The Good
The whole "introduction to the Fear Lords" segment was the right amount of humour and mystique. Seeing these ominous figures and hearing about their personalities have done more to endear me to them than entire issues of other series. I'm really looking forward to seeing what their continued role in this book will be.
Finding out that Loki torrents movies to his "pad of I" makes me chuckle a bit. While that section was a bit heavy-handed in its humour, I can appreciate the reference. I also enjoy other smaller things, like Hell-Mutt still being included in the narrative. The refresher we got at the beginning of the issue was wonderfully done, and kept us up to speed.
The Damian Hellstrom sections of this book were brief and well-done, limited to only a page or two each. I think this was a good move in order to keep those parts from droning on too long, as delving into horror-fantasy can be a bit overwhelming if you do it all at once.
The Bad
Not much! This book is a bit of a stepping stone into something bigger, so it didn't blow me away. However, it wasn't a bad introduction issue by any means. Last issue was a one-shot, so we got to cleanse our palette a bit in preparation for a new arc.
The Verdict
I've been really enjoying this book lately because it's consistently impressed me with its pacing and the characterization of Loki. It harkens back to the initial resurrection of Thor, when the gods were interacting with their (then) new neighbors in Broxton, and it wasn't the painful experience that movies make culture shocks out to be.
With the addition of a relatively new supporting cast, Gillen can mold the characters to his whim, instead of relying on preconceived tropes. Seeing Loki, Leah, the Maidens and Broxton come alive definitely makes this book worth reading.
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