I Read Hellboy Out of Order... It's Working: The Silver Lantern Club Review

I've said it before, and I'll probably keep saying it until I run out of Hellboy books to read: I'm reading the Mignolaverse completely out of order. At this point I've stopped worrying about where a story fits in the timeline, and I’m just enjoying each book for what it is. Surprisingly, that's working incredibly well. Every collection feels like discovering another dusty file from the Bureau's archives.

So what about The Silver Lantern Club? I hear you ask, well it might be my favourite example of that so far. One of the things I'm enjoying most about Hellboy isn't Hellboy himself. It's the world around him. I’m in a real worldbuilders phase at the moment.

The Silver Lantern Club is one of those organisations that makes the Mignolaverse feel ancient and lived in. Long before Hellboy became the Bureau's best-known field agent, there were investigators, occult scholars, explorers and monster hunters travelling the world confronting things that simply shouldn't exist. The framing device is wonderfully simple. Simon Bruttenholm recounts old Silver Lantern Club adventures to Hellboy and Professor Bruttenholm, with each story revealing another piece of this mysterious society's history. It feels less like reading a comic and more like sitting around a fire listening to ghost stories.

Five Stories, Five Different Flavours

Rather than telling one long adventure, The Silver Lantern Club offers five separate tales and for my focusing abilities, that works brilliantly. Each issue collected into this graphic novel introduces a different supernatural mystery while slowly building your understanding of the Club and its members. Without spoiling too much, expect:

- Haunted technology
- Missing explorers
- Strange murders
- Bizarre psychic phenomena
- Monsters stalking London's streets
- Ancient occult conspiracies

Every story feels unique whilst still unmistakably belonging in the Hellboy universe. It’s Worldbuilding at its best. This collection reminds me I have so much left to explore and enjoy. The monsters are great, and I’m now working them into my stories. The action is fun, quick and engaging. But it's the mythology that keeps pulling me back in and wanting me to read more. Mike Mignola has a talent for making every legend feel like it has existed for centuries before you opened the book. Every location, creature and organisation hints at dozens of stories you've never read, and instead of feeling frustrating, it makes the universe feel alive, and The Silver Lantern Club is another perfect example of this.

The Artwork

Christopher Mitten and Ben Stenbeck make an excellent team. The art shifts naturally between eerie horror, gothic mystery and old-fashioned pulp adventure. The supernatural creatures are suitably unsettling, but it's the quieter moments that stood out to me. The creepy shadow in the corner. An abandoned room, that feels heavy with age. A strange expression on someone's face. Hellboy comics seem to understand that atmosphere is just as important as monsters.

Final Thoughts

So far, every Hellboy collection I've picked up has offered something different. Into the Silent Sea leaned into atmosphere. Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. 1953 embraced folklore and classic monster stories. The Silver Lantern Club expands the Mignolaverse in a way that makes you want to learn more about everyone involved.

Honestly, I'd happily read an ongoing series featuring the Silver Lantern Club without Hellboy appearing at all and that's probably the biggest compliment I can give this collection.