Thor #609

Wow, after last issue's stumble, Kieron Gillen gets things right back on track this month. He teased us with some unnecessary death, but Tyr, god of war is still around and he's ticked! Balder actually has some respectable powers! And the Asgardians are still basically bystanders in their own crossover. But that's ok, because Gillen does some absolutely wonderful stuff with Loki. Loki shows up to try and rally Balder into action against Osborn's forces. Loki fesses up to SOME of his misdeeds over the past few years, but just enough to make Balder mad, not enough to kill Loki on the spot. What's so wonderful about this scene is that Loki basically doesn't have an excuse other than "I'm Loki! This is what I do!" It's a fantastic character-defining scene. I'm really intrigued to see what Loki's grand plan is here. Between shots in this and the other Avengers books, it looks like Loki could be dying in Siege #4, but I heard Matt Fraction was writing Loki in his Thor run, so I'm not sure what's happening.

Volstagg gets another moment of solidarity with his police captors, they realize he's not the problem here. I do like the idea of him walking out to seek some revenge. Do you think we'll actually see him go up against the U-Foes in the next issue? That would be fun, but I do think that all four of those guys could take out Volstagg.

The art was a lot more solid this time around. The Loki/Balder scene carried a ton of tension and I like the take on Volstagg too.

Good