Death is dying. Being a servant of Death, Jane Foster is pretty far down the chain to have Death tell her this herself. She has to find out from a dead actor on a slab at her day job. If she’s going to help Death out, she’s going to need a lot of help in the first part of a whole new story for Jane Foster: Valkyrie. The first part of “Strange Aeons” is written by Al Ewing and Jason Aaron. The guest artist for the issue is Pere Pérez. Ewing, Aaron, and Pérez put together an exciting opening chapter to a story in which a young hero leads a group of mid-list superheroes on a mission to save Death. 

Dr. Jane Foster finds herself in a morgue. The doctor she is working under is quoting Shakespeare to a corpse. Much to the surprise of herself AND the doctor, the late actor actually responds to the quote from The Tempest. As it turns out, Death IS dying, and it’s up to Jane Foster’s alter ego to get into the act of saving the universe. She contacts Doctor Strange, who, in turn, reaches Night Nurse. The three of them assemble a group of low-level super-powered medical professionals to enter into the realm of the dead and treat one of the most powerful patients in the whole of the Marvel Universe. 

Ewing and Aaron put together an intriguing group of heroes to tackle on a hell of a massive problem for the Marvel Universe. There have been threats of all kinds to the Marvel Universe over the decades. Yet the premise of dealing with an ailing entity of great power is one that’s rarely been executed. Ewing and Aaron dive into it with a witty and methodical approach that makes for a very unique mystical dive into the heart of the cosmic end of the Marvel Universe.

Pérez’ work has a great emotionality about it that rests at the center of the story. Foster, Strange, and company are all distinctly rendered, each with their own unique personality without any one person upstaging any of the rest of them. The line-work is most impressive whether Pérez is rendering delicate human expressions, perfectly mundane backgrounds, or. The realm of Death herself. There’s a sense of intensity the glides through the pacing with a sharp sense of the layout. Everything is very rigidly defined in clean, neat boxes until Death’s realm is entered. Then action rests at odd angles across the page with white arcs of energy lacing themselves across a very dark background. In places, Pérez’s work is almost breathtaking.

Having worked her way through her initial arc, Jan Foster is diving headlong into something WAY beyond her capabilities. The creative team does a remarkable job of keeping her both vulnerably mortal and powerfully magical. Lee and Kirby never quite managed this clean a balance when Thor’s alter-ego was Dr. Donald Blake back in the 1960s. Ewing and Arron have done a very talented job of rooting the magical rooted in the mundane world of Marvel Manhattan.

Grade: A