Comic Review: Hellsing – Volume 1

Issue: Hellsing Volume 1
Creator: Kohta Hirano
Translator: Duane Johsnon
Lettering: Wilbert Lacuna
Editors: Tim Ervin, Fred Lui
Publisher: Dark Horse
Release Date: December 2003
Pages: 208
Price: $13.95

“There’s a secret organization somewhere in England created to defend the Queen and country from monsters of all sorts. Yes, it’s hard to believe in this day and age….but really, isn’t this the true age of monsters? Enter Hellsing, an agency, long in tooth, with the experience, know-how, and…er…equipment to handle the problems that arise when vampires, ghouls take on these dark forces. “What equipment?” you may say. How about another vampire, and a big pistol loaded with special silver bullets? That oughta do the trick. Hellsing the long-awaited manga is finally in America, thanks to Dark Horse Comics and the folks at Digital Manga, and you’re gonna love it. Come get some smart-ass gore and action as only Japan seems to produce, in that crazy “non-Western” formats the kids seem to love. And nice and thick at over 200 pages!“

Artwork: 4.5 out of 5.0
Wow! This book combines the Anime/Manga art style with great character detail and slams it all in your face. This is one fantastic looking book, that never let up on the blood, never let itself down in terms of detail and was strong from start to finish. The black and white look adds an extra dimension to the horror feel. While there are some panels where a character can look really silly by the pose chosen it still fits within the overall style. A hands down winner on the art front.

Story: 4.0 out of 5.0
The one thing I am not going to do here is lie, this is a fun read. While in terms of horror were dealing with zombies and vampires it’s more of an action feel than scary. Now that’s not a bad thing at all. We all like to see some Vampire ass kicking right, and Hellsing delivers that right to your brain. The storyline in this volume does a great job on setting up what is to come. I often had that feeling like it was a video game, in that there was a main bad guy at the end and he needed to be defeated. Overall, non stop fun and a great read.

Dying Breath: 4.0 out of 5.0
Great art…Check! Great story…Check! So what more can I want? Oh I don’t know how about book #2. This one was nothing but a bunch of great pieces of paper wrapped between some cover stock. I am new to the Manga Horror genre, but if they are all like this consider me hooked. I will be reading Vol. 2 and then 3 and 4 and so on. I can easily say that I have been missing out on this one and it’s time to fix that problem.

If you would like to buy or know more about Hellsing Volume 1 please go to http://www.darkhorse.com/

Comic Review: Hellsing – Volume 1