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RIP Journey Into Mystery
Kathryn confirmed it over here, but I wanted to hail its passing.
(Also I wanted an excuse to lob up this particular cover, which I loved)
Kathryn and Schiti had a nightmarishly difficult job, which they nailed. It was funny. It was human and humane. It was great. And people are singing the sadness of its particular loss already (here and here for two).
And let’s spin this to glass half full: 10 issues wasn’t bad at all.
In the same way that there were people saying that my JIM would last 8 issues, I suspect if you were the betting sort, “Sif Solo continuing from a book that was on 20k sales, without a creative team with a huge following, and no new #1” you’d have put your money on it only managing an arc.
It was something special, so beat the odds.
Think of its passing in a way I think Lady Sif may approve of:
This wasn’t a defeat. This was a victory.
And to paraphrase something from my own run:
It’s better to be good fiction for 10 issues than bad issues forever.
I raise a glass to all those who sailed the good ship Journey Into Mystery as it sets sail for Valhalla.
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99c/69p Comixology Sale Today
(The idea of a photo of me PEERING at everyone on Comixology’s mailing list is kinda scary)
Well, of Journey Into Mystery and my Uncanny X-men V2 run, anyway, and one issue of Rob Rodi that has got mixed in.
(I’m tagging this YA, as I know a bunch of people have expressed interest in reading the backstory to Kid Loki.)
Comxiology purchases can either be read on Android, Apple, Kindle Fire or Windows 8 devices. They can also be read online in a browser, for those who stay away from tablets and similar.
For those who don’t follow comics or my Marvel stuff, and just want to try a few issues, I’d recommend these ones specifically out of context.
UNCANNY X-MEN 4: A standalone issue from the perspective of an alien creature the X-men end up fighting, with me playing with alien perception and the horrors you can do with juxtaposition. Brandon Peterson really leaned into the bio-organic horror of it all, and does incredible Phalanx. It’s basically the themes of my X-men run in a single issue.
UNCANNY X-MEN 14: While this is embedded deep into Avengers Versus X-men, it’s also its own creature. Basically, it’s an extended pastiche of Notes From Underground in a Steampunk-critique city buried beneath the Earth, and about determinism and society. Even if you don’t read it, it’s worth coming to see what Dustin Weaver does with the cityscapes. It’s virtuoso stuff. I think this may be the best issue I did during Uncanny, and certainly in the top five of what I’ve done for Marvel. Here’s Colin TooBusyThinkingAboutComics writing about it.
JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY 632: While the final issue is JIM’s high point, this is my favourite single issue. It’s a Christmas story based around Loki having to find homes for seven hellhounds. It’s cute and funny, but has a mass of doom and darkness bubbling beneath the surface – which is basically the core of what JIM does. The Breitweisers make it all look like a seasonal card too. I think the panel with Leah holding up her skirt when she chases around the hellhounds may be my favourite image of the Hel-maid in the entire run.
JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY: THE MANCHESTER GODS 639, 640,641: I’d recommend reading it out of contest primarily for people who aren’t actually going to read the rest of JIM. It’s got a fairly serious position in the larger story, in terms of various reveals. However, as its own thing, it’s me writing about the concept of Britain and firing it through a half-dozen fantasy filters. It’s as mad as the maddest parts of Phonogram. For example, it features a Tony Wilson analogue as a urban druid. I still can’t believe I got away with most of this stuff.
And a few things I’d say before buying either run.
UNCANNY X-MEN
This stands alone. However, it is embedded in Avengers VersusX-men, the major crossover event of the year it was published. The information you need to know is worked in, and AvX was always where the run was ending at – and my themes aimed to dovetail with i ts – but it’s worth noting. The first 10 issues are by themselves, but do feature a lot of foreshadowing of where it’s going.
There’s a sort-of postscript to my run in the form of AVX Consequences, which you can also buy, though it’s full price.
JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY
Journey Into Mystery is basically a closed novel. However due to existing in the modern superhero comics mainstream, it subverted a bunch of crossovers it was involved with to tell it – namely the EXILED crossover with NEW MUTANTS and the EVERYTHING BURNS crossover with Thor. It was also launched out of the FEAR ITSELF crossover, though include any important beats you need to know in JIM. I usually say FEAR ITSELF is WW2, and we’re a story about the Enigma code.
Anyway – if you buy the first 14 issues, and 539-541, they stand alone. The issue of Thor and New Mutants you would need to buy to get the complete thing are…
EXILED NEW MUTANTS 42 NEW MUTANTS 43 THE MIGHTY THOR 18 THE MIGHTY THOR 19 THE MIGHTY THOR 20 THE MIGHTY THOR 21
The Exiled/New Mutants issues are now a couple of dollars, but The Might Thor ones are full price.
I suspect it’s still worth throwing down for all the JIM issues. You won’t get them cheaper, and you can always come back and get the others. And to state the obvious, for anyone who pirates comics as they think they’re too expensive, now would be a good time to show that they would purchase at a lower price.
You can buy here. And it’s a sale just for today, so – er – buy today? That sounds about right.
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YOUNG AVENGERS #7 & 8
KIERON GILLEN (W) JAMIE MCKELVIE (A/C)
ISSUE #7
• Three months have passed for the Young Avengers. What have they been up to? Fun stuff, I’ll bet. The sort of “stuff” that makes an excellent super hero comic. THIS IS TRUTH WITH A CAPITAL EVERYTHING.
• A very important breakfast. A new Young Avenger. A selection of emotions.
• Oh - I bet you thought we forgot about those Skrulls from issue 1. We haven’t.
ISSUE #8
• The Young Avengers desperately race across the multiverse. Nothing can stop their pursuit of their missing friend. Except the urge to stop and take photos, obv.
• Lots of cleverly hidden exposition.
• Kieron decides it’s time to make all the JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY readers scream.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99
Tagged JIM just because of the second solicit.
The cover to #8 may surface later too.
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Public Spam Warning/Apology
I meant to clear out my inbox and set it to post on Queue when I was off in NYC at the Marvel summit. Of course, the Tumblr Answer Queue function only works with Missing E which appears to have been fucked since the Tumblr upgrade, so I couldn’t.
Instead, now I’m going to blitz through as many as I can before I have to eat and/or my mind melts. I won’t answer them all, either way.
So my tumblr will be busy for the next half hour. Sorry.
And I tag appropriately, so the people of the fandoms know I’m having a ramble RIGHT NOW.
Let’s go.
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Meet The Team: Loki
Oh Heaven, I wake with good intentions.
But the day it always lasts too long.
Loki is tricky.
To state the obvious.
Will you recognise me, in the flashing lights?
I try to keep my heart clean, but I can’t get it right.
Young Avengers follows a thirty-odd issue series I wrote for Marvel called Journey Into Mystery, which starred a reincarnated Loki. It was pretty successful, and taught me much that I’m trying to bring to bear on Young Avengers.
Despite the fact Loki is in both books, I don’t consider Young Avengers its sequel. I consider it another work in the shared universe that both works are embedded in. Journey Into Mystery left no room for a sequel. Journey Into Mystery was conceived as a novel. Young Avengers is conceived as a series.
Our first “season” of Young Avengers comes to a conclusion that leaves it open for a second season.
There was never hope for a sequel to Journey Into Mystery.
I repeat: write your own happy ending.
Will you recognise me when I’m lying on my back?
Something gone inside me and I can’t get it back.
The ending of Journey Into Mystery is an open secret. Those who want to know will know. But, as I said, it’s a new series not a sequel. There’s no way I’m going to front load an explanation of the complicated knot of everything-in-my-head that was JIM.
It’s written assuming the reader primarily knows what’s on the page.
A new reader will see Loki and see someone who looks a lot like the villain in the third-biggest movie of all time and is famed for manipulating, lying and generally being a charming shit. They will be suspicious about his motivations, and understand why the cast are suspicious.
A reader of Journey Into Mystery will know the truth. They will be suspicious about his motivations, and understand why the cast are suspicious. But even more so. Possibly to screaming THERE IS A SERIAL KILLER IN YOUR HOUSE at the book, or the local equivalent.
Both should be wondering what the hell Loki is really up to, which is exactly how I want it.
Will you recognise me when I’m stealing from the poor?
You’re not going to like me. I’m nothing like before.
There’s various mysteries in Young Avengers, but Loki’s motivations and aims are one of the big ones. What does he want? What does he need? What’s the snake doing in the garden of Eden?
And the truth about what happened to Loki at the end of JIM will eventually explicitly work its way in, which will be a surprise to those who don’t like googling stuff and/or buying my older comics, and still a revelation to those who do. As always, there’s things people don’t know. In time, we’ll tell everyone about Loki’s guilty little secret and what it actually means for the Young Avengers. And Loki. And everyone.
In short: he’s on the team. But is he on the team’s side? We’ll see.
It will be a fun time. No-one will cry. No-one will be upset. No-one will die unmourned and unloved.
Honest.
No, really.
Why do people always presume I’m lying?
Will you recognise me when I lose another friend?
Will you learn to leave me or give me one more try again?
Heaven by Emeli Sande was on JIM’s soundtrack and it’s the only one which moves onto Young Avengers. It believe it was added when I realised I’d be doing Young Avengers, and picking up there what I did with Loki and running with it to its next destination. It’s one of the tracks which came loaded with meaning and has only accumulated more as I’ve obsessed over it for hundreds of time. Of all the tracks on the playlist, it’s the one which sums up the heart of its character most precisely.
Oh Heaven, I wake with good intentions.
But the day it always lasts too long.
Then I’m gone.
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Bleeding Cool picked this up from an interview with Joe Bennett where he talks about the work he’s been doing for Marvel post his DC-exclusive ending. It includes a panel of our story from A+X, which is Mister Sinister and Kid Loki.
And here it is.
The whole thing is agreeably gothic. He’s done great stuff.
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Alt text: smiling fights the lonely monster
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We all know how this story ends
Give this one time. Creeeeepy.
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