The Door Closes
This has been a good series and I have really enjoyed seeing the developments of Loki in his younger form, and how he's shown traits of his former self whilst trying his hardest to be good. I think Kieron Gillen has done an amazing job on this series and when I initially picked it up I was never expecting it to be as good has it's been. I also loved the art in this issue. The art over the course of the Everything Burns crossover (JIM wise) has been the main thing that disappointed me but I was glad when I noticed that Stephanie Hans would be doing the art as it is simply amazing, and her covers throughout the series have been the main thing visual wise that I've loved about the series.
This issue sees Evil Loki tell Young Loki that to save himself and to stop Mephisto becoming ruler of Hell he must sacrifice himself. This has happened after Evil Loki as the magpie tells the Teller about Loki's secret devices and that once the next major war in the nine realms (events of Everything Burns) is over that he must tell Mephisto where Loki's weapons are buried. Young Loki then goes to Hel where he asks Hela to send Leah as far away from him as she possibly canto which Leah isn't happy. Later he goes to Thor and asks him to kill him if he ever turns bad, to which Thor says he never will as he will never lose faith in Loki and neither should Loki. Loki then returns to Evil Loki to play out the final pieces in their "game".
I loved this issue and it's by far the best issue I have read throughout the series (I have however missed the issues between 628-641). It was a very emotional issue and I was actually at one point felling sad for Loki. I loved the way Leah reacted when Loki asked for her to be sent as far away from him as possible as the emotion between the silent Loki and the fact she was so frustrated about the fact he wouldn't speak to her was very moving and you could tell in their messed up way that they love each other. I also liked how this issue showed that everything Loki has done since Gillen started to write the character has been for a reason and has been driving to this point. The thing story wise I loved about this issue was the verbal sparing between the two Loki's and how you see the older wiser and eviller Loki trying to control the younger, and more innocent version of himself, for his own gains. I also loved the emotion between Loki and Thor in this issue as Thor has been trying his hardest since he found kid Loki to make sure he doesn't become evil and that he will always love him and have faith in him no matter what. The only bad thing I can think of this issue is that it's the end of Gillen's brilliant run, but there is the upside that Gillen will be continuing Loki's adventures as a part of Young Avengers next year.
Final verdict. This has been an amazing issue and Gillen couldn't have ended his run on this series any better. I would highly recommend this issue and am really looking forward to Young Avengers which is out January next year.
Rating: 5/5
