Her name may be on the title of the book, but Jane’s not a hero. She’s a Valkyrie. She’s got a job to do. It’s something that she’s learning a lot about on the job. (There wasn’t much training before she received the title.) She meets the biggest challenge of her young career in Jane Foster: Valkyrie #5. Writers Al Ewing and Jason Aaron conclude “The Sacred and the Profane” storyline in an issue drawn by CAFU with color by Jesus Aburtov. Having faltered a bit in a rush to get to the concluding chapter, Ewing and Aaron wrap-up a very refreshingly novel story. 

Jane Foster is facing a somewhat slightly lame supervillain who calls himself the Grim Reaper. He’s never been a terribly menacing figure, but thanks to a run-in with Mephisto himself, he’s gained power quite nearly enough to usurp the Foster’s role as Valkyrie. Jane Foster has had plenty of experience hanging out with superheroes, but if she’s going to defeat this villain herself, she’s going to have to be true to herself and not think like a superhero. She’s not going to remember this on her own. She’s going to need a little help from her friends. 

Ewing and Aaron manage to find a really novel new way to defeat an old villain who has gained WAY more power than he ever had in his native Silver Age. Mephisto has amplified him to near god-like power, and he holds Dr. Strange helpless in a mirror. He’s way more powerful than Jane Foster. The solution of allowing her to think like something other than a hero is handled in a very clever way. Continuing to render the character as an individual all her own inhabiting the Marvel Universe in her own distinctive way. It’s a smart approach that stays well within the bounds of a traditional superhero story without actually being one. 

CAFU and Aburtov conjure some very potent action to the page as Valkyrie fights Reaper. The luminous power of the magical attacks that they’re unleashing on each other are beautifully radiant thanks to Aburtov’s color. The god-like force of the battle feels potent and massive in CAFU’s hands. Everything is framed with an epic, dynamic kinetic delivery that somehow manages to feel still earthbound. A world in which civilians have the authority that can impact gods can be challenging to bring across on the page. CAFU makes Foster’s friends feel heroic in their own way without compromising the fact that they are clearly totally out of their element. The mixture of the familiar and the fantastic feel right at home with CAFU’s very strong sense of human passion and emotion. 

With the initial five-issue arc out of the way, it’ll be interesting to see where Foster goes next. Ewing and Aaron have put together a fascinating character and given her an equilibrium all her own this issue. From here, they can do some exciting things if they handle it as well as they’d handled this issue.

Grade: A