Thor: The Accursed and The Last Days of Midgard

In his senses-shattering take on the God of Thunder Jason Aaron introduced the time-hopping team of past Thor (the adventurer), present Thor (the Avenger), and future Thor (the King of Asgard), each with their own unique personalities and problem-solving skills. With the lush art of Esad Ribic, the two were unstoppable. My only criticism of the original storyline was that it took 2 paperbacks in order to complete the story -- which they have since rectified by publishing a paperback that collects issues 1-11.

So let's take a look at the latter half of the series. It ended at issue 25, which led to the "Original Sin" mega-event, and a whole new Thor title with another #1. Today we cover "The Accursed" and "The Last Days of Midgard."

Thor: God of Thunder Vol. 3 -- The Accursed

by Jason Aaron, Ron Garney, et al.

Collects issues 12-18

The main story is issues 13-17 "The Accursed," named after one of Thor's greatest enemies: a sadistic Dark Elf titled Malekith, the Accursed. The more I thought about it, the conflict between these two aren't that important at all. We already know how these guys are going to act together. Malekith comes off as your standard comic-book sadist, desiring to rule the Dark Elves of Svartálfheim, by eh, murdering them one by one, even if they're dead. It's how their conflict plays out in the larger world of Asgard that Aaron wants to touch on here. To convey this importance, Aaron even includes a map of "Yggdrasil,"the world tree that contains all nine realms, in nearly every issue!

We get to see the various races that compose the colorful world of Asgard: from the artistic Light Elves and pixies of Alfheim, to the towering Frost Giants of Jotunheim, each race has its own history and skills. They go so far as to form a "League of Realms," a UN of Asgard, if you will, so that one kingdom isn't seen to be dominant. My favorite are the Dwarves of Nedavellir, as the Dwarf of the League of Realms provides comic relief:

And finally, Dark Elves: a selfish, violent, and hostile lot. In fact, their congressional debates are composed of an "introductory stabbing" phase, and the two debates are insulted when Thor interrupts their due process!

So the only logical conclusion for the Council of the Dark Elves, is to make Malekith King of the Dark Elves. That way, he's obtained what he wanted all along, and no more blood will be shed. It's a resolution that comes out of nowhere, yet it makes perfect sense -- for Dark Elves. The background is set for a new world order with Malekith as a realm leader, setting off an uneasy peace.

"The Accursed" is bookended with two slice-of-life-ish stories at both ends. I enjoyed both of them, since they give you special insight to who Thor is, was, and will be in all areas of time. Aaron does such a good job of building a charming, fantasy world with a sense of dry humor. For example, check out this intro caption:

Midgard: World of fossil fuels and high-fructose corn syrup.

And check out young Thor's opinion of his responsibilities when responding to prayers:

Just charming.

Thor: God of Thunder Vol. 4 -- The Last Days of Midgard

by Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic, et al.

Collects issues 19-25

It's an end-of-the-world story paired, with another end-of-the-world story as Thor the Avenger fights the mega-corporation Roxxon Energy, and King Thor battles Old Man Galactus, in the future!

There's some heavy environmental undertones in here, with points where it does get too ham-fisted. Particularly interesting is the guardianship that Thor has over the planet Earth, reflected in both battles fought by Thor the Avenger and Thor the King. King Thor even reflects, when asked why he wants to save the Earth at the end of its life cycle:

Because it's saved me more times than I can count. And I haven't saved it nearly enough.

As an old man, he sees the value of this place that took care of him when he was in his "teenage" years, so to speak. Earlier, in Volume 3, King Thor states his love, as if it's a matter of fact:

Foolish sentry. Doth the boy not know his history? Thor ALWAYS returns to Midgard.

No matter how much it PAINS him.

He's this grumpy old bastard with this unstoppable love, for a planet. A whole planet. It's this love that redeems him, for any of his flaws. This love shines through even in the Thor the Avenger plotline, when asked if he has a girlfriend.

This focus on Thor's love for a planet makes Volume 4 unique. It's conveyed beautifully in the words and the art, now that Esad Ribic is back. Esad Ribic. Just look at this underwater scene:

I love hand-drawn sound effects! The color is even muted, to signify the depth of the water.

The evil corporation storyline isn't very novel, but the Roxxon CEO, Darius Agger, does have a neat twist that allows him to fight hand-to-hand with Thor.

The fight scene between Galactus and King Thor is an instant classic: Asgardian trash talk, using black holes as an assist, bringing forth Mjolnir held by a Destroyer arm. It's great super-comics.

It's a great close to the God of Thunder series, and I only wish it went for longer. Highly recommended for comic book fans.

Read more:

Thor: God of Thunder -- The God Butcher and God Bomb

Thor: God of Thunder -- The Accursed and the Last Days of Midgard

Thor: The Goddess of Thunder and Who Holds the Hammer

The Flash: Rebirth, or, I want my Barry back, Barry back, Barry back,

Chiliiii's, Barry's back ribs (barbecue sauce!)

Mmm, ribs. If you followed DC Comics in the 80s', Barry ("The Flash") Allen sacrificed his life to save the multiverse, in "Crisis on Infinite Earths." That story was published in '85/'86, and then, in 2009, Barry came back in Final Crisis. DC Comics is pretty notorious for resurrecting their heroes: see Green Lantern: Rebirth, for example. It's also happened to Batman, who died in Final Crisis and returned in The Return of Bruce Wayne. But as is tradition, Superman did it first -- in the famous Doomsday trilogy. Unlike real life, death isn't so much a state of permanence in comics, as it is a revolving door.

There's this tension between regression and progression. Wally West, Barry's nephew, had pretty much earned his mantle of "The Flash" over the course of nearly 3 decades' worth of stories, facing down Professor Zoom, the Black Flash, a gauntlet of revamped Rogues, marrying and having children with news reporter, Linda Park. I wish I could explain to you what motivated Barry's return, but I can't. So we'll just have to see what all the hubbub is about, together!

The Flash: Rebirth (2009-2010)
collecting The Flash: Rebirth #'s 1-6
by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver

This story is told mainly from Barry's point of view. Now that he's returned, he's been running nonstop, intent that he's needed everywhere in Central City to stop crime. He doesn't take the time to stop and celebrate with his colleagues, the Justice Society of America, the Justice League, and the whole speedster family. Geoff Johns does a solid job of characterizing both Central City and Barry's relationship with his hometown. It's the "city on the go," never stopping to pay attention, and in a way it's like an origin story for Barry -- as a forensic scientist he was always late to appointments because he was so focused on his work.

This is all the backdrop for what Geoff Johns does really well -- the murder mystery. But instead of the traditional murder mystery, he writes it in reverse -- Barry finds out that when he runs, he has the capacity to kill people with a mere touch. It's like the Midas Touch, except well, you turn into ashes, not gold!

Barry finds out that he's been turned into the Black Flash, a grim reaper in speedster form -- by none other than his archenemy, Eobard Thawne, the Reverse-Flash of the 25th Century. Every time Eobard runs, he generates "negative Speed Force," which Barry is now an outlet for, now that he's back from the dead.

There's a great deal of rehashing of Barry's history here. I'm not sure if it was new at the time, but now in 2017, it's old news. We know that Eobard was responsible for tormenting Barry's childhood this whole time. It's just that he couldn't kill Barry, because that would have erased the Reverse-Flash's life in the 25th century! So he did the next best thing -- he murdered Barry's mother, the lightning rod that grounded him as a child. And he's going to kill Barry's lightning rod as an adult -- his wife, Iris.

With the help of the Flash family, Barry dispatches the Reverse-Flash, but not before we get montages of Barry's rogues getting together, preparing for a world that once again has The Flash.

For what it was meant to do, Flash: Rebirth does it very well. It heralded the return of DC Comics's greatest Flash, and revamped the Flash family. It added to the Flash mythos, and set the ground for a year of Flash comics (that year of which was followed by Flashpoint). The plot is somewhat thin in the comic, and that's because decompression was getting to be huge. Geoff Johns was the darling of DC comics doing this, while Brian Bendis was doing it at Marvel Comics. Johns does such a great job at adding details to the smallest scenes, that he could stretch a 3-issue story, into 6 issues. And that's what he does here. Check out this description of Jay Garrick (the original Flash) and his opinion of Barry.

The story from Jay, a third party, serves to justify to us why Barry's return is so important. He may have not been the first Flash, but he was the first Flash to break the sound barrier and then, the light barrier. And not only did he do this incredible feats of Flashdom, he motivated his hero to do the same.

The narration is spot-on too, if wordy at a few times. There are some moments where I felt like I was being told what's going on with the speed force, rather than shown, but for the most part it really helps the story. Check it out, when Barry thinks back to when he was consumed by the Speed Force.

A band of muscle in my thigh tightens up. A surge runs down my spine as it IGNITES.

Flesh transforms into electricity. And I REMEMBER. I remember what happened when I became a PART of the Speed Force.

Another cool Flash-fact for you: the Flash can run so hard, that he will join the Speed Force, kind of like a living death for speedsters. But, if it's not your time, in order to leave the Speed Force, you need a "lightning rod" to "ground" you. For Wally, it's his family. For Barry, it's his wife, which is why Reverse-Flash is so intent on killing her.

Ethan Van Sciver on art, is incredibly detailed and meticulous. It takes effort to draw all those lightning bolts and hands. But I can't help feeling it's not my Flash. His layouts are ordinary, and I have a hard time believing the top-heavy build that he gives the Flashes. They're runners, not body-builders. Compared to the kinetic layouts and spreads from Francis Manapul, in New 52, I consider them ordinary.

Another panel, of Barry helping a waiter while he is spilling his plate:

It never gets old!

A crucial page, when Superman tries to talk Barry down from re-joining the Speed Force:

Now, we no longer have to question who's faster in race!

In the end, I'm a Flash fan. Of course I'll read The Flash: Rebirth. The question is, should you? It's a thoroughly DC Comic book comic, from a thoroughly DC Comic book writer. For the way it holds the hand of the reader and explains some of the Speed Force's and Barry Allen's "greatest hits", I think it's a great entry point for anybody interested in reading about the Flash.

Read about the follow-up to Flash: Rebirth: The Flash: Dastardly Death of the Rogues
Read about the other Rebirth story: Green Lantern: Rebirth.
Read about Barry's return & Batman's death: Final Crisis
Read about Batman's return: 1-3, 4-6.

Read more about The Flash

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It's a Flash Family Reunion!

from The Flash: Rebirth, by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver

Wally West teaches a back-from-the-dead Barry Allen, and other speedsters, how to create their own costumes with the Speed Force!

How cool is that! This also served the purpose of creating a visual difference between Barry (left, "classic" costume), and Wally (right, raised lightning bolt logo and white slits for eyes), of "promoting" Bart Allen to the role of Kid Flash and "promoting" Irey West to the role of Impulse.

Only in The Flash: Rebirth, which we review tomorrow. Be here!

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Hello Goodbye Hello Goodbye: The Chezkevin Restoration Project

Get on your gloves, roll up your sleeves, and put on your dust mask -- it's time for some housekeeping!

Google's Blogger platform is sunsetting their Blogger profiles in lieu of a Google+ Profile. I've decided to opt in and so now, on the left, you'll see my Blogger Profile Picture with a link to my Google+ Profile. Handsome devil! Here's my old profile for reference.

Unbelievably, I've been on blogger since December 2007 -- nearly a decade now. I have hundreds of posts, and recently, I've discovered that some of my pictures have been deprecated. That is, I used to host my photos on photobucket.com, but they have since updated their terms of use such that you need a paid account in order to host photos on a third-party site. Such as blogspot.com. Here's an example:

Images are necessary to my blog. It's a comic book blog, a blog about my experiences with stories told using the written word and the drawn picture. Some images have impressed me so much that I took the effort to scan them in by hand to share them with you. So, I've begun the arduous process of downloading these photobucket photos, one by one, and then replacing them, one by one, on this blog.

It's not going to be easy! Which is why I'm dubbing this, the chezkevin Restoration Project!

My goal is to have every post complete by the end of the year. I had over 600 posts, and I've gone through the continuous process of deleting old ones. If there's a particular post that you would like to view which has bad photos, please comment in the Comments section and I will update it.

Lastly, to celebrate this restoration, I've updated the blog with a new banner: from Amazing Spider-Man, by John Romita Jr.

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chezkevin Tangents: "Chlorine"

chezkevin tangents are small pieces of prose that I feel the need to write for one reason or another. Usually unrelated to comic books, so -- tangents. Some of it is fiction. Some of it is nonfiction. I'm just working on my writing chops, y'all. Your feedback is appreciated!

She smelled like chlorine. It was the first time we hugged, and I wanted it to be a hug to remember. I squeezed her in my arms and hoped that she would do the same. I wish I remembered if she did. I lowered my face down to her shoulders and it made perfect sense to me, even through the coat she was wearing. Of course she smelled like chlorine. She loved swimming. She must have gone to the pool before we met up.

Eventually we let go. I held her shoulders and looked her in the eye. I didn't want it to end.

"I know it's late," I said. "But would you want to get dinner?"

It didn't take long for us to decide on the pizza place down the street. Toppers, known for the whopping amount of toppings you could put on your, "'za," they called it. I was just happy we could eat together.

We drove separately, so I offered to take her in my car, so we could go together. I'd been waiting months for this. Time together, outside of work.

We first met at work -- our first day on the job, actually. I was lost getting from one building to another, and, I couldn't resist asking this beautiful girl for help. She was from Michigan, got a math degree, so you knew she was a smart cookie. From that day on, I made it my mission to see her on a regular basis. It had to be weekly -- more often and I risked her getting sick of me! We had shared calendars so I always made sure to book a lunch for us, 1 day of the week. Sometimes it was us and her other coworkers. Sometimes it was just the two of us. The latter was my favorite.

Lunches turned into outings. Hikes with mutual friends or nights at the climbing gym in groups. Swimming was her thing. Rock climbing was mine. She was the dolphin. I was the monkey. The nights that I climbed alone, when I looked at my chalked, chapped hands, I wished that her hand was in mine. If I thought hard enough, I could imagine it, sometimes.

There were other times when we parted, I was enamored with her eyes. They were my favorite part about her. I don't know if I imagined it, but more than once I saw her eyes water looking at me. They were so full, it seemed. Maybe it meant that she had some other distant lover, that it made her sad knowing how much I liked her. Or maybe she was tearing, because it made her so happy to know that someone felt the way I felt about her. I like to tell myself that she knew. She knew the longing I had for her, and she wanted to honor that. I'll never know. I never asked.

I wanted to see those eyes when we hugged, in the movie theatre parking lot. I like to think that I did. When we got to Toppers, we talked about the movie. It was Les Miserables. I was so moved by Javert's final scene, how the internal conflict played out in his mind, and I wanted to convey that to her. I guess my sensitivity was heightened that day. It was exciting just to be with her in the dark, in that movie theatre. I was so nervous I got there 10 minutes early, and waited outside in the cold for her. I wanted her to see a friendly face before she opened that door. She didn't come very much later.

During the movie, she surprised me with a gift. She got a smoothie before coming -- well, one smoothie divided in two cups. Touché. It was my turn -- I brought an orange for us to share. I peeled it with a technique I perfected as a teenager, and surgically divided it in half, giving one to her. I was astounded by how alike we thought.

We spoke more at Toppers and compared our backgrounds. She had a brother. I had a sister. She was a vegetarian. I wasn't. Then she told me something I wasn't expecting.

She had a boyfriend.

They met in college. He's in Africa now. I was at a loss. I didn't know how to feel about it. I had to be respectful. I couldn't not be. I told her I didn't have a girlfriend. I was single, and, jokingly, hey. Maybe she knows some friends of hers who are looking.

After we ate our 'za, we drove back to the movie theatre parking lot. She pointed her car out to me, and I parked next to her, getting out to say good-bye. We hugged again, for the second time. I didn't want to let go.

It was different for me after. I couldn't help the way I felt about her. Weekly lunches reminded me of that. It hurt too much. They became monthly lunches, to monthly "hi's" in the hall, to, nothing. I moved out of that city. She stayed there.

That was then. This is now.

We're at a beach right now, the three of us. My wife isn't so much into swimming. The water gets in her hair and starts curling it up again. She doesn't like it so much, but I think her hair looks pretty nice after some water.

It's my son's first time on the beach today. I brought his Spider-Man floaties that we blew up together -- good choice in floaties, my son.

I can't swim much myself. Particularly, I can't tread water, but that doesn't really matter when you only go two, three feet deep. Just deep enough for a 2-year-old boy to have to tiptoe on the sand, but not too deep that his dad can't help him.

I hold his hips in one arm, and his shoulders in the other. I tell him to kick just like we learned in the swimming pool, and paddle with his arms. When his ears get water in them, I show him to tilt his head and bang on the top side to get the water out. My little dolphin.

I want him to be fearless when he grows up. I want him to be unafraid of his emotions. I don't want him to live with the longing that I lived with.

When we finish our day at the beach we hit the miniature showers placed outside. The floor is completely wet from everyone else leaving the beach. There's build-up of sand all around the showers, so even if you can get all the sand off your feet, there's just more once you set them back down. The game doesn't end.

I hate the feeling of sand on my body, especially my hair. So I spend a solid 30 seconds with my face to the shower, hands massaging through my hair. It smells a little like chlorine.

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