Most of our readers are probably already familiar with the American writer H.P.Lovecraft and his stories about Cthulu, the alien from another dimension who is constantly trying to invade our reality and either conquer the world or erase the human race completely; and most of our readers are also familiar with Ben Grimm of the Fantastic Four, the monster with a heart of gold who has to rescue the world time and time again from armies of criminals and creatures from outer space. If you get both concepts, you are ready for 'Hellboy.'

Hellboy is the love child of a devil from Hell and a witch from England. During the middle of the Second World War the White Russian mastermind Rasputin calls Hellboy out of Hell and asks him to join the Axis and to help lay waste to the Earth. Fortunately, young Hellboy is a good and honest child, and he joins the Allies instead.

As soon as Hellboy grows up he becomes an agent of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense. Over the years to come Hellboy travels the world using his sword and his pistol and his gigantic right hand to protect mankind from vampires and Nazis and monsters from outer space. And, Hellboy talks tough and smokes a lot of cigars.

In honor of Halloween, we are going to read

Hellboy: Seed of Destruction Written and drawn by Mike Mignola

On October 22, 2019.

You can get 'Seed of Destruction' from Amazon.com at

https://smile.amazon.com/Hellboy-Vol-1-Seed-Destruction/dp/1593070942/

You can buy this edition from Amazon.com for twelve dollars, and with Amazon Prime the shipping is free. Having said that, this edition has been in print for a long time, so Amazon is actually selling a lot of used copies for as low as five dollars, including postage. 'Hellboy: Seed of Destruction' has one hundred and twenty-eight pages in full color, and this edition includes the story that we will be reading.

Of course, there will always be people who want more, more, and more. Those people can also get a longer 'Omnibus' of the first Hellboy stories from Amazon. The link for the first 'Hellboy Omnibus' is at

https://smile.amazon.com/Hellboy-Omnibus-1-Seed-Destruction/dp/1506706665/

This volume includes both 'Seed of Destruction' as well some of the best Hellboy stories, including 'Wake The Devil' and 'Almost Colossus.' This version has three hundred and sixty-eight pages, all in color, for eighteen dollars on Amazon prime, so it offers the best deal I have seen in a long time for any graphic novel. Either way, we are eager to see you at the meetup.