BPRD Hardcover

[UnravThreads]

Thanks Middenway, I appreciate you attempting to answer what isn't an easy question.

I think the safest route would be to wait until Plague of Frogs is fully out, and then move on from there. If I'm having to wait years to finish something off in omnibus form, I'll probably just cut my losses and buy them in trades. They tend to be a bit easier to read anyway as they don't weigh half a tonne.

By the time Exorcism is out in trade, it'll be known if it's "safe to read" without most previous stuff, I assume, so I think I can wait. Just want a bit more Ashley Strode in my life

[Middenway]

Just want a bit more Ashley Strode in my life

You and me both. I loved her War on Frogs story. Also looking forward to more Carla Giarocco.

[the goddamn batman]

I tend to buy single issues for reading and HCs later. That way I own the nicest books possible and don't have to wait years to read stories worth collecting such nice books for.

[Artie Ness]

Also looking forward to more Carla Giarocco.

Dunno. It's sad to know she'll die. Or maybe I don't remember it well? I thought Liz got her ID from a corpse while she was in the future.

[shunquan]

Are there any Hellboy omnibus other then the library editions? im thinking of picking up the BPRD plague of frogs omnibus but the hellboy library eds sizes do not match

[UnravThreads]

Are there any Hellboy omnibus other then the library editions? im thinking of picking up the BPRD plague of frogs omnibus but the hellboy library eds sizes do not match

Not that I'm aware of. Hellboy doesn't seem to lend itself too well to omnibus editions as it's a number of different smaller arcs which go back and forth continuously.

That would be awesome, though - Dark Horse printing Hellboy in chronological order.

[Artie Ness]

Are there any Hellboy omnibus other then the library editions? im thinking of picking up the BPRD plague of frogs omnibus but the hellboy library eds sizes do not match

jep funny I was at a comic store in Seville (south of Europe) last month and they had Spanish library editions sized down to match the BPRD omnibuses. They were kind of cute, I was tempted. But I prefer the awesomeness of the large size for Hellboy anyway.

[Middenway]

Not that I'm aware of. Hellboy doesn't seem to lend itself too well to omnibus editions as it's a number of different smaller arcs which go back and forth continuously.

That would be awesome, though - Dark Horse printing Hellboy in chronological order.

Hellboy doesn't work in chronoligical order unless you've already read the books previously. It spoils itself and reveals go in the wrong order. The best simple example is The Mole, which is set before Darkness Calls yet must be read after it. But there are many other cases.

[UnravThreads]

Hellboy doesn't work in chronoligical order unless you've already read the books previously. It spoils itself and reveals go in the wrong order. The best simple example is The Mole, which is set before Darkness Calls yet must be read after it. But there are many other cases.

Oh, definitely. I was thinking the chronological thing could be more a collector's piece than anything.

[the goddamn batman]

doesn't the Library Edition order screw some of that up?
Isn't The Mole in vol. 4, and Darkness Calls will be in vol. 5?

[Middenway]

doesn't the Library Edition order screw some of that up?
Isn't The Mole in vol. 4, and Darkness Calls will be in vol. 5?

No, The Mole was moved to volume 5. I think the Library Editions are in an excellent reading order. The only quibble I have (and it really is only a quibble) is that I feel you really need to read The Chained Coffin before Wake the Devil, because that story changes how you perceive Hellboy's reactions to the revelations in that story. But it's not a big deal.

And if you've read BPRD: Plague of Frogs - Volume 2, you'll know Scott Allie went to a lot of trouble to get those stories in the best reading order. He does a damn good job. I wouldn't want anyone else editing these comics.

[the goddamn batman]

yeah, there is that little discrepancy between TCC and WtD

[Gary_B]

I've got both so far, and they're well worth the effort needed to read them ('cos they're so darned big!)

I want to ask a dumb question, though. I'm still fairly new to Mignolaverse (this is said by she who has both B.P.R.D. omnibuses so far, the first 8 volumes of Hellboy, and some other stuff), so is it just wise for me to wait for each collection to come out and not race ahead? So I'd be waiting for Plague of Frogs 3, then 4, then the 1946-48 collection someone mentioned, then Hell on Earth and so on, just to keep some sort of continuity going? Or could I, for example, get Exorcism when it comes out this year and not miss too much?

If I'm "supposed" to wait, I'll just catch up on Hellboy, start Witchfinder and so on.

I don't think there is any approach you are "supposed" to take. I'd read them in what ever order you can get your hands on them, but continuity isn't a concern of mine. I got into comics in the early 80s after buying a handful of X-Men, New Mutants and Thor comics. One of the X-Men comics I bought that day was the death of Phoenix issue. Over the next couple of years I got into buying back issues and eventually got about 80 comics back from that event but I filled it in here and there before having a consecutive run. It never occured to me to wait until I had them all to go ahead and read them, I just read them as I aquired them and I don't remember feeling that I got spoiled or that the reading experience would have been richer if I had read them all chronologically.

[Kees_L]

I'm still fairly new to Mignolaverse (this is said by she who has both B.P.R.D. omnibuses so far, the first 8 volumes of Hellboy, and some other stuff), so is it just wise for me to wait for each collection to come out and not race ahead? So I'd be waiting for Plague of Frogs 3, then 4, then the 1946-48 collection someone mentioned, then Hell on Earth and so on, just to keep some sort of continuity going? Or could I, for example, get Exorcism when it comes out this year and not miss too much?

If I'm "supposed" to wait, I'll just catch up on Hellboy, start Witchfinder and so on.

I don't think there is any approach you are "supposed" to take. [snip...]

I'd say that for any of the Mignola-books, it seems to me that effort will have gone into having every book or title be readable on its own,
maybe also because some of it might tend to hop from longer into short stories (or sequentiality as comprised of limited series both as stand-alones).

As much as how any Poe or Conan Doyle story could be read perfectly on its own, will any Hellboy-story and any BPRD-story as well.

Eventhough both Hellboy (in the Arthurian saga for example) as the BPRD seem to be playing with time-frames or continuity-"underlappings" rather heavily on occasion, but those are nothing a simple asterisk + note wouldn't be to fix.

Because the story at hand would be what would be vital, whereas different lights or other perspectives (including separate or previous perspectives) would be forming its own story mostly.

As much fun as it would seem for a knowing reader to be recognizing perspectives by themselves - any such will be possible but not because of the narrative or narrational scope (by which I mean: a story is gonna be about itself and not another one), foremostly.
Because remaining in-the-know would be relative on a constant, for anyone.
Even if a reader wanted to, it's not necessary to be feeling any part of any story before it would happen, not even for Sci-Fi, or Fantasy, or Adventure material, because it happens, right there in front of you, as much as it will .


As an aside, *comics continuity* can come to be panning out a little weird, I'd say, because, well, it sort of equates common sense or "readableness" to knowing everything about everything totally to the tiniest detail - which wouldn't have to be what *continuity* would normally mean.
As continuity would normally be a thing seeming to being accurate or 'according', much like how any of the story would be seeming to hold up or how the characters would seem fleshed out enough, or how the 'camera-work' or basic use of the medium would seem to be put to work okay.

Even for any being inventive or playful with continuity, it would only be what it would be: continuity, meaning well-playing out or accurate seeming, from also a broader perspective than the story itself, like even for those who'd be keeping score on tidbits.

And inventiveness may propose lots of fun or realisticality, like how reality would offer itself as being one whole messy heap of stuff, but inventiveness or intricate storytelling doesn't mean that continuity would have to be too big of a deal.
Or, to put it differently: even while Hellboy would be a series of sequential comics, (to me) any such does not mean that any of the story-arcs or limited series couldn't be read on their own, even in any possible order - because stories at hand deal with stories at hand, with mentioning all the vitals.


What I do believe true for either Hellboy or BPRD etc.: re-reading them will remain to being good.

[Middenway]

It really depends what kind of reader you are. I've always been a far of long-form stories and I get a great deal of satisfaction out of seeing story elements evolve. Reading the stories out of publishing order destroys this.

As has been said above, most stories can stand on their own, but for me they are significantly weaker for it. Yes, all the plot points are covered thanks to little asterisk notations filling in the blanks, but I don't read for plot. I never have never will. To know an event happened is not the same as experiencing an event happening. Plot is meaningless to me without character and I won't retain the information or care about it.

I mentioned The Chained Coffin above, and I think that sums me up as a reader pretty well. If you read Wake the Devil, when you get to the point in the story that makes reference to The Chained Coffin you get all the literal facts of what happened, but you don't get into Hellboy's headspace. And as a reader I really need that. (I'd use better examples, but I don't want to ruin a future plotline by accident)

Reading the stories out of their publishing order would diminish the experience for me, but that says less about the books and more about me.

I couldn't read New World without having read Killing Ground. I couldn't have read The Island without having read The Third Wish. I couldn't have read Russia without reading The Abyssal Plain or The Black Goddess. To read those stories in any other order would have ruined them for me.

In the end it comes down to knowing what kind of reader you are, but I figure if you're asking if you can jump ahead, then you probably already know the answer, whatever that may be. Basically, if you can skip an entire season of a TV show and jump in after having read an online summary and be satisfied, you'll be fine.

But I don't think it's good advice to tell someone to just jump ahead, you'll be fine, without considering they may be a very different kind of reader to you.