Published on October 26th, 2012 | by Cosmic Comix and Toys

Shawn’s Reviews – October 26, 2012

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #645
Marvel Comics
Written by Kieron Gillen
Art by Stephanie Hans

The sad part of the life is knowing all good things must come to an end, and with this issue the brilliant run of Little Loki in Journey Into Mystery by Kieron Gillen and Co. does just that. Ikol, the magpie that is all that is left of the original, evil Loki, has set into motion a string of events that would force Little Loki to allow himself to be replaced by the original Loki’s essence. Loki struggles with what he has to do the whole issue as he pays his last visits to some important characters over Gillen’s run.

I was concerned that Loki would be replaced by the original version of the character in time for Marvel Now! Oddly enough, that fear was the entirety of the story. I am not sure exactly what happens in the last two pages. It is open to interpretation, but as a longtime reader and fan of this series I wonder if the book could have ended any other way. One of the staples of the book was that you never knew if Little Loki was going to do the good thing or the bad thing. It always seemed that he did good by doing something bad, but there was always a bit of doubt that he would eventually revert back.

It was a great swan song for the series. It touched on almost every storyline that had appeared in one way or another during this book’s run. The opening scrawl page was a reminder, the sad progression Little Loki makes, the final poignant scene between him and Thor, and the unnerving final pages were utterly appropriate. Metaphorically Loki has always wrestled with himself, and here he was doing that quite literally.

The art by Stephanie Hans worked well. There was a genuine rollercoaster of emotion on Little Loki’s face the whole issue, and the scene between Thor and Little Loki was spot on. The final page is haunting and heartbreaking for those of us that were rooting for Little Loki to win the day. Well done.

There is not much more I can say. This was a fantastic series and I am glad it lasted as long as it did. In the letter’s column Kieron Gillen gets a nod from Tom Hiddleston about Little Loki’s adventures. If you do not know who that is, Hiddleston played Loki in both Thor and the Avengers. So do not take my word that this book was awesome, take it right from Loki. He might be a liar, but he only lies to tell the truth.

FINAL WORD: Saying goodbye to a good comic is like saying goodbye to an old friend. This series will be missed.

I, VAMPIRE #13
DC Comics
Written by Joshua Hale Fialkov
Illustrated by Andrea Sorrentino

In one year we went from an evil Mary Queen of Blood that Andrew Bennett was trying to save to an evil Andrew Bennett that human Mary Seward has tried to save. In-between we have had a vampire invasion of Gotham City, Andrew playing savior to a vampire nation, the Van Helsing order turning themselves into vampire hunting zombies, the majority of vampires in the world being “cured”, and of course the eventual role reversal.

Mary, as a human, turns out to be a very engaging and interesting character. She is not sweet and innocent, she remembers her time as a vampire, and losing Andrew makes her cure all but worthless. As she decides to take charge of the situation Andrew is looking up an old friend, a half-vampire, and planning on finishing the job of turning her. His descent has been a sad one to bear witness to.

The creators continue to amaze and impress me on this series. The mythology they have built, the characters they make real on the page, and the way the story evolves never fails to excite and surprise me. Consistently this book has been the best series in the New 52, bar none. And they do it once again this week.

FINAL WORD: Still the best book the DC52 is putting out. Why Fialkov isn’t writing more DC books I’ll never know.

GHOST #1
Dark Horse
Written by Kelly Sue Deconnick
Art by Phil Noto

The woman known as Ghost wants to find out who she is, who her enemy is, and why she was brought back from wherever she comes from. Her companions decide to join her on her crusade, and meanwhile one crazy female doctor and one devil looking man make things really interesting.

I really like the slow, mysterious build of this series. I genuinely loved the scenes with the doctor and her human captive that she was torturing. These villains are not to be trifled with and they are not generic villains you see in most comics. There is an ambiguity that adds to the unnerving feeling about what is in store for our hero.

I think Kelly Sue Deconnick is giving us a great reinterpretation of this character, and giving us a very unique type of series. It would be easy to make this character a generic hero, but she sidesteps all of that noise. Phil Noto is one of my favorite comic book artists and having him illustrate Ghost is wonderful I hope he sticks around for a number of issues.

It is a good series with the possibilities for greatness, and is still new enough for readers to jump onto. There has only been a zero issue and this one here. I highly recommend it.

FINAL WORD: A great new series, and definitely worth a try.

-SJD