Review: 'Hellboy: The Fury' #3

OMG OMG OMG!!! Okay, now that I have that out of my system and maybe if I try really hard, I can stop hyperventilating and write this review. Why the sudden panic attack of euphoria, you may wonder? Well, for the fans of Hellboy who've read the most recent issue published by Dark Horse Comics today, Hellboy: The Fury #3, creator Mike Mignola and artist Duncan Fegredo just raised the bar on this lil' humdinger of a series. And if you thought that bar was high before, then you haven't read the latest issue, have you? Smart ass.

The long and mildly torturous wait for fans of Hellboy ends today. What started as a strange sea farthing in 2005's Hellboy: The Third Wish and an adventurous walkabout in Africa in 2006's Hellboy: Makoma, the Big Red Guy has finally made his way to homeland in what is probably his biggest and longest running story-arc to date. Mainly because readers realize this Hellboy collective truly begins with the first Hellboy story way back in Seed of Destruction. Everything Mignola has introduced into his universe is fair game in these most recent issues. Since Hellboy's arrival on our earth, one heeding question has festered in the mind of Hellboy fans. Will we ever see the end? Will Hellboy be our destroyer? The answer is a yes and Hellboy: The Fury #3 is it. Finally, all of our questions are answered, our curiosities fulfilled.

As in any Hellboy comic, the artwork, story, colors, and layouts are absolutely wonderful. But Hellboy: The Fury is by far the best to date. The haunting quality in this small, three issue arc never lacks constant resonance for readers new or old. Nothing, absolutely nothing, amounts to what the readers of Hellboy face in The Fury #3 face, which is the series' inevitable apocalypse. And at the very forefront of this doomsday event is our anti-hero Hellboy. Is he a savior? Or is he a death-bringer? I'll leave that question up to you. But one thing is certain by the very end of this issue. Hellboy is dead.

Which brings us back to my moment of hyperventilation... OMG OMG OMG!!! How can Mignola do this to his most fan-loved creation? What will the Hellboy series become without the Hellboy? Where in all of Hell can Mignola be taking us with this? And as all of these questions are running through the heads of fans and readers while they flip through the last pages of Hellboy: The Fury #3, they see exactly where Mignola plans to take us. Alright, prepare to hyperventilate... In Hell.

For more information on Hellboy look to Mike Mignola's personal website or Dark Horse Comics' website.