Hellboy: The Storm and The Fury

The natural sequel to The Wild Hunt and overall conclusion to the Hellboy series, The Storm and The Fury is the twelfth volume and proves true to the old adage; leave the best to last. Mike Mignola and Duncan Fegredo are both on top form and deliver an ending to Hellboy that makes one forget the mixed bags that preceded it.

Finally resolving the very interesting setups from The Wild Hunt including Hellboy's claim to the throne of England and the army of Daemons gathering behind a dark queen. The Storm and The Fury leaves no stone unturned as it sets out to tie up the loose ends from all the major story arcs. End much of my frustrations with the episodic format, it manages to do all this house keeping and still feature plenty of vintage action pieces with classic Hellboy attitude and dynamics.

Fegredo, who's art had appeared on some previous volumes with mixed results now shows a fined tuned execution. Where it had seemed at first like he would just a decent mimic to stand in for Mignola, here the transition in artists is near seamless. It is fitting to that in the finale, he is truly paying homage to Mignola's own style and the artwork is worthy of such an occasion.

So as two out-worldly armies march to face each other and Hellboy stares down the coming apocalypse, The Storm and The Fury touches on all the themes which have run right through the Hellboy saga. Choice, destiny, sacrifice and hope are all examined as Hellboy faces his greatest and final test.