6/19 Comic Reviews: What is Reality?
The Immortal Thor #12 written by Al Ewing with art by Valentina Pinti
The tale of the Odin-children wraps up this week in issue 12 as Thor and his family continue their search for their wayward brother, Tyr. In last month’s issue, they had split into two groups and this week we see where the In-Betweener’s box has taken Thor and his party. In the meantime, Tyr is discovered by the other half of their family who see just how far their brother has been corrupted by Oblivion. On his own, Tyr was already a threat but, as he demonstrates, Oblivion’s power is something that even the gods need to fear. The family of Odin is reduced by one and it remains to be seen just how permanent that may be. As eldest-brother Ullr says, whatever is touched by the hand of Oblivion “knows no continuation” which sounds pretty darn permanent. Fortunately, Thor has ended up face to face with Tiwaz, an ancient wizard who helped him in the past. Tiwaz has the rune containing Tyr’s soul and offers to return it, but only if Thor can take it from him. Despite the new All-Father’s power, Tiwaz is in a whole other echelon. Of course, might isn’t the only resource Thor has to call upon. His wit is as sharp as his axe and the lessons he’s learned in humility have taught him when to change tactics. Tiwaz is ultimately revealed to have his own ties to the family of Odin which I hope to see have further significance in future issues.
A finale is reached in this tale of family and ends with a prophecy setting up yet another disaster approaching Thor. We’re not given much to go on yet, so it’ll be interesting to see if Thor returns to Midgard or if he’s fated to travel even further beyond the realms of reality. A number of threads are laid which will certainly pay off later. At the moment, it’s more a question of which thread will be picked up first.
As I said for the previous issue, Valentina Pinti’s art does an excellent job conveying the tone of this interlude. In the previous issue, she managed to juggle a large cast of characters, many of whom bore a family resemblance to one another. In this issue, we see that she’s more than capable of managing the action scenes as well. Each family member has a distinct way of moving and fighting that makes it easy to track what’s happening as they’re running around their corrupted brother.
Another chapter of The Immortal Thor comes to a close. At the moment, it appears to have been more of an interlude to give Thor a break from the non-stop onslaught of enemies he’s been battling since the first issue, but I wouldn’t be surprised if anything in this two-parter turned out to have massive implications for the future of the run. It’s a lighter adventure filled with fantastic art and Al Ewing’s poetic prose, and I’d certainly recommend checking it out.
Ultimate Spider-Man #6 written by Johnathan Hickman with art by Marco Checchetto
With each issue of this book, I become more and more impressed with Johnathan Hickman’s sense of pacing. He knows where the meat of each issue is and how much time the reader needs to fully savor its flavor. We can spend an entire issue on a dinner with nary a punch thrown, but when it’s time to ramp up the action, boy does it ramp up. This issue begins with Peter sitting down to breakfast with his family covered in bruises. He’s hasn’t been the best secret-keeper, mostly he’s only gotten away with it because of how patient and understanding they’ve been, but that patience doesn’t extend to looking the other way when he looks like he’s been hit by a truck. Most of the issue is spent recounting his and Harry’s first direct encounter with one Wilson Fisk. They know going in that Fisk isn’t the top of the food chain, but he’s the highest link they’ve got access to and taking him down is going to be a necessary step for getting to the top. As we saw in the previous issue, Harry is a man on a mission driven by vengeance whereas Peter still doesn’t have a clear idea what he’s about as a hero. He’s very aware of the fact that going after Fisk on his home turf means breaking the law and it’s something he’s clearly uncomfortable with. This is a slightly older family man with a lot to lose and that adds a sense of hesitance that further contrasts him from his mainstream counterpart.
I feel like I say it every week, but Hickman has been killing it when it comes to subverting expectations. Spider-Man and Green Goblin fighting Fisk? He probably catches them off guard with how strong he is until they can regain their momentum and take control of the fight. Alternatively, they have the advantage in a physical fight, but Fisk’s tremendous resources give him an edge and force them to make a tactical retreat. Not so, this time. Straight away, Fisk reveals that he’s not just a normal human and proceeds to wallop the both of them within inches of their lives. It’s not the first time that Fisk has enhanced himself with one of the variety of powers available in the Marvel universe, but it’s the first time he’s done so right off the bat and everything immediately goes sideways for our heroes. Harry and Peter weren’t even remotely close to being ready and now they have to pay for it. They make it out alive, but with no sense of how they might overcome their enemy. Fisk simply watches them go, seemingly confident that there’s no way they could ever touch him.
Marco Checchetto is back as the artist this week and the man once again proves that no one does street-level superheroes better. The action scenes look fantastic and visceral as Spider-Man and Green Goblin are pummeled by Fisk and the quieter moments are full of subtle looks and body language. I couldn’t help wincing when I turned the page and saw the aftermath of the fight all over Peter’s face. The looks of horror on his family’s faces are an understated mix of surprise and fear. This books has consistently been doing an amazing job making these characters feel like believable and relatable human beings and Checcheto’s art adds layers of complexity to these already fleshed out people.
As much fun as the action was, it doesn’t compare to the scene we get at the end of the book with Peter and his family. Once again, Hickman subverts the usual Spidey cliches, not in the name of shock value, but in the name of showing these characters as their own people not bound by decades of history. Hickman isn’t know for staying on books for an especially long time, but I hope that doesn’t prove to be the case here. This is the most compelling Spider-Man has been in ages and I can’t get enough of it.
The Six Fingers #4 written by Dan Watters with art by Sumit Kumar
“It can’t have all been for nothing. There can’t be nothing real at the end of it.”
The penultimate issue of The Six Fingers has finally arrived as Johannes approaches the end of his journey. The issue begins in the factory where it all started as Johannes digs through records trying to confirm the suspicions that have been gnawing at him. All the while, the police are closing in on him as the threat he poses escalates from murder to terrorism. His seeming enlightenment allows him to sneak through the cracks in the world and escape capture as he returns to Ada and shares what he’s found. It’s become increasingly clear that there’s a greater force at play in the world and, for some reason, Johannes seems to be the only one able to peek behind the curtain. We’re given more insight into the purpose of the symbols written by the One Hand Killer though it’s still unclear what the killer is and why Johannes has become the next one. The killer’s code is almost complete and it’s begun to reshape Johannes’s reality. We’re given a brief glimpse through his eyes to see just how much his perception has changed. Despair begins to encroach as his confidence in reality slips. If the world is fake, then does anything matter in the first place? Ada tries to snap him out of it, but it’s unclear just how successful she actually is. Her interest in Johannes may have started with morbid curiosity, but it’s grown into something more. In some ways, she’s become the last thing tethering him to whatever their reality actually is. However, Johannes is resolved to see his quest through to the end. He’s no longer being possessed by an unseen force, he now has agency and some measure of power along with it. He leaves Ada with a letter and heads back into the cracks to finish the job.
The letter helps crystallize some of the themes of the book as Johannes recounts the tale of Sisyphus. As he says, people remember the punishment that Sisyphus was given, but few people actually know the crime he committed in the first place (I sure didn’t). Sisyphus tricked Thantos, the god of death, which resulted in people no longer being able to die. As a result, the world became overpopulated and people were forced to live with horrific injuries and ailments without the respite of death to relieve them of their suffering. As Johannes says, Sisyphus didn’t have to do what he did, but he couldn’t help trying to prove how smart he was.
From there, the parallel tracks with The One Hand intersect again as Johannes emerges from the tunnel to find Helene, also known as Nemone, Ari Nassar’s love interest. This time it is up to Johannes to decide if he is going to be a murderer or not. No force is steering his hand save his own will. He has a brief chat with Nemone and makes his choice. The issue ends by making it clear that whatever Johannes does, there’s no going back.
Sumit Kumar is doing amazing work as always on this book. This issue is full of unspoken feelings and it’s left to his art to do a lot of the emotional heavy lifting, and he pulls it off in style. As reality is torn away and alien spaces are revealed, I’m just left in awe of the level of detail present in every scene. Lee Loughridge’s colors are also popping off the page. The Six Fingers tends to be brighter than The One Hand, but most of this issue takes place in unlit rooms making the colors a bit more subtle than usual. Of course, that makes Johannes sunlit dream sequence even more eye-catching and surreal. Everyone working on this book is firing on all cylinders and it really shows in every nook and cranny.
There’s only one issue left before the end and I cannot wait to see where Dan Watters takes us. The book is brimming with surreal imagery and existential dread all while being soaked in pure neo-noir goodness. There isn’t another book like this on the shelves (well, there is one, but we’ll get to that in a minute). We’re inches away from the finish line and you do not want to miss the end.
The One Hand #5 written by Ram V with art by Laurence Campbell
The final issue of The One Hand is here. While there’s still one issue left of the overarching narrative, it’s the end of Ari Nassar’s involvement in it. From the beginning, his interest in the bigger picture has been tangential to his hunt for the One Hand Killer, so perhaps it’s fitting that he’s the first to bow out before the story is truly wrapped up (or as wrapped up as it’s going to be). The issue opens with Ari speaking to someone and recounting what happened when he arrived at Helene’s apartment. At first, I assumed he was speaking to another member of the police department, but it turns out to be more complicated than that. He tells them about what he found in the apartment and the questions it left burning in him. From there, he heads to the airport to confront Johannes and the dichotomy between them is suddenly drawn into sharp focus. In their own ways, they both seek freedom but Ari is trying to force his way out while Johannes is hoping that someone will save them. Considering what they seem to be up against, it’s hard to say who has the right idea.
Ari manages to brute force himself through the cracks in the world that Johannes has been using to travel and finally comes face to face with the man he’s been hunting. He walks in on Johannes in the middle of what I can only imagine is a climatic scene of the upcoming final issue of The Six Fingers. I won’t go into it here, but wow... the implications are insane. It’s become clear between the two books that whatever the One Hand Killer is, it’s a by-product of a larger system that everyone seems trapped within. Ari is now faced with a dilemma. Bring the killer to justice or let him finish his work and potentially strike some sort of blow against the system. After he’s made his choice, he leaves the airport and walks straight into one of the most chilling scenes I’ve seen in this book. It’s not a moment of blood or gore, it’s the last piece of proof that reality is broken and everything you know is a lie. To Ari’s credit, he manages to keep walking until he gets... somewhere. From there, the issue suddenly turns off the lights and becomes purely text. It’s a fitting change as it’s already been proven that we can’t trust what we see, all we can do is listen and choose whether or not to believe. This conversation leads to Ari receiving a lot of answers, but not all of them. In the end, he’s still just one man against an incomprehensible system. He’s at their mercy and given one last choice.
Laurence Campbell has been setting the standard for noir art in comics with this run. Everything is obscured by shadow at least a bit. It’s fitting in a world where nothing can be trusted. The only times the shadows disappear are the moment when Ari finds Johannes and the scene outside the airport. In both cases, the shadows feel more like a security blanket that has been ripped away, exposing us to the awful truth of the world. It’s going to be sad, not getting Laurence Campbell’s art once a month, but I’ll be keeping my eye out for whatever he does next.
What a ride this book has been. It wouldn’t be correct to say this book started small and grew over time. It’s more like it started in something that at least resembled normalcy and slid down the rabbit hole into something truly strange and unsettling. As bittersweet as it is to close the book on Ari, it’s hard to feel like it’s the end when there’s still one issue of The Six Fingers left to wrap up the overarching narrative. I’m curious if that book will give us any more insight into the revelations in The One Hand or if it’s going to end up in a completely different corner of this strange world. After I write my review of the final issue of The Six Fingers, I’m going to have to write about both books together as one narrative. There’s a lot to reflect on and I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t read the book yet. (Seriously, though. If you’re reading this review, why aren’t you reading these books?) Ram V never misses and luckily for all of us, the man never seems to stop writing. Don’t sit on this book or any of his other work. There’s nothing else like it.
Helen of Wyndhorn #3 written by Tom King with art by Bilquis Evely
“Nothing is real!”
After two issues dancing around the fantasy world just outside the door, we finally get to dive in with this week’s issue. We start off with Lilith Appleton narrating the story and telling us that a month has passed since Helen ventured into the forest with her grandfather to return the strange creature she discovered to its home. Upon Helen’s return, she barges into Lilith’s room and immediately begins recounting her adventure. This is the first time we see the story from Helen’s perspective and the writing is imbued with the sense of wonder she’s feeling at discovering the fantasy world her father wrote about is completely true. Much of the journey is about her traveling and spending time with her grandfather. He speaks very little about himself, only explaining things as they experience them together. From Helen’s perspective, the adventure seems to fill two contradictory needs for her. It gives her the chance to escape from the grief and trauma she’s experienced while at the same time immersing her deeper into her family history than she’s ever been. She’s still a deeply wounded teenager and it’s not clear if this journey will prove to be healthy for her or not. There’s an off-handed comment she makes to Lilith about how she killed people but it’s ok in that world. Not much weight is put on such a deeply unsettling line and I’m curious to see how much that’s explored in future issues.
While it may have seemed like Helen would finally get to learn the truth about her family, the end of the story reveals that she’s barely scratched the surface. Helen is by no means a normal person and the fact that she’s said to have disappeared in the present day leads to several questions about her fate. Is there going to be some sort of quest or villain for her to overcome or is the story going to focus entirely on these quieter moments as she learns about her family and herself? Either one would be compelling, but there’s no indication yet of which path the story is going to take.
It also appears that the framing device has it’s own mystery going on. Tom Rogers, the writer interviewing Lilith and researching Helen’s father. has apparently vanished and is presumed dead. Did his search for answers get him stuck in the fantasy world? Is there some other force out there eliminating people who wander too close to the truth? The mysteries are piling up and it’ll be interesting to see if the multiple narratives and timelines remain separate or not.
Bilquis Evely’s work continues to amaze. Now that we’re finally in the fantasy world, the gloves are off and she does not disappoint. The world is full of vast alien spaces and each one looks like a masterpiece. The art makes it clear that the world is completely unlike anything we know and we should be ready to expect the unexpected. Everything from the barbarians to the bog witches to the goddesses looks amazing and it feels like we’ve only scratched the surface of what this world has to offer.
The sword-and-sorcery meets gothic-drama continues it’s stellar track record with another fantastic issue. Tom King’s writing combined with Bilquis Evely’s art equals an awesome genre-busting tale. There’s something here for everyone and everyone should absolutely be reading this!