Journey into Mystery #644 – Review

By: Kieron Gillen (writer), Carmine di Giandomenico (art), Chris Sotomayor (colors), and Clayton Cowles (letters)

The Story:  Loki tries to save Leah while Thor finds himself in Hel.

The Review:  Five issues in and the Everything Burns crossover is still going strong, serving as an effective and complete culmination of Kieron Gillen’s run on Journey into Mystery, with no stone left unturned and no element left unused, as Hela and the Disir get in the mix this month.

What really makes this issue shine, like most issues of JIM, is the excellent character-work.  Amidst all the bluster and wit, there’s a real aura of sadness and guilt that comes off of Loki throughout the whole issue.  Truly, Everything Burns is everything Loki has done throughout the series coming around to bite him and Gillen does a great job in emphasizing that fact.  This isn’t just Loki with his back against the wall, this is a sad Loki faced with the ruin he’s wrought, alone and outcast.

Journey into Mystery #625 – Review

by Kieron Gillen (writer), Doug Braithwaite (pencils), Ulises Arreola (colors), and Clayton Cowles (letters)

The Story: With war in hell on the horizon, Loki brokers a deal with Mephisto and Hela.

What’s Good:  In case you didn’t know, Kieron Gillen’s Journey into Mystery is among Marvel’s very best books.  It’s witty, charming, funny, dramatic, and epic, just like its lead character.  It’s also remarkably consistent in its quality and so, once again this month, we get a fantastic outing from Kid Loki and friends.  As ever, the little guy oozes charisma and carries the book with ease.  His machinations are a joy to watch, his jokes are consistently funny, and he’s all-around adorable and naturally likable.

This month in particular, it’s really good fun-seeing Loki play the mega-powers off one another, manipulating beings far beyond him in power to suit his ends.  He also does it with such grace and humour that it’s a joy to watch and the dialogue is eloquently written by far, far ever ever being dry.  Loki’s humour is also often edgy in its wit.  One line he delivers in particular to the Tongue of the Serpent really got a laugh out of me.  Gillen’s clearly quite a funny guy, and the humour isn’t just extended to Loki; Hel-Wolf’s grumpy, murderous demeanor is great and there’s a fantastic sight gag Gillen delivers near the end of the issue when Loki, Ikol, and Hel Wolf get beamed to a backyard in New Jersey.

Mephisto, Hela, and new character Leah are all excellently written.  I cannot stop heaping praise on Gillen’s dialogue, which carries this issue.  Mephisto is as slimy as ever (he even gives us the recap page!) and Leah’s playing the straight man to Loki makes me very happy to see her as an addition to the cast.

Journey into Mystery #624 – Review

by Kieron Gillen (writer), Doug Braithwaite (pencils), Ulises Arreola (colors), and Clayton Cowles (letters)

The Story: “Have fun!  Don’t get killed!  I’ll be back soon!”

The Review:  It’s one thing for a series to be capable of putting out awesome issues, but it’s another thing entirely for it to be consistent, and now, in it’s third issue, that’s exactly what Kieron Gillen’s Journey into Mystery is proving itself to be.  Nothing that made the first issue so fresh and generally fantastic has been lost and, in fact, most of what I praised the last two issues for can be applied just as aptly to this month’s work.

Once again, the heart and soul of this series is kid Loki, upon whom Gillen anchors the issue with a near unwavering focus.  That’s a good idea given that kid Loki remains an absolutely charming character who also proves to be one of a kind.  Loki’s voice is incredibly unique; writers often are guilty of writing kids unrealistically, making them too smart-mouthed, witty, or otherwise super-capable.  With Kid Loki, Gillen gets the rare opportunity to get away with this and, in fact, profit from it.  Kid Loki has the innocence and excitement of any child protagonist of a fantasy yarn, but he also has the roguish intelligence and humor of the god of mischief.  Indeed, there’s a constant sense that Loki’s gears are constantly turning and that intellectually, everyone else is two steps behind him.  He’s a bloody smart kid and it’s impossible not to love him for it.  He’s also still capable of creating laughs, particular with the chemistry he shares with his grumpy and generally evil Hel-Wolf companion.

Gillen also gets the chance to write Mephisto again, which he did so wonderfully in his run on Thor.  The big red dude is perfectly slimy and devious and seeing he and Loki chat is a real treat, one that I could’ve read for pages upon pages.  It’s fantastic stuff.  Better still is how kid Loki manages to play Mephisto and Hela off one another, using these two mega-powers as, essentially, pawns.  It’s great fun to read.

Journey into Mystery #623 – Review

by Kieron Gillen (script), Doug Braithwaite (pencils), Ulises Arreola (colors), and Clayton Cowles (letters)

The Story: Loki is faced with decisions as he begins his epic adventure.

The Review:  Well, I can now say that Kieron Gillen’s Journey into Mystery certainly does not fall into “first issue syndrome.”  In other words, the second installment is still awesome.

Much of this is due to the fact that, perhaps even moreso this time around, Gillen really has his main character, kid Loki, all but completely carry the weight of this comic.  That can be a risky move, but thankfully, kid Loki has proven to be an awesome concept that Gillen is executing to perfection.  For starters, he’s absolutely adorable in a way that’s impossible to dislike.  He’s the sort of protagonist that one can’t help but love and root for and is a perfect mix of beyond-his-years wit and intelligence  and childish glee, innocence, and humour.  It’s a fascinating paradox for a child character to carry such a heavy burden while still being, most definitely, a kid at heart.  It also makes for great reading.

But it’s not just in the character-work that Gillen excels; his storytelling and issue structure is also top-notch.  Even portions of the issue that seem like a digression end up being thematically crucial.  For instance, this month, we get a really cool tale about how Loki challenged Thor into taming his fire-breathing goats.  It’s a neat story that doesn’t seem especially relevant until kid Loki tames a mount of his own.  While details from the flashback play a role in how Loki does this, more interesting is the manner in which Loki unconsciously follows the words of his older self to Thor in choosing a ridiculously hard beast to tame.  It’s a neat little narrative circle that is both elegant and subtle.

Gillen also continues to use the rest of the Asgardian cast to good effect.  His Thor remains an excellent big brother figure, a stalwart and unwavering heroic figure that merits Loki’s looking up to him.  Volstagg is similarly well-done; he’s funny and he’s most definitely still Volstagg, but he’s also not the one-note running joke of a character that he’s often reduced to.  In both protecting Loki and messing with him, it’s a relationship that’s quite fun to read.  There’s also a new character introduced in Hel Wolf who looks like he’ll have a wonderful dynamic with Loki as the disgruntled and unwilling ally.

Thor #613 – Review

by Kieron Gillen (writer), Rich Elson (pencils & inks), Jim Charalampidis (colors), and Joe Sabino (letters)

The Story: Thor journeys across hell on his quest for Eir-Gram while Tyr tries to hold the line.

What’s Good: In this issue, Kieron Gillen’s latest story-arc really feels like it’s come together into something really special.  There’s a greater sense of craft and purpose that leads to a thoroughly entertaining and page-turning experience.

Part of the reason for this is Gillen’s use of narration.  The narration only accompanies the scenes depicting Thor’s quest, but it lends it an epic feel that makes it seem all the more grand and Odysseus-like.  It makes Thor’s journey seem even bigger and more inspired.  It’s also proof of Gillen’s skill as a writer, functioning as an extremely clever way for him to condense Thor’s trek into only a few pages, without making the reader feel cheated or the material rushed.

Better still is how Gillen even goes so far as to bring humour and self-awareness into the book through this narration.  The narrator actually turns out to be a visible character in the comic whose sole function is, well, narration.  He’s actually narrating Thor’s quest for Mephisto as well as us, which somehow turns Mephisto into a reader much like ourselves, almost putting him on our level of experience.  Apparently Mephisto is so powerful, that he’s actually able to read, or listen to, the comic book that he’s in.  It gets even more fun when Mephisto even offers criticism of the narrator’s “writing,” and by extension, Gillen’s.

While Thor’s journey is certainly epic, Gillen also continues to strengthen Tyr as a character.  Gillen has not only brought Tyr back in his run, but also expands the God of War further, making him both conflicted and badass and more compelling than ever.  It’s easy to make a god of war a two-dimensional ass-kicker, and Gillen is doing anything but.  This is a Tyr forced to live up to, and negotiate, that very stereotype despite the fact that he is very capable of feeling fear.  There’s a great shame complex to the character that I love reading.

Thor #612 – Review

by Kieron Gillen (writer), Doug Braithwaite (pencils), John Rauch & Andy Troy (colors), and Joe Sabino (letters)

The Story: Thor and Tyr rush to the rescue as the Disir lay siege to Hela.

What’s Good: In heading to hell to battle zombie valkyrie, Kieron Gillen’s Thor has managed to regain its identity, distancing itself from Siege and giving a story and atmosphere directly opposite to the big event storytelling of earlier this year.  The result is a comic that is entirely unique from anything else currently being released by Marvel and, for a book like Thor, that’s a very, very good thing.  It’s a natural move for Thor to fully indulge itself as a book based in mythology.  Having a sword and sorcery adventure in hell just feels right, offering a fantasy yarn in a medium often more influenced by science fiction.

While I love the tone and the setting, what sets this issue far above last month’s is the character-work.  Take the Disir, for example.  Gillen has already made them into a credible threat and continues to do the same this month, fashioning them as Asgardian bogeymen who are nigh-on invulnerable.  What makes them more compelling, however, is that this month Gillen makes one among their number, Gondul, not only lack confidence but actually be fearful of Thor, constantly predicting the failure of the Disir’s plans and their inevitable doom.  This added a refreshing layer to villains that would otherwise risk becoming the typical, cackling, overconfident sort.

Thor #611 – Review

by Kieron Gillen (writer), Rich Elson (art), Andy Troy (colors), and Joe Sabino (letters)

The Story: The souls of the Asgardians who fell during Siege come under attack in Hel.

What’s Good: It sure feels good to see a good old fashioned Thor story, rife with occult baddies, Hela, and trademark Norse heroism.  The last couple of pages in particular are something of a “hell yeah” in that last regard as Thor literally leads his men to hell.  That’s pretty damned awesome in concept alone and very, very “Thor.”

What makes it even more effective, however, is how Gillen has subtly made this upcoming war in hell into something of an echo of Siege itself.  In doing so, perhaps this story arc can be seen as a kind of redemption for the Asgardians.  Hela has turned herself into a castle to house the souls of the departed Asgardians from the attacking Disir and Thor and his band, at issue’s end, go to relieve the besieged.  Essentially, they’re fighting another siege, in hell, to save those who died in, Siege.  It’s really well orchestrated and I’m quite impressed with Gillen’s being able to find such an effective parallel to recent events.

Gillen does a great job with these Disir, who are really, really creepy.  The demonstrations of their power are also pretty impressive and, in one case, explosive.  I’ve got to say that Gillen doesn’t hold back one iota on the gore and violence.  One particular trick pulled by the Disir late in the issue is downright shocking.  All told, their used very effectively by Gillen.  I also thought it was pretty cool to see Hela back in action again.  In fact it’s just cool to see her in an important role again and a sign to me that it’s back to business as usual for Thor and that we’re leaving the event behind.

On art, I generally like Elson’s work.  It has a painterly feel that sort of reminds of classic fantasy pin-ups, which really suits Thor.