Top of the Pile 8/8/12

The Mighty Thor #18

Story - Matt Fraction & Kieron Gillen
Script - Matt Fraction
Penciler - Alan Davis
Inker - Mark Farmer
Colorist - Javier Rodriguez
Letterer - VC's Joe Sabino

This weeks top of the pile is a book I isn’t part of my pull list from the comic shop. The Mighty Thor #18 has the honor of being read first due to the fact that it is the beginning of a story arc that will contain the book Journey Into Mystery, which I do subscribe to and enjoy. They Asgard books are doing a crossover event called “Everything Burns” which will be a huge battle with the fire giant Surtur.

Written by Matt Fraction and Kieron Gillen with pencils by the phenomenal artist Alan Davis, this was a book I wanted to read to see if it was worth adding the extra title to collect the whole “Everything Burns” event, or to drop Journey Into Mystery since I find these cross book storylines a pain.

As far as the story goes, I think it will be pretty good. It seems for the last couple years Asgard is in one existential crisis after another and only Thor can save the day. But I mentioned that I am only picking up Journey Into Mystery, which tell the story of a young, reincarnated Loki. Without the pure malevolence, I find this Loki a wonderful character. He tries to fight against his nature to do bad. He tries to do what’s right. But no one thinks he has changed that much from his old evil self. However, there was precious little of young Loki this book. I’m sure he’ll have more of a presence as the story continues.

Well, I liked this book. But what made it better than average was Alan Davis’ artwork. His style hasn’t changed over the years, and that’s a good thing since his style is wonderful for comic books. His draughtsmanship is top notch and clearly advances the narrative. Unlike some comic art where there are expressionless and featureless figures. His expressions and figures are unique. And I had to take about 5 minutes to look at the group battle double page spread.

So when the next issues of this story come out, I'll liked this issue enough to continue getting the story. But I'll wait till the end of the crossover event to read the complete tale in one sitting. I find this much more rewarding.