11 Essential Storylines To Read If You're Just Getting Into Comics

2. Hellboy: Seed Of Destruction

Hellboy Seed of Destruction Mike Mignola
Dark Horse

There isn't a title out there as atmospheric or indeed addictive as Mike Mignola's Hellboy.

A series centred around the literal harbinger of the apocalypse, Hellboy (and its sister title, B.P.R.D.) has to be one of the most unique properties in the medium. The series, which only recently ended with the final volume of Hellboy in Hell, developed a massive fan following because of its brilliantly woven gothic elements, as well as the strength of the lead himself. Indeed, the dryness of the title character (something Ron Perlman conveyed perfectly onscreen, it must be said), grounds the universe so well, and lends the book a surreal edge that few others in the horror genre have managed to match.

Sure, there's plenty of material to get through, but the pulpy TPB format of Dark Horse's collections have cemented the series as being among the easiest to pick up and enjoy. The linear, quasi-chronological nature of the Hellboy mythos also invites readers to embark a journey fundamentally different to that of other comics in the medium, as, with the character, there's a definitive beginning and an end - you can see Hellboy's entire life from start to finish, and, given the dramatic payoff of the In Hell arc, it's a tremendously gratifying one to witness.

Horror fans will need little cause to check this book out, and, given how Neil Marshall's darker, more faithful adaptation of the series is fast approaching, now is as good a time as any to check it out.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.