First, read each comic book twice. On your initial reading, you needn’t bother to try and capture every little detail. Soak up the story instead, letting the excited kid inside of you race through the panels simply to find out what happens. Then, when you go back for round two, you’ll have the luxury of pausing over each frame. Not only will you notice more (since you now know what to look for), but you’ll enjoy both readings immensely.
Second, start at the beginning: don’t try to break into the middle of the story. (Trust me, it doesn’t work, and it’ll spoil your future Hellboy reading.) Mignola is a deliberate writer who unveils the Hellboy myth slowly, story by story. Ignoring his chronology would be like reading The Two Towers without first reading The Fellowship of the Ring. Why would you want to do that to yourself?
Third, always remember what you’ve read before. Nearly every story stands on its own, but when you read the tales in light of everything else that came before, details and layers will come to light. Characters who appeared briefly at first will be given pivotal scenes. Stories you once considered “throw-aways” turn out to be integral to the overarching plot. Until the series is finished, it’s unlikely anyone will be able to truly judge these stories.
Fourth, pay attention to what is said about Hellboy and what he is told to do. He always does and proves the opposite.
Fifth, have fun. Enjoy the monsters. Laugh whenever Hellboy says, “Crap” or “Son of a –” (it happens a lot). It’s a comic book, for Pete’s sake. If you can’t follow the previous steps and enjoy yourself at the same time, then practice some more and learn how.
Is Mignola a practicing Catholic?
I have looked but never found anything conclusive about Mignola. Catholic imagery abounds (and I’ve even stumbled across a website analyzing Hellboy as a Catholic character), but Mignola seems pretty tight-lipped about it. It could simply be that Mignola finds the Catholic imagery fascinating (much like he does Russian folklore or other such stories that make their way into the comics).