So the Hellboy saga is coming to its “apocalyptic wrap-up”, as Mignola has said. ‘The Storm‘ mini series ends with this issue and now we’re all waiting for the next story-arc, ‘The Fury‘, which will put Hellboy in a whole new position in the middle point of his life.

Collected together with the upcoming mini-series ‘The Fury’, both these stories will be published in one book called ‘The Storm And The Fury’, and let me tell you this readers… If ‘The Fury‘ turns out to be anything as epic as this mini series was, then that trade is going to be one of the most epic things I’ll have on my shelf.

So what did I make of this concluding issue to ‘The Storm’? I thought it was chilling, thrilling, beautiful and abundant in its references to folklore. For fans who have read every Hellboy story since his debut, you’ll be aware how heavily this plays upon Hellboy’s history and his life. New readers simply won’t get the same amount of pleasure from this as long time readers will, I’m sorry to say. But I’ll never have it said that I would put someone off buying the trades! So catch up! Get those fat-ass library editions that Comic Impact staff member Sheldon and I love so dearly, and you might find yourself enjoying them so much that your pants might fly off!

I can’t bring myself to spoil this issue with the refences to previous Hellboy stories, as to do so would upset the likes of even me. All I can tease you with is to tell you which long time characters make an appearance, and let me tell you that due to present circumstances, they’re not necessarily in the same situations we’ve seen them play before. The Baba Yaga, The Devil (from ‘The Chained Coffin’) and one of my favourite Hellboy characters, Gruagach, who makes a very chilling and sad appearance! There have been loads more characters in this issue and throughout this story who have shown up for one important reason or another.

One part that made me quite happy, was to see that Hellboy is obviously in love or in some sort of emotional pickle with Alice Monaghan, who Hellboy rescued as in infant in ‘The Corpse’ (my favourite Hellboy short-story, read it!) story. She is a damn site prettier and a damn site more cheery (though perhaps not in this issue, but with good reson so we’ll let her off the hook) than that old fart Liz Sherman, so yay Hellboy!

The story is written with consummate skill as always. From start to end this issue was a pleasure to read and to look at. This whole story arc (although quite short - no complaint) had been getting better and better up to this issue and the pay off was phenomenal. As I’ve said, long time fans will appreciate how climatic this will be for Hellboy, and man I am so glad to be going along for the ride.

Duncan Fegredo made himself one of my favourite comic artists with his work in this issue. The colours by Dave Johnson really bring to life Duncan’s unique artist flare and highlights the references to Mignola’s original interior style.

This was the only comic I bought this week but with the amount of times I’ve re-read it, I think I saved myself a couple of pounds from buying anything else. Once ‘The Fury’ hits the shelves…. SHIT. IS. GOING. TO. GO. DOWN.

Rob Andrews
Rob@ComicImpact.com