Mister Loki travels to Hel
I must admit that my love for Gillen's work in Journey into Mystery runs so deep, that my opinion might be a little biased. Kierron Gillen gives once more a incredible tale in this third issue of the story, and his narrative style, florid and careful, match beautifully with the art.
The tie-in with fear itself is not so much a tie-in, given that the only direct reference we get is one scene, already present in Fear Itself #3, were Odin send Thor back to Earth. Now Odin turn his eye towards Loki, not willing to left proven traitors in Asgard. Fortunately, a prompt intervention by Volstagg prevents any untimely punishments. It is nice to see that Volstagg, in spite of all the problems Loki brought, still care of him, at least while he is a kid.
Loki takes the change to return to Earth, collect his new Hel Wolf sidekick, and fly to Hel. Hela, who seems to have a new look, is receiving a emissary of the Serpent, who wants her help into facing Asgard, and while Hela has no interest in facing Odin, she know that the Serpent represent troubles for her Hel. Tyr, who seems to have left limbo to be with her (in more than one way, for the looks of it) is not happy with the possibility to make war against Asgard.
Always opportunistic Loki, takes the change to get an allied in him and some information. Taking the decision that he needs to force everyone's hand, Loki goes to Mephisto's court, already warned by Ikol that the lord of Hell might not feel very friendly to his new incarnation. Loki demonstrate that he is a cunning and shrewd player, even in smaller form, and manipulates Mephisto to believe that Hela has already sided with the Serpent, and give him an effective beachhead in Hell.
Whatever result Loki expects from starting a war between Hela and Mephisto would have to wait until the next issue.
This issue is one the best things in comics in this moment, and the only bad thing that I could said is that it has too many exposition if the first pages, obviously to serve as a introduction for those who are not regulars of the story, or haven't read the issues from a few months back when Loki gave the Disir to Mephisto. I could have lived without all this information.
The tie-in with fear itself is not so much a tie-in, given that the only direct reference we get is one scene, already present in Fear Itself #3, were Odin send Thor back to Earth. Now Odin turn his eye towards Loki, not willing to left proven traitors in Asgard. Fortunately, a prompt intervention by Volstagg prevents any untimely punishments. It is nice to see that Volstagg, in spite of all the problems Loki brought, still care of him, at least while he is a kid.
Loki takes the change to return to Earth, collect his new Hel Wolf sidekick, and fly to Hel. Hela, who seems to have a new look, is receiving a emissary of the Serpent, who wants her help into facing Asgard, and while Hela has no interest in facing Odin, she know that the Serpent represent troubles for her Hel. Tyr, who seems to have left limbo to be with her (in more than one way, for the looks of it) is not happy with the possibility to make war against Asgard.
Always opportunistic Loki, takes the change to get an allied in him and some information. Taking the decision that he needs to force everyone's hand, Loki goes to Mephisto's court, already warned by Ikol that the lord of Hell might not feel very friendly to his new incarnation. Loki demonstrate that he is a cunning and shrewd player, even in smaller form, and manipulates Mephisto to believe that Hela has already sided with the Serpent, and give him an effective beachhead in Hell.
Whatever result Loki expects from starting a war between Hela and Mephisto would have to wait until the next issue.
This issue is one the best things in comics in this moment, and the only bad thing that I could said is that it has too many exposition if the first pages, obviously to serve as a introduction for those who are not regulars of the story, or haven't read the issues from a few months back when Loki gave the Disir to Mephisto. I could have lived without all this information.
But in general the story is great, and I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen next month.