When Kirby and Lee’s Thor #153 came out in 1968, Walter Simonson was in his early 20s. He had just discovered Marvel Comics and found himself interested in Kirby and Lee’s version of the Norse god. Over half a century later, Simonson picks up a story thread from that issue and runs with it in a completely different direction in What If...? Dark: Loki #1. Simonson is joined by penciler Scot Eaton, inkers Cam Smith and Scott Hanna, and colorist Andrew Dalhouse. Simonson did some iconic, career-defining work on Kirby and Lee’s Mighty Thor back in the 1980s. It’s a great deal of fun to see him return to the character of Loki for a one-shot. 

Thor left his hammer on the ground as he was fighting the troll Ulik back in ’68. Loki picked it up. Thor ultimately got it back, but what if Loki had held onto it? Well...to kick things off, Loki’s going to have to kill Thor. That done, he’ll kill the warrior Sif. After that...he’s still got something like 30 pages left. It’s a lot of space to fill, but he is the god of mischief. He’s sure to come up with something to pass the time. 

Simonson deftly captures the rhythm and style of late 1960s’ Kirby and Lee. It’s part of what made him love comics in the first place, so a story set in that era is a perfect fit for him. Kirby and Lee’s Loki wasn’t quite as sharp and clever as the one Simonson would work with later on, so there IS a bit of a dullness hanging about the issue for much of the run of the story. It’s really cool to see Simonson do such a good job of bringing the late Silver Age to the page with Kirby’s pacing and...uh...well...Lee’s style of dialogue.

The art team does a pretty good job of doing a variation on Kirby’s late 1960s art style. There’s a bit more of a sense of nuance than Kirby had managed, which throws the whole thing at least a little off. And then there’s the coloring, which is WAY ahead of anything that would have made it onto cheap newsprint back in the late 1960s, so it all feels more than a little strange. Some of it is a bit disturbing by virtue of how close they manage to get to Kirby’s style. Donald Blake is impaled by the handle of Mjölnir with a style that looks unsettlingly close to the way Kirby would have drawn the act. It looks crude and silly, but there’s a real darkness there for anyone familiar with Kirby’s work.

The issue wraps up with a pretty exhaustive interview with industry legend Walt Simonson. He’s always good in an interview, but this one in particular feels like a perfect companion to this issue. It’s kind of a fun retrospective on the man and his work with Thor that turns the one-shot into something more than a simple What If?

Grade: B