Lobster Johnson: The Satan Factory

Hellboy Novels #Hellboy Universe

by Thomas E. Sniegoski, Gregory Manchess (Artist)

Ripped from the pages of Hellboy! Where greed and the occult walk hand-in-hand, where mobsters and monsters prowl the streets, none escape the justice of Lobster Johnson! In the years before World War II, Jonas Chapel was a respected physician, until his appetite for vice got the best of him and he found himself on the run from one of New York's most powerful mob bosses. On the lam in Mexico, Chapel stumbles across a powerful witch and a cursed skeleton - and the power to transform men into monsters. Now, he's back in New York, selling his creations to the highest bidder. Only one man, backed by his team of trusted sidekicks, stands in his way. But will the Lobster's resolve be enough to shut down Chapel's twisted Satan Factory - before New York itself is consumed?

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

208 pages, Paperback

First published June 21, 2009

About the author

Thomas E. Sniegoski, often credited as Tom Sniegoski is the author of more than two dozen novels for adults, teens, and children. His teen fantasy YA series Fallen was adapted into a trilogy of monstrously successful TV movies by ABC Family Channel. His other books for teens include Sleeper Code, Sleeper Agenda, and Force Majeure, as well as the upcoming series The Brimstone Network. The author's first adult novel, A Kiss Before the Apocalypse, hit the shelves in 2008, with its sequel, Dancing on the Head of a Pin to be released in 2009.

Sniegoski's work for younger readers includes Billy Hooten: Owlboy, and the fantasy quartet OutCast, which he co-authored with Christopher Golden. OutCast is in development as a film at Universal. Sniegoski and Golden have also collaborated on the adult dark fantasy series The Menagerie, and multiple creator-owned comic book series, including The Sisterhood, which is being prepped for a feature film by InterMedia, and Talent, currently in development at Universal after a major bidding war.

As a comic book writer, Sniegoski's work includes Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails, a prequel miniseries to international hit, Bone. Sniegoski collaborated with Bone creator Jeff Smith on the prequel, making him the only writer Smith has ever asked to work on those characters. Sniegoski and Golden also wrote the graphic novel BPRD: Hollow Earth, a spinoff from Hellboy.

Sniegoski was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his wife LeeAnne and their Labrador Retriever, Mulder. Tom recently completed the new young adult novel, Legacy, which is set to be released in October of 2009.

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the old Pulp hero adventure stories. I tried this out thinking maybe it would be an OK new attempt at writing a pulp style story. Boy was I surprised. Excellent writing and great character, very much in the Feel of The Shadow or Doc Savage. Great and fun read. Very recommended

[J.M. (Joe) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me make it clear that I am a huge HUGE fan of writer R.E. Howard (1906-1936), and I have a deep fascination with all the pulp fiction of the '20s-'50s Weird Tales variety. This includes the works of Ashton-Smith, Leiber, Bradbury, C.L. Moore (Lovecraft not so much).

That said, regarding Tom Sniegoski's work on Lobster Johnson: The Satan Factory, I have to say "wow!" Allow me to repeat: "WOW!" Mr. Sniegoski had me hooked from the get-go, opening up right away with a doctor by the name of Chapel who's on the lamb, hiding out in a Mexican cantina from his erstwhile mobster boss employer, drinking away his doldrums when suddenly the chase begins when some mob goons track Chapel down. It doesn't stop until page 203, which is the last page of this book's epilogue. Non-stop action, weird creatures, hard-knuckled fistacuffs, blazing .45's and Tommy guns, weird creatures, cloaks and goggles, chase scenes (on foot and in cars and trucks), and did I mention weird creatures (Sniegoski even uses the word "grotesquery," which happens to be a favorite of mine)?

Lobster Johnson himself -- a creation by legendary comic book auteur Mike Mignola (Hellboy) -- is a man of legend himself, a mysterious crime fighter hell-bent on stamping out evil in all its forms. The story focuses mainly on a member of his team of secret agents, an ex-cop by the name of Jake Hurley, who has wallowed in his own misery far too long and has been given a chance by the Lobster for redemption. Hurley moves through the underbelly of NYC, keeping his eyes and ears open for the Lobster. And boy-oh-boy does he uncover the real action.

Now, I will admit, technically, this book is more of a 4.5 than a true 5 for me, but I'm feeling generous so I'm rounding up. The only place the story really falls short, for me, is that there's no real explanation for who the Lobster is, or at least why he is the way he is. I realize he's been in a few comics in Mignola's Hellboy/B.P.R.D. universe, but not having read those I would have liked to have known more about the myserious Lobster, and I think a few pages dedicated to this wouldn't have been wasted on the uninitiated reader. So, in a way, he's one tough hombre, but a rather flat character in comparison to Hurley, mob bosses Fazzina and Red O'Neill, the main bad guy who I won't name (no spoilers here), or even the malformed little Mexican boy, Paco. In this story the Lobster is kinda like Batman without the angst.

That having been said (well... written actually), Sniegoski's Lobster Johnson: The Satan Factory, perfectly apes the Weird Tales pulp era. This is a ripping good yarn that Howard himself would have loved. And that's about the highest praise I can give it. So 4.5 stars

[Trent Darcey Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing spectacular but a really fun 1940s pulp style adventure.

[Orrin Grey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of all the various Hellboy spin-off properties, the novels are the ones that have most often failed to really connect for me. Something about the magic of the Hellboy comics is always missing from the prose interpretations, and while there have been some pretty good stories come out of them, none of them are ever really what I'm looking for.

This one's no exception. Tackling the Lobster Johnson character instead of Hellboy or any of the B.P.R.D. members, Thomas Sniegoski does a pretty admirable job of recreating the feel of a pulp novel, and also of keeping Lobster Johnson a mysterious figure and not revealing too much about him. There are some nice moments throughout, but mostly, again, it's a fine pulp crimefighter novel with added monsters, but it lacked that spark. I'd probably have given it two stars, just because it really wasn't my thing, but I'm happy enough that they didn't give Lobster Johnson a backstory that it gets an extra one just for that.

Really nice cover, too.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great pulp styled adventure, featuring Mike Mignola's masked mystery man from the 30's, Lobster Johnson.
The lobster and his crew deal with a mad doctor that has acquired a formula to turn normal people into monsters, but the source of the formula is even more sinister than anyone knows.
Great action and perfectly captures the gritty, over the top feel of the pulps.
Only gripe is that Lobster is so stoic and mysterious that he comes across as a bit flat, as we don't get even the tiniest hint of who he is or why he does what he does.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one, and to me it was everything a "pulp fiction" story should be. Action and adventure with a decent plot but not necessarily the deepest story. Lobster Johnson seems right at home next to Doc Savage and the Shadow.

A demon's blood transform people into monsters, and the demon attempts to take over the criminal underworld and move on from there. Thankfully, Lobster and his team are there to thwart them.

Fans of pulp adventure should really check this one out, as it was surprising well done.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The horned mastermind of this entire affair wasn't where the Lobster had left him. The creature wasn't dead, and now the Lobster was on the hunt. He hated when things he thought were dead didn't stay that way. It was a problem that seemed to be happening far more frequently these days than it had in the past."

An excellent tribute to pulp fiction, with a nod to fantasy.

[Centauri · Rating 3 out of 5]

The universe of Hellboy has always been messed up
For the most part I liked that the novel was from several different POV, it kept the pace swift and fun. I also liked that it was not exactly what I expected: a corny, vigilante homage story to original heroes like the Shadow. This story was about normal people working hard to survive the occult with no special abilities or gifts or even extensive knowledge of the supernatural. It was very real and a good page-turner, leaving me to wonder why demons luv Earth and mankind so much

[Jorge Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a huge fan of Hellboy and all the connected in-universe comics including Lobster Johnson I just had to read this. I wasn't disappointed, pulpy 40's noir a plenty.
Don't expect anything mind blowing but it does well at what it sets out to be, The Lobster fighting evil in pulp hero fashion.
Fear the Claw!

[Mike Nusbaum · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a great time reading this book. It captures the feel of the old pulp style storytelling. It was a page turner for me and I'd love to see more Lobster Johnson novels and/or short stories in the future.

The Lobster has a lot in common with The Shadow and I love that like The Shadow our hero utilizes civilian eyes on the streets to help him fight the good fight against evil.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Satisfying action all the way through. Excellent noir storytelling with the Lobster being in the book just enough to be satisfying but not too much and spoiling his mystique. I look forward to the next one.

[Laint Moser · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 ⭐️ it suffered like some of the other “pulp superhero” books I’ve read in the past. Not enough of the title character. Just like when I read the first “Shadow” novel. Too much time spent on the side characters and not enough on THE LOBSTER. Enjoyed it nonetheless.

[Jesse VanDeWalker · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's about what you'd expect from a book called The Satan Factory with a protagonist named Lobster Johnson. The final act could have used a little more polish and one more pass from the editor's red pen.

[Rob Townsend · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just a bunch of good, clean pulp fun

[Lightwhisper · Rating 5 out of 5]

It delivers what is promised, an adventure story. Pretty good!

[Arlomisty · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun read... lots of monsters!

[Burton Olivier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice, solid Lobster Johnson story that is paced pretty well, goes by quick. Good mix of mob stuff with Hellboy demon stuff.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, it's pulpy for sure, but not in a good way. Whiffs on the charm of the comics; it's a bad idea to go inside the Lobster's head, even briefly. Great cover art, though.

[Skjam! · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disgraced doctor Jonas Chapel, on the run from the mob in Mexico, stumbles across a mysterious skeleton dripping a fluid that turns humans into monsters. Soon thereafter Chapel’s back in New York, teaming up with the very gang boss who’d ordered the hit on him to take over all the gangs in the city. Or so mobster Rocco Fazzina thinks, but Dr. Chapel’s ambitions are larger than that. Only the masked man known as the Lobster and his few agents are aware of the Satan Factory and the threat it poses to all human life!

The Lobster is a character first appearing in the Hellboy comic books by Mike Mignola. He was a vigilante of the 1930s, dead in the present day, and had become known at “Lobster Johnson” through a series of ever less accurate fictionalizations. For the purposes of this book, the body of the story is a previously unknown manuscript that predates all other fictionalizations, and may have been written by an agent of the Lobster himself.

That agent (under the alias Jacob Hurley) is a former police officer who’d been framed for corruption when he dared speak out against it, and after several years in prison, released to become an unemployable homeless man. He’s recently been recruited by the Lobster to keep an eye on the city’s underbelly. As this is the twilight period of history after the start of the Depression but before the end of Prohibition, there is a thriving Hooverville for Jake to get information from.

As a new agent of the Lobster, Jake serves as the viewpoint character to introduce us to the team. We also get scenes from the viewpoint of the Lobster, but these are all directly connected to his fight against crime and tell almost nothing about his personal life beyond dark allusions to tragic events that motivated him to become the Lobster, and perhaps gave him his “not a normal human” status.

The Lobster is much in the Spider mode, branding fallen foes with his lobster claw emblem, and killing scores of monsters as well as any gangster that crosses his path (that isn’t killed by something else.)

We get a bit more insight into the backgrounds of villains Chapel and Fazzina, and how they got started on their paths to darkness. By the end, however, there’s almost nothing left of Dr. Chapel’s original personality as the owner of the skeleton starts taking him over to spread its army of monsters.

This book is very much is the pulp tradition with lots of fast moving action and not much time spent on introspection. Also in the pulp tradition, there’s a glitch–as I hinted at above, “Lobster Johnson” was a name attached to the Lobster only much later than the purported date of the manuscript, and yet the narrative slips and calls him that a couple of times.

Primarily for Mike Mignola fans who didn’t get enough of the Lobster in the comics, but should also go well for fans of pulp heroes in general.

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw Mike Mignola at the Emerald City Comicon and he was talking about how he was interested in seeing what Thomas Sniegoski did with the Lobster Johnson character since so much of his background is a mystery. Sniegoski handled the story admirably, giving us the viewpoint character in the form of one of the Lobster's team, Jake Hurley, a disgraced former NYC cop.

The action is fast-paced, the descriptions suitably gory and the Lobster remains a mysterious figure. Not that he doesn't loom large in the story. You get plenty of Lobster Johnson, just not much about his background. The other team members are also given the less is more treatment. Jake and the big bad guy character are the ones we learn the most about.

Perhaps if this sells well enough we'll be treated to further adventures of Lobster Johnson and his crew and be given a little more insight into the characters that inhabit his world.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled with this book. I believe the main reason was this was a comic book in text form. Good old fashioned pulp comic. I think part of it was we never delved into the main character too much, we learned mainly about a few of his sidekicks and the main bad guy but not really too much about The Lobster (such a stupid name btw). I am a fan of Hellboy but not read too many comics in the last two or so decades so I was not really up on who this character was or why he was so damn invulnerable to damage. He repeatedly get his ass handed to him yet he keeps fighting and coming back for more. The ending was straight up comic book.

All in all a decent book, and one that I am sure a Hellboy fan would love, but one that an average reader would think was ok.

[Damon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay - very plausibly pulpy, but that brings some bad with the good. The plot was fairly basic and entertaining, but also had some holes and inconsistencies, and the overall writing was none too great. Not a bad summer read - it was short, and moved along at a good pace - but there wasn't really too much to get excited about. Also, for a book about the Lobster, he really doesn't do a whole lot, or even really appear in that much of the book.

[Ruz El · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lobster Johnson get's his own novel. It's clearly a tribute to the pulps, but this one just never quite worked. It's presented as a lost manuscript from the 40's, but is clearly written in a modern style so it never feels right. The story is decent enough, but in the end, Lobster is a real puss. You're better off checking out a Doc Savage or other novel from the period that this one is trying to hard to emanate.

[Noah Soudrette · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great idea this. A honest to god "lost" pulp novel about the fictional pulp hero Lobster Johnson, torn from the pages of Hellboy. This is a fun little read, written in the style of the old pulps. I'd give it an extra star if you're a Hellboy fan, and one less if your not. It's pretty much for die hards only. Still, I hope they put out more.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very fast-paced, action-packed story told as a 1930's-era pulp hero adventure. The Lobster would've been at home on the newstand racks next to The Avenger and Doc Savage. Lots of fun for fans of the genre.

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome book. Love the Lobster. Sniegoski really nailed it and really got the Lobster. Wouldn't mind seeing a comic adaptation of this, simply to see how Sneigoski might lay it out in panel form. If you love the Mignolaverse as much as I do, definitely check this out.

[Scott Waldie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid novel adaptation, really nails the feel of the Lobster comics and Mignola's pulp action horror universe. Fast, concise read and I'd say just as good as any of the LJ arcs I've read in their native graphic format.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

F@$%ing Awesome!!! Loads of gore and badassery.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but there was nothing about Lobster Johnson. Doesn't he have some kinds of back story?

[Erik Carl son · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pulpy goodness. Sadly Dark Horse didn't want to invest any time or money into a second volume.