Writer: Dan Jurgens Artists: Stuart Immonen (p), Scott Koblish (I)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Plot: The book opens with Thor paying a visit to a room where a giant portrait of Odin hangs on the wall, and various items belonging to his late father adorn the room. Upon spotting Odin's bow & quiver of arrows, we see Thor flashes back to a memory from his youth, where he & Loki "borrowed" Odin’s bow, and took to shooting arrows at a tree. However when an errant arrow strikes a deer & kills it, we see Thor is crushed by the idea that he's killed such a beautiful creature. However, rather than punish the young Thor for his misdeed, Odin comforts the distraught child. We them look in on Balder who has entered the room, and has his own flashback, as we see Odin helped him out when his was being held captive by a gang of bloodthirsty trolls. We then see the Lady Sif enter the room, and she to remembers a time when Odin helped her gain entry into a bar that barred her entry because she was a woman. Then after the others have left, we see Loki arrive with his own flashback, but his memory isn't quite as cheery, as we see it's of a time when Odin tried to teach him to not to be deceitful, which is a lesson Loki never really took to heart.
Comments: A pretty solid, if somewhat simplistic tale, as we see Thor, Balder, Sif & Loki think back upon a moment from their past when Odin made an impact upon their life. Now honestly, the only one that really worked for me was the opening bit with Thor, as this first flashback has a ring of genuine emotion to it. However, Balder's rescue isn't particularly impressive if one takes into account that the only thing impeding his movement was that has arms were tied behind his back, which is an inconvenience, but doesn't exactly render a warrior like Balder as helpless as he needed to appear. As for Sif's memory, Odin's actions seem more conceding than helpful, as this scene is like having your parents step in to chastise the neighborhood bully. Loki's memory isn't bad though, as it's a fairly nice look at the formation of the rift between the two. In the end, I realize the format had to keep the flashbacks fairly simple, and two out of four isn't bad, but I'd have dropped the Balder & Sif memories, and expanded Thor & Loki's flashbacks, as the exploration of the father/son relationship is more potent.
These silent issues are actually proving to be easier to review than I had expected them to be, as the text for the script makes for the ideal second column. Given I've only seen the scripts for two books, I don't really have that wide a sample base, but I did notice that Dan Jurgens does seem to be more aware of the visual details, than Judd Winick's "Exiles" script, and I suspect this results from Dan Jurgens being an artist/writer. I also noticed that Stuart Immonen delivered pretty much every detail that Dan Jurgens requested, and that there really wasn't many extra details added that hadn't already been suggested. So in the end, based on the script it does seem that this book has more creative control placed in the hand of Dan Jurgens, with Stuart Immonen's main role being to deliver on the visual cues that Dan Jurgens suggests. I'd actually like to see Marvel start regularly posting scripts to their books on their web-page, as it's actually quite interesting to look at what the artist brings to a book.
Just one little detail before I move on to discuss the art. I'm not sure why Dan Jurgens seems to feel that Stuart Immonen needed to clearly set the flashback material apart, but I must say that I really didn't care much for the borderless panels. Then again, I did enjoy the suggestion that Stuart Immonen place a greater focus on the emotional expression of the cast, as art really does a fantastic job conveying the unspoken ideas, and frankly I think this suggestion should apply at all times. I also loved the look of Thor & Loki when they are just kids, as they're exactly the same as they are in the present, except nowhere near as cute. I mean how can you not smile when Lil' Loki's throwing his temper tantrum. Oh there's also a pretty nice shot of Balder before he takes on three trolls, that makes it clear who's going to win the impending battle. As for Thor new costume, it's not bad, though I do hope that he doesn't where that Galactus-style headgear all the time, as it's a bit ostentatious, and frankly I think it looks rather silly.
Final Word: It wasn't a bad issue by any stretch of the imagination, but I must confess it did lose a great deal of its momentum after a particularly strong opening. I mean after Thor's flashback ended I was ready to label this book the best issue of Dan Jurgen's entire run, but then he offered up the Balder & Lady Sif flashbacks, which failed to make the same impact, and while Loki's memory was a pretty nice look at his relationship with Odin, it ended before we could really get too much insight. In the end, it was far better than I entered it expecting it to be, but then again it's also a bit disappointing to see a story start off so well, and then have it fade as the story progresses onward. Still, if nothing else the Thor flashback alone earned this issue its generally positive review.
