Fearless Defenders 6
Bunn (w) and Sliney (a) and Gandini (c)
Valkyrie had to give herself in to the Doom Maiden Brunhilde that was inside her all along, hidden away, to defeat the other Doom Maidens. We get a bit of her past in this issue, clearing a lot of this up. She had led Odin's hand-chosen Shield Maidens, who were glorious warriors, almost untouchable in the battles they entered. They went around the universe, showing Asgard's influence and reminding worlds of their existence but they traveled too far, to the cold depths of the universe, and saw things that broke them. Eventually they became Doom Maidens, still unable to be defeated but far less honorable. Odin himself finally had to step in, vanquishing them. He had a soft spot for Brunhilde though, as his first Shield Maiden, and he was able to box away her memories inside of her, keep them untouched, and give her a new personality to go with her new job as Valkyrie. It's all come out now though, as she defeats the Doom Maidens and her bloodlust turns towards her friends. She takes everyone down brutally and swiftly, eventually leaving to head for the nearby village for more battles and deaths. Only Annabelle is left conscious, having been hidden by Dani Moonstar, and she takes it upon herself to try to go wake Valkyrie from this. She goes and talks to Brunhilde, hoping that she can call her back. She's able to glimpse Valkyrie through Brunhilde the more she talks but not without alerting Brunhilde. Finally Valkyrie does return in full, only to discover that she's too late: Brunhilde has killed Annabelle. Valkyrie brings the body and her story back to the other heroes, where she explains that there will always need to be people monitoring the rise of evils like these Doom Maidens but that there always have been; they're the heroes of this Earth who Valkyrie has fought alongside time and time again. There will be a time for the Valkyrior to rise but it's not now, now the world needs defenders. Her stirring speech leaves little impact on the rest of the group as Misty punches her in the face and they all walk away.
I don't totally know what to make of this issue. I thought a lot of the backstory into the Shield Maidens was kind of interesting but it faltered with the vague "saw something at the edges of space," which is both cliché and a bit of a copout. I also saw a lot of discussion on something I hadn't heard defined before but something that it's hard not to think about if you read enough comics or watch enough movies. It's called women in refrigerators (I think the verb form I saw was "fridging") and it refers to women who have been created for a story or an arc only to die or lose their powers or so on. Sure that happens with tons of characters, both genders, but it's far more common with women. It's true of Annabelle Riggs here, though I'd be interested to hear what people think about it as it relates to gender, as the entire cast so far has been female. Still, there is that feeling regardless of the idea of women in refrigerators that felt weird even before I knew the term, which is simply creating a character to die that arc. That takes away a lot of what the character's life was or what they did and makes them a plot device instead of a character. It's hard for me to, retroactively, feel too good about Annabelle (the series hadn't won me over on her to this point, either) because this kind of casts her whole creation as simply a means to an end. Plenty of characters play that role but rarely this quickly do they reach their end and rarely are they so shoved at us, trying to will us to care about them. It's also a weird decision to have her die because it's more or less left us in the position we were in before this title started; six issues after the series launched, Valkyrie is looking for people to defend this Earth and has decided that heroes are the best ones to do that, she and Misty don't really have a relationship, and Annabelle Riggs doesn't exist. I would have said those same things before the series started. Sure the Doom Maidens and all that, but frankly I would have believed you if you told me that had happened anyway.
Thor: The Dark World Prelude 2
Yost and Kyle (w) and Lim and Hennessy w/ Magyar (a) and Troy w/ Sotomayor and Mossa (c)
As we build our way back to bridge the gap between the events of
The Avengers and
Thor: The Dark World, our story focuses more and more on Jane Foster and pal Darcy. As Coulson told Thor in
The Avengers, Jane and Darcy have been relocated to Norway on some specious assignment but, unlike anything we thought about in
The Avengers (I think we mostly decided she just wasn't part of the plot, or, more specifically that Marvel didn't really feel like paying Natalie Portman for a minute of screentime that wasn't part of the plot), she's figured out it's a specious assignment and wants to know what's really up. Darcy, showing a level of computer knowledge I did not grant her in
Thor, has found a stream of the events in New York and the two settle in to watch. Of course, the good guys win and Thor returns to Asgard with Loki and the tesseract. He arrives home amidst worrying reports about the nine realms in chaos. Since the destruction of the Bifrost, isolating Asgard from the other realms, things have gone a bit haywire all over, leaving Asgard woefully out of the loop. Thor, home with the tesseract, believes that they can rebuild the bridge and straighten things out. Jane Foster, though, back on Earth, is a bit peeved that Thor didn't even stop in to visit.
So we have a lot of plots swirling to give us some background information here for November's release of
Thor: The Dark World (which still seems awfully far away from this prelude's conclusion). This is a tricky book to write as you want it to be meaningful and worth reading for the audience without making it essential reading for the moviegoers. You can't add too much in that you won't see in the movie because you can't and shouldn't assume that everyone will read it (even as a big comic reader, I wouldn't have if I wasn't reviewing it and I rather love Christopher Yost) and yet you want to add enough by way of fun tidbits to make it an actual worthwhile read. I think they toe the line pretty well; again, I don't think I would have read it if I wasn't reviewing it unless I was a huge
Thor supporter (the movie, not even the character, hence the italicization) and wanted to just imbibe every fact about the movie I could. Still, it's definitely readable and it moves fairly well. Seeing characters drawn to look like real people that I can actively identify is still a bit jarring but that might be a more personal note. Take this for what it is: a book to reignite the story for potential moviegoers and a decent jumping on point to either. It's not necessary to read to keep your head well above water with the story of the movie or of the comics but it's not a waste of time either. Mission accomplished.
Ultimates 27
Fialkov (w) and Di Giandomenico and Ruggiero (a) and Charalampidis (c)
The Ultimates are split up and broken, with Thor battling Hulk in Arizona, Hawkeye and Cap captured by Kang and co, Monica Chang unconscious and left behind, and Tony Stark on the operating table of Reed Richards, having his skull opened up so Reed can dig out the Infinity Gem within. Tony, fortunately for the reader but probably far less fortunately for him, is still conscious during the surgery and Reed happily explains why he's doing what he's doing. He's learned the way that universes die and he's seen it happen, in the Negative Zone specifically. The Negative Zone was once a fully functioning universe but had reached its extinction event. Just before, though, a genius there had discovered that the Infinity Gems of his universe might save them all. The Gems are unearthed by these catastrophic events, as we learned from Sue's explanation two issues ago or so. The Negative Zone's genius figured it out and used the Infinity Gems to try to stop the extinction but he was too late. He saved himself, becoming the Watcher in the process, but couldn't help the Universe beyond what it looks like today. Reed, though, has figured this out and found the solution thousands of years ahead of schedule, hopefully giving him enough time to dig out the Gems and set to work. He even rather hints that his last appearance created a Gem's appearance and that it was intentional. He's also putting a lot of faith into the hands of Kang, who comes from the future and has seen that he survives what he's attempting. Meanwhile, Cap and Hawkeye are being watched by Kang, kept from an escape, Sue and Ben Grimm are fighting an extension of Reed's body that he grew into a full size replica and very soon after have to deal with Quicksilver, who kills Ben and stops Sue, and Monica is found by Nick Fury, the one bright spot to all this. Fury has assembled his army, consisting of heroes like Cassie Lang, Falcon, Abomination, and others, including newcomer Hercules, to fight against Reed and his crew. It's possible, though, that it will be too late for Tony, who apparently dies at the end of the surgery.
This is an interesting idea as it posits that, if Reed is correct, he is definitely saving the world by unearthing all of the Infinity Gems and using them. However, he's also quite possibly totally insane. I don't know the Reed of this universe well enough to guarantee either option (though I'm not sure anyone could guarantee any option) but it's definitely a story worth telling. It also puts the Ultimates up against a line of foes that strategically counter them and are smart enough to know what's coming next in all of these plans. Tony has a bit of bravado talking about how the Ultimates will never stop coming after them and how they will fail because the Ultimates always win, but it's punctuated with his death so it's a little hard to fully feel threatened by that. There's a lot going on here and much of it is interesting. We'll have to see how Fury's ragtag bunch of hooligans enter into the equation before we can see the chances for the Ultimates. Still, it's a good story on its own as it is and hopefully it continues to be one as we push forward. It will also give us a chance to examine death in the Ultimate universe, which is always a more interesting examination than in the 616. Solid issue improves an interesting arc.
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