I have been loving this title ever since it was called ‘Thor’ and it was during the ‘Siege’ tie-ins. Kieron Gillen has been able to tell his own Thorverse story even with events bogging him down. This week we get a break from all the Loki shenanigans and get a one-and-done story about everyone’s favorite devil: Mephisto. It though it would’ve been nice to continue the main story, Mephisto is a character Gillen has written well for the past couple of years now. So seeing a suave, almost British in a way, type of devil for a whole issue should be more then enough for me.

Unfortunately there are two things that bog this issue down for me. First is that this is an enormous, almost to the point of ridiculousness, talking heads issue. By that I mean so much information and conversation are put forth in this comic it’s hard to really care what is going on. One moment Mephisto is talking to the Gods, the next he’s talking to Nightmare, the next he’s back in Hell talking to his minions. It’s a whole lot of talking with word balloons that don’t seem to ever end. The other problem is Rich Elson’s art which looks really rushed. (Especially for the coloring where Rachelle Rosenberg is very inconsistent from panel to panel. Look at the bartender’s hair to get my drift) Some panels look really good, like the overall landscape of Hell or Zeus/Odin having an argument. Other times the panels look unfinished or the characters look so ugly it’s laughable. Mephisto always looks great which is good considering it’s his issue.

It’s not the worst issue I’ve read this year but it’s up there as one of the most disappointing. While Gillen has a knack for writing Mephiso (and he does a good job here) the endless exposition and talking heads ruin what could have been a fun issue. Add in some really disappointing art by Rich Elson and this won’t make me go out and yell at people to buy this book. (Sorry Ron) But this has been a fun series overall and this is just a mere bump in the road in an otherwise great title. Hopefully the return of the major storyline will bring this title back to grace.