Journey Into Mystery #655 – Review

by Kathryn Immonen (Writer), Valerio Schiti (Artist), Jordie Bellaire (Colorist)

The Story: Gaea needs to return back to normal and it seems that only Beta Ray Bill, Sif and Ti-Asha Ra/Skuttlebutt can make it so.

The Review: Journey Into Mystery has a strange history when one looks into the title’s history since it’s return into publishing. After Kieron Gillen was done with his Kid Loki story, people were dubious a bit as they wondered if the quality would be consistent with a new writer and lead character. Thankfully, Kathryn Immonen knew what she was doing when she wrote the first arc, Stronger Than Monsters, which featured a much deeper Sif interacting with the Asgardian mythology of the Marvel universe. It was energetic, fun and featured plenty of things that people were asking for, namely a female lead-character written by a female writer. It was great and this title seemed to keep on with the tradition that its precedent writer had set.

Unfortunately, the book is cancelled, most probably due to low sales. It is always a bit disheartening to see a beloved title gets the cancellation axe as it is so early in its run, yet it’s a reality that a lot of people are sadly aware of in this market. However, what’s much more disappointing, in a way, would be the fact that the closing arc, including this very conclusion, hasn’t been exactly on part with the other issues of this series.
What began as a book with a strong identity turned into something else that did not seem to quite fit with what was established before. Despite the use of Beta Ray Bill, a staple in the Asgardian lore of the Marvel universe since Walter Simonson created him in his seminar run, the whole arc with Gaea never really flew very high, due to many problems.

The first one of them, which is actually seen in this issue, would be the fact that it never seem to stick to a particular tone, switching around multiple times which cause the narrative to become unfocused and jumbled. Is it a comic which revolve around Beta Ray Bill or Sif? Is the problem of Ti-Asha Ra important or is it secondary to the whole Gaea situation? Is the primary aspect the ambiance, the characters, the humor, the awkward relationship between those various personality or the conflict with the ship and Gaea? It seems that the comic itself never really knows which of these aspects it should focus on, as some of them don’t get developed very much, or at least not enough to be properly interesting for the readers.

Journey Into Mystery #654 – Review

Kathryn Immonen (Writer), Valerio Schiti (Artist), Jordie Bellaire (Colorist)

The Story: Gaea gets out of her funk as Beta Ray Bill gets reason to get out of his as well.

The Review: I am of two mind about this issue. While I can certainly appreciate the amount of panel time one character I love is getting, I am not sure if this is a good thing for the story and its progression. On the other hand, the character work on some of the players in this issue is well done, so it’s quite troubling to see that it doesn’t necessarily adds up to the overall experience in a compelling fashion.

Kathryn Immonen, on her short tenure on this title (a tenure that actually ends in one mere issue), has done wonders with Sif, giving her a wholesome personality that went beyond being the love interest warrior woman of Thor. In this issue, she continues the trend by pushing forward her dedication to her duty, her friends and her willingness to go forward to meet danger. Just like in the previous issue, Sif remains a compelling lead as her adventurous side take us to other place that show that she can fit in close to any context. She also works that magic with Beta Ray Bill, using the development put in place by writers like Walter Simonson and Kieron Gillen in order to use the character in smart ways. She plays his desperation, his bravery and his awkwardness with the unknown and women to create a fun, yet very truthful interpretation of the character.

However, while these two characters are very well-written, they do not mesh together that well in the actual story they are in, as if they were actually stealing the spotlight from each other. As we switch from the space-horror story to the general trouble with Beta Ray Bill and his ship Skuttlebutt, we never see those scenes connect in ways that truly feel organic and important to the developing story. While these scenes are interesting on their own and do plenty to showcase the history of the characters and how their interaction might have changed, it lacks cohesion to the picture at large.