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 the writing. Hellboy learns where he came from and meets Rasputin. The basis for the del Toro film, and #1 is the key of the whole line.
+ Add to my want listWake the Devilessential
Mignola takes over the writing completely and the series finds its true voice. Vampires, Nazis and an unforgettable sequence with a hanged man.
+ Add to my want listAlmost Colossusrecommended
The direct sequel to Wake the Devil, with the homunculus Roger. Two issues, and the start of the Bureau becoming a family rather than an employer.
+ Add to my want listThe Chained Coffin and Othersessential
The third trade, collecting the short stories including Almost Colossus. The Corpse is a masterpiece of Irish folklore and the story where a lot of people fall in love with Hellboy. Buy this and you understand the whole appeal.
+ Add to my want listBox Full of Evilrecommended
Hellboy is offered the crown of Hell and turns it down. Sets up much of what the later books pay off, and Ualac the demon is a great villain.
+ Add to my want listThe Right Hand of Doomrecommended
The fourth trade, more shorts, and the beginning of Hellboy properly wrestling with what his hand is for. Box Full of Evil is collected here.
+ Add to my want listConqueror Wormessential
Nazis, space, Lovecraft, and Hellboy quits the B.P.R.D. at the end of it. The major turning point of the first half of the series.
+ Add to my want listB.P.R.D.: Hollow Earthdeep cut
The Bureau carries on without him, drawn by Ryan Sook. The B.P.R.D. books run alongside Hellboy from here and eventually outgrow it.
+ Add to my want listThe Third Wishrecommended
Hellboy at the bottom of the sea with a mermaid and a witch. Slow, strange and beautiful. This is where the series stops being about monsters of the week.
+ Add to my want listB.P.R.D.: Plague of Frogsrecommended
March to July 2004, Mignola writing alone with Guy Davis drawing. The frog men from Seed of Destruction return and the Bureau's own long story begins. If you take to it, B.P.R.D. runs for well over a hundred issues after this.
+ Add to my want listThe Islandessential
Hellboy learns the true history of his hand and of the world. Collected with The Third Wish in Strange Places (2006), which is the sixth trade and one of the best.
+ Add to my want listThe Troll Witch and Othersdeep cut
Short stories from the anthologies, including Makoma. A good one to keep by the bed.
+ Add to my want listThe Crooked Manrecommended
Appalachian folk horror drawn by Richard Corben, and the story most readers name as the best Hellboy short. Also the basis of the 2024 film.
+ Add to my want listDarkness Callsessential
Duncan Fegredo takes over the art, and Mignola is free to write full time. Baba Yaga, Koshchei, and Russian folklore done properly.
+ Add to my want listThe Wild Huntessential
Excalibur, giants, and Hellboy's actual destiny arriving whether he likes it or not, over 2008 and 2009. The revelations about his mother change everything.
+ Add to my want listThe Stormessential
The armies of the dead rise, and Hellboy has to decide whether to lead them. The first half of the ending.
+ Add to my want listThe Furyessential
The Dragon, the end of the world, and the end of Hellboy on Earth. Mignola and Fegredo close the door on twenty years of story.
+ Add to my want listHellboy in Hellessential
Mignola returns to drawing his own book, from December 2012 to 2016, and takes Hellboy through the underworld to the real end. Ten issues, sparse and quiet, and the finest art of his career.
+ Add to my want listThe Midnight Circusrecommended
A young Hellboy runs away from the Bureau and finds a circus run by demons. Fegredo painting, 56 pages, and one of the loveliest things Dark Horse has printed.
+ Add to my want listHellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1952recommended
Hellboy's first mission, Brazil, drawn by Alex Maleev, starting December 2014. The first of a run of year-titled miniseries that fill in his early career, and a fine place for a second entry point.
+ Add to my want listKrampusnachtdeep cut
Adam Hughes draws Hellboy meeting the Krampus in a Bavarian winter. Won the Eisner for best single issue in 2018, and it earned it.
+ Add to my want listHellboy Library Editionsrecommended
Oversized hardcovers, two trades to a volume, in order: Seed of Destruction and Wake the Devil, Chained Coffin and Right Hand of Doom, Conqueror Worm and Strange Places, Troll Witch and Crooked Man, Darkness Calls and Wild Hunt, Storm and Fury with Bride of Hell. If you want it on a shelf, this is how.
+ Add to my want listHellboy Omnibusrecommended
Softcover, chronological rather than by trade, and the cheapest way to read the lot: Seed of Destruction, Strange Places, The Wild Hunt, Hellboy in Hell.
+ Add to my want listChasing 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.