Hellboy (Book) type Book genre Fiction

Hellboy will soon be returning to the big screen, courtesy of Stranger Things star David Harbour. This new film from director Neil Marshall will not be connected to the previous two Guillermo del Toro films, but will rather be a brand new start. EW already assembled everything we know about the new Hellboy film, which starts production this fall, but readers who still want to learn more about Hellboy should not fear: Dark Horse is coming out with new Omnibus editions of creator Mike Mignola’s original comics that lay out the whole saga in an easy-to-understand way.

As longtime Hellboy readers know, the collection of Mignola’s comics has been somewhat haphazard. Over the course of his more than 20-year life, Hellboy has followed an overarching storyline (following his struggles with his destiny as the Beast of the Apocalypse and his attempt to stop the ancient evil dragon Ogdru Jahad from awakening) interspersed with individual short stories where he faced various monsters and creepy cases. These stories were collected as they came out, which sometimes made it difficult for casual readers to parse the numbering. For instance, if you just wanted the main story, you would have to jump from volume 1 to volume 2 to volume 5 and 6, though you might have to circle back to the stories in volume 3 at some point in order to understand the enemies plotting against Hellboy in volume 8.

Fortunately for such fans, Dark Horse’s new Omnibus editions will collect the Hellboy saga in chronological order. The main story is now split into four big volumes (Seed of Destruction, Strange Places, The Wild Hunt, and Hellboy In Hell) with two additional volumes covering The Complete Short Stories. Best of all, these volumes all come with brand-new Mignola artwork for covers. The first volumes will be available in summer 2018, with the remainder to follow in the following fall and winter.

In fact, one of those Mignola covers (for Hellboy Omnibus Volume 3: The Wild Hunt) will be sold as a print at Rose City Comic Con in Portland this weekend, with all proceeds going to the Houston Food Bank to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. It’s fitting; Hellboy‘s story of heroes struggling against apocalyptic evil feels strangely relevant in the chaotic news cycles of 2017, as do its meditations on the poetic beauty of life somehow finding a way even in the worst conditions.

Below, EW can exclusively reveal the Omnibus covers for Seed of Destruction, The Wild Hunt, and The Complete Short Stories Volume 1 below, including the print that will be sold at Rose City Comic Con.

Image zoom Dark Horse

Image zoom Dark Horse

Image zoom Dark Horse