Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Hellboy: The Fury #3 of 3
Dark Horse Comics
Mignola & Fegredo
The end of the long running saga in Hellboy hits with the finale to the mini-series called The Fury. This issue truly is an ending in more ways than one. I'm not sure I can write this review without spoiling some of the issue's contents so the high level, spoiler free review is that the book has terrific art, a great fight but a bit of a disappointing ending. Overall the book seems to leave more questions than answers. It will probably get more readers to come back when the series resumes in 2012 but for a mini-series that has been advertised as the ending it falls short of explaining a lot of what has been going on in the book these last few years.
Hellboy fights a dragon. It's not just any dragon though. This dragon is the embodiment of evil consisting of Nimue as the power source. Nimue's endgame is to knock Hellboy out of the way so that she can turn the world over to the evil she possesses. It's all good stuff and it's been building for the last couple of arcs. The power doesn't feel forced, it feels like a natural and relevant force for Hellboy to fight. The fight itself it the best part of the issue.
Hellboy is fighting as he normally does. Hellboy doesn't appear to comprehend or care about how overpowering his foe is. He just keeps punching and throwing his body around with reckless abandonment. The artwork supports the battle superbly.
Fegredo will always live in the shadow of Mignola and his creation of Hellboy. However, Fegredo sets himself apart with this issue. The fight scenes are epic and his pencils create a fluid and natural sequence. The artwork gets the highest possible marks for the fight as well as the pain that is displayed with the characters. The emotions shown on Alice's face and those of the victims are powerful tools to push this story into incredible territory. The artwork doesn't disappoint on any level.
The down side of the issue is the ending. Hellboy doesn't make it out of the fight unscathed. However, it just isn't entirely clear if he gives up or if his sword runs out of power or if Nimue is just that more powerful. I'm not really knocking the ending, I actually liked it, but I don't quite understand the events that I observed. I've read the issue a few times and I come to several different conclusions. Also, I am not really certain what Mab's role in all of this actually was. Again, more questions than answers left me a little empty at the end.
A great saga has a terrific fight to finish off the story. It's a classic Hellboy fight with amazing illustrations. Overall, this is a great saga with a capper that will make you want to read on. Unfortunately you have to wait until 2012 for more.
3.5 out of 5 Geek Goggles
