Demarcoa's Profile

I've heard a lot about Blood and Thunder so am really curious about this arc. It starts out okay but I don't love Bruce Zick's art here. The backgrounds, costumes, and space itself can look amazing but facial expressions are way off. Ron Marz's writing is pretty fun, at least. Thor is going bananas and it is pretty fun seeing such a powerful superhero kind of losing it and fighting two close f riends in Sif and Beta Ray Bill. There is some good action sequences and character work in there, and a beautiful splash page that might make this comic worth checking out all on its own. There's not a lot to the plot past that, though, and "madness" really only works so well as a writing trope these days, I feel. I'm not going to pretend I didn't have fun, though.more

Sandu Florea's art really stands out in this issue compared to the comics that have come out around this time, in my opinion. Odin and the Asgardians worrying about Ragnarok was okay, but once again High Evolutionary and his full cast of characters are a real nuisance, adding little to the story. I still don't understand why Thor tolerates this guy as he really feels like a standard villain. An d having Godpack, Animutants, New Men, and New Immortals is all obviously too much even though they are all obviously pretty much the same thing. I do like when Blitziana gets some of her old memories, at least. If she were only among a small number of characters that mattered in the High Evolutionary's circle of people, I feel this character could have had some narrative weight to her.

Loki controlling War Machine, forcing the hero to attack Thor and Sif was more entertaining than not. It leads to a huge exposition dump but at least there are some cool visuals to back it up. The action itself varies in quality quite a bit though, and it feels like Sif gets forgotten about for a huge chunk of the comic. It's not the best comic in the world but it isn't the worst, either.more

A disappointing conclusion to a somewhat interesting story.

Joe Bennett's art has a really style I enjoyed at the start of this issue. The writing of this story arc remains awkward, though, and it is especially awkward because each issue of Heroes Reunited is a timeline reset. With only Doom remembering what happens, things are starting to feel a little tedious, in spite of the novel idea of it all. Still, as the ending, this does enough different I was pretty invested in this comic overall. I found the ending a little unsatisfying and abrupt, though.more

It's certainly different from the first two issues of this Galactus story, but not exactly much of an improvement. The art is pretty nice though. Very colourful and dynamic. There's some good character moments with the Hulk and Liz Ross, or with Tony, Pepper, and Happy, too. Even Doom has something going on here I found interesting. It still has that awkward Heroes Reborn writing to it but I did enjoy this one more than I didn't.more

I found the start a little awkward as it is essentially an epilogue for the last big Avengers story arc happening at the beginning of this one. Still, 616 Thor leading a funeral for Reborn Thor had some narrative weird to it at least. The writing still isn't great, though with lots of lines lacking any sense of subtlety. Lot's of awkward lines kind of brushing over Loki's recent rampage wiping out half the team, probably because we don't have time for any of this and have Galactus to worry about. It is neat how Doom travels back in time to try and undo the big loss in the last Fantastic Four issue. This comic has its moments in spite of some flaws.

You can tell the writing is better compared to the Fantastic Four just by how differently Reed speaks to Susan in this issue. It's real improvement as their is actual warmth and love in the dialogue here unlike in the first part. But the story can get a little repetitive as for two issues in a row, the heroes are trying to stop the Heralds and their Galactus-devices. The only difference is Doom has travelled in time and is doing things a little differently. It's a neat idea, with an ending that hit a slightly different emotional chord in spite of having the same beats as the first part, but a lot of these choices make for a slow read as it very much is structured the same as Fantastic Four #12.more

It's a big issue for the Heroes Reborn Universe as Galactus comes to this new Earth. There's some decent moments setting up Doctor Doom in opposition I quite liked, but some of the art is quite off - I didn't like how perspective was used in some shots as it cluttered up the Fantastic Four with the Heralds of Galactus. Similarly some of the action is also awkwardly conveyed visually. It's nice to have a story where the Power Cosmic is taken as a series threat, as it should be. The dialogue might be flat and over-abundant as the story goes on, but I'm a sucker for heroes coming together to face a big threat like this sometimes, and they even seemed to incorporate the most recent changes going on in the Avengers comics into this issue for god continuity.

Plus, "We're a one-legged man in the butt-kicking contest," might just be Nick Fury's best line in all of Heroes Reborn. Hawkeye's character finally works for me, a first in this new continuity only achieved thanks to everything he's gone thorugh in the Avengers series. On the other hand, Reed's proposal to Susan felt rushed. Understandable given the situation but very weak from a character-building perspective.

A pretty good but clearly imperfect start to this storyline overall. They clearly know Heroes Reborn is a walking corpse at this point and aren't afraid to start killing characters off. It's cool in making Galactus a real power and threat, but clearly not designed with the long-term in mind any more. Still, that leads to a pretty cool ending where Galactus wins. Cool issue overall.more

Visually stunning but pretty simple and slow story-wise. Loki bargaining with Mephisto was extremely cool, at least, with some great foreshadowing to it and Frenz's art just continues to deliver. Some of the writing around Eric's family felt weird this issue and I feel the comic didn't have the time to give Ghost Rider the attention he deserved. I do like Loki taking the powers of the Wrecking Crew one by one, though. He's been getting some good build-up in these issues and is pretty fun in this issue overall.more

I kind of love how Loki goes on a little rampage at the start of this story, immediately betraying those he had tricked into working with him and then turning himself giant. It all felt very Loki and a big pay-off to the fact this villain has kind of been haunting this series since day one. The art has also significantly improved over the course of this arc.

What happens to Hellcat th is issue was quite interesting but her character feels severely underdeveloped and so the idea of it doesn't really pay-off at all. I also feel like Reborn Thor has had a complete personality shift since Old Thor showed up. It's quite jarring and makes one of them eventually dying at the end of this comic kind of fall flat to me.more

It's pretty neat how the 616 Thor shows up in this issue and you can kind of just tell based on how he's acting that it's him. In spite of my qualms the Heroes Reborn Thor is meaningfully different enough that it was pretty obvious here, so that's something. I kind of like Loki's scheming this issue, too. It all feels pretty well-done, for once.

I don't like how bored Reborn Thor is of Earth though. Are they not constantly being attacked by threats he finds surprisingly strong for Midgard? Sadly some of the action is clunkier than I would have preferred, to. Still, this felt like a big step in the right direction for this story and series. There were some really good parts to this book!more

Not gonna lie, the action could be very fun at times in this comic, but the dialogue often feels lame as hell. Iron Man feels like he is outright rambling instead of quipping at one point. Captain America showing up and literally glowing in the sunlight while lecturing the others about murder also felt a little on the nose. I kind of slept through the Loki and Ant-Man parts this time. These pl ot lines have series pacing issues with some moving way too fast and other stuff like Hank and the Vision feeling stuck in the mud for most of the series only to now rush through a fairly unsatisfying conclusion of sorts. A curious ending, at least.more

Ugh, Kang is just not well used in this series. The battle with the Lethal Legion is pretty fun, at least. Simonson definitely brings a slight sense of improvement to this series, but it doesn't fix everything. Hellcat still has barely done anything in this series. Same with Ant-Man who has been trapped in the Vision for ages - his plot just feels stuck moving at a snails pace. These books j ust don't have enough energy for all these characters and haven't since day one. It is crazy the Avengers get attacked by a whole other villain team with the Masters of Evil in addition to the Lethal Legion. It's way to much to be good pacing.more

Loki hanging around the World Tree looked cool, at least. The depiction of women in this book kind of sucks, though. It's hard to get past, and to be fair, the men don't look much better. Dialogue is very awkward. These books feel too busy and cluttered. I do like the ending where a bunch of villains apparently attack at the behest of Scarlet Witch, and in spite of the flaws in writing, it is nice to have an issue where the characters get a little breathing room and we actually get something out of the experience for once in this series. Still, everything looks ugly as sin and it is not a great read overall.more

Last issue Hulk battled some Avengers, now he battles Thor. The quality hasn't exactly improved much. The writing of this series feels quite childish under Liefeld. But the art does have this moment and it doesn't totally flub the Thor vs Hulk conflict.

The Hulk makes his first big splash in the Heroes Reborn Avengers series. It's alright. The art has some good moments, but a lot of it and the writing can be pretty lame. Not exactly unheard of from these wacky comics. Ant-Man's costume just looks awful and this comic has series issues with how it depicts men and women. This point is pettier but even the lettering and text bubbles are really poorly done here. What's less petty is that these characters are often insufferably written. Swordsman sticks out like a sore thumb. The final clash between Captain America and Hulk looked and read awful.more

A while back, Thor stranded the Juggnaut on an asteroid. Now the villain has taken over an alien world and it is up to Odinson and Excalibur to stop him. It starts off pretty fun but it does feel like instead of focusing on a good thing we're also stuck spending time back on Earth with the Wrecking Crew and Code Blue. The first plot-line is distinctly more entertaining than the other stuff, even with Ghost Rider appearing in the Code Blue part of the story. And even then, the stuff between Juggernaut and Thor read a little clunky to me and it leads to yet another fight that feels drawn out in this story arc with some pretty lame backgrounds throughout the battle that completely lack any sense of detail. I do like how Thor is able to briefly drain Juggernaut's powers and almost defeat him, though. That felt pretty well done and satisfying in a way that made Thor's character seem wise.more

I had fun last issue but now the action seems to have taken a bit of a dip in overall quality. Possibly because of how elaborate and drawn out it feels with several different factions all vying for attention this story arc. Like last issue, I found the art inconsistent, but when it is good, it is good.

It is kind of funny looking back on these books these days as Thor's secret identity feels entirely unnecessary. Yet in spite of that I think this issue opens with a really touching, well-made set of scenes all about Eric Masterson returning home after a prolonged adventure to the Black Galaxy. I also liked how Excalibur is brought into the story investigating an earlier incident between Thor an d the Juggernaut. Compared to other 90s Thor comics, this little story ark is doing pretty good so far, but the era's flaws are still very present.

Throwing in Code Blue, the Wrecking Crew, the Enchantress, and Ulik on top of all this felt like a little too much, though. This series just cannot focus on a few good characters to save its life. It's fun I guess especially when Excalibur takes on the Wrecking Crew, only for the Wrecker to trick Excalibur into thinking Thor is the Juggernaut. That's a classic superhero vs. superhero kind of plot, but the art being inconsistent doesn't help with even that reading great.more

The Hulk is here, and that matters with the way the art is popping this issue. It also makes for an interesting plot dynamic as Hulk goes to Hel to save Thor. It's pretty fun overall even if the writing isn't perfect, with some of Hela's lines feeling a bit awkward to me. The ending with Kurse didn't feel like it amounted to much, nor did the resolution of Thor's stay in Hel.

This story arc is pretty fun compared to what I've read out of the Roy Thomas era. Probably because the Godpack characters aren't that involved. Beta Ray Bill some cool moments here and that's always a huge plus. Kurse also feels like a real menace. I'm having fun more than I'm not and this arc feels like a real event with so much going on with Earth's invasion. Thor agreeing to go to Hela fe lt a little forced but not out of the character of mythological storytelling in the real world, so I give it a bit of a pass.more