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  1. #1
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    Default Best Hellboy stories?

    Looking to get more into Hellboy. I've read Hellboy in Hell and the recent Adam Hughes thing. I've seen the movies. I'll probably maybe just get the trades in order, but I'm really curious are there stories that hardcore fans feel are the "best"?

    If you could recommend only 3 or 4 stories or arc, what would you suggest?

  2. #2
    The Spirits of Vengeance K7P5V's Avatar
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    Seed of Destruction #1-4
    The Wolves of Saint August
    The Corpse and the Iron Shoes
    Wake the Devil #1-5
    Conqueror Worm #1-4

  3. #3
    Spectacular Member Skinkie's Avatar
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    The Corpse
    Conquered Worm
    The Wild Hunt
    The Storm and the Fury

    These are my favorites

  4. #4
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    Hellboy Omnibus 1.
    Hellboy Omnibus 2.
    Hellboy Omnibus 3.

    I know that sounds unhelpful, but they’re just releasing now and they’re dirt cheap. Here number 1. It’s cheaper than any of the regular trades. https://www.amazon.com/Hellboy-Omnib...AbL&ref=plSrch it has seed of destruction, wake the devil, wolves of st August and almost colossus.

  5. #5
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    Thanks for the suggestions!

  6. #6
    Mighty Member jb681131's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by zerodemon View Post
    Hellboy Omnibus 1.
    Hellboy Omnibus 2.
    Hellboy Omnibus 3.

    I know that sounds unhelpful, but they’re just releasing now and they’re dirt cheap. Here number 1. It’s cheaper than any of the regular trades. https://www.amazon.com/Hellboy-Omnib...AbL&ref=plSrch it has seed of destruction, wake the devil, wolves of st August and almost colossus.
    Sure but Hellboy Omnibus 1 is not so good.
    I heard the Hellboy Short Stories Omnibus are better and they are being released now too !

  7. #7
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    Hellboy is generally charming and good but what made me really fell in love with the Hellboy series is a mini story in ''Book of Witchcraft'' HC comics.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by jb681131 View Post
    Sure but Hellboy Omnibus 1 is not so good.
    I heard the Hellboy Short Stories Omnibus are better and they are being released now too !
    Seed of Destruction
    Wake The Devil
    Wolves of St. August
    Almost Colossus

    Not good? I very respectfully and wholeheartedly disagree. The Short Storues are also great, but the 90’s arcs provide all of the context for the character, as well as being phenomenal. Start at the start.

  9. #9
    Mighty Member jb681131's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by zerodemon View Post
    Seed of Destruction
    Wake The Devil
    Wolves of St. August
    Almost Colossus

    Not good? I very respectfully and wholeheartedly disagree. The Short Storues are also great, but the 90’s arcs provide all of the context for the character, as well as being phenomenal. Start at the start.
    Well the Hellboy Omnibus is the only Hellboy I've read and here is what I thought about it (quoting another post):

    Hello all, I just finished the Hellboy Omnibus vol.1 and what a disapointment.
    I had never read any Hellboy before but had hight hopes having seen the movies and read a lot of the threads here.

    First the art. Yes Mike Mignolia is a good artist because he can pull out good drawings. But like too many american comics, lots of panels have a plain background.
    Also, you like it or not, but Mignolia's way of drawing is very particular. I find it very geometric and angular. His art is not smooth.

    Then the stories are not as great as I had hoped. I never go the chills like I had with Swamp Thing for exemple.
    Especially his first one Seeds of Destruction that disapointed me much.
    Then there are lots of incoherent stuff or unexplained things. I won't name them, there are too many in my taste. This is not the result of well worked stories.
    Sure Mignolia and Byrne certainly do lots of researched about legends, myths and creatures, but that don't mean their stories are well constructed.

    But to be a bit positive, throu-out the book the stories got better and better. But not as good as people seem to say. Maybe the second omnibus will proove me wrong.
    Also his art stays constant. There are no parts that seem rushed.

    I will wait to read omnibus 2 to make a final judgement on Hellboy. So far I'm disapointed.

  10. #10
    All-New Member Gruagach's Avatar
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    Aside from Almost colossus, Omnibus 1 collects probably all my least favorite Hellboy stories. I'm not sure about the new omnibus, as I haven't read it and the order of the short stories seems not quite as good IMO (artists switching around always throws me off, especially when I'm first getting into a story). If you're first getting into Hellboy or just looking for some classic Hellboy fun, I'd highly recommend the tbp vol 4, the chained coffin. It's all Mignola art, and has some really great and weird stories. If you want to get to some of the deeper and more meaningful stories though, you should start at the beginning, they're a little different in style, but you have to get through those first couple stories in order for the rest to really make sense IMO. I'm surprised you made it through Hellboy in hell without them.

  11. #11
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    They are not even near the top of my list of favourite Hellboy stories, but that still puts them a hundred miles away from being bad. The art style all the way through the Hellboy run (whether it’s Mignola or a stand in) has a very specific empty paneled, dark tone, and is the thing I like the most. The panels contents usually always matter to some extent.

    The worst, least Hellboy-like writing exists in Seed of Destruction, but I maintain that it’s beautiful and the colouring is as good as comics get. Almost Colossus and The Wolves of St August are both great stories. A lot of the prophecy context that’s reaffirmed in In Hell happens in Seed if Destruction and Wake The Devil.
    Last edited by zerodemon; 07-09-2018 at 05:08 AM.

  12. #12
    All-New Member Waka Hem's Avatar
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    The only story in the first Omnibus I'd consider anything short of great would be Seed of Destruction, and that's mostly for the very uncharacteristic way the inner dialogue is written - before Mignola took over writing responsibilities. Wake the Devil is a little messy, but it's so weird and so macabre I forgive it. And Wolves of Saint August and Almost Colossus are just top-notch horror comics. Wolves is one of my favorite things Mignola's ever done, especially art-wise.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Waka Hem View Post
    The only story in the first Omnibus I'd consider anything short of great would be Seed of Destruction, and that's mostly for the very uncharacteristic way the inner dialogue is written - before Mignola took over writing responsibilities. Wake the Devil is a little messy, but it's so weird and so macabre I forgive it. And Wolves of Saint August and Almost Colossus are just top-notch horror comics. Wolves is one of my favorite things Mignola's ever done, especially art-wise.
    Oh thank god. I thought I was going mad there for a minute.

  14. #14
    Incredible Member Kees_L's Avatar
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    I personally think that the Hellboy comics have from their start always offered a captivating and unique reading experience.
    Also because the stories have been made to touch upon a wealth of diverse genres in particular ways.
    And that the first stories were made as particularly being the first ones, with needing to captivate, as like with offering entry to lush "world building",
    despite not proving part of some enormous oeuvre yet since at the start any such an oevre didn't exist yet.

    I think Hellboy: Seed of Destruction was made as being the first albeit quite major tale, as occurring with the B.P.R.D. at its peak or in full swing, with
    everything comprized of stuff both as characters representing huge back stories, so obviously it wouldn't be a carefree or light-footed kind of story.

    I feel that not the movie(s) set the tone for the B.P.R.D. with Hellboy as this nifty place made for bumping back at the night, but that the Seed of Destruction book does this, all by itself.
    Plus it seems to me that John Byrne as a name having collaborated on it mostly means that mr Mike could feel he could make the book when he did, with handling all dialogue and pretty much everything about writing both as drawing it himself. So I don't think the story stands out because of who made it, but because it was made to stand out in the way that it does.
    I believe mr Mike has even stated that the book was made in the belief there might never be another one to follow!

    Whereas other stories set out in different ways entirely, like how Hellboy: the Wolves of Saint-August seems particularly like a Shakespearean play in ways.
    Or how the Corpse and the Iron Shoes seems like the perfect standalone comic.
    Wake the Devil or Conqueror Worm appear pretty epic and grand books of their own, yet they seem different to Seed of Destruction quite vehemently still, as if Hellboy or other major agents weren't ever gonna believe the Bureau was gonna or would need to return to any kind of status quo by any means.

    I feel the status quo denying quality of the Hellboy and B.P.R.D. stories is what makes them different from any other comics and as such they seem to revel at proving creator-owned even with all the great talents on board with these titles nonetheless.

    My two cents. I'm set on reading all the stories, not as a chore, but because I like to, if I can get my hands on every single one and I believe I can.
    I'm not gonna pick or choose - or if I am I pick them all.
    Last edited by Kees_L; 07-11-2018 at 07:13 AM.
    SLINT / Mike Mignola / Walt Whitman / Arthur Lourié / Dr. Pepper

  15. #15

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    I think that the “trilogy” (Darkness Calls, The Wild Hunt, The Storm & The Fury) is Hellboy at its best. These stories are what makes up Omnibus edition 3. In his earlier stories Hellboy either observes events too large for him to understand or just beats the tar out of monsters. In the “trilogy”, Hellboy really has to reflect on who he is, and he can no longer solve all his problems with his big stione hand. We get to see Hellboy finally grow as a character. At this point in the story Mike’s writing has also improved tremendously; I’d like to say refined. Mike knows how to write comics; Hellboy is visual story, that couldn’t simply be translated into a book. The only problem is that this story pays off so much more if you have read the rest of the previously published stories. It’s a grand finale, which I don’t think should be read as a singular story.

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