Anastasia Hellboyovi řekla, že ho miluje, tak jsem musel jenom souhlasně přikývnout, že já taky. Zkrátka Hellboye žeru.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Lost Army by Christopher Golden is the first Hellboy novel, based on the comic book series of the same name. The book includes illustrations by series creator Mike Mignola. While I’ve enjoyed prose Hellboy stories from a couple of anthologies by now, this was my first venture into a full novel about the character. Since this was published in 1997 there have been nine other Hellboy novels and four anthologies. Interestingly, only a handful of this material is considered to be in continuity with the comic book series proper, which understandably takes precedent. This novel, along with other books and stories by Golden, are considered within canon.

Knowing that that character’s primary story arc takes place within the comic book series, it was easy to deduce that this book would be similar to the short stories I’ve already read. Namely, that this would be a self-contained story following Hellboy on another one of his adventures investigating the paranormal. I really like this as an idea, as it reminds me of the type of pulpy novels and stories that influenced Mignola in the first place. It helps make these books feel like less of a commitment too. I intend to eventually read them all, but it’s not a continuous series that I might feel bad for setting aside for longer periods.

In my review of the anthology Odd Jobs I mentioned that I went in expecting the stories to be a fun novelty but nothing remarkable. While I was fortunately impressed with how that collection turned out, this novel fit those expectations far more closely. The mystery and paranormal aspects within are bog standard, especially as someone who has read a lot of the series already. An ancient evil wants to break through the veil into our realm, a less ancient sorcerer wants to use Hellboy to facilitate that. There’s an undead army, tentacle monsters, and strange inhuman beings. These aspects weren’t uninteresting, but weren’t framed in a way that made them particularly interesting either. There were a few stand-out moments though, including a man turning into a giant spider while the group is trapped on the web of another. I liked how Golden imagined this particular idea because the webs are so sticky and strong—as they’d need to be to successfully trap people—that trying to simply rip the webs off will tear your skin. This definitely made for one of the better horror sequences in the novel.

A significant factor introduced in this story is Hellboy’s love life, which is something largely absent from the series proper. Here we learn he once had a relationship with an archaeologist named Dr. Anastasia Bransfield, who has called him to the site of her current expedition in the Sahara Desert as a favour. While it was a little interesting to see a facet of Hellboy’s life that I haven’t before now, the writing around it was not all that great. General concern for one another and small acts of intimacy were apparent, but there was mostly a lot of narration hammering home that each is someone the other cares about very much. I was told about their history and feelings a lot more than I was actually shown how they feel toward one another. At the onset their relationship is a thing of the past and by the end that is where it remains, without any real hiccups along the way.

This is the unfortunate case with all of the interpersonal relationships in the story; they pretty much stay in the same place, unless one of the characters dies. I was disappointed further with the use of an MI5 agent named Creaghan, who butts heads with Anastasia over control of the expedition and is disdainful of Hellboy for not being human. While Hellboy, Anastasia, and others probe the subterranean source of all the horrors, Creaghan plays a fairly big role as he is left on the surface to deal with the titular lost army. Despite being featured so much, by the end he unceremoniously departs. No debriefing with the others once the dust settles, nor any olive branches recognizing a job well done. It isn’t often that I see characters intolerant of Hellboy’s presence as a point of note in a story. I wish Golden had explored it a little more.

Another character, Arun Lahiri, has feelings for Dr. Bransfield and cannot help being disgusted when he finds out about her past history with Hellboy. After finding an unusual amulet these feelings are driven to the point of crazed lust and violence urges. These moments were a little heavy-handed on their own, but what made matters worse was this conflict never comes to a head in a way that meaningfully addresses the tension between the characters. All of these moments had the potential to add a lot more depth to the story, and certainly seem set up that way, but never delivered on anything by the end.

Despite my disappointments, The Lost Army is not a bad novel. In a lot of ways it’s exactly what I was looking for; something fun and easy to get through in a relatively short amount of time. A reprieve from denser reading material. I’m not sure it was meant to be anything more than pulpy fun, and as a novel that could only really be a side-story it’s not a bad first outing either. The character had only debuted about four years before this novel, yet this material still feels consistent with the character even after everything that has come afterwards. I’d recommend it more to existing fans, but there is enough context introduced at the beginning of the novel that a curious reader could easily start here too to dip their toe in the water and see how they like the character. It’s a fun adventure into paranormal mystery and pulpy horror, with some great illustrations supplementing it all. Just don’t expect a lot of character development.

Review originally posted on my blog here.

[Jared Sprague · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Not a bad hellboy adventure! Definitely had the right tone and feel of the comics which was great. I loved the story the setting especially the underwater parts. One thing I will say is if you are a fan of Hellboy this book will make more sense, it assumes you have a good understanding of who he is and throws you right into it. you will get more out of it being a experienced fan. And hopefully this is obvious but if you are beginning with Hellboy I wouldn't start here I'd start with the comics.

[T. Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm on the fence about the formatting and the story line. I think I liked it mostly because I read about 80% of it while sitting in the court house, waiting to see if I'd be called in to sit in as a Juror, and it helped kill the time. Take what you will from my snippet of input surrounding this book.

[Wan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hellboy is one of my favorite comics, and if this story was a Hellboy comic, I would consider it quite poor. It has a plot, monsters, supernatural mystery, a lot of the elements of Hellboy, but little of the artistry which makes the series great, and it comes off as hacky. The depiction of Hellboy is also a bit off, especially some suggestive sexual dialogue, which is really unwelcome.

[Mari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining, in just about the way you'd think a book adaptation of a comic would be. It's not deep, nor does it really go anywhere, but it does rumble forward towards more action ... until it ends, never actually solving anything. Again, did we ever expect it would? Narrator does a very workmanlike job voicing the comic book characters.

[George Polly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good ole hellboy romp adventure.

Nothing fancy, nothing overly complicated just a good adventure/investigation and hellboy kickin ass

Not sure what more you would want.

Evil undead, giant ancient squid monsters, one mad undead magician, evil god trying to take over the world, giant spiders and snakes

“I hate snakes” — hellboy

[Avery Follett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this!! I am gripped by an intense urge to read every single Hellboy novel. This guy will always be my favourite character and, after having read all of the comics and graphic novels, I would love to read all the novels too in order to complete my psychological collection.

[Juani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meehh, parece un guión adaptado a libro.. Lo bueno: mucha acción y bastante "Hellboy".. Lo malo: por momentos mal escrito, hasta parece un fan fiction de baja calidad. Se recalcan situaciones que por ahí no van a ningún lado.

[Eric Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never really heard of Hellboy untill the movie came out and I wasn't a fan. So cruising the online library I stumbled across some novels. Researched to see where to start. To my surprise it was a very well done enjoyable book. I look forward to reading the others.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was exactly what I expected it to be. It really was a Hellboy comic or movie, in novel form. Plenty of action, snarky Hellboy dialogue and weird paranormal baddies. I liked it, will continue to read more as a break from other stuff.

3.5 stars

[Derrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never read a Hellboy comic, so this was interesting. A decent adventure, had a little too much language and innuendos for my recommendation, but I'd be willing to go another Hellboy adventure if it presents itself. The art cover looks amazing for sure.

[Holden Dingus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good Hellboy story. Really gave HB a new dimension with Anastasia. Golden has a very good writing style and has some stellar descriptions throughout the story. As for the plot, it was fairly simple evil sorcerer stuff but still enjoyable and leaving you wonder where it's going from there.