The collection that starts it all, laying the groundwork for the huge Hellboy universe. The perfect mix of the macabre and the madcap, the weird and the whimsical, Mike Mignola basically rewrites the book on "superheroes" with his demon-in-human-clothing protagonist and creates a new anti-champion for the 20th century. The story starts with Hellboy's unusual "birth" (being summoned from Hell by Nazi occultists during World War II), though his childhood with his adoptive father Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, to his first adventure with the B.P.R.D. The supplemental materials in these collections are always top notch, with tons of character sketches, behind the scenes storyboard layouts, and commentary from the writers and artists themselves!

Many of the stories in the Hellboy universe are one-off adventures, but years down the road a character or situation introduced in a seemingly inconsequential scene ties in to the much larger Mignolaverse. Nothing proves that statement more than the story "The Right Hand of Doom", introducing a pivotal part in the origin of just what Hellboy is and his possible destiny. Also included are "Box Full of Evil", explaining the "beast of the apocalypse" connotations in Hellboy's life, and "Heads", one of Mignola's self-admitted favorite Hellboy stories, where Hellboy takes shelter at a rural Japanese home and encounters some demonic floating heads called nuke-kubi. Mignola loves to take inspiration from obscure folklore and weave it into the universe he has created with his characters.

Inspired by the Edgar Allan Poe poem of the same name, Conqueror Worm has Hellboy and Roger the Homunculus set out to investigate the ruins of a Norwegian castle where paranormal experiments went awry many years ago. They soon encounter zombie Nazis, space aliens, and the costumed crime fighter Lobster Johnson (This is the 1st appearance of the pulp noir character, who would go on to star in many of his own books and adventures throughout the Mignolaverse). Meanwhile, a space capsule launched from the castle in 1939 is about to land, containing an evil spirit from beyond the stars. Mike Mignola both writes and draws this entire collection and it is one of the strongest in the series.

Is Hellboy the savior or destroyer of the world? This collection sets up Hellboy for the ultimate showdown between Hell and Earth when he cuts a deal with the devious supernatural being Baba Yaga for the survival of mankind. He'll have to fight without his B.P.R.D. teammates, as they are scattered across the world fighting evil and their own demons. He does however have an army of the undead by his side! Hellboy will have to confront the Queen of Blood in battle, setting the stage for a new chapter in Hellboy's life (the currently running story arc, Hellboy In Hell). The Storm and The Fury is like a Who's Who of Hellboy's life, with obscure and prominent characters seemingly mingling about at a party for the end of the world, all drawn strikingly and eerily by artist Duncan Fegredo.

This book is Mignola's love letter to the old Universal monster movies and Mexican wrestler vs. monster drive-in b-movies like Santo vs. Las Mujeres Vampiro. Set in Mexico in the 1950s, Hellboy runs afoul of vampires, werewolves, monsters, ghosts, and oh yeah, luchador wrestlers (!), as he tries to avenge a fallen friend. It's pretty much a battle royale of epic proportions that culminates in Hellboy vs. a Frankenstein-like monster. This is the first Hellboy original graphic novel, illustrated with distinctively intricate and grotesque artwork by veteran artist Richard Corben.