*Before I get to my review I need to vent some frustration out. For the past couple of weeks it seems like Marvel has been lazy with their printings. I say this because I have had a bunch of printing errors in books I’ve bought. Last issue of FF has a huge printing error with extra pages being printing and some pages were folded hiding extra material. This week in this title the coloring is way to light and at first I thought colorist Ulises Arreola colored this too lightly. But no, it was the printing of the book and the final page has highlighter all over the book. I don’t know why this keeps happening but someone had Marvel needs to get his or her’s act together.*

I just want Marvel to get rid of the ‘Fear Itself’ banner across this book. It’s not worth it because Kieron Gillen has tried to avoid the event entirely through out the run. That and the banner is pretty ugly to look at and lazy in design. Anyways, what I love about this story other then lack of a tie-in is that Gillen hits all the spots perfectly. The recap page shows this brilliantly because Gillen writes Mephisto like a over the top Bond villain. But it works and everytime Mephisto says something it has me laughing throughout. Gillen is also doing a great job with the story by making us continually believe Loki is trying to turn evil again but not quite. I have no idea what Loki is trying to accomplish or what side he is on but it keeps me entertained to keep reading.

You got Doug Braithwaite doing some gorgeous, painted style art throughout the book too. The one panel showing the vastness of Mephisto’s army is worth ‘Panel of the Week’ for me. But Braithwaite is able to turn this somewhat ‘painting’ into a comic with some nice effects or blood throughout the panels. Even with the printing error, colorst Ulises Arreola makes this look like a series of paintings and make it all the more gorgeous to read.

With the piss-poor issue of FF this week I think it’s safe to say that ‘Journey Into Mystery’ is not only the best ‘Fear Itself’ tie-in series right now but also the most consistant Marvel book on the stands. Kieron Gillen has a wonderful voice for all these characters and you can easily tell he has a lot of fun writing them too. Add in some amazing artwork by Braithwaite and Arreola and you got a great, one/two combo for this series. It makes me a bit worried though how long this book will last considering it came about because of the event. Hopefully Marvel is seeing a fantastic run right now and keep this team going for issues to come.