This is an older reading order. Please check out the 2023 version.
In 2014, I put together a reading order for Mike Mignola’s Hellboy Universe with some help from Scott Allie. We wanted to create a reading order that covered the entire line of books, and yet didn’t mean putting down an omnibus or library edition mid-way through to switch to another book. You pick up a book, you read it cover to cover and then you move on to the next. No funny business.
To be clear, this is not the official reading order. There is no official reading order. The Hellboy Universe is made to be accessed from many different starting points. You could begin with “Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.”, which only began late 2014, and that’ll totally work. Discovery is meant to be a part of the reading experience. As Scott Allie said to me once, “Different reading orders will tell different stories, the surprises will be in different places. Everyone’s experience will be different.”
Keep in mind, if you want to try out these series, you don’t need to read all of them. You don’t need to read “Hellboy” to read “B.P.R.D.” or vice versa. The individual series stand on their own very well. So don’t be afraid to experiment a bit.
Right then, here’s the 2016 edition…
TEXT ONLY VERSION
LIBRARY EDITION: “Hellboy” – Volume 1
“Hellboy: Seed of Destruction”
“Hellboy: Wake the Devil”
LIBRARY EDITION: “Hellboy” – Volume 2
“Hellboy: The Chained Coffin and Others”
“Hellboy: The Right Hand of Doom”
LIBRARY EDITION: “Hellboy” – Volume 3
“Hellboy: Conqueror Worm”
“Hellboy: Strange Places”
LIBRARY EDITION: “Hellboy” – Volume 4
“Hellboy: The Crooked Man and Others”
“Hellboy: The Troll Witch and Others”
OMNIBUS EDITION: “B.P.R.D.: Plague of Frogs” – Volume 1
“B.P.R.D.: Hollow Earth & Other Stories”
“B.P.R.D.: The Soul of Venice & Other Stories”
“B.P.R.D.: Plague of Frogs”
OMNIBUS EDITION: “B.P.R.D.: Plague of Frogs” – Volume 2
“B.P.R.D.: The Dead”
“B.P.R.D.: War on Frogs”
“B.P.R.D.: The Black Flame”
OMNIBUS EDITION: “B.P.R.D.: Plague of Frogs” – Volume 3
“B.P.R.D.: The Universal Machine”
“B.P.R.D.: Garden of Souls”
“B.P.R.D.: Killing Ground”
LIBRARY EDITION: “Hellboy” – Volume 5
“Hellboy: Darkness Calls”
“Hellboy: The Wild Hunt”
OMNIBUS EDITION: “Hellboy: Weird Tales”
‘How Koshchei Became Deathless’
‘Baba Yaga’s Feast’
“Hellboy: Weird Tales” – Volume 1 (Out of continuity)
“Hellboy: Weird Tales” – Volume 2 (Out of continuity)
“Witchfinder: In the Service of Angels”
“Witchfinder: Lost and Gone Forever”
“Witchfinder: The Mysteries of Unland”
“Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand”
“Lobster Johnson: Satan Smells a Rat”
“Lobster Johnson: Get the Lobster”
“Lobster Johnson: The Iron Prometheus”
OMNIBUS EDITION: “B.P.R.D.: 1946–1948”
“B.P.R.D.: 1946”
“B.P.R.D.: 1947”
“B.P.R.D.: 1948”
“Hellboy: The Midnight Circus”
“Abe Sapien: The Devil Does Not Jest and Other Stories”
OMNIBUS EDITION: “B.P.R.D.: Plague of Frogs” – Volume 4
“B.P.R.D.: The Warning”
“B.P.R.D.: The Black Goddess”
“B.P.R.D.: King of Fear”
LIBRARY EDITION: “Hellboy” – Volume 6
“Hellboy: The Storm and the Fury”
“Hellboy: The Bride of Hell and Others”
“B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth – New World”
“B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth – Gods and Monsters”
“B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth – Russia”
“B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth – The Devil’ Engine & The Long Death”
“B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth – The Pickens County Horror & Others”
“B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth – The Return of the Master”
“Hellboy in Hell: The Descent”
“Hellboy in Hell: The Death Card”
Continued below“B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth – A Cold Day in Hell”
“B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth – Lake of Fire”
“B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth – The Reign of the Black Flame”
“Abe Sapien: Dark and Terrible and The New Race of Man”
“Abe Sapien: The Shape of Things to Come”
“B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth – The Devil’s Wings”
“B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth – Flesh and Stone”
“B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth – Metamorphosis”
“Abe Sapien: A Darkness so Great”
“Abe Sapien: The Desolate Shore”
“B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth – The Exorcist”
“B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth – End of Days”
“B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth – Cometh the Hour”
