Hellboy: The Fury #1

Written by Mike Mignola
Art by Duncan Fegredo

Is it strange that I usually prefer the various one-shot issues of Hellboy, set in random times throughout the almost seventy years that he's lived on Earth, over the current continuity stories that have been building, for years, to this three-issue mini-series?

It's just that I tend to find that in the "stories that matter", Mignola's writing becomes so wrapped up in grand plots that the characters don't get a lot of room to breathe.  Case in point - Hellboy spends this issue fighting his way up a staircase to battle Nimue, the queen of the witches (who is not really that at all).  He doesn't get much in the way of character moments, and everything seems terribly overwrought.

His girlfriend, Alice Monaghan, however, does get some space, although most of that is taken up with the story of the owner of the pub she and HB have been hanging out in since the last mini-series.

Don't get me wrong - this is a good comic, full of fantastic art.  It's just that I find myself looking more forward to the quick one-offs, done by various artists.  Maybe all that will change though, once Mignola finishes his big story over the next two issues.