Valkyrie: Jane Foster #9 // Review
Dr. Jane Foster knows what she needs to do to heal Thor. He may be a god, and his infection may be a mystical sort, but it’s still an infection. Rather than going about the usual course of treatment, she’s going to need to use something a bit more...aggressive in issue #9 of Valkyrie: Jane Foster. Writers Jason Aaron and Torunn Grønbekk take Jane Foster into some very deep magical territory in an issue drawn by guest artist Ramon Rosanas with color by Jesus Aburtov. Aaron and Grønbekk plunge the series directly into an engaging story featuring some of Marvel’s most popular characters. What could have been a messy collision with a huge supporting cast is actually fairly well-balanced.
Thor the All-Father has become possessed by an anti-life power that comes from the beginning of time. As a Valkyrie, Jane Foster is a bit surprised that she can’t see the looming specter of Thor’s death the way that she can see everyone else’s. Evidently, it’s so big that it encompasses both of them. Foster engages Thor in a treatment that looks a LOT like combat. Elsewhere the Avengers battle life-draining dog demons that have emerged from the ground that are connected to the energies that have been unleashed by Thor.
The underlying plot in Aaron and Grønbekk’s story doesn’t have a whole lot going for it. The current peril going on in Midgard and the conflict between Thor and Jane Foster have been the product of a power grab by an ancient king that isn’t exactly all that interesting. The script is at its best when it’s focussing on Foster herself. Foster’s interplay with the Valkyrie, which is a part of her persona, IS genuinely quite interesting. Tying her into a larger conflict involving the Avengers and so much doesn’t do a whole lot for the series. As tired as the old battle-between-heroes thing is, Aaron and Grønbekk manage to craft the conflict in a way that casts light into the evolving psyche of Jane Foster.
A simple conflict between beings of massive power can be difficult to render for the page in a way that feels even remotely original. Rosanas does a pretty good job of amplifying the power of magic, aided as he is by some beautifully radiant Aburtov color. Aaron and Grønbekk hand the art team a particularly heavy challenge when Valkyrie uses the All-Weapon to snare Thor in a form that looks a HELL of a lot like Wonder Woman’s Lasso of Hestia. It wouldn’t feel so strange if it weren’t such a pivotal moment in the conflict. Rosanas and Aburtov do a clever job of focusing that pivotal moment of combat on the inner struggles, thus pushing the visuals away from anything that might seem all too visually familiar.
Given the amount of plot being pushed through this issue, it’s quite remarkable that everyone involved has managed to make it feel smooth and graceful. It scarcely feels rushed or convoluted at all, which is quite impressive given everything that’s taking place. Once again, Jane Foster proves herself to be a very interesting mutation of the "Dr. Donald Blake/Thor" character that Jack Kirby and Larry Lieber had forged back in the 1960s.
Grade: B
