Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Russell Dauterman
Colors: Matthew Wilson
Letters: VC’s Joe Sabino
The War of the Realms is all but over. The Ten Realms have fallen to Malekith and his allies, with only a few pockets of resistance standing in their way to complete domination. Yet if that resistance are the heroes of Midgard, of that resistance is the Avengers then domination is less then assured. With their backs against the wall it is time for the Earth and Asgardian Heroes to push back, to take the fight to Malekith and to reclaim the Ten Realms from his evil rule. This is the story of the War of Realms #4, the beginning of the last stand of the Ten Realms.
Over the course of the first three issues of the War of Realms things have not gone well for the heroes of the Marvel Universe. They have been battered, beaten, scattered across the World Tree, and sadly in some cases killed. The War of Realms #4 picks up the tale of the various Strike Teams dispatched through the Ten Realms to take the fight to Malekith and his allies. While the Strike Team on Old Asgard lost the Bifrost the Lady Freyja and her team have captured the Black Bifrost and use it to Assemble a collection of heroes and survivors of the War at the Avengers Celestial Base. Yet Malekith isn’t going to let this happen without a fight so he and his minions return to the origin of the Black Bifrost to put and end to this retaliation and to Freyja herself. Luckily Odin (with a gift from Tony Stark) has other ideas, that leads to one of the best scenes of this event so far.
The War of Realms #4 is another great installment of what may be Marvel’smost satisfying event in some time (at least since 2015’s Secret Wars). Jason Aaron has been building to this story since he took over the adventures of Thor back in 2012. The War has been raging for the better part of a year in the pages of the Mighty Thor but now that it has come to Midgard it is truly deserving of its own Mini-Series and Aaron is writing a compelling and emotional story. The pacing is perfect and the writing for each individual character is dead on. Russell Dauterman’s art is the best of his career. It is gorgeous and, with the help of the deep and rich colors of Matthew Wilson, explodes off the pages. Marvel has really outdone itself with the War of the Realms, with the top-notch creative team and the truly outstanding story it is becoming one of Marvel’s landmark events.
Verdict: the War of Realms #4 is another outstanding entry into this incredibly beautiful event and is a must Buy!
