# Is "Hellboy: Seed of Destruction" by Mike Mignola (with John Byrne) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Hellboy: Seed of Destruction by Mike Mignola (with John Byrne) (Dark Horse Comics, 1994) is identified by: First trade collection of the debut four-issue Hellboy mini-series, Dark Horse, 1994, softcover, ISBN 1-56971-049-9, with the printed price. Hellboy's true first appearance is in San Diego Comic-Con Comics number two, August 1993, a convention giveaway; a cameo follows in John Byrne's Next Men number twenty-one, December 1993.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First trade collection of the debut four-issue Hellboy mini-series, Dark Horse, 1994, softcover, ISBN 1-56971-049-9, with the printed price
- Conceived and drawn by Mignola and scripted by John Byrne
- Stated first printing; original Mignola cover
- The collection also gathers the early Hellboy short stories and a pin-up gallery
- Correct publisher/imprint: Dark Horse Comics

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Mike Mignola (with John Byrne) |
| Publisher | Dark Horse Comics |
| Year | 1994 |
| True first | world edition |
| Format | Comic / graphic novel |
| Key point | First trade collection of the debut four-issue Hellboy mini-series, Dark Horse, 1994, softcover, ISBN 1-56971-049-9, with the printed price |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First trade collection of the debut four-issue Hellboy mini-series, Dark Horse, 1994, softcover, ISBN 1-56971-049-9, with the printed price. Conceived and drawn by Mignola and scripted by John Byrne. Stated first printing; original Mignola cover. The collection also gathers the early Hellboy short stories and a pin-up gallery.

## Is this the true first?
Hellboy's true first appearance is in San Diego Comic-Con Comics number two, August 1993, a convention giveaway; a cameo follows in John Byrne's Next Men number twenty-one, December 1993. The four-issue solo mini-series, beginning 1994, is the first standalone Hellboy comic, and the 1994 trade is the first collected book. Three distinct precedence layers.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition is recorded. Later Dark Horse printings are explicitly marked, with a second edition in 1997. Confirm the 1994 first printing and original ISBN.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Hellboy: Seed of Destruction* by Mike Mignola (with John Byrne) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/hellboy-seed-of-destruction
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.