MARCO SPEAKS SPIDEY- QUEEN IN BLACK: HELA #1 REVIEW

There are cosmic comics, and then there are comics that open with Norse poetry, send a skeletal Viking ship through a hole between hells, resurrect a dead Thor, and turn Hela into the ruler of a symbiote war machine. Queen in Black: Hela #1 is very much the second kind. Written by Al Ewing, with art by Carlos Magno and colors by Espen Grundetjern, this one-shot is less a straightforward superhero adventure and more a dark myth being whispered beside a funeral fire—only the funeral fire happens to be burning in outer space.The cleverest decision is framing the story through Baldur and Karnilla. Baldur crosses the dangerous road between Asgard and Hel looking for answers about Hela, while Karnilla gives him the tale he came for. Their exchange gives the issue an old-saga quality, but it also adds a personal undercurrent. Karnilla is not simply delivering exposition. She is a woman who knows how dangerous foreknowledge can be, especially when love, pride, and fate all become tangled together.That tale reveals Hela’s hidden move. Knowing that Thor’s death, Loki’s spell, and the reshaping of the realms would create a rare opening, Hela travels through Mephisto’s bridge between hells and...