The effort to compile a proper “reading order” for what is being called the Mignola-verse, which is made up of Hellboy and related characters, is difficult at best since they do not sync together clearly, though there is still a real continuity. The main books here are various Hellboy books, B.P.R.D. books, Abe Sapien, Witchfinder, and Lobster Johnson, amongst others. Here is a stab at the reading orders, first by different title and then by fictional chronology.

This post contains a (spoiler-free) intro to the “Mignolaverse” and one possible reading order for all series involved. Don’t dig around for more info regarding these series online until you’ve read them all—outside of this post, you will definitely find significant spoilers regarding recent events if you look these comics up. Even the Wikipedia articles aren’t safe.

Ask me if you have any questions about anything, I’ll give you whatever info you need without spoilers! Feel free to click on some of the images below if you are interested in picking up any of these trade paperback collections.

Curious about whether you might like Hellboy/BPRD? Try these out–if you like them, you’ll like the rest!

Plot Synopsis:

Hellboy was summoned to earth to bring about its destruction at the end of WWII, but was instead taken in by a scholar and a bunch of soldiers and raised to become a pretty upstanding guy. He works for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense with a few other misfits, including an amphibious man, a pyrokinetic, and a homunculus. They protect the world from the supernatural things that want to destroy it.

The Hellboy comics are part of a universe of comics that has been developed by Mignola and a small team of writers and artists for almost 20 years now. The universe has grown to include several other titles, including two ongoing series, BPRD and Abe Sapien, and a number of limited series. Each title is as important as the others, and they all draw from each other. You don’t need to read any of the other series to understand Hellboy and BPRD, but reading them all is a lot of fun!

Main series:

Other series in this universe:

There are many different ways to read these comics. It’s a matter of preference which order you pick, but it’s probably intimidating to try to figure out a good order to read these comics in. In this post I present the simplest possible reading order I could come up with for the series.

Both Hellboy and BPRD have a single main plotline that is set in the ‘present’ of the comics, though there are also a lot of side stories that take place in the past. Flashback stories and those set in the present timeline are all interconnected. Don’t skip anything just because it’s set in the past!

Reading Order – By Series

This list is in chronological order with respect to the individual series themselves. Each series has been grouped together so you don’t have to jump around between a bunch of different plots as you read them.

BPRD (Hell on Earth):

BPRD Hell on Earth – New World

BPRD Hell on Earth – Seattle (oneshot)

BPRD Hell on Earth – Gods & Monsters

BPRD Hell on Earth – Russia

BPRD – An Unmarked Grave (oneshot)

BPRD Hell on Earth – The Long Death

BPRD Hell on Earth – The Pickens County Horror

BPRD Hell on Earth – The Devil’s Engine

BPRD Hell on Earth – The Transformation of J.H. O’Donnell

BPRD Hell on Earth – Exorcism

BPRD Hell on Earth – The Return of the Master

BPRD Hell on Earth – The Abyss of Time

BPRD Hell on Earth – Wasteland

BPRD Hell on Earth – A Cold Day in Hell

BPRD Hell on Earth – Lake of Fire

BPRD Hell on Earth – The Reign of the Black Flame

BPRD Hell on Earth – The Devil’s Wings

BPRD Hell on Earth – The Broken Equation

BPRD Hell on Earth – Grind

BPRD Hell on Earth – Flesh and Stone



Abe Sapien #1-3 (Dark and Terrible)

Abe Sapien #4-5 (The New Race of Man)

Abe Sapien #6-7 (The Shape of Things to Come)

Abe Sapien #8 (Land of the Dead)

Abe Sapien #9-11 (To the Last Man)

Abe Sapien #12 (The Garden)

Abe Sapien #13 (The Healer)

Abe Sapien #14 (Visions, Dreams, and Fishin’)

Abe Sapien #15 (Lost Lives)

Abe Sapien #16-17 (Sacred Places)

Abe Sapien #18-22 (A Darkness So Great)

Fictional Chronology

PRE-WORLD WAR II



1646: The Burial of Katharine Baker (Witchfinder: In the Service of Angels)

Witch-hunter Henry Hood confronts a witch despite her family’s protests.

1879: Murderous Intent (Witchfinder: In the Service of Angels)

Edward Grey saves Queen Victoria from witches.

1879: Witchfinder: In the Service of Angels

Grey confronts an occult conspiracy involving ancient artifacts, a monster and the Heliotropic Brotherhood of Ra.

1880: Witchfinder: Lost and Gone Forever

Grey hunts an escaped criminal into the Wild West and finds a supernatural menace.



1932: Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand

The Lobster launches his war on crime and confronts ghostly Indians, gangsters and an occult Nazi threat.

1932: Caput Mortuum (Lobster Johnson: Satan Smells a Rat)

The Lobster thwarts a cabal of German scientists plotting to use a deadly chemical weapon on New York.

1933: Satan Smells a Rat

The Lobster discovers a scientist conducting neurosurgical experiments on unwilling guinea pigs.

1933: Tony Masso’s Finest Hour (Lobster Johnson: Satan Smells a Rat)

A gangster enlists supernatural help to defeat the Lobster.

1933: A Scent of Lotus (Lobster Johnson: Satan Smells a Rat)

The Lobster finds himself working alongside New York’s tongs—Chinese gangs—against an uncanny Japanese agent, the Crimson Lotus.

1933: The Prayer of Neferu (Lobster Johnson: Satan Smells a Rat)

A nightclub owner steals an Egyptian mummy, unaware he’s being manipulated by a schemer plotting to tap the mummy’s magic.

1937: Lobster Johnson: The Iron Prometheus

The Lobster goes up against the sinister Mehmet Saa in a battle for control of Hyperborea’s lost arcane secrets.

1938: The Killer in My Skull (BPRD: Hollow Earth)

The Lobster investigates the deaths of several scientists.

1938: And What Shall I Find There? (BPRD: 1947)

A young, reckless Trevor Bruttenholm confronts his first ghost.

1939: Bishop Olek’s Devil (BPRD: 1946)

Professor Howard Eaton joins Bruttenholm on another occult investigation.

1939: Flashback (The Conqueror Worm)

The Lobster dies trying to stop a Nazi attempt to summon the Ogdru Jahad to Earth.

The 1940s

1944: Sledgehammer 44

An American platoon is assigned to back up a man taking on the Nazis with a vril-powered battlesuit.

1944: The Lightning War (Sledgehammer 44)

Redding, the new occupant of the battle-suit, reluctantly goes into action against the Black Flame to rescue an American pilot.

1944: Hellboy summoned to Earth (Seed of Destruction)

Bruttenholm leads an Allied effort to thwart a Nazi ritual, but the ritual nevertheless brings forth—Hellboy! (this is actually a flashback, not a separate story, but it’s too big a moment not to mention).



1946: BPRD: 1946

In occupied Berlin, Professor Bruttenholm recruits his first group of agents and a Russian demon-child to investigate the lingering Nazi threat of Operation Vampire Storm.

1947: Pancakes (The Right Hand of Doom)

Hellboy tries pancakes for the first time.

1947: BPRD: 1947

Bruttenholm’s newest recruits encounter more vampires.

1948: BPRD: 1948

Bruttenholm investigates weird phenomena around an atom-bomb test site and falls for a physicist.

1948: BPRD: Vampire

Possessed by vampire spirits, Simon Anders sets out to fight back against the undead.

1948: The Midnight Circus

Hellboy runs away to the circus, but this circus is a trap designed to lure him to the side of Hell.

1948: The Abyssal Plain (The Devil Does Not Jest)

The demon Varvara sends a Soviet soldier along on a mission to deliver the magical Melchiore Burgonet to a Soviet occultist (a flashback)

The 1950s

1954: The Nature of the Beast (The Right Hand of Doom)

The Osiris Club pits Hellboy against a dragon to learn his true nature.

1956: King Vold (The Right Hand of Doom)

Bruttenholm sends Hellboy to Norway to help a friend investigate the eerie King Vold.

1956: Hellboy in Mexico (Bride of Hell)

Investigating a wave of occult attacks in Mexico, Hellboy joins forces with three luchadores.



1956: House of the Living Dead

Still in Mexico, Hellboy agrees to challenge a seemingly unbeatable wrestler.

1958: The Penagglan (The Troll Witch)

Hellboy battles a Malaysian vampire.

1958: The Crooked Man

In the Appalachians, Hellboy and a Korean War veteran take on a miser who collects souls for Hell.

1959: The Corpse (The Chained Coffin)

To restore a baby traded for a changeling, Hellboy has to give a hanged corpse a Christian burial.

1959: Untitled Story (Seed of Destruction)

Hellboy saves a woman from the Nazi scientist Von Klempt and his super-gorilla.

The 1960s

1960: Sullivan’s Reward (The Bride of Hell)

A serial killer tells Hellboy the murders are all the work of the haunted house he bought.

1960: The House of Sebek (The Bride of Hell)

Hellboy tries to stop a lunatic from resurrecting the Egyptian gods.

1961: The Hydra and the Lion (The Troll Witch)

Hellboy battles a hydra and tries to make sense of why a ghostly lion helps him.

1961: The Iron Shoes (The Chained Coffin)

Hellboy faces a monster out of British folklore.

1963: The Troll Witch

An old Norwegian woman tells Hellboy a legend and helps him destroy some murderous trolls.

1964: The Baba Yaga (The Chained Coffin)

Hellboy battles the legendary Russian witch and shoots her eye out.

1966: The Sleeping and the Dead (The Bride of Hell)

Hunting a vampire, Hellboy learns the undead have a long-range plan to destroy humanity.

1967: Heads (The Right Hand of Doom)

During a visit to Kyoto, Hellboy stays in a haunted house.

The 1970s



(Cover by Jo Chen)

1976: The Dead Remembered (BPRD: Being Human)

Two years after Liz Sherman arrives at the BPRD, Professor Bruttenholm takes her along to investigate a haunting.

1979: Goodbye Mr. Tod (The Right Hand of Doom)

A medium summons up an ectoplasmic manifestation he can’t control.

The 1980s



1981: Abe Sapiens: The Drowning

Abe’s first mission without Hellboy requires recovering a sorcerer’s corpse from a sunken ship. The BPRD figures it’ll be easy …

1981: Casualties (BPRD: Being Human)

Hunting a werewolf forces Liz and Abe to think about the dead they’ve left in their wake.

1982: The Vampire of Prague (The Troll Witch)

Hellboy battles an accursed vampire that can only die when someone beats him at cards.

1982: The Varcolac (Right Hand of Doom)

Hellboy finds that to stake vampire Ilona Kakosy he’ll have to defeat her unholy overlord, the Varcolac.



(Cover: Dave Johnson)

1982: The Haunted Boy (Abe Sapiens: The Devil Does Not Jest)

Abe accepts another “routine” case involving the ghost of a drowned boy.

1984: The Abyssal Plain (Abe Sapiens: The Devil Does Not Jest)

BPRD agents Abe Sapiens and Sal Tasso set out to salvage the Melchiore Burgonet, lost at sea for 40 years.

1985: The Whittier Legacy (The Bride of Hell)

An occultist attempts to reclaim his family’s mystic legacy, but it doesn’t go well.

1985: Buster Oakley Gets His Wish (The Bride of Hell)

A Nebraska boy’s wish for a mystic transformation draws the attention of alien abductors.

1985: Abe Sapiens:The Devil Does Not Jest

Investigating an old missing persons case, Abe discovers a house that holds a gateway into Hell.

1985: The Bride of Hell

Hellboy attempts to rescue a kidnapped college student only to discover he’s fighting on the wrong side.

1986: They That Go Down to the Sea in Ships (The Crooked Man)

Hellboy and Abe Sapiens attempt to stop Blackbeard’s headless corpse from reclaiming its head and launching a reign of terror.

1987: The Transformation of J.H. O’Donnell (BPRD: The Pickens County Horror)

Hellboy and a BPRD researcher visit an old mansion where the researcher is initiated into a terrifying cult.

1989: A Christmas Underground (The Chained Coffin)

On Christmas Eve, Hellboy tries to free an old woman from a vampiric curse.

The 1990s



1991: Dr. Carp’s Experiment (The Troll Witch)

Investigating a mad scientist’s laboratory, Hellboy finds himself trapped in a ghostly replay of the past.

1992: The Ghoul (The Troll Witch)

Hellboy confronts a poetry-quoting immortalist who sustains himself by eating corpses.

1993: Drums of the Dead (BPRD: The Hollow Earth)

Abe Sapiens battles against a mysterious curse plaguing ships in the Atlantic.

1993: Makoma (The Troll Witch)

An African mummy causes Hellboy to relive the battles of the legendary African warrior Makoma.

1994: Hellboy: Seed of Destruction

After demonic frogs murder Professor Bruttenholm, Hellboy, Abe and Liz discover Rasputin has returned with a plan to bring about the apocalypse—and Hellboy has a starring role.

1994: The Wolves of St. August (The Chained Coffin)

The death of Hellboy’s friend draws Hellboy and Kate Corrigan to a town governed by a werewolf curse.

1994: Untitled (Seed of Destruction)

In a small Southwestern town, Hellboy confronts the god Anubis.

1995: The Chained Coffin

Hellboy returns to the church where he first appeared and learns part of the secret behind his birth.

1997: Wake the Devil

Hellboy investigates a fantastic plot involving Nazis, vampires and Rasputin, and glimpses more of the mystery behind his destiny. Meanwhile, Liz reanimates a centuries-old homunculus.

1997: Almost Colossus (The Chained Coffin)

Hellboy tries to hunt down the homunculus that drained Liz’s power, before the loss kills her.

1997: Abe Sapiens vs. Science (BPRD: The Hollow Earth)

When BPRD scientists decide to dissect Roger the homunculus, Abe takes drastic steps to revive him.

1998: The Right Hand of Doom

A priest gives Hellboy some information about the origin of his stone right hand.

1999: Box Full of Evil (The Right Hand of Doom)

Occultist Igor Bromhead settles an old score by giving Hellboy’s destiny and power to a minor demon.

The 21st Century

2000: Being Human (BPRD: Being Human)

Hellboy and Roger investigate eerie goings-on at a decayed Southern mansion.



2001: The Conqueror Worm

When a Nazi space capsule returns to Earth, Hellboy and Roger must thwart a madman’s plan to free the Ogdru Jahad from their cosmic jail.

2002: The Ectoplasmic Man (BPRD: Being Human)

After surviving the death of his body, the spirit of Johann Krauss goes up against a malevolent spirit that devours ghosts.

2002: Unnamed story (BPRD: The Hollow Earth)

Kate reads Krauss’s file and decides he’ll make a good recruit.

2002: BPRD: The Hollow Earth

Two years after Liz retreats to a monastery to learn better control of her powers, troglodytes arise from inside the Earth to kidnap her and exploit her pyrotic abilities. In his first mission, Johann joins Abe and Roger to rescue her.

2002: The Third Wish (Strange Places)

After a year in Africa, Hellboy is drawn into the sea where a witch plans to thwart the apocalypse by destroying him and his right hand of doom forever.

2003: The Soul of Venice

The agents battle an immortal plotting to sacrifice the spirit of Venice to the forces of Hell.

2003: Dark Waters (BPRD: The Soul of Venice)

When a New England town uncovers the corpses of three women hung for witchcraft, hate possesses a clergyman and drives him to begin a new crusade against witches.

2003: Night Train (BPRD: The Soul of Venice)

Roger and Liz join forces with the Lobster’s ghost to capture a Nazi spy hunted by the ghosts of his victims.

2003: There’s Something Under My Bed (BPRD: The Soul of Venice)

The BPRD investigates when monsters from under the bed kidnap some children.

2003: Another Day at the Office (BPRD: The Soul of Venice)

A medieval tyrant rises from his grave to confront Johann and Abe.

2004: BPRD: Plague of Frogs

The BPRD team discover that the horrors from Seed of Destruction have survived the destruction of Cavendish Hall. And with the help of human disciples, they’re spreading …

2004: Born Again (BPRD: The Dead)

The spirit of a giant monster overpowers Johann when he attempts to contact it.

2004: BPRD: The Dead

The BPRD adds a new member and gets a new HQ—that turns out to be haunted by ghosts and a mad scientist

2005: The Island

Hellboy washes up on an island where a follower of the Ogdru Jahad reveals the secrets behind Hellboy’s stone hand—which he plans to steal and wield to free the monstrous Ogdru Hem.

2005-2006: BPRD: The Black Flame

A neo-Nazi embraces the role of the Axis agent the Black Flame and begins leading the frog creatures in efforts to wake up the terrifying Kathu-Hem.

2005-2006: BPRD: War on Frogs

The BPRD continues its efforts to wipe out the frog creatures, but the struggle grows increasingly unsuccessful (this takes place overlapping the events of The Black Flame)

2006: BPRD: The Universal Machine

Seeking an alchemical treatise that can restore Roger to life, Kate becomes the prisoner of an aristocratic occultist.

2006: BPRD: Garden of Souls

A mysterious message leads Abe and Capt. Daimio to the Oannes Society, an occult group that knows the secret of Abe’s past—and a sorcerous scheme that will wipe out millions of innocent people.

2006: The Mole (The Crooked Man)

A mole on Hellboy’s hand develops a terrifying life of its own.

2006: Darkness Calls

After Hellboy refuses to become king of England’s witches, Baba Yaga lures him into the world of Russian myth so that Koschei the Deathless can avenge Hellboy shooting out her eye.



2006: BPRD: Killing Ground

The BPRD is thrown into chaos when a wendigo imprisoned at the base breaks out—and it turns out it’s not the only man-monster stalking the halls (cover by Guy Davis, rights with current holder).

2006: Out of Reach (BPRD: The Warning)

In the aftermath of Daimio’s transformation, Johann takes possession of a mystical knife that can kill the captain.

2006: BPRD: The Warning

The BPRD tries to enlist Lobster Johnson’s ghost against Gilfryd, the occultist entering Liz’s dreams. Gilfryd, however, reveals they’re facing another threat to the world besides the plague of frogs.

2007: BPRD: The Black Goddess

With the help of the Lobster and his men, the BPRD tracks down Gilfryd. He warns them that letting him control Liz is the only way to save humanity from the nightmare that’s coming.

2007: BPRD: The King of Fear

The BPRD go into a final battle against the frogs, the troglodytes and the Black Flame. However the damage done to the world may not be easy to fix…

2007: The Wild Hunt

The Osiris Club invites Hellboy to help fight against an army of resurrected giants. What follows makes Hellboy realize he hasn’t completely beaten his destiny, and reveals new secrets about his heritage.

2009: BPRD Hell on Earth: New World

Abe goes AWOL to investigate a possible wendigo sighting in Canada, where he meets an old friend and a dangerous new menace.

2009: Gods (BPRD Hell on Earth: Gods and Monsters)

Abe and Devon investigate Fenix, a psychic vagabond who seems able to foresee attacks by monsters.

2009: Monsters (BPRD Hell on Earth: Gods and Monsters)

Liz’s life in a trailer park is disrupted when it turns out her neighbors are part of an Oghdru Hem-worshipping cult.

2009: The Storm (Hellboy: The Storm and the Fury)

The witch Nimue becomes possessed by the Oghdru Jahad as Hellboy decides it’s time to fight.

2009: The Fury (Hellboy: The Storm and the Fury)

Hellboy goes into battle against Nimue, but saving the world will come at a terrible price.

2009: BPRD Hell on Earth: Russia

The leader of Russian’s occult researchers, Josif Nichayko, recruits the BPRD to help with another Oghdru Hem infestation

2009: An Unmarked Grave (BPRD Hell on Earth: Russia)

Kate learns what happened to Hellboy in his battle to save England.

2010: The Devil’s Engine (BPRD Hell on Earth: The Devil’s Engine and the Long Death)

Devon and Fenix struggle to return to the BPRD’s base despite the growing number of monsters infesting the country.

2010: The Long Death (BPRD Hell on Earth: The Devil’s Engine and the Long Death)

Johann leads a strike force into the Canadian forests to get revenge on Captain Daimio for destroying his body.

2010: The Pickens County Horror (BPRD Hell on Earth: The Pickens County Horror)

A BPRD agent learns that vampires are covertly building up their forces for a war with humanity.

2010: The Abyss of Time (BPRD Hell on Earth: The Pickens County Horror)

The power of a Hyperborean sword plunges one BPRD agent into prehistoric times—but even there, he must battle the threat of the Oghdru Jahad.

2010: The Return of the Master (BPRD Hell on Earth: The Return of the Master)

The BPRD races to stop a new Oghdru Hem threat in Scotland, while Zinco Corporation attempts the resurrection of Rasputin.

2010: The Wasteland (BPRD Hell on Earth: A Cold Day in Hell)

As the monsters continue to rise, Johann leads of team of agents into Chicago to find out what happened to the team in The Abyss of Time

2010: A Cold Day in Hell

Nicheyko and a BPRD agent work together to prevent the demon-child Varvara from escaping her prison

2010: Dark And Terrible (Abe Sapien: Dark and Terrible and the New Age of Man)

Abe leaves the BPRD to find the reasons behind his strange transformation. He soon discovers that his days of fighting monsters aren’t over yet.

2010: The New Race of Man (Abe Sapien: Dark and Terrible and the New Age of Man)

Drifters seeking the meaning of the changes in the world encounter a personal tragedy on the edge of the Salton Sea.

2010: Hellboy in Hell: The Descent

The newly deceased Hellboy finds himself in Pandemonium, city of demons–but it’s abandoned and almost completely empty except for him.

2010: Lake of Fire

Liz begins regaining control of her fire powers, but can she do it in time to stop a mad scientist experimenting on a friend?

2010: The Shape of Things to Come

Abe makes friends with a Latino family coping with both monsters and bigots.

2010: To the Last Man (Abe Sapien: The Shape of Things to Come)

A cop assures Abe that the teenagers who’ve wandered into his small town are harmless. The cop, of course, is wrong.