The origin
In the last days of the Second World War, Nazi occultists led by Rasputin perform a ritual on a Scottish island to summon a weapon that will end the world. What comes through is a small red demon child with a stone right hand and filed-down horns. Allied soldiers find him first. He is raised by Professor Trevor Bruttenholm of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, grows up eating pancakes and reading pulp magazines, and spends his adult life punching monsters for the American government while carefully refusing to become what he was summoned to be.
What makes Hellboy different
Hellboy is a story about refusing your destiny, told over twenty years and paid off properly, which almost never happens in comics. He is the Beast of the Apocalypse, prophesied to end the world, and he files his horns down to stumps every morning because he has decided not to. Mignola's other trick is that Hellboy is not really superhero comics at all, it is folklore. Real folklore, obscure European fairy tales, Irish myth, Slavic witches, Lovecraft, all drawn in enormous black shapes that no other artist has ever successfully copied.
Where to start reading
The full reading order
Seed of Destructionessential
Scripted by John Byrne over Mignola's plot and art, the only time Mignola shared writing duties. Hellboy learns where he came from and meets Rasputin. Basis for the del Toro film.
Wake the Devilessential
Mignola takes over writing completely and the series finds its true voice. Vampires, Nazis and an unforgettable sequence with a hanged man.
The Chained Coffin and Othersessential
Short stories, and where a lot of people fall in love with Hellboy. The Corpse is a masterpiece of Irish folklore. Almost Colossus and The Baba Yaga also here.
The Right Hand of Doomrecommended
More shorts, and the beginning of Hellboy properly wrestling with what his hand is for. Box Full of Evil sets up much of the later mythology.
Conqueror Wormessential
Nazis, space, Lovecraft, and Hellboy quits the B.P.R.D. A major turning point.
Strange Placesrecommended
Hellboy wanders Africa and the ocean floor. Slow, strange and beautiful. This is where the series stops being about monsters of the week.
Darkness Callsessential
Duncan Fegredo takes over art, and Mignola is free to write full time. Baba Yaga, Koshchei, and Russian folklore done properly.
The Wild Huntessential
Excalibur, giants, and Hellboy's actual destiny arriving whether he likes it or not. The best arc in the whole series.
The Storm and the Furyessential
The end of the world, more or less. Completes the Fegredo trilogy.
Hellboy in Hellessential
Mignola returns to art for a quiet, strange, gorgeous coda. He said this was the story he had been building to since 1993, and it shows. Read it last.
B.P.R.D.: Plague of Frogsdeep cut
The spin-off following the Bureau after Hellboy leaves. Runs parallel and is genuinely excellent, arguably better than the main title in stretches.
Chasing any of these Hellboy issues?
Whether you are hunting a key, thinking about selling a collection, or just want to talk comics, I am always happy to hear from you.