Lobster Johnson
Encyclopedia
Lobster Johnson is a fictional character
featured in the Hellboy
and Bureau For Paranormal Research and Defense comic books published by Dark Horse Comics
. He was created by Mike Mignola
.
Within the Hellboy
universe, Lobster Johnson was a vigilante
who worked in secret in New York City
during the 1930s. Although the public believes that The Lobster was only the hero of pulp serials and comics, he was a real man who faced gangsters as well as paranormal threats. The Lobster had a reputation for violence, such as killing mobsters
and burning his trademark lobster
claw
symbol into their foreheads with the palm of his gloved hand. This behavior was similar to the Marvel UK
pulp character Night Raven
, and the pulp magazine
hero The Spider
.
. Together they fought against gangsters, spies, and the like. In 1937 the gang came up against one of their most imposing enemies to date - the inscrutable and immeasurbaly powerful Memnan Saa, during the case of the Iron Prometheus. (Lobster Johnson: The Iron Prometheus) Though the Lobster and his allies escaped the confrontation with their lives, tragedy dogged them thereafter as they continued to research his crimes and history. One by one, the Lobster's allies met various gruesome and mysterious ends, until the Lobster called off the search. The deaths seemed to weigh heavy on his conscience - always a quiet man, he became increasingly cold and taciturn. Not long after this, he accepted an offer of employment from the United States Government, a chance to lay some ghosts to rest. (BPRD: The Black Goddess)
Aided by a new sidekick, Lobster Johnson spent the late 1930s combating the Nazi
threat to the United States. One of his unsuccessful missions involved the escape of a Nazi criminal in Colorado
who destroyed a train full of scientists bound for The Manhattan Project
, resulting in the death of his sidekick. (BPRD: Night Train)
Lobster Johnson's final mission was an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the Nazis from launching a space capsule at Hunte Castle, Austria
on 20 March 1939. Arriving seconds too late to stop the launch itself, he managed to force the roof of Hunte Castle closed, but the capsule burst through regardless. The subsequent explosion and fire completely gutted the castle. Besides Nazi scientist Herman von Klempt
and one German soldier, there were no survivors, including the Lobster himself. (Hellboy: Conqueror Worm)
(in The Conqueror Worm), Lobster Johnson was a fictional character created in the pulp magazines and made briefly popular in a couple of movies such as The Phantom Jungle (Republic, 1945), in which he was portrayed by Vic Williams. In the backup materials of The Iron Prometheus, we learn of his appearances in pulp magazines, comic books, movie serials, and masked Mexican wrestling movies. It's revealed that the character is properly called "The Lobster". "Johnson" was the last name of his alter ego, crippled millionaire William Johnson, created by the author of the pulp stories. It was the masked Mexican wrestling movies that combined the names as "Lobster Johnson".
"Latchkey Memories from Crab Point" is a memoir by Guy Davis, presented in the back matter to the B.P.R.D.: The Black Goddess trade paperback, in which he recounts childhood memories of seeing "the cut-up and dubbed version of the Mexican Lobster Johnson films!" presented on children's after-school television as a black-and-white serial called The Masked Claw. (IMDB currently shows no record for any production titled "The Masked Claw",.)
In 2001, Hellboy
(a lifelong Lobster fan) and Roger
the homunculus
encountered his ghost in the haunted ruins of Hunte Castle, beginning a long association between Johnson and the BPRD, and with Roger and Johann Kraus
in particular. Johnson was instrumental in helping them defeat Rasputin, the Conqueror Worm and Hermann von Klempt, completing in death the mission he had failed to do in life. (Hellboy: Conqueror Worm)
Having seemingly formed some bond with Roger during the mission, it was to the homunculus that he next appeared, when in 2003 he helped Roger and Liz Sherman resolve another of his failed missions - bringing to justice the elderly German saboteur in Colorado. (BPRD: Night Train). The Lobster was quiet for some time after this, although his ghostly presence was half-felt by Johann several times in the basement of the BPRD's new WWII-era base in the Colorado mountains. (BPRD: Garden of Souls)
It was not until his old adversary Memnan Saa began to make his presence felt to the BPRD during the war against Sadu Hem's frog monsters that he returned in earnest; briefly taking possession of Johann's ectoplasm in the wake of Ben Daimio's disastrous end of relations with the team to break the hold Saa had gained over Liz. (BPRD: Killing Ground) With something of his past association with Saa thus revealed, the team held a séance not long afterwards in which his spirit gave them their first clues in the search for Saa, using the information he had uncovered decades before in his investigations. (BPRD: The Warning) When the BPRD finally traced Saa to his base somewhere on the Stanovoy Ridge, the Lobster again took possession of Johann's form in the closing moments of the denouement in an attempt to defeat his old nemesis. (BPRD: The Black Goddess) With all his business on earth thus concluded, Kate took him back to Hunte Castle in Austria, where he relinquished his hold on Johann's ectoplasm and rejoined the ghostly throng inhabiting the castle - having found his own sort of peace in an afterlife where he could continue his battle against Nazis and the forces of evil forever after. (BPRD: King of Fear)
& Ryan Sook
. Hellboy: Conqueror Worm (4 issues, May-August 2001) by Mike Mignola. B.P.R.D.: Night Train (1 issue, September 17, 2003) by Geoff Johns
, Scott Kolins
& Dave Stewart. B.P.R.D.: Killing Ground (5 issues, August-December 2007) by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi & Guy Davis. Lobster Johnson: The Iron Prometheus (5 issues, September 2007-January 2008) by Mike Mignola and Jason Armstrong. B.P.R.D.: The Black Goddess (5 issues) by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Guy Davis. B.P.R.D.: King of Fear (5 issues, January-May 2010) by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Guy Davis.
line from Mezco Toyz
. A clear plastic version of the toy was released as a convention exclusive at the San Diego Comicon. It was called "the Ghost of Lobster Johnson".
's wish to remain true to the character's origin. Guillermo del Toro
has, however, stated that Johnson may appear in Hellboy III and that he wants Bruce Campbell
to play him. Johnson has a brief cameo in the second animated Hellboy film, Blood and Iron appearing during a flashback scene showing Hellboy's birth and Malcome Frost's reaction to the creature. After the credits there is a teaser for the still unproduced third film The Phantom Claw, where he will assist Hellboy and Kate Corrigan
in battling the ghost of Rasputin.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
featured in the Hellboy
Hellboy
Hellboy is a comic book superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 , and has since appeared in various eponymous miniseries, one-shots and intercompany crossovers...
and Bureau For Paranormal Research and Defense comic books published by Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
. He was created by Mike Mignola
Mike Mignola
Michael Joseph "Mike" Mignola is an American comic book artist and writer who created the comic book series Hellboy for Dark Horse Comics. He has worked for animation projects such as Atlantis: The Lost Empire and the adaptation of his one shot comic book, The Amazing Screw-On Head.-Career:Mignola...
.
Within the Hellboy
Hellboy
Hellboy is a comic book superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 , and has since appeared in various eponymous miniseries, one-shots and intercompany crossovers...
universe, Lobster Johnson was a vigilante
Vigilante
A vigilante is a private individual who legally or illegally punishes an alleged lawbreaker, or participates in a group which metes out extralegal punishment to an alleged lawbreaker....
who worked in secret in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
during the 1930s. Although the public believes that The Lobster was only the hero of pulp serials and comics, he was a real man who faced gangsters as well as paranormal threats. The Lobster had a reputation for violence, such as killing mobsters
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
and burning his trademark lobster
Lobster
Clawed lobsters comprise a family of large marine crustaceans. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate.Though several groups of crustaceans are known as lobsters, the clawed lobsters are most...
claw
Claw
A claw is a curved, pointed appendage, found at the end of a toe or finger in most mammals, birds, and some reptiles. However, the word "claw" is also often used in reference to an invertebrate. Somewhat similar fine hooked structures are found in arthropods such as beetles and spiders, at the end...
symbol into their foreheads with the palm of his gloved hand. This behavior was similar to the Marvel UK
Marvel UK
Marvel UK was an imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US produced stories for the British weekly comic market, though it later did produce original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve Dillon and Grant Morrison.Panini Comics obtained the...
pulp character Night Raven
Night Raven
Night Raven is a fictional superhero appearing primarily in Marvel UK Comics, a division of Marvel Comics.Night Raven first appeared in Hulk Comic #1 .-Publication history:...
, and the pulp magazine
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
hero The Spider
The Spider
The Spider was one of the major pulp magazine heroes of the 1930s and 1940s.- Background :The Spider was created by Harry Steeger at Popular Publications in 1933 as competition to Street and Smith Publications' vigilante hero, The Shadow...
.
Life and Death
The Lobster started his career in 1932, working with a small but trusted group of allies out of a secret base in the sewers of New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Together they fought against gangsters, spies, and the like. In 1937 the gang came up against one of their most imposing enemies to date - the inscrutable and immeasurbaly powerful Memnan Saa, during the case of the Iron Prometheus. (Lobster Johnson: The Iron Prometheus) Though the Lobster and his allies escaped the confrontation with their lives, tragedy dogged them thereafter as they continued to research his crimes and history. One by one, the Lobster's allies met various gruesome and mysterious ends, until the Lobster called off the search. The deaths seemed to weigh heavy on his conscience - always a quiet man, he became increasingly cold and taciturn. Not long after this, he accepted an offer of employment from the United States Government, a chance to lay some ghosts to rest. (BPRD: The Black Goddess)
Aided by a new sidekick, Lobster Johnson spent the late 1930s combating the Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
threat to the United States. One of his unsuccessful missions involved the escape of a Nazi criminal in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
who destroyed a train full of scientists bound for The Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
, resulting in the death of his sidekick. (BPRD: Night Train)
Lobster Johnson's final mission was an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the Nazis from launching a space capsule at Hunte Castle, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
on 20 March 1939. Arriving seconds too late to stop the launch itself, he managed to force the roof of Hunte Castle closed, but the capsule burst through regardless. The subsequent explosion and fire completely gutted the castle. Besides Nazi scientist Herman von Klempt
Herman von Klempt
Herman von Klempt is a villain created by writer/artist Mike Mignola for the Dark Horse Comics series Hellboy. He first appeared in the Comics Buyer's Guide.-Character Biography:...
and one German soldier, there were no survivors, including the Lobster himself. (Hellboy: Conqueror Worm)
Legacy
According to B.P.R.D. Director Tom ManningTom Manning
Tom Manning is a fictional character from the Dark Horse Comics universe. He is director of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense.Manning has classically been portrayed as a stuffed-shirt bureaucrat who refuses to trust the paranormal members of his agency, even though their presence is...
(in The Conqueror Worm), Lobster Johnson was a fictional character created in the pulp magazines and made briefly popular in a couple of movies such as The Phantom Jungle (Republic, 1945), in which he was portrayed by Vic Williams. In the backup materials of The Iron Prometheus, we learn of his appearances in pulp magazines, comic books, movie serials, and masked Mexican wrestling movies. It's revealed that the character is properly called "The Lobster". "Johnson" was the last name of his alter ego, crippled millionaire William Johnson, created by the author of the pulp stories. It was the masked Mexican wrestling movies that combined the names as "Lobster Johnson".
"Latchkey Memories from Crab Point" is a memoir by Guy Davis, presented in the back matter to the B.P.R.D.: The Black Goddess trade paperback, in which he recounts childhood memories of seeing "the cut-up and dubbed version of the Mexican Lobster Johnson films!" presented on children's after-school television as a black-and-white serial called The Masked Claw. (IMDB currently shows no record for any production titled "The Masked Claw",.)
Afterlife
Death was not the end for the Lobster. The Lobster's ghost was one of the strongest yet seen in the Hellboy universe. He was completely corporeal when he chose to be, firing his pistol with deadly effect and burning his sign into the forehead of his victims. It would appear that the Lobster's death greatly increased his powers, as opposed to the Ghost of Rasputin, who was rendered almost immaterial by his death at Abe Sapien's hand.In 2001, Hellboy
Hellboy
Hellboy is a comic book superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 , and has since appeared in various eponymous miniseries, one-shots and intercompany crossovers...
(a lifelong Lobster fan) and Roger
Roger (Hellboy)
Roger the Homunculus is a fictional character featured in the Hellboy and B.P.R.D. comic books published by Dark Horse Comics. He is an unusually large homunculus, a humanoid being said to be created by means of alchemy....
the homunculus
Homunculus
Homunculus is a term used, generally, in various fields of study to refer to any representation of a human being. Historically, it referred specifically to the concept of a miniature though fully formed human body, for example, in the studies of alchemy and preformationism...
encountered his ghost in the haunted ruins of Hunte Castle, beginning a long association between Johnson and the BPRD, and with Roger and Johann Kraus
Johann Kraus
Johann Kraus is a fictional character in the Hellboy universe, created by Mike Mignola. He is featured in the comic book B.P.R.D., published by Dark Horse Comics....
in particular. Johnson was instrumental in helping them defeat Rasputin, the Conqueror Worm and Hermann von Klempt, completing in death the mission he had failed to do in life. (Hellboy: Conqueror Worm)
Having seemingly formed some bond with Roger during the mission, it was to the homunculus that he next appeared, when in 2003 he helped Roger and Liz Sherman resolve another of his failed missions - bringing to justice the elderly German saboteur in Colorado. (BPRD: Night Train). The Lobster was quiet for some time after this, although his ghostly presence was half-felt by Johann several times in the basement of the BPRD's new WWII-era base in the Colorado mountains. (BPRD: Garden of Souls)
It was not until his old adversary Memnan Saa began to make his presence felt to the BPRD during the war against Sadu Hem's frog monsters that he returned in earnest; briefly taking possession of Johann's ectoplasm in the wake of Ben Daimio's disastrous end of relations with the team to break the hold Saa had gained over Liz. (BPRD: Killing Ground) With something of his past association with Saa thus revealed, the team held a séance not long afterwards in which his spirit gave them their first clues in the search for Saa, using the information he had uncovered decades before in his investigations. (BPRD: The Warning) When the BPRD finally traced Saa to his base somewhere on the Stanovoy Ridge, the Lobster again took possession of Johann's form in the closing moments of the denouement in an attempt to defeat his old nemesis. (BPRD: The Black Goddess) With all his business on earth thus concluded, Kate took him back to Hunte Castle in Austria, where he relinquished his hold on Johann's ectoplasm and rejoined the ghostly throng inhabiting the castle - having found his own sort of peace in an afterlife where he could continue his battle against Nazis and the forces of evil forever after. (BPRD: King of Fear)
Comics
Matthew Dow Smith
Matthew Dow Smith is an American comic book artist.- Bibliography :* Astronauts in Trouble: Live From the Moon #1 and #2* The Book of Fate #11* Day of Judgment #1-5...
& Ryan Sook
Ryan Sook
Ryan Sook is an American comic book artist from San Jose, California.-Career:Sook's first professional work was in Challengers of the Unknown #15 published in 1998...
. Hellboy: Conqueror Worm (4 issues, May-August 2001) by Mike Mignola. B.P.R.D.: Night Train (1 issue, September 17, 2003) by Geoff Johns
Geoff Johns
Geoff Johns is an American comic book writer, best known for his work for DC Comics, where he has been Chief Creative Officer since February 2010, in particular for characters such as Green Lantern, The Flash and Superman...
, Scott Kolins
Scott Kolins
Scott Kolins is an American illustrator, writer and creator for multiple different superhero and science fiction comic books. His main credits are as a penciler but he is an established inker as well as colorist and has some credits as a writer.-Biography:...
& Dave Stewart. B.P.R.D.: Killing Ground (5 issues, August-December 2007) by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi & Guy Davis. Lobster Johnson: The Iron Prometheus (5 issues, September 2007-January 2008) by Mike Mignola and Jason Armstrong. B.P.R.D.: The Black Goddess (5 issues) by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Guy Davis. B.P.R.D.: King of Fear (5 issues, January-May 2010) by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Guy Davis.
Trade Paperback Collections
Other media
- In 2005, Lobster Johnson was part of the first
Action figure
An action figure is a posable character figurine, made of plastic or other materials, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, video game, or television program. These action figures are usually marketed towards boys and male collectors...
line from Mezco Toyz
Mezco Toyz
Mezco Toyz is a toy company that makes action figures and other collectibles based on original and licensed properties. Its most popular product is the cult hit toy line Living Dead Dolls. Other popular licensed properties include Family Guy, South Park and Hellboy...
. A clear plastic version of the toy was released as a convention exclusive at the San Diego Comicon. It was called "the Ghost of Lobster Johnson".
- Lobster Johnson does not appear in
Mike Mignola
Michael Joseph "Mike" Mignola is an American comic book artist and writer who created the comic book series Hellboy for Dark Horse Comics. He has worked for animation projects such as Atlantis: The Lost Empire and the adaptation of his one shot comic book, The Amazing Screw-On Head.-Career:Mignola...
's wish to remain true to the character's origin. Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro is a Mexican director, producer, screenwriter, novelist and designer. He is mostly known for his acclaimed films, Blade II, Pan's Labyrinth and the Hellboy film franchise. He is a frequent collaborator with Ron Perlman, Federico Luppi and Doug Jones...
has, however, stated that Johnson may appear in Hellboy III and that he wants Bruce Campbell
Bruce Campbell
Bruce Lorne Campbell is an American film and television actor. As a cult movie actor, Campbell starred as Ashley J. "Ash" Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series of films and he has starred in many low-budget cult films such as Crimewave, Maniac Cop, Bubba Ho-tep, Escape From L.A. and Sundown:...
to play him. Johnson has a brief cameo in the second animated Hellboy film, Blood and Iron appearing during a flashback scene showing Hellboy's birth and Malcome Frost's reaction to the creature. After the credits there is a teaser for the still unproduced third film The Phantom Claw, where he will assist Hellboy and Kate Corrigan
Kate Corrigan
Kate Corrigan is a fictional character from the Dark Horse Comics universe, featured in the comic book series Hellboy and BPRD written by Mike Mignola, et al. Her appearance is based on Mignola's wife, Christine.-History:...
in battling the ghost of Rasputin.
- Lobster Johnson has figures in WizkidsWizKidsWizKids, Inc. is an American New Jersey-based company that first made its mark in the game industry producing collectible miniatures wargames. WizKids was purchased by and is a subsidiary of National Entertainment Collectibles Association. The company was founded in 2000 by Jordan Weisman, a...
' Indy HeroclixHeroClixHeroClix is a collectible miniatures game that uses the Clix system. Originally designed and produced by WizKids, it is now owned and marketed by NECA. Players construct teams of comic book heroes, villains, and other characters from popular video games such as Street Fighter, Gears of War, and Halo...
.
- In 2007, Dark Horse produced a magnet that bore Lobster Johnson's animated design, based on his brief appearance in Blood and Iron
- The Lobster appears as the secret character in Hellboy: Science of Evil and is voiced by Bruce CampbellBruce CampbellBruce Lorne Campbell is an American film and television actor. As a cult movie actor, Campbell starred as Ashley J. "Ash" Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series of films and he has starred in many low-budget cult films such as Crimewave, Maniac Cop, Bubba Ho-tep, Escape From L.A. and Sundown:...
.
- The Lobster's original novel, Lobster Johnson: The Satan Factory by Thomas E. SniegoskiThomas E. Sniegoski-Career:A number of Sniegoski's works have been related to the Buffyverse, the fictional universe established by TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel....
was released in July 2009.
External links
- Review of Lobster Johnson: The Iron Prometheus #1, Comics BulletinComics BulletinComics Bulletin is a website with an emphasis on the American comic book industry, updated daily with news, reviews, interviews, and editorial content. Coverage ranges from mainstream to independent/small press comic book and graphic novel publishers.-History:...
- Jason Armstrong Cooks with Lobster Johnson, Comics BulletinComics BulletinComics Bulletin is a website with an emphasis on the American comic book industry, updated daily with news, reviews, interviews, and editorial content. Coverage ranges from mainstream to independent/small press comic book and graphic novel publishers.-History:...
, October 24, 2007 - Review of Lobster Johnson The Satan Factory, Killer-Works