Week of 4/16 Comics Reviews: What Even are These Comics?!
Roxxon Presents: Thor #1 written by Al Ewing with art by Greg Land
“The comic is self-parody, of course. But parody is an effective weapon in these times.”
At the end of The Immortal Thor #9, Thor discovered that Dario Agger, the Minotaur, had purchased the rights to his likeness and had begun publishing his own line of Thor comics. While that might sound like a petty slight at best, a god’s story is their entire existence, and co-opting that story could have potentially deadly ramifications on Thor. To give us a sense of just how bad it could get, we’ve been given a special issue of the same comic that had been handed to Thor to read along with him. The plot of the comic is sloppy, lacking nuance, filled to the brim with overdone product placement and embedded advertisements, and represents a political mentality more toxic than whatever the hell they’re putting in the water supply. In other words, it’s exactly what Al Ewing was going for. Normally, in these reviews, I go through beat-by-beat and share my thoughts on each moment. With this comic, the story truly does not matter. Thor beats up some “young people” that were non-violently protesting Roxxon’s appalling environmental standards. That’s it. That’s the comic. Or it would be, if plot was all that mattered. Instead, we get a brilliant piece of satire and meta-commentary about the symbiotic relationship between art and life.
Thor has been reimagined as Chad Hammer, a tech bro touting the latest in Roxxon’s product line. His high tech “Thor-Truck” (gets nine whole miles to the gallon!) can only be unlocked by swiping on his “Mjolnir Premium” hammer, which then sends a 20-digit code to his armlet, which then requires five other levels of confirmation on top of everything else, only to end with him talking about how great Roxxon’s products are. It’s absurd, but as Agger says in the brief moment when the story cuts back to our Thor reading in horror, the absurdity is the point. A company that laughs at itself, that makes itself a joke, is less threatening. People share those jokes and laugh at the horrible corporations, but all that does is let the roots run even deeper. The story isn’t meant to be an alternate take on Thor, the ideologies touted in this issue aren’t meant to be taken seriously. No one is going to be reading this book and nodding their heads (I hope...). At the same time, the dialogue and narration use lines that have been lifted wholesale from certain vulpine news networks and billionaire twitter accounts. The book is strange, but it is strange by virtue of being shaped by reality.
Greg Land possesses a distinct art style known for being full of glitz and glamour and it works perfectly in Agger’s corporate sponsored world. Every character looks like they’re modeling for a magazine cover and you can almost see Chad’s teeth sparkle whenever he smiles. There’s an extended scene at a beach which adds nothing to the narrative, but fits into Agger’s vision of art as a tool for appeasing the masses with simple, easily digestible episodes free of complicated ideas.
Would I recommend jumping into the series with this issue? It’s hard to imagine this as a jumping on point for a new reader. However, when read in the context of The Immortal Thor, it is a deliberately crafted piece of satire that serves as a meditation on the nature of corporate sponsored media and provides insight into the mind of one of Thor’s most frightening enemies. There have been plenty of accounts given by comic writers about the pressure to make each issue approachable as any comic could be someone’s first. It’s rare to see a book that runs counter to that philosophy to this extent. Al Ewing is demanding the reader’s investment and refusing to make it easy for someone to jump into the middle. The fact that he’s getting away with it is proof of the reputation he’s built over his career, and I have no doubt that he’s going to pay back that faith in full. If you’ve been enjoying his work on The Immortal Thor and want to understand the full scope of Agger’s attack, then I would definitely recommend checking this book out. If you’ve been keeping up with the run and also enjoy parody with just a glimpse of existential horror peeking through, then this book is especially for you. Al Ewing is telling a story like no other with a book that attacks Thor’s very existence, and I can’t wait to see how our hero responds.
Helen of Wyndhorn #2 written by Tom King with art by Bilquis Evely
The gothic drama crossed with sword and sorcery continues in the second issue of Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s limited series. After the action packed ending of the previous issue, the dust has settled and normalcy has returned to the house of Wyndhorn. Lilith Appleton continues to narrate the story of the house and her young charge Helen all while trying to pretend that the horrors she had witnessed in the previous issue were nothing more than a trick of the mind. Helen, for her part, makes an attempt to interrogate her grandfather for answers now that he has finally returned, but after his dismissive comments, seems to resign herself to the routine of alcohol and abandon she’d been in before. However, it’s clear throughout the issue that questions burn in her mind about her family and herself. She catches glimpses of a fantastic world just out of reach, a world that she finds all too familiar as she recounts her father’s fantasy novels. Months go by with only those brief hints until Helen’s alcoholism escalates to a point where an intervention can no longer be put off. The issue ends with her grandfather inviting Helen on a trip into the world beyond the manner and the reader, along with Lilith, watches her set out with no idea of what’s to come.
In terms of “plot” the issue is fairly light, but to leave it at that would be an injustice. In the first issue, Helen was an inscrutable young woman, acting out while giving very little idea of what was actually going through her mind. In this issue, it becomes clearer that she deeply grieves her father’s death and has not been given the tools to process those emotions. Her father drank until it killed him, and so far, that’s the only model she has. Lilith, for her part, remains stodgy and reserved, unwilling to question what has happened as it is not “her station”. Despite the erratic behavior of both her client and her charge, she is determined to do the job she has been hired for. However, as Helen begins to open up and reveal more of her wounded heart, Lilith finds she can no longer stand on the sidelines and goes to speak to Barnabas, the grandfather, about Helen’s wellbeing. Barnabas is as dismissive as usual, even going as far as to say that he drank just as much at her age and turned out fine. He loses his temper at Lilith’s repeated insistences and roars at her to leave, but Lilith stands her ground and makes it clear that he has a responsibility to lead Helen down a better path than the one her father ended up on, something which provokes an unexpected response from Barnabas. Lilith is not always a likable character, but it speaks volumes that she can remain passive for months after witnessing a horrific monster attack, but the neglect of a grieving teenager will provoke her to abandon decorum and make herself heard. Her actions in this issue shift her into a more active role and I’m looking forward to seeing how she continues to develop down the line.
In the first issue, we saw that an elderly Lilith is narrating this story to a writer doing a piece on Helen’s father decades later. This issue returns to that writer and reveals that three years have passed since he spoke to Lilith and she has passed away in the interim. Apparently, he had dismissed her tale as a bunch of insane ramblings, but finding out about her death leads him to return to the recordings to glean some insight into what she had gone through. We see him discussing her and her story in a few scenes with a relative of Lilith’s and later at home with his husband. Through those conversations cryptic hints are dropped about what’s become of everyone else who’d been at Wyndhorn with Lilith, casting a foreboding light on the story to come and adding to the mystery surrounding that house.
As with the first issue and every comic she’s drawn, Bilquis Evely’s work is unlike anything else in comics. Her pages in Wyndhorn perfectly capture the dust and shadows of the gothic manor which are contrasted with the brilliant landscapes of the fantastic world beyond. Danger and whimsy about in perfect harmony, setting a perfect tone for this tale of fantasy.
Tom King is a master at slow-burn storytelling, drip-feeding us tantalizing glimpses of an amazing world, but rather than feeling confined in the manor, we’re treated to an assortment of fascinating characters trying to find their places in a world that seems to make less sense with each passing day. This book is truly like no other and I cannot recommend it enough. If you enjoy gothic period pieces or are looking for a tale of epic adventure, you’re sure to find both in the pages of Helen of Wyndhorn.