Thor: The Dark World Prelude #2 Review

Thor: The Dark World Prelude #1 was true to its name in that all of the events within took place before the upcoming sequel. The problem was that most of them took place before The Avengers as well. The series seemed like little more than a truncated story aimed at explaining a few plot holes or unanswered questions than telling a cohesive and necessary story. Sadly, issue #2 isn't much different despite eventually moving beyond the Avengers timeframe.

This second half of the short series at first runs parallel to the events of Avengers, showcasing what reads like some deleted scenes of lukewarm banter between team members before Thor and Loki return to Asgard. From there, the series finally begins building towards The Dark World in a more direct way. We see war breaking out among various portions of the Nine Realms. Unfortunately, more attention is paid to Jane Foster and her gang, playing on the jilted lover angle as Jane realizes Thor didn't stop by to say hello on his brief return to Earth. There are a few interesting tidbits at play (such as the mention of the Korbinites), but nowhere near enough to justify the purchase price.

The art in this issue is also flat and dull, failing to live up to Ron Lim's usual standard of straightforward but cleanly rendered superhero epics. The human and Asgardian characters look reasonably like their movie selves, but they have no sense of power or vitality.

Thor: The Dark World Prelude is a necessary read only if you absolutely have to know the answers to nitpicky questions like how Thor returned to Earth during The Avengers or what Jane and friends were up to during that period. Everyone else is just better off waiting for the new movie.

Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

Source : ign[dot]com