The Hellboy Universe Publishing Order

[Middenway]

I think there will only be three trades this year, and they'll probably come out very close together (my guess is one in July, one in August, one in September).

• B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth ― Volume 5 (The Pickens County Horror, The Transformation of J.H. O'Donnell, The Abyss of Time?)
• B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth ― Volume 6 (The Return of the Master?)
• B.P.R.D.: 1948

Plus, there might be the third volume of Baltimore in December.

2014 will have an explosion of books though. There are four books so far that could possibly come out January or February alone. (Abe Sapien ― Volume 3, B.P.R.D.: Vampire, B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth ― Volume 7, Lobster Johnson ― Volume 3) Given the current schedule, I'd expect at least 4 more before 2014 is out. It'll be a big year for trades!

[Middenway]

The upcoming trade B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Pickens County Horror will have the biggest sketchbook section yet at a massive 30 pages.

[Jelio]

So i was thinking of reading through my Hellboy and BPRD comics again from the beginning.

I want to read from my Library and Omnibus editions.

If i recall there were a few changes to the original publishing order in them: for example The Black Flame is mixed with War on Frogs.

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on any material to read in a different order than published in those hard covers.

For example I plan on reading Library edition volume 1 Seed of Destruction then stoping before Wake the Devil and reading 2 shorts from Volume 2 (Right hand of Doom and Wolves of Saint August) then continues till the end of Volume 1. Then I continue to the end of volume 2. Then I read from the BPRD omnibus The Lobster Johnson story and the Abe Sapien VS Science before moving on to Volume 3 because those need to be read before Conqueror worm.

Any other suggestions??

[UnravThreads]

There's a - now out-dated slightly - reading order on this blog, and it's recommended for experienced readers rather than new ones. I'm not sure entirely how accurate it is, though.

[Middenway]

Reading order is a very subjective thing, which is why I've never posted mine before. But since you asked, here it is. Red items are items I feel very strongly need to be read at the time listed, purple is merely a suggested order, and blue means it doesn't need to be read at this time at all, it's just there because I like the thematic overlaps with a story nearby. Black is just standard order (as dictated by the trade collections). Note I read The Chained Coffin before The Wolves of Saint August despite those two stories happen in the reverse order. This is because The Chained Coffin feels like an epilogue to Seed of Destruction, giving you time to ponder it a little bit before launching into Wake the Devil.

You'll notice there's a lot of blue between the end of the Plague of Frogs cycle and the beginning of the Hell on Earth cycle. This is because I think between cycles is a good time to catch up on all the necessary history. Near the end of the list, I'm not so sure. It's hard to place things in a reading order when you can't yet see the big picture.

Hellboy Promo #1 - Hellboy LE 1
Hellboy Promo #2 - Hellboy LE 1
Seed of Destruction - Hellboy LE 1
The Chained Coffin - Hellboy LE 2
The Wolves of Saint August - Hellboy LE 2
Wake the Devil - Hellboy LE 1
The rest of Hellboy LE 2
The Killer in My Skull - B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs 1
Abe Sapien versus Science - B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs 1
Being Human - B.P.R.D.: Being Human
Conqueror Worm - Hellboy LE 3
B.P.R.D. Promo - B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs 1
The Ectoplasmic Man - B.P.R.D.: Being Human
B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs 1 up to Plague of Frogs
Born Again - B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs 2
Plague of Frogs - B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs 1
The Third Wish - Hellboy LE 3
B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs 2
The Island - Hellboy LE 3
The Universal Machine - B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs 3
Garden of Souls - B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs 3
Darkness Calls - Hellboy LE 5
Baba Yaga's Feast - Uncollected
How Koshchei Became Deathless - Uncollected
The Burial of Katharine Baker - Witchfinder 1
The Mole - Hellboy LE 5
Killing Ground - B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs 3
Out of Reach - B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs 4
The Warning - B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs 4
Murderous Intent - Witchfinder 1
In the Service of Angels - Witchfinder 1
Lobster Johnson 1
The Black Goddess - B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs 4
The Wild Hunt - Hellboy LE 5
The King of Fear - B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs 4
And What Shall I Find There? - B.P.R.D. 13
Bishop Olek's Devil - B.P.R.D. 9
1946 - B.P.R.D. 9
1947 - B.P.R.D. 13
Hellboy LE 4
Hellboy in Mexico - Hellboy LE 6
House of the Living Dead (OGN)
Hellboy versus the Aztec Mummy - Uncollected
Hellboy LE 6 (minus The Storm and the Fury and The Sleeping and the Dead)
The Dead Remembered - B.P.R.D.: Being Human
Abe Sapien 1
Casualties - B.P.R.D.: Being Human
Abe Sapien 2
B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth 1
B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth 2
The Storm and the Fury - Hellboy LE 6
B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth 3
B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth 4
The Sleeping and the Dead - Hellboy LE 6
The Pickens County Horror - B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth 5 (*Trade not yet published)
The Transformation of J.H. O'Donnell - B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth 5 (*Trade not yet published)
Exorcism - Uncollected
The Abyss of Time - B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth 5 (*Trade not yet published)
Witchfinder 2
The Burning Hand - Lobster Johnson 1
1948 - Uncollected
The Return of the Master - B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth 6 (*Trade not yet published)
Hellboy in Hell #1-4 - Not yet finished
A Cold Day in Hell - Not yet begun
Wasteland - Not yet begun

[Jelio]

Wow thanks!

This is a great list, i will use it as my go to reading order.

Cheers

[Jelio]

Im curious why you chose to have, the first witchfinder and the first Lobster Johnson between The Warning and The Black Goddess:

Killing Ground - B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs 3
Out of Reach - B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs 4
The Warning - B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs 4
Murderous Intent - Witchfinder 1
In the Service of Angels - Witchfinder 1
Lobster Johnson 1
The Black Goddess - B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs 4

-------------

Why not have it like this:

Killing Ground - B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs 3
Out of Reach - B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs 4
Murderous Intent - Witchfinder 1
In the Service of Angels - Witchfinder 1
Lobster Johnson 1
The Warning - B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs 4
The Black Goddess - B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs 4

[Middenway]

I'm glad you didn't ask a more difficult question.

For Lobster Johnson it was simply that the note The Warning ends on is Devon saying, "I think I've found his old hideout." And I think that moment is stronger if the reader hasn't seen his hideout yet. At that point Lobster Johnson is still a pretty big question mark. So, then we go into The Iron Prometheus and we meet Lobster Johnson properly, and get to see his hideout... I like that this is the book that starts to pull back the curtain on the guy. Then at the beginning of The Black Goddess we get to see his hideout in present day. I like that.

Then there's the other element. This story also reveals more about Memnan Saa. And again, I like to keep his motives secret as long as possible. Here the Iron Prometheus is introduced, something which will be mentioned again in The Black Goddess, so I also like having it introduced close to that moment so it is still fresh in the reader's mind. And finally, it introduces the concept of Vril energy, explaining what it is that Liz is able to channel. Again, this plot thread comes up in The Black Goddess so I like it being close to that story.

Murderous Intent I think should just be read before In the Service of Angels because it's such a great introduction to the character. In the trade they got it backwards.

As for In the Service of Angels, it brings up the subterranean race again, but that plotline is only just reintroduced in The Warning. I feel like if you read In the Service of Angels just prior to The Warning you'd guess who those little guys in the raincoats are the second they first appear. The other reason is in The Warning Memnan Saa is still a huge mystery. In In the Service of Angels he's revealed in a way that I prefer not to see until the end game of the character, so I like to read it just before the trade in which he dies.

And that's it. Like I said, reading order is personal. The order you suggested may work much better for you if you prefer to read the Scorched Earth trilogy uninterrupted.

[Kees_L]

I have to say your latest reading order posts on here are sitting really well with me, Middenway. And Jelio's too.

By which I mean I find it commendable how you point out a Hellverse reading order to be feeling as something quite personal.

Since naturally I wouldn't be minding reading orders particularly, nor any want for some sense to it. Especially since I'd applaud any readers to being willing enough to partake into second or 'latter' readings so to speak - since I'd be doing such myself as well, if only because reading and especially re-reading would be so much of the fun.


Yet obviously the books upon publication didn't all receive one singularly fixatingly numbered or set out order to them to begin with.
So apparently this was done for a reason or as by choice, one would have to say.

As if to have personal preference or personal choice become or remain possible to it, as per reader.

Or maybe because - at least at second or latter readings - thrillingness or even some confusion or sense of "huh?" wouldn't need to be only a bad thing per se.
As if more rather it would be a good or welcome thing as for a reading experience?

Also because the lapses of time in between issues as coming out, or lapses in between arcs for the different titles, like both B.P.R.D. and the Hellboy ones next to eachother, plus any other stuff going on as well - obviously this would be to build up on itself more rather than not, without such needing to be a bad thing I'd think. Like such would add to suspense or the thrill and tellingness and layeredness of things.

Like how also Tolkien or Conan Doyle or REH' stuff wouldn't technically be all just sequenced in but perfectly sized chunks any more or less than Hellboy & co. I'd say.
Even if these works were made totally "as planned" than even that wouldn't need to mean that any potential confusion or thrillingness should have been done away with, I'd believe.


But like I said, since you two present your own preferred reading order as being something quite personal, I must say it strikes me as only something commendable both as agreeable to me.

I just wanted to tell you that. It didn't need to become this wordy or lengthy, or quite as bloated-seeming - but I hope you get the gist of it .

[Middenway]

Thanks, Kees. I totally get what you mean.

[Big_H]

Here is my current dilema. I've got the 4 BPRD Plague of Frogs Omnibus's (Omnibi???) and I like the big collection format.
Is Hell on Earth supposed to be collected the same way after it's concluded or while it's ongoing?
Any idea if they are planning to collect the 1940's books into an Omnibus or did the new Vampire series change that?
I'm also switching from trades on Hellboy to the Library editions so I'm worried I'll be with out an Mignolaverse for quite awhile.
I'm not sure you guys will have a definitive answer but at this point I'll take speculation/suggestions.

[UnravThreads]

Is Hell on Earth supposed to be collected the same way after it's concluded or while it's ongoing?

Concluded, which won't be for years.

Any idea if they are planning to collect the 1940's books into an Omnibus or did the new Vampire series change that?

'46-'48 is Secret Origins Trilogy. We won't know the plans until after '48 is collected in trade, so chances are we won't get any information until at least 2014.

[Jelio]

okay Middenway you seem to be open to more difficult questions about your reading order,

how about why did you place the 1946-1947 material right after king of fear?
also why Casualties between Abe Sapien 1 and 2.

What about the other material like the Hellboy Weird Tales ... i personally place it between Hollow Earth and the Sould of Venice BPRD one shots because they are similar in to the one shots. (Various creators, not large story arcs.)

How about the Hellboy Batman Starman and the Ghost crossover? I can see those stories fitting around where you place Hellboy Library Edition 4.

One more question, why place the Abe Sapien mini where you have it? What are your considerations for it? After all Witchfinder appears in it and the Black Goddess is mentioned...

[Middenway]

Keep in mind, I'm open to improvements as well. It's far from perfect.

My reason for 1946 and 1947 being where they are is that I like to run through the Plague of Frogs cycle with as few interruptions as possible, so as a break between Plague of Frogs and Hell on Earth, I throw in a whole heap of history. That's why that whole section is in blue. Its reason for being there is flimsy at best. I'm hoping I can find a place to comfortably read 1946, 1947 and -1948 one after the other, but until 1948 is finished, it's a little difficult to tell where that might be. Probably still between the two big cycles though.

My main reason for placing Casualties where I did is that I like to read The Dead Remembered, The Drowning and then Casualties in that order, since Casualties is a kind of epilogue to both stories. Abe Sapien 2 is simply placed where it is because I think it's a good idea to read The Abyssal Plain before beginning the Hell on Earth cycle; Its placement had nothing to do with Casualties.

Your placement for Hellboy Weird Tales makes sense to me. The Batman-Starman-Hellboy crossover I'd place after Box Full of Evil. Hellboy/Ghost crossover I'd place before Wake the Devil, as in that particular story Hellboy doesn't know much about all that destiny stuff yet.

Your last question makes me think I need to reread The Drowning and rethink its placement, but wherever it goes, The Dead Remembered and Casualties will go with it.

[Jelio]

I wonder if Batman Hellboy Starman is better placed after Conqueror worm or before it.

Why do i ask that?

Because the theme of the Lovecraftian monster being summoned as the monster bad guy are both the same, but Conqueror Worm is in the main Hellboy story arc and the other is basically an elseworld. So I wonder if its better to see that type of enemy first in the context of the regular stories so that the regular stories have the most impact.

Im not sure though if that is reason enough to move it to that place in the reading order.