20+ years ago I was at a flea Market in the middle of nowhere upstate NY and came across the first two Hellboy trades in a stack of books. I opened them up and they were signed by Mike Mignola. It is one of my coolest comic finds.
The Hellboy series has helped me through a real rough time in my life. It has a special place in my life! it’s such a heartwarming, funny, action packed, and scary series.
Ive been looking for a solid reading order for this universe for ages. I always love these videos, thank you man, for all the hard work you put into the channel for the fans!
It's always interesting to see a new Hellboy Universe reading order. I did my own back in 2014 which I update annually on Multiversity Comics. (I'd drop a link, but it appears to be getting caught in a spam filter. Anyway, it's pretty easy to find.) There are also a bunch of other Hellboy Universe Reading Orders linked at the bottom, so it's easy enough to find one that suits your needs. Omar, I'll have to add a link to yours when I update for the 2022 version!
Brother. Your reading order is amazing. Someone pointed me to it two years ago. Wish I had it years back when I started getting the trades. I’ll add a link in the description since I mentioned you and your list in the video.
Your reading order is amazing, I check the new version every year, and I remember your username from the Mignolaverse subreddit, you were very helpful when I used to hang out there. I also enjoy your reviews with the other folks at Mignolaversity.
Wow this is timely! I just decided to get into Hellboy. 👍 So it seems like less than 50% of this entire collection was drawn by Mignola, maybe only 30%? Interesting. I've heard a lot about his art style I thought he would have drawn more of it. Seems like he contributed more of a writer than an artist
The Hellboy Universe currently spans around 90 trades. Of that, Mike Mignola has drawn maybe around maybe 10 trades worth of material. That said, while he may not be drawing the stories, he's still very involved in the design side of things.
Mike is slow and only draws what he wants to draw. So he has more often farmed out the art to other artists. He's a master, and most of the artists he's picked are excellent even if they aren't at his level
I recently finished this and it was incredible! It took me a couple of years and I'm definitely getting into Witchfinder and Lobster Johnson omnibuses. I gotta say, the library editions are absolutely incredible in terms of presentation and price. And one thing I didn't expect is that Hellboy kinda took a back seat and I really enjoyed the BPRD storyline more. Cheers!
This came on the right moment--as I am preparing to buy some x-mas gifts for myself :) and I was wondering how to get into B.P.R.D. and Abe Sapien. As I have the 4 Hellboy Omni....Great stuff! Greetings from Sofia, Bulgaria!
I treasure my hardcovers of Hellboy and the BPRD! Another one to include is the BPRD Vampire trade which continues the story of agent Simon Anders after his encounter with vampires from the 1946 - 1948 HC. I don't think Vampire has been collected in HC yet, just trade. And artist Guy Davis's run on BPRD is what got me hooked on the series. That man can create monsters!
Guy Davis is really great, one of the best horror/gothic artists out there and you are right - he can really draw monsters! I met him a couple times at Heroes Con and he is also a nice chap and easy to talk to.
I’ve been wanting to collect more Hellboy and just bought the library edition vol 2 and hearing the news this morning about a new Hellboy movie also to mention the game. I’m pretty excited. Also glad that you happened to make this video cause I needed a good chronological order of the books and I’ve been going to you for comic book news.
Just finished the whole Hellboy BPRD run with The Devil you Know this summer. Mostly I tried to follow the timeline by Fraser Sherman, pretty similar to yours, it's a good way to do a first walkthrough. But when I reread, I definitely will try to go an even more chronological way and read all those 1946-1958 and extended stuff books earlier. Also looking forward to the Lobster Omni coming out soon. All in all Hellboy is just a fantastic read with those plush library editions being among the most beautiful books on the market, I just love how the pictures literally jump at you... ❤️
Man its crazy when you think about it, you never hear mignola degreding in quality, sure people have their preferences but after what moore, russel, miller , moorcock and others praised even from the beggining seems to got stronger after so many years, damn
with Dark Horse putting out the manga and Sin City Deluxe Editions it should only be a matter of time before we get the whole universe with Lobster J, Edward Grey, the backstory trades, etc. IDW set a precedent with Transformers and TMNT
Finally a reading order i can do lol. I'm pretty sure the softcover plague of frogs are all oop now as well as I tried to get them before I found a deal for the hardcovers
There are so many ways to start with the Hellboy universe. Publishing order, Secret History, BPRD 1946, Lobster, Edward Grey, Hellboy .... all good starting points. I love the universe and every time i read it, i find new connections between the different series. If you like Guy Davis, go and get The Marquis. Maybe hard to find but worth it.
Great timing as I'm reading Hellboy, but the rest of it seems like too much?! Abe Sapien books are ridiculously expensive, the BPRD books are only half available in paperback/half in hardcover. WitchFinder and Baltimore I might have a gander at.
Thanks for this overview. I want to start reading some Hellboy but haven't known where to jump on. I see there's a "Monster-Sized Hellboy HC" coming soon. Will you be getting a copy and doing an overview?
This is one of the toughest reading orders to put together in all of comics, thanks for the hard work on this Omar! As a long time Hellboy universe fan I read most of this in the order it came out, but if I ever go back to do a full re-read this will come in handy.
So do I have to read all these books or can I just read the Hellboy books. It’s not that I’m not interested in BPRD or Abe it’s just I love Red more. Also I can’t find the BPRD books anywhere they’re super rare but the Hellboy Library Editions I can collect easy
I'd like to dip into the Mignolaverse more, but I'm put off by the fact that Dark Horse continues to neglect B.P.R.D and the other spin-off titles in hardcover format. I find it hard to believe readers, who have invested in the Hellboy Library editions, wouldn't want similar for the other titles.
I am getting back Into the Mignola-Verse With Baltimore (Excellent Series!)and I will soon start over with Hellboy Library Editions, and want to read the entire Hellboy/BPRD-saga. I have mainly read Hellboy and I am trying to expand my library and get in to this readingorder, you have made such a nice video about. Having trouble to find these hardcovers. Q: Do you know if they are planning to reprint the HC Omnibuses? Plague Of Frogs, Abe Sapien, Hell on Earth. I Know they are releasing BPRD in TPB But I am intrested in HC:only. Google does not give much feedback, Unfortunately. New to the channel, I love it!
Hi Omar,nice video again.What do you know about the Being HumanTPB , with the following stories,The Dead Remembered ,Casualties,Hellboy: Being Human,The Ectoplasmic Man ? As far as I know they are not collected in any of the Hard Cover Omnis,or I'm mistaken?
The "Being Human" story is collected in Hellboy Strange Places Omnibus vol 2. And the story "Casualties" is collected in Abe Sapien The Drowning and Other Stories omnibus. I'm not sure about the other two stories.
@@essaywhu My advice, grab what you can if you see a reasonable deal. I got lucky last year and found a copy of Plague of Frogs vol 1 on ebay for like 40 bucks new.
Get the library ones, the monster sized looks impossible to read and it doesn’t have the same content as the library, though it’s slightly cheaper I think.
Ill try to follow this reading order, when i can sneak into koschei the deathless, im half russian i remember this name since i was very young but dont remember the story
I've only read hell earth but I read it online it only had issues 107 to 147 so I missed I good portion I'm assuming I've read plague of frogs and the dead that's all I can remember
They are not. You are missing the Short Stories omibi (a 2 volume set). There are a few OGN stories in the Short Stories omni that are absent from the hardcovers, too.
@@kamikaze5528 @Cesar Carlos I'd read the short stories omnibuses after the Seed of Destruction omnibus since Strange Places is already referencing events and characters from the short stories.
Guys, could you please update the list with the current available books? So far I got this based on your video: - [ ] HB LE vol 1-3 - [ ] Abe Sapien the drowning - [ ] HB LE vol 4 - [ ] BPRD omni vol 1-3 - [ ] Young HB - [ ] HB weird tales - [ ] Witchfinder omni vol 1-2 - [ ] Baltimore omni vol 1-2 - [ ] BPRD omni 4 - [ ] HB LE vol 5 - [ ] BPRD 1946-1948 - [ ] HB universe secret histories - [ ] HB LE vol 6 - [ ] BPRD omni vol 5-7 - [ ] Abe Sapien dark and terrible 1 - [ ] BPRD omni vol 8 - [ ] HB in hell LE - [ ] Abe Sapien dark and terrible 2 - [ ] BPRD omni vol 9 - [ ] BPRD the devil you know - [ ] HB and Bprd 1952-1954, 1955
I wonder where Koshchei books fit or Lobster Johnson. I guess you could read those anytime, but still would be cool to include them. Also I wonder about the collections of short stories, I don’t think they were mentioned here.
You should NOT read the last story in that Abe Sapien volume right after Plague of Frogs. There are too many spoilers of Hell on Earth. That should be the last thing you read before The Devil You Know. Also, Baltimore is not part of the Hellboy Universe. It ties to Joe Golem, it's another completely different thing.
I know, but I think a cross over with Raven would be cool because they would meet and Raven would most likely attack Hellboy because she doesn't usually like beings that look like demons. Then they'd realize they both have demon fathers and decide to work together, for as good as I think it would be it kinda wrights itself.
At vol 4 library edition, theres seems to be a twist, because if im not mistaken on Tpds the troll wich is vol 7 and the croocked man comes much later, do you think it would be better storywise for me to read it in this order wich presented here or the classic Tpds?
@@axilleaskazuya5370 Yeah, the trade order works just as well. They just shuffled things around for library editions so that readers could read Darkness Calls, The Wild Hunt, and The Storm and the Fury back to back.
@@middenway ok man thanx for the clarification, i wondered to jump just into vol 10 to experience some new art work, and then continue from where i left
Can I just read Hellboy volume 1-4 Omnibus to understand the full story or do I have to read every individual little book as well hopefully someone can answer this for me
@@classicrock7871 Unfortunately, the first two stories in the hardcover are the only canon stories, but they aren't in the trades. I'm hoping they get recollected elsewhere in future someday, because even though they're far from essential, they're excellent stories from Mignola and Davis. Maybe in a Koshchei the Deathless omnibus someday...
