As much as I have loved Journey Into Mystery since the beginning I found something rather shocking. I only made this series my person Pick of the Week once. Which is really weird when you think about it. It’s one of the best titles at Marvel right now with Kieron Gillen and a slew of artists showing just how pointless an ‘architect’ system is month in and month out. But no, only one issue has been Pick of the Week….That is until tonight when I decided that Journey Into Mystery #632 was my Pick of the Week.

There is just so much to love about this particular issue that it sums up Gillen’s run up perfectly. Gillen has always had a nice undercurrent of humor going along in this title, even at it’s darkest moments. Here, we have Loki learning the true meaning of the holidays but a great sequence involving demon puppies. I like how this issue further’s Loki’s plight into being a better person when at heart it is a bit of a filler (waits for boos) to go into the next story arc. But then you get his adventure on how to get rid of these puppies and it’s very sweet and funny at the same time. First, I love how Garm fought ‘and then didn’t’ to reveal just how he stopped fighting Hel-Wolf (hint: they got it on). But then how Loki gets rid of the puppies was funny too, especially on how the two ‘Queens of Asgard’ are annoyed at the third for falling stupidly into Loki’s plan. But then you have the ending which was sweet because it really feels like a character moment rather then a tug at the heartstrings. Sure it gets a bit lost as the puppies remarks he wants to be called ‘Entrailgargler’ but shut up it’s a warm moment!

With this last issue of 2011, the lovely couple of Mitch and Bettie Breitweiser take hold of this holiday themed issue. If there is a duo of artists that should always do Christmas themed comics it’s these two. At times it really feels like your reading one of those comics from the 1940s. Even though Volstagg as Santa feels out of place; take away the helmet and he looks like a Santa you would see on ’34th Street’. (Not an innuendo…well maybe…) The coloring is what really stands out in this comic because anyone else might not have made it feel ‘holiday-ish’. Whenever there is a fire going, it really looks like a fire with the bright yellows and dark oranges surrounding the pages. Plus this is the most realistic looking snowy backgrounds I’ve seen whenever someone is out. It really sets the mood when we have the ending as Loki makes a difficult choice and it makes it all the sweeter. The pencils themselves by Mitch is pretty damn good too and while some characters look off-model, it’s hard to really care. (Although Loki tends to look sixty years old at points) Whether it’s the vast halls of Asgard or the cold forests, it’s all vastly detailed and gorgeous to look at. While I love all of the artists who have done this book since the beginning, see more of these two in the future would be nice.

So no better time then to give this a ‘Pick of the Week’ honors with this being the last issue of 2011. (Not last issue ever, don’t freak out fans) Kieron Gillen pulls out all the stops by balancing a great mix of humor and also tugging at your heartstrings ala ‘Charlie Brown Christmas Special’ in this issue. With the Breitweiser’s coming in for the art you also have a great mix of gorgeous details and downright perfectly coloring. This is a great issue not only for the holidays but another great example at why JIM is one of the best books Marvel has to offer right now. Hopefully in 2012 I’ll continue to prove this by making it POTW more-so.