There have been a few notable successes thus far in the publication history of Zenescope with its Grimm Fairy Tales imprint, and their foray into the Jungle Book has more or less been one of them.  Although the sequel miniseries to the original was not as well conceived as the original, it was still an entertaining entry.  The question was therefore about the third of the series, whether it would equal the quality of the first series or that of the second.  For the first four issue of the end of the trilogy it seemed as though it would be treading somewhere between the two, and with the conclusion to the series it remains there.

The conclusion to the story here follows Mowgli as she returns to the island after being captured by pirates.  The pirates are after her, as she is a prized bounty that will fetch a hefty prize.  After returning to the island she realizes what it is exactly that she needed to unite the tribes against.  It was not the rumbling of the volcano, but rather the presence of man, now in hot pursuit to find her.  There are some surprising moments here, but nothing which elevates the story to the next level.

Part of the problem with this issue and this series is the lack of an underlying moral, or specifically that the moral was introduced too late and not expanded upon enough to make an impact.  Certainly in this setting the message of man’s destructive effect on nature could have been elaborated on in great detail, but instead this message is mostly left untouched except as a rallying call for the animals to work together.  As the end of the trilogy there are still unanswered questions, and this suggests that in true Grimm Fairy Tales style that this is not so much of a trilogy as just the start of the story.  There are likely to be a sequence of one-shots to follow, as well as a followup series, seeing as there are still a lot of unanswered questions.  As it stands the series and this issue were noteworthy enough, but they also represent a bit of a missed opportunity.

Story: Mark L. Miller Art: Michele Bandini and Luca Claretti
Story: 8.4 Art: 8.4 Overall: 8.4 Recommendation: Buy