Comic Review: War of the Realms (2019-) #4

War of the Realms (2019-) #4

Marvel Comics

Writer: Jason Aaron

Artist: Russell Dauterman

We’re more than halfway through the War of the Realms, Marvel’s latest event that’s been seven years in the making. Malekith the Dark Elf and his forces, having conquered all the other realms are invading Midgard. Of course, standing in his way is Thor, the Avengers, and their allies. I honestly haven’t felt this excited for a comic book event since 2017’s Secret Empire.

The title page has this issue as Chapter Four: The Stand at the Black Bifrost and that’s exactly what we get. Freyja and her strike team of Avengers (and the Punisher) were trying to destroy the Black Bifrost. But when the regular rainbow bridge is destroyed, Freyja takes control of it and sends her team away to gather allies. As they return to Avengers Mountain with reinforcements, Malekith and his Dark Elves siege the Black Bifrost and Freyja, who’s alone defending it.

A story as large as this one wouldn’t hold as much weight if there weren’t any consequences. But there have been a couple of deaths (in previous issues) that add to the gravity of it all. Because of that, this issue does give me that feeling of “oh no, what’s about to happen?” pretty effectively. For the most part, Jason Aaron has been writing Thor and the Asgardian characters for a while now. What’s happening in this issue with them, I think, is what he’s been building to, and I’m pretty happy with how it’s turning out. On top of that, for being a Thor-centric story, he’s been absent more than I would’ve been expecting him to be. But we do see his return, and it coincides with the “flip” of the story, where the heroes begin rallying themselves.

I can’t get over how much I enjoy Russell Dauterman’s art. If I had to pick a favorite artist, he’d definitely be a strong contender. This issue really gives a lot for his art to go through, with a lot of different characters and environments. There’s dwarves, elves, giants, spiders, fire demons and all the Avengers and other heroes. But there’s also the different realms each race inhabits, and we see some of the battles taking place on Earth. For the most part, a lot of it is only for one panel, but there’s just a lot of variety in what we see. That’s not too mention the excellent action sequences and the great coloring by Matthew Wilson.

If you’re not on board with this story by this point, I don’t know what it’ll take to convince you. If you are with it though, you’ll definitely enjoy this issue. The story in this issue does jump around a bit, but the main focus is on Freyja and her fight at the Black Bifrost. It’s a compelling story, built on the character development Jason Aaron has been building for years. On top of that, the art throughout the issue is fantastic. Everyone should be reading this comic.