Characters dying in comics is nothing new, but you gotta admit that 2011 seems to be the year of ‘Death’ for comics. First we got Johnny Storm, then Ultimate Spider-Man, and a lot other minor characters throughout the year. This time we got another major character seemingly coming to an end with Hellboy possibly going six feet under. But if you read every single Hellboy comic like I have, you know there has to be much more then just Hellboy flat out dying. I will say this about this particular comic: I want all comic book deaths to be this amazing to look at!

This issue of ‘The Fury’ is all about the art, let’s be honest. I’m not saying the dialogue within these pages are bad but it’s definitely not what your going to be noticing in this issue. Although small touches like bringing characters back from ‘The Wild Hunt’ and referring to the lillies from the great one-shot ‘The Nature of the Beast’. But other then those slight nods, it’s mainly a silent issue.

To do another cliche today let me say that the art for this particular issue ended up going to 11. Duncan Fegredo pretty much sealed the deal of getting nominated for an Eisner with this issue. Each page is non-stop with action and the amount of explosions and fire effects feel like they’re going to leap out of the comic into the real world. London is burning to a crisp while Hellboy is duking it out with a massive dragon. I mean the amount of detail in each panel is staggering. From seeing individual bricks from a castle fall to the ground, to the amount of corpses flaying on the ground; you need to look at every panel closely to enjoy it all. Hell Dave Stewart also sealed another Eisner nod with the amazing colors he uses. I’ve never seen so many reds, oranges, or yellows in a comic nor have I seen so many shades of those colors used brilliantly. Hellboy’s red looks different from the red blood, to the fire of a dragon looks different then coming from a burning London. He uses uses a great shade of grays to show the aftermath of the big battle and it brilliantly shows the destruction of London afterwards too.

The story might be a little light in terms of dialogue but you get your money’s worth (and then some) with the art. Duncan Fegredo and Dave Stewart (who should have a bigger font to his name as colorist) just outdid themselves with this issue and has help draw one of the most gorgeous looking comics this year. But I tell ya what got me most excited of all with this comic and that would be the final page. It hints at something that excites me to no end for the future of Hellboy (sans the inevitable bad puns to come from it) But also just seeing the only single credited name for the creative team: Mignola. Holy hell, 2012 can’t come quick enough if we’re going to be seeing some Mignola pencils for the future.