King in Black: Return of the Valkyries Vol 1

Huge SPOILERS. Proceed at your own risk.

This comic starts with Brunnhilde's inspiring speech.

Then, Jane tries to fight the Celestial. She struggles but luckily, new Valkyrie joins her. However, her help doesn't prevent Jane from being trapped in Celestial's corpse.

The Jane's visions inside the corpse try to tempt her. But she refuses.

Meanwhile, army of Valkyries that has just arrived try to severe the connection with All-Black. And they succeed.

And so, the souls are freed. Alta and Sentry too (not sure if you're happy with his send-off, @Mørningstar but I hope you won't complain).

To be continued in King in Black #5 (obviously).

This comic, as well as this entire series is great. It has a nice art and thrilling adventure style. The striking moral of this story is very moving. Though, my only nitpick is 'clickbait' cover. I won't complain about not knowing new Valkyrie's name as it will be revealed in Mighty Valkyries.

How about you? What did you think?

I wanted to do that yesterday but I didn't find time.

Possible spoilers.

This comic starts with Sentry's soul trapped in dead Celestial. We see how much he's suffering.

Then, we see more of Hildegarde's backstory which is nice. I find this warrior as a little girl adorable.

Unnamed Valkyrie is in Vanaheim after victorious fight with Vanlandi drinking and feeling reluctant of going back to dead Celestial corpse she was trapped in...

....while other women want to realise Brunnhilde's plan.

At the same time, Brunnhilde speaks to Ivanir in Valhalla.

So, the Valkyries perform the ritual and throw the needle.

Synergy Valklyrie is still talking to Mr Horse about her fears.

And Hildegarde reach out to catch the needle...with no avail.

I can't wait for the final issue. I like that every comic gives us POV of different Valkyries: MCU-like in #1, Dani Moonstar in #2 and Hildegarde in here. I think the next personal narration might be done by Jane or Brunnhilde. It bugs me how the new black Valkyrie doesn't care about fight but I understand she might have some sort of PTSD. Overall, she's better than I thought at first. But if they don't give her the name in KiB:RotV #4 or the Mighty Valkyries comic, I'll be mad! 😠

What do you think though?

Story recap:

The comic starts with Dani Moonstar fighting in New York. She saves people and struggles to fight Symbiote dragons throughout the whole comic while narrating. Meanwhile, in Valhalla, Jane learns the truth about the headless Celestial that trapped our new/old Valkyrie and Sentry from Brunnhilde.

Speaking of that axe, with Jason Aaron being himself, it had to be Jarnbjorn.

While our newcomer goes to Vanaheim to retrieve her weapon from the prince of thieves, Jane retrieves something from Asgardian Armory and travels to Earth, all while riding Brightwind. She gives an aid to Dani and Hildegarde arrives. All three (former) Valkyries stand together as the issue ends.

General thoughts: I liked it a lot better than the first issue. The various colourful locations look very nice and Valkyries teaming-up in combat is what I wanted from this limited series in the first place. I liked Dani's point of view on the whole invasion. Synergy Valkyrie doesn't seem so bad anymore and retconning Jarnbjorn to be hers is not a big deal for me (especially when you compared it to Aaron's other retcon from this week). Actually, it differentiates her from MCU one in a good way. It still bugs me we didn't learn her actual name but not as much as before. All combined with fantasy adventure elements and a plan to give aid in war against Knull make a really nice mix.

How about you? What do you think?

It was a bit underwhelming. I expected Dani Moonstar to return and join an army of Valkyries but we only got Jane and Synergy Valkyrie telling her backstory and showing she's better at this job than Foster, yet not telling much about herself. Not even her name.

But Sentry flashbacks and Mr Horse were wholesome.

I heard many complaints about Jane Foster as a hero. While I get it that her being Thor was a bit bad for original (I still think it was well written but that's not the point), I really like her as a Valkyrie.

First of all, Valkyrie tranformation was a pivotal point of her character arc. As we remember, her Thor transformations made her unable to cure cancer. Ultimately, she sacraficed Mjolnir to save the day, resulting in her death of this disease. But after death, her courage was rewarded when she became a Valkyrie. I think that it was a win-win situation - Thor became Thor again while she received a glorifying conclusion of her character development.

Another concern that was raised is that she stole the mantle from Brunnhilde. However, she explained it pretty well in Valkyrie: Jane Foster #5. She said that Valkyrie is not a name but a job.

What's more, the one who she reportedly stole name from said the same thing. There were many Valkyrior on Earth-616 alone, including Dani Moonstar, so I don't have a problem with her being another one. Plus, anyone who misses Brunnhilde had a chance to see her being a guide to Jane from the first issue.

Another thing I like about her are her powerset and equipment. I'm not talking only about free flying horse (Jane received when she was forced to break Dragonfang).

While Brunnhilde was cool with her Dragonfang and all, Undrjarn, the All-Weapon is even better. It's part of Jane's body and can take form of any weapon or wings. It was really useful in issue 9 of her adventures when she used it to stop corruption from Øde's tomb.

But the most interesting power this Valkyrie has is something she calls 'Death Stare'. It allows her to see the death of people. I don't know if Brunnhilde had the same thing but I surely like it.

Last but not least, story in Valkyrie: Jane Foster is more unique than in Jane Foster's Mighty Thor run. While as Thor she does anything Thor's duties are, as Valkyrie has more interesting ones involved around death. For example, she travels with Heimdall through the afterlives so he can rest in peace. Another time, she cures Death Herself with other Marvel medics. At the same time, Jane works at the mourge, which fits her as a warrior of the dead people.

So, these are my reasons why I think she's better than you might think. And if you still don't like it, there are still synergy Valkyrie and King in Black: Return of the Valkyries for you.