Lobster Johnson Volume 1: The Iron Prometheus

This one has it all – A Yeti, Nazi Cyborgs, Giant Snakes, Floating Brains. You know – the good stuff.Set in 1930’s New York, Jim Sacks arrives at a friend’s apartment. Jim’s not alone in the apartment. Enter the Yeti and Lobster Johnson, our hero. We’re only on page 4 and it’s already “holy crap” action. Jim enters the fray to dispatch the Yeti. Jim worked as a lab assistant for Professor Gallaragas and his daughter Helena. Jim is now in the possession of a very unique suit. The Vril Energy Suit. Vril being the power of God as long time Hellboy/B.P.R.D readers might know.More action as The Lobster and Jim cut down would-be assassins. Enter Dr. Waxman and his henchman who has a mechanical claw of his own. Enter Memnan Saa, his giant snakes, and his own agenda regarding Jim’s suit. Exit Dr. Waxman as he is chomped by one of Saa’s snakes. The Lobster and Saa have words. Saa says, “…Never raise a hand against me.”The Lobster encounters the Professor’s daughter. Jim encounters the Professor or what’s left of him, a floating brain in a jar. The Professor recounts the history of Vril.Re-enter Memnan Saa with different reptiles this time – a man transformed into a Dragon. Jim falls in battle with the Dragon-Man. But he rises again, much more than human. The Dragon-Man has no chance against the transformed Jim. Meanwhile, the Lobster shoots Saa and they have another confrontation.And there’s still more - fighting a Mandrill in the sewers, more Nazi fighting action (underwater combat this time), more Yeti fighting action, and Lobster Johnson manages to survive the final pages as does the Professor’s daughter.Needless to say but I’ll say it, Great Pulp action!!! Where’s the movie?

MIke Mignola's enigmatic hero finally appears on his own. An obvious homage to The Shadow and other, lesser pulp fictions heros from the Golden Age, Lobster Johnson has long been a supporting player in the Hellboy universe. The Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense doesn't believe he exists, but he's clearly in the flesh in this first collection. Like Hellboy, he's one of the good guys, fighting evildoers including Nazi agents, a super-submarine, and a mysterious and powerful Oriental magician who may be the Devil himself. The Lobster is trying to protect an equally mysterious armored suit, its superhuman powers, and the people who developed it. The Bad Guys want it, though. Who will win? The surprising answer is pure Mignola, and I won't spoil it by revealing it here. Just know that even the Lobster has to bow before the mystical powers of the universe.This volume is a worthy addition to the Hellboy opus. The artwork by Jason Armstrong follows the Mignola/Kirby style that we expect, but the real praise belongs to Mignola's writing. He's captured the essence of pulp fiction: the hero, the innocent bystander caught up in the conflict, the scientist and his beautiful daughter, the foolish human baddies, and the mysterious more-than-human world. Mignola even includes a tongue-in-cheek history of Lobster Johnson in the media, a witty and perceptive work in itself.Simply put: If you're a Mignola fan, this belongs in your collection. If you're not a Mignola fan, what is *wrong* with you?

Great throwback adventure story with a cool protagonist. The Lobster is a tough and cool character, hunting down and killing Nazi spies in New York, as well as other baddies. Fun mystical adventure. Like a pulp novel from the time, and the storytelling really makes you feel as if The Lobster is some beloved character that you’ve been hearing about forever. Kind of echoes of The Phantom, The Shadow, a little Indiana Jones in there as well.The one negative feeling it kicked up was the depiction of the big bad in the story. A mysterious Asian man with mysterious Asian styled magic. It reminded me somewhat of the offensive orientalism type of storytelling of that time. It doesn’t have some of the styling of that, offensive speech pattern or other markers…however the dress and style of magic makes me wonder what an Asian individual might feel about this, I hesitate to say whether it should or shouldn’t be considered offensive. Has a weird feel to it. Not sure if I’ll go on to #2 because of it. We shall see.

obster Johnson Volume 1: The Iron PrometheusIt's become pretty obvious, I'm a Mike Mignola fanboy. He can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. Lobster Johnson, a vigilante taking down mobsters and fighting Nazis. It's everything I loved about the Hellboy series with different characters and stories. Same style of story telling which I love. They call it pulp and while I'm not entirely sure what that means, but whatever it is... I love it.Lobster Johnson comes into contact with a man in a suit (similar to the Sledgehammer 44 suit) and ends up solving the case of "what happened, where did I come from, what's going to happen next" by means of doing battle with Nazis and gangster and gangster nazis.If you like Hellboy, you'll like Lobster Johnson. It's pretty standard.

Lobster Johnson is such a goofy idea that ends up being very cool. I liked the idea here more than the execution. While he has been in the pages of Hellboy I think the book still needed more exposition. I thought the art was perfect for the book. Overall, a fun noir book that needs fleshed out.

A cthullu level of Weird War at it's finest with Steampunk fun. A nice companion to BPRD & Hellboy.

I was expecting to really not like this series, but this first vol surprised me a little. Lobster Johnson is basically Hellboys version of Batman just in the 1930's

This is a fantastic series and a great lead-in to the Sledgehammer 44 book. Which has a place in the B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth storyline.

The first in a great series

Arrived damaged.

Good book.

Amazing graphic novel, definitely buy if fan of hellboy/ BPRD

Narra la historia de Lobster Johnson que intenta desenmarañar quién desea el traje de Vril y con qué propósito, situado durante la 2nda. Guerra Mundial, primera parte de lo que promete ser una historia con acción.