ORIGINAL SIN #5.2: THOR & LOKI – THE TENTH REALM #2
Written by Al Ewing, Jason Aaron
Art by Simone Bianchi, Lee Garbett
Published by Marvel Comics
Release Date: July 23, 2014
Thor & Loki continue their quest into the Tenth Realm in Original Sin #5.2: Thor & Loki – The Tenth Realm #2 (catches breath) and the duo is welcomed with not-so-open arms…
Al Ewing handles the scripting for this issue, based on plotting by himself and Jason Aaron. Having the two primary Asgardian writers working on this story gives it a cohesive feel and tone to what is occurring in the Thor: God of Thunder and Loki: Agent of Asgard titles, which enriches this story a lot for readers. This is the Thor and Loki readers are used to, and Ewing writes the pair well. Ewing weaves subtle details regarding the upcoming changes to Thor into this issue well, alluding to future events that are going to rock the world of the Asgardians, and he has a very interesting take on the Angels of Heven. This is a new realm and completely new characters to readers, and Ewing gives the Angels, especially their Queen, a really interesting voice. This is a cunning, violent race and Ewing does a solid job of showcasing them as a race that makes Angela make sense. Her character traits are congruent with the other Angels and this realm feels like it is Angela’s home. He builds the classes and traits of this race in short order, giving readers the knowledge they need to understand these Angels quickly. This works well with the pacing of the comic, as there isn’t a ton of time wasted delving into their history. By the end of the issue, readers know what they need to, with tons of room for story expansion, and Ewing and Aaron have a very interesting new realm to tell stories in.
The writing is rock solid, and it could be easily argued it is fantastic. Where the issue falters is the artwork. Lee Garbett handles the first five pages, and they are just fine. The issue starts to fall apart during Simone Bianchi’s pages, as he delivers inconsistent work that looks to be extremely rushed. In the script, Thor refers to Heven as a paradise, but Bianchi’s artwork is muddled and does not reflect the story well, with the Angels’ appearances far from Angelic. From panel to panel characters are completely inconsistent, with facial structures seemingly changing throughout the issue. He pencils action sequences well, and there is certainly power in his depiction of Thor, but the less-action-heavy parts of the issue are actually distracting to the story being told, with the inconsistent artwork breaking the flow of the issue. The final page seems to be in a completely different visual style from the rest of the issue, once again disrupting flow and minimizing the impact of the event occurring on the page.
Original Sin #5.2 features a solid story that is undermined by sub-par artwork. Thor: God of Thunder and Loki: Agent of Asgard readers will notice a definite decline in the quality of artwork telling the story here, and while the Tenth Realm is described in the story as being majestic, the visuals in this issue do not reflect that. This has the potential to be an epic story and if the artwork can rise to the level of the story this series will bring the thunder for Thor fans.
The Verdict: 6.5/10
