*** (three of five stars)
Summary
Miguel (not Spider-Man) is hanging from a rope with a group of angry Thorites shouting at him. He declares that he hates his mother, though notes that she isn't the cause of all his problems. He observes that, just a few hours ago, he was standing on Valhalla with the motley crew of Doom, the Punisher, and Ravage. The Punisher recommends departing the city before they move outside the range of his flybike and Doom agrees that they should leave the "ecological nightmare" before their jury-rigged repairs fail to keep the city afloat. However, flying from Valhalla on the flybike, Miguel and the Punisher observe the city changing course and realize that Doom was now controlling it. Enraged, the Punisher turns around the bike, but Doom appears via a holographic projection to warn them to depart. Doom then fires a warning shot at them and Miguel convinces the Punisher that they should leave before Doom kills them. The Punisher accuses Miguel of not caring about Doom controlling Valhalla, though Miguel says that he cares and wants to be alive to continue caring. The Punisher departs after accusing Miguel of not being a real man, declaring that, "The only battles worth fighting are the hopeless ones." Miguel then makes his way to Downtown, pondering its increased role in his life. He wonders if the coming-and-going of Thor would reduce some of his influence in Downtown, since it was derived mostly from the misguided belief that he was a Harbinger of Thor. Noting that the departure of Thor had left a vacuum "in the faith department," he runs across an enormous rally. Wondering if the cliques had finally united under someone's leadership, he discovers that Bloodsword has somehow recovered the hammer of Thor and is now using it to claim power. More disturbing, though, he sees his mother in the crowd. He wonders how to extricate her from the scene, worrying that appearing as Spider-Man would exacerbate the Spider-Man-as-savior "thing" and raise his mother's suspicions when he pretended just to be a "close, personal friend" of Miguel's. He then decides to head home, where, meanwhile, Lyla is still making Gabe eat crullers and Dana bursts in the door to tell him that Miguel was dead.
In Downtown, Bloodsword tells the crowd that his defeat at the hands of Spider-Man ("the false Harbinger") had made him appear weak and his lieutenant, Hogun, had challenged him for leadership of the Fenris. However, Thor's hammer appeared and smote Hogun, which Bloodsword considered "a sign from on high" that he was to be the "standard bearer for the Aesir." Meanwhile, Miguel (not Spider-Man) puts his hand on his mother's shoulder, telling her that she has to go. Conchata tells Miguel that she's in Downtown to rediscover her roots, as Spider-Man would want. Screaming that Miguel is a kidnapper, his mother calls attention to them and Bloodsword, now calling himself "Bloodhammer," tells his men to bring him Miguel. Miguel tells Bloodhammer that his mother isn't well and he just wants to take her home, a request that Bloodhammer deems reasonable but denies. With Miguel dangling from the rope, Conchata appeals to Bloodhammer to release Miguel, but then gets distracted by telling him about how good of a boy Gabriel is. Bloodhammer tells Miguel to pray to Thor, which he does, asking to be released from "the bondage of the pretender, Bloodsucker" while using his talons to cut the rope. Bloodhammer decries the trick and attacks Miguel. Miguel claims to see Thor in the sky and, while everyone is looking, knocks out Bloodhammer. Whenever returns their gaze, Miguel claims that "Bloodclot" has fainted in the majesty of Thor and that anyone who truly believes had been able to see Thor. The gangs then start to fight whether or not they really saw Thor and Miguel uses the distraction to smuggle out his mother. Conchata leads him to the car that she had stolen from the home and she chastises him for lying about seeing Thor. She tells him that everything was great until he revealed to her what idiots they all were. Meanwhile, some old guy recovers the hammer and mumbles about the lords of industry.
The Review
After the somewhat disappointing "Fall of the Hammer" cross-over event, I'm excited about returning to where we left Miguel. He had just managed to defeat the mysterious Thanatos and embraced his role as the "avenging angel" of Downtown. David wisely gives us a fairly light issue that still manages to wrap up some loose "Hammer" threads and sets the stage for new stories.
The Good
1) I love the Doom double-cross. Whereas it was difficult to say what the CEO's motivations were during "Fall of the Hammer," it's now perfectly clear what Doom's were. The CEO at one point chastised Doom for going soft when he seemed concerns about the impact that the destruction of Valhalla would have. I'm glad to see that he was wrong; Doom just wanted to keep it in tact for himself. Classic Doom.
2) Does David have an ear for dialogue or what? The Punisher and Spidey's argument over whether to mount an attack on Valhalla was perfect, clearly expressing their different philosophies through a conversation that sounded completely natural.
3) I loved Miguel "praying" to Thor to save him. David manages to give us some real comedic relief in a way that totally fits the moment. Plus, as usual with David, no moment is wasted and Miguel's prayer winds up being essential to the plot.
The Unknown
I'm a little unclear of whether we stand, religiously. I thought Thor revealed Spidey as a "false prophet," so I'm not sure why Miguel would be worried that he'd still be considered a savior, unless he figures that the fall of Thor undermined his argument and, as he mentions, people are looking to someone to fill the vacuum. Maybe the Aesir never really got their message outside Valhalla, so the "common people" don't know that Thor denounced Spider-Man?
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