Tying in well with both Book One of Fear Itself and also the ending of Siege, Journey Into Mystery gives a new insight into how things ended and how they are beginning again.
Gillen has written a really nice piece that begins with a fable type piece complete with magpies. Following their tale leads you back to a very young, almost confused Loki...
Delving deeper into the new Marvel event, Fear Itself, this week we have Journey Into Mystery.
As an aside I have also read Uncanny X-Men (amongst others) this week, which seems an odd statement to highlight, but both have been written by Kieron Gillen.
The reason I bring this up is that I feel the two titles show a good diversity to his writing ability and style. Gillen is a relatively new comic book writer from what I know and has spent a lot of time working on Marvel titles following in some very big footsteps on Thor and now Uncanny X-Men too. Keeping the former in mind it puts Gillen in good stead for writing on Fear Itself as well.
For a character that at the end of Siege made what was an almost unfathomable sacrifice (for a god) we are now given the story behind it. Why Loki did it, what he is now and more importantly what he can and may become.
It’s well written from all angles, the fable, the narrative (which is frequently used instead of moving from first to third person) and the actual story. As I mentioned before, I also read X-Men and the contrast is really quite big. Gillen has displayed that he is well versed and also able to write not only a good story, but also one that fits and feels right. He plays to the characters well. It was clear that this god of mischief had a streak buried deep within him that couldn’t be contained.
The artwork by Dougie Brathwaite is soft with a lot of detail work. This is further enhanced by the colouring and shading. It’s good artwork but doesn’t set my world on fire with its look, however, its feel fits perfectly. It’s not clean and sharp, meaning you actually study it, as you’re not always sure everything is perfect and well defined. The colours are muted and from a lighter palette giving an almost aged feeling, which is perfect because it now feels like it fits with the story. This is a tale born of the days of yore, ripped from the pages of the Norse Gods.
I think the only thing that I found strange is that it also felt wrapped up. This isn’t a one shot or a point one. This is a smaller piece in a bigger puzzle but you’re not given an overwhelming need to follow onto the next issue. It is almost too contained within this issue and works better as a precursor. From another aspect it has completely thrown me as it’s effectively re-introduced a dead character that wasn’t counted on before, or his impact, within the grand scheme of things for Fear Itself so I now have no clue what this could mean.
It’s interesting but is it enough? Of the two Gillen titles I’ve read this week, it’s certainly the stronger as far as storyline goes but I’m still not sure. I may consider it as a Fear Itself tie-in but I don’t think I’ll be fighting to grab it off the shelf just yet.
Matt Puddy fears nothing! Except deadlines.
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