I just ordered four Hellboy novels. Which should I read first?

[frogbeans]

i'm absolutely loving the Hellboy novels. i just discovered them recently and have gone through the following:
emerald hell (very good)
the all-seeing eye (very good but flat ending)
the fire wolves (loved it)
the ice wolves (very good but civilian storyline was bland)

currently reading oddest jobs (ok)

i read them while working out on the elliptical hahaha and sometimes at night. anyway, i have a business trip out to the UK so i ordered some Hellboy books online from amazon to help me survive the 10 hour flight. i'm going to get around to reading them all but which book should i read first?
unnatural selection
the dragon pool
the god machine
the lost army


thx

[mattmanw54301]

Lost Army comes chronologically before Dragon Pool. They are technically stand alone stories, but they will be easier to understand if you read Lost Army before Dragon Pool. God Machine is the best of the four you listed. Unnatural Selection was good too, but not as much as God Machine. Lost Army and Dragon Pool are about equal. They feel kinda like Indiana Jones/Mummy stories IMO. Still great, but they have a paticular flavor to the narrative that is different from the comics.

So in conlusion, this is the order I would read them in:

1. Lost Army
2. Unnatural Selection
3. Dragon Pool
4. God Machine

In order to save the best for last. That's just my opinion tho, and you might hate the ones I think are awesome. So your taste may vary.

[SpydaWeb]

God Machine is the only one I've yet to read.

[frogbeans]

Lost Army comes chronologically before Dragon Pool. They are technically stand alone stories, but they will be easier to understand if you read Lost Army before Dragon Pool. God Machine is the best of the four you listed. Unnatural Selection was good too, but not as much as God Machine. Lost Army and Dragon Pool are about equal. They feel kinda like Indiana Jones/Mummy stories IMO. Still great, but they have a paticular flavor to the narrative that is different from the comics.

So in conlusion, this is the order I would read them in:

1. Lost Army
2. Unnatural Selection
3. Dragon Pool
4. God Machine

In order to save the best for last. That's just my opinion tho, and you might hate the ones I think are awesome. So your taste may vary.
cool.

i know Hellboy stories jump around in time, but i was unaware of the connection between lost army and dragon pool. thanks for the heads up since i was initially going to read lost army last just because.

once i finish oddest jobs, i will continue through the Hellboy novels in the order you suggested since i had no particular approach and you were the first post. :)

thanks!

[Blacksteel]

I personally didn't like "The God Machine" all that much... I haven't read "The Dragon Pool" or "Unnatural Selection" yet (I ordered them a while ago and am expecting them any day now) but "The Lost Army" was pretty good, in my opinion.

You should also read "On Earth As It Is In Hell" by Brian Hodge. That one's one of my favourites.

[mattmanw54301]

On Earth As It Is In Hell and The God Machine kinda switch places as my favorite HB novel.

Has anyone seen what the next novel is going to be? Usually they tell us what the next one is gonna be around the time that that current one is released.