“War of the Realms Omega” #1

The War of the Realms is over. The great evil has been defeated, the heroes have won, the dead are in the process of getting buried, and the living have begun to rebuild and grieve. Now, we get to see how the Marvel Universe copes with the aftermath.

Warning: Spoilers for the entire ‘War of the Realms’ event!

Cover by Phil Noto

Written by Al Ewing, Daniel Kibblesmith, Gerry Duggan, and Jason Aaron
Illustrated by Cafu, Juan Ferreyra, Oscar Bazaldua, and Ron Garney
Colors by David Curiel, Juan Ferreyra, Jesus Aburtov, and Matt Milla
Letters by VC’s Clayton Cowles, Cory Petit, and Joe Sabino

THE WAR IS OVER – AND THE MARVEL UNIVERSE MUST PICK UP THE PIECES! Midgard is broken, and as heroes of Asgard and Earth alike start to sift through the pieces, new heroes – and villains – emerge. What’s next for Jane Foster, now free of the hammer she was willing to die to hold? Thor’s brother Loki faced a terrible fate in the War of the Realms – and now the god of mischief must make himself anew. For the Punisher, the war isn’t even close to finished – but this time, he’s got his own army. And for Thor himself, destiny has finally arrived. The God of Thunder strikes out for a whole new adventure!

‘War of the Realms’ was a truly massive and epic Marvel event that was well written and well executed. Now Marvel’s pantheon of characters, along with the readers, get to deal with the collective hangover that usually accompanies the finale of a massive event comic and are left with a simple question: what comes next?

That’s the question that “War of the Realms Omega” #1 sets out to answer, and it looks like the Marvel Universe is in for an interesting future.

The issue itself takes an anthology approach, opting to tell a bunch of small stories that tie up several plot lines from the main event which promise to segue into several spin off series. As a result, this article is going to be four micro reviews instead of one massive review.

The first story of “War of the Reams Omega” #1 and has the god Heimdall helping Daredevil cope with the time when he took Heimdall’s sword and was granted the senses of a cosmic god. The story written by Jason Aaron, the man who is responsible for the ‘War of the Realms’ event, and is drawn by Ron Garney. Daredevil wants to see how everything turned out after the invasion and Heimdall offers to accompany him. It’s an intriguing idea to have a legally blind man team up with a god who can see everything, Garney’s artwork is wonderfully gritty, Matt Mill’as colors give the story a soft and muted feel, and Heimdall crackling with cosmic power is very well drawn. But the real highlight is Aaron’s ability to make a conversation between a man and a god engaging and intriguing. Although this was the only story that didn’t announce a spin off series, it is definitely an idea that deserves one.

The second story follows Jane Foster as she helps the Valkyries bury their dead. This is a story about how the mighty Asgardians cope with the aftermath of the massive war that obliterated their home. Valhalla is destroyed, the Asgardians have been decimated, and the only place left for countless dead warrior women is a human morgue in a human hospital. The grief is palpable, both through Al Ewing and Jason Aaron’s writing and artwork by Cafu, and it’s heartbreaking to see just how much the gods have lost and what they’ve gone through. However, the spirit of the Valkyries lives on and they task Jane Foster to uphold their legacy. Fortunately, Jane Foster is no stranger to the affairs of gods and we’ll all get to find out what happens next in “Valkyrie” #1.

The third story looks at the end of ‘War of the Realms’ through the eyes of the defeated frost giants. Loki has always had a sketchy history in the Marvel Universe, constantly flipping between anti-hero and unapologetic bad guy. This time, the coin landed on the good side, and Loki finds himself being something of a hero and savior figure after killing his father and helping to defeat Malakeith and his armies. Unfortunately, this means he’s the rightful king of Jotunheim and his subjects aren’t too keen on following the man who helped beat them. Fortunately, Loki manages to befriend a tiny frost giant named Drrf and seems to have a plan for dealing with the rest of the frost giants. Writer Dan Kibblesmith and artist Oscar Bazaldua give us a snarky, sharp witted, far too clever for his own good Loki who manages to balance a laid back attitude with something resembling sympathy for small and helpless beings like Drrf. Whether his willingness to be a hero is genuine or part of some self-serving plan is unknown, but we’ll find out in “Loki” #1.

The fourth and final story deals with the human aftermath of the ‘War of the Realms’ story. An invasion on this scale killed a lot of people and left a lot of physical and emotional scars, so naturally Marvel decided that the best person to deal with this side of the aftermath is a man who knows a lot about scars and has the unhealthiest coping mechanism in all of comics: Frank Castle aka The Punisher. Frank had a very prominent role in the event, and here we see him patrolling the streets of New York and doing what he does best, killing things in the name of protecting the innocent. Writer Gary Duggan and artist Juan Ferreyra present us with a Punisher who is mentally and physically exhausted, but soldiers on because there is a job to do. It doesn’t matter if it’s helping a friend morn dead family, killing massive beasts still roaming the streets, or calling a group of Asgardian soldiers to account for not doing their jobs, Frank is ever vigilant and ready to lay a beat down on anyone who deserves it. We’ll find out just how far he’ll go in “Punisher Kill Krew” #1

To sum everything up, “War of the Realms Omega” #1 provides a satisfying ending to a truly massive event while hinting at a future that promises to be fun and interesting to young and old readers. Each one of the stories manages the difficult task of being engaging on their own while providing a satisfying ending to a long form story.

The only problem I had with this comic, and it is a very small problem in the grand scheme of things, is the lack of variety in the artwork. Granted, each one of these stories does have a different art style, but it’s subtle. There is a sense that each artist was given very specific instructions on how the story should be drawn and that there was a ton of editorial oversight on each page to make sure they all had the same dark and intense look to them. To be clear, this is a very small problem and a uniform sense of style reinforces the fact that all of these stories are taking place around the same time, it’s just that it might have been nice to see each artist flex their artistic muscles to give each story a unique tone.

Still, if you’re looking for a satisfying ending to a great story and are curious and/or excited for what comes next, you would be hard pressed to find a better comic than “War of the Realms: Omega” #1.

Final Verdict: 9.0 A great ending to one of the best event stories in recent comic book history that lays the foundation for an exciting future.