We spend an issue with Loki, telling the story of a dragon-born, Viking Hulk with which a pre-Mjolnir Thor is entangled, and while it’s a great setup for later conflict (and a moment to revel in guest artist Rafa Garres’ particular brand of epic excess), it’s an abrupt aside. Even as we commit to Jane’s role, the volume keeps reminding us of the past Thor via single-issue myth-building segments that toss us back in time. The book has an up-in-the-air quality that rides the razor’s edge of that illusion of change. It’s a welcome change for a book that deals almost exclusively in abstracts. It’s a level which Thor, by his very nature, cannot reach, and that creates a barrier between reader and hero that does not exist for your Peter Parkers or Kamala Khans. Jane is, ultimately, instantly endeared to the reader, and all the lofty, myth-heavy moments are anchored by an understanding that this hero is suffering and human while her cancer is never dealt with as the threat it maybe should be, its presence nonetheless tethers us to our own level of humanity. It’s a brilliant bit of storytelling, this contrast between mortality and godhood.
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