Journey into Mystery #653
Writer: Kathryn Immonen
Artist: Valerio Schiti
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Cover: Jeff Dekal
Review by Tom Barnett
While it only has two more issues left, Journey into Mystery is one of the most well done titles on the market and issue 653 is no exception.
Kathryn Immonen writes a tale that is character driven with plenty of humor and action thrown in to spice things up. This issue finds the Lady Sif and Beta Ray Bill unexpectedly reunited and on the Avengers Deep Space station of all places. Yay, Bill is back. Hopefully, Marvel keeps him around for more then just the four issues of JIM he’s slated to be in. Sif and Bill act like an old married couple on their way to asses the damage to Bill’s ship, Skuttlebutt, his girlfriend and the Earth mother, Gaea.
A quickly rising star is artist Valerio Schiti. His ability to render emotion through his characters is uncanny. Yup, I did use the word uncanny and I wasn’t talking about an X book! I could look at a book of just faces that he has drawn and be blown away. Even on the odd shaped face of Beta Ray Bill, Schiti is able to bring forth the bewilderment and frustration that this meeting with Sif entails.
Coloring Schiti’s fine pencils is Jordie Bellaire. She always does a great job, but on this issue I was really thrilled how she moved the reader from one enviroment to the other with her color work.
Rounding out the creative team is letterer VC’s Clayton Cowles and don’t forget cover artist Jeff Dekal. Dekal turns in great covers issue after issue.
The creative team gives us another great read. A book that lives up to it’s name, Journey into Mystery, with a cliff hanger ending and a sense of dread at what Sif and Bill will find in the deep reaches of space.
Art: 5/5
Story: 4/5
Overall: 4.5/5
Tom Barnett is a father of two budding comic nerds, full time Barnes and Noble receiving manager, amateur photographer and comic nerd that remembers the bronze age of comics fondly. You can follow him on:
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