The 2 Hellboy story arcs this volume contains are classics. The introductions are impressive and enjoyable, especially if you're already a fan of the series. If you ARE a fan, these are a great addition (or replacement, if your trade paperback bindings have gone rotten) to your comic collection.

This "Library Edition" series features a soft cover and glorious blown up art from the originals. It's like comics in Hi-Def and I love it. You have literally never seen Hellboy look this good. These volumes give the impression of an epic tome, holding wonders unceasing within, which is appropriate.

Fantastic content, terricic packaging.

The cloth cover could be a dust catcher (I'll never know).

Just buy the 2.5 gallon Ziploc / Gladlock bags and you will have no problem.
Just treat it like a large 33 dollar sandwich.

Or go down to any Fedex, DHL, UPS, Post Office and pick up a large plastic mailer (non padded) their free (but the Ziploc bags you can see through)

Hellboy art is nicer blow up to larger than comic size. Also in Vol 1 has two story arcks and his first two short storys (one shots) in it.

All in all a great buy.

I really enjoy the movie so i thought i'd give this a read, despite never reading a comic before in my life other than a few glances. not to offend, but really found them to be ridiculous, childish material. that was, before i read this.. THIS has opened my eyes to a whole new world. wow, just wow. this has definitely made me see that i have been way to quick to judge this medium, and that is my fault that will be corrected.

anyhow, i really loved this read and found myself not being able to stop turning pages. completely engrossing on every level, visual and story wise. everyone else has said it much better than i ever could, so I just leave you with my huge thumbs up!

In the tradition of Marvel's huge Omnibus collections, and DC's wonderful Absolute Editions, Hellboy is now here in a deluxe hardcover edition from Dark Horse. This first volume of the Hellboy Library Edition encompasses the first two storyarcs in Mike Mignola's spectacular series, Seed of Destruction and Wake the Devil. Both stories are bound in this handsome oversized hardcover, along with a good deal of extras to boot. With the new Hellboy sequel on the way, now has never been a better time to get introduced to, or re-acquainted with, Hellboy, the rest of B.P.R.D., and the wonderful world that Mike Mignola created years ago. All in all, if you've missed out on Hellboy over the past few years, this first Library Edition is an absolute must own, and a perfect introduction to the wonderful world of Mike Mignola's Hellboy.

Aside from the movie a few years back, this is my first foray into Hellboy. After hearing about the new movie coming later, I knew I needed to start reading Hellboy. Fortunately, this interest coincided with the release of the Library Edition. This book is gorgeous! A comic of this magnitude in terms of art & storytelling needs this large format. There are so many awesome panels, you could spend all day just looking at the art and not even reading! This is THE place to start for anyone interested in Hellboy, and like another reviewer said, a great item to replace worn TPBs. Combine hardback with larger pages and you have a definite winner!

This first volume of HELLBOY LIBRARY EDITIONS is a welcome addition to any serious comic reader's collection. It matches the superb ART OF HELLBOY hardcover from a few years back in both size and binding and contains the complete story lines SEED OF DESTRUCTION and WAKE THE DEVIL as well as an extensive sketchbook section featuring many of creator Mike Mignola's early sketches (with very few, if any, repeated images from the ART OF HELLBOY tome).

The only thing missing from the original trade paperback collections are the pin-ups by other artists but, really, once you see how beautiful Mignola's work looks printed in this oversize format you hardly miss them. The colors (by Mark Chiarello on SEED and James Sinclair on WAKE) are vividly reproduced on bright, glossy paper (be careful to avoid fingerprinting, though).

Any fan of HELLBOY, Mike Mignola, or comics in general should look into adding this book to their library. I look foward to volume 2.

This is the way comic albums or graphic novels should be presented. In a beautiful large size [I call these French deluxe editions as this is how they publish standard comics in France] hardcovers on extra fine paper. Boards are designed beautifly in clothe with golden letters. A big plus for me anyway is that there is no dust jacaket present which just annoys me as it interferes with holding and reading.

This is exactly the way I was hoping DH would reprint the Conan chronicles in 9 x 12 inch deluxe editions and I still hope they will one day [soon, soon, soon...].

I did not review the story and art as that is a given: it is awesome! More sketchbook material and preliminary pages would be nice, but this is great also.

This book is worth easily $100-200 quality wise and you would really be making a mistake by not buying this great book here on amazon.

DH people are you listening, we want also Conan by John Buscema and others done this exact way.

5 stars and more.

This volume was my introduction into the world of Hellboy, and let me just say that I am impressed. Not only is the story both intriguing and engrossing, but it's also just plain fun. The writing is great, and the art is gorgeous, especially in this format. The inks and lines are sharp, the paper is very high quality, and the extras are well worth checking out. The cover, as another reviewer noted, does tend to get dirty quickly, but it's easy to clean just by wiping it off. This is definitely one of the best collections of a comic book I've seen, and it's well worth the price. If you're a fan of Hellboy, I'm guessing you own this already, and if you've ever been curious about Hellboy, or comics in general, you should definitely check this out. I've already pre-ordered volume 2, and I'll be getting any others Dark Horse wants to put out.

Hasn't been long since i really dove into reading comics, and searching for collections of series in hardbacks (like this one). The Hellboy Library really impressed me, it doesn't look like marvel omnibus or DC absolutes. I thought the cloth cover made it look very unique and stylish (although one reviewer said its a dust magnet, which isn't far from the truth, i liked the limited edition leather cover they made for hellboy seed of destruction which i sadly missed, this is a great collection)

I love how big it is and how well the art looks, the quality is fantastic for the price its totally worth every penny, i really can't wait to read more of it and can't wait to put Vol.2 right next to it. (which is already being pre-orderd on amazon :-D) I sure hope they do something like this for B.P.R.D. As well as hope they come out with covers like this for other popular dark horse series!!

Only thing i would have liked would have been a higher page count.

This book is great, the art looks amazing on this size. My only complain is the black fabric on the hardcover, man, that thing is a dust magnet, just wait and see. My wife thinks the exterior looks elegant, I think it looks cheap, I guess you need to see and feel it. I like better the Seed of Destruction hardcover, however, the art looks much better on this new hardcover, and the paper quality is great. Buy it, the exterior may not bother you.