RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books A chronological roadmap through the world of HELLBOY

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I was just looking at Mike Mignola's listing on Wikipedia, and regarding the acclaim for Mignola's HELLBOY series...




While I enjoy the HELLBOY series, and Mignola's work in general, I really had no idea.

I understand that even acclaimed work by the likes of Jack Kirby, Neal Adams, Don McGregor, Jim Starlin, Craig Russell, Alan Moore, or Dave Sim, for all their talent, is not always everyone's cup of tea.

But certainly, there are elements of quality, sophistication, a splicing of genres from ghost stories to pulp heroes to H P Lovecraft, semi-historical characters like Raputin and Nazis, maybe a little Ghostbusters, and just pure fun, that makes HELLBOY an irresistible mix for many of us.

My only advice to those seeking out HELLBOY material is to start at the beginning with HELLBOY:SEED OF DESTRUCTION and follow the collected books in order. And beyond the 5th book (HELLBOY: CONQUEROR WORM), there's an increasing amount of material scripted by Mignola, but with art by others, such as Duncan Fegredo, Scott Hampton, and Richard Corben, and if you're a purist like me, you'll prefer with few exceptions only the stories written and illustrated by Mignola, rather than by other artists. Last I looked, it was up to 13 collected volumes. I have the first five volumes, and after that have bought the stories as they were released in comic form as one-shots or miniseries, so haven't bothered with the collections.

Here's HELLBOY SEED OF DESTRUCTION (1993) that you can read in its entirety online:
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Hellboy-Seed-of-Destruction

And then:
HELLBOY: WAKE THE DEVIL (volume 2)
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Hellboy-Wake-the-Devil

HELLBOY: THE CHAINED COFFIN and other stories (volume 3)
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Hellboy-The-Chained-Coffin-and-Others/Full?id=63663

HELLBOY: THE RIGHT HAND OF DOOM (volume 4)
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Hellboy-The-Right-Hand-of-Doom

HELLBOY: CONQUEROR WORM (volume 5)
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Hellboy-Conqueror-Worm


And that alone takes you from 1993-2002.

While I think you can mostly understand them in any order independently of each other, certainly the first volume is essential to establish the basic premise and characters of the series.

And beyond that... see the link in my opening post. I've never seen a better index to help you navigate through the series. Of the original stories and when published, the creative teams for each, and in what volumes they are collected.