Undeserved Fate: Journey Into Mystery #634 Review

I can’t imagine that Kieron Gillen was super excited to be assigned writing duties on Journey Into Mystery. A comic that’s nothing but Thor retitled following Thor’s “death” in Fear Itself, at face value this is a book designed to do nothing but park the title until they’re ready to bring Thor back properly. This is a book that is designed to have no future, and getting the assignment had to feel like getting a gig at a VHS tape factory. Or at a newspaper. Or on a non creator owned J. Michael Straczynski ongoing title.

So it would have been easy for Gillen to treat the book as what it is, write himself a good old middle of the road Thor-ish story and bide his time for a more lucrative assignment, like Scarlet Spider’s Pal: Jimmy Douchebag, or perhaps Ultimate Boom-Boom. Instead, he’s cutting loose with some of the zaniest, most fun comic writing you can currently buy. When it comes to pure fun, you’re not gonna find anything better than Journey Into Mystery #634 on the shelves this week.

The Best Laid Plans Of Daleks And Men…

Tell me again about the rabbits, George. Say, what's that clicking noi-

Gang aft agley. Or something. Look, I was going to do this whole review on a copy of Journey Into Mystery #626.1 I bought last week. I was going to delve into the psyche of a now adolescent Loki and discuss how great it was that a writer wanted to examine the often strained, acrimonious relationship between Loki and Thor from a fresh perspective. Would Loki still grow up to be a mistrusted and deadly God Of Lies And Mischief if he had the opportunity to do it all over again, growing up this time under the guidance of a much older brother whom he apparently worships? Or would the cards play out the same?

Who knows? I discovered that Journey Into Mystery #626.1 actually came out back in August and, furthermore, Matt Fraction killed off Thor in Fear Itself #7 this past week. So much for my well laid plan. Thanks, Fraction. Thanks, Time. Bastards.