Issue(s): Tales To Astonish
Cover Date: Dec 94
Title: "Loki's dream"
Credits:
Peter David - Writer
John Estes - Art
Spencer Lamm - Assistant Editor
Marc McLaurin - Editor

Review/plot:
After the success of Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross' Marvels, a number of additional books in the same format (painted art, celluloid covers) were put out. Some followed Marvels in being, broadly speaking, continuity-spanning retrospectives (Inner Demons, Wonder Years, and Blockbuster - and Code of Honor may have originally started as part of this batch but got delayed), and some were What Ifs (Ruins, Last Avengers Story). And then there were three that were just regular present day stories, but the hook was that they featured characters that shared split books in the 1960s: Tales of Suspense (featuring Iron Man and Captain America), Strange Tales (Human Torch & the Thing and Dr. Strange), and this one, featuring the Hulk and Henry "Hank" Pym & the Wasp. Note that even on the cover, Pym is billed with his civilian name. Pym was appearing regularly as Giant-Man in the Avengers at this time (and for a little while, the Avengers was published as a flip book with Giant-Man getting a solo story on the other side). Pym wears his West Coast Avengers era red jumpsuit in this story, and uses a flying "Rover" like he did in that series.

Despite the crass opportunism of pushing out a bunch of Marvels clones, the books are generally quite good. This one is by Peter David, the regular Hulk writer. The story is nothing special, but it's done well. It's probably more interesting for the interactions between Hulk and Hank and Jan than for the threat they are facing, but good character interactions are a higher commodity anyway. As for the art, it has the usual problems for painted art: once you get past the initial novelty of it, you realize that everything is very stiff: individual panels look too posed and the action flow between panels is lacking. On the latter point, i wonder if the issue is less something inherent in painted art and more the fact that the sort of people who get into this kind of stuff are less likely to have cut their teeth doing sequential art (and/or haven't studied it, with a few artists like Alex Ross being exceptions). In any event, i probably ought to feel fleeced for having bought all of these at $6.95 a pop for what are generally pretty forgettable stories, but they somehow manage to feel worth it.

The villain of this story is Loki, making this feel more like an homage to the first issue of the Avengers than the Tales To Astonish series. Around this time in the Hulk's regular series, Peter David was doing an Asgard story, but unfortunately no connections are made. A portion of the story takes place under the sea, which could have allowed for a Sub-Mariner cameo (since he also used to appear in Tales To Astonish), but that opportunity is skipped as well.

The story begins in Norway with a criminal named Knut Caine. Loki is his personal hero, and we're introduced to Caine as he's getting vengeance on a judge that sent him to prison by putting him in a trap modeled after the myth where Loki was bound under the acid-dripping serpent (the judge's wife has to catch acid in a bowl to prevent it from hitting him).

Henry Pym is also in Norway to give a speech on "The Role of Super Sciences In Routine Police Investigations". The Wasp is accompanying him, but we're reminded that they are just friends nowadays. When the situation with Caine escalates, Hank and Janet agree to help.

They track Caine to the fjords (the phrase "pining for the fjords", from the Monty Python Dead Parrot bit is repeated no less than six times). The Wasp confronts Caine...

...but she's depicted as being a bit irresponsible in not capturing him immediately. She instead wastes time hurting him ("paying him back a little") and she allows Caine to hit her in the head with a rock. Caine is dropped under the sea. In a cave, he finds a knife empowered by Loki.

He performs a blood ritual, which transforms him.,

In this new form, he has a variety of powers.

Eventually the entity reveals to Hank and Jan that he is Loki. Caine still exists, but he's losing his sense of self.

Hank and Jan are blasted with an avalanche, but they're rescued thanks to the timely arrival of the Hulk.

The Hulk was alerted to the growing crisis in the area thanks to the Pantheon's Delphi.

Loki/Caine goes to New York. The heroes join forces and follow, despite Hank and Jan's disdain for the Hulk's "outlaw group".

Pym tries to contact Thor or Hercules, but is unable to get a signal. It turns out that Loki has completely transformed the city.

The Hulk and Hank have a little fight (Hank wants to contact a friend in the city, Hulk wants to go directly to fight Loki), resulting in some more of the tense interactions between the characters.

Eventually we get to the confrontation. Hulk starts things off with a ruse.

There are a bunch of minions to contend with. Nothing too interesting.

Hank is an evil, evil puppy killer.

But defeating the minions just puts more power back in Caine/Loki himself. So the Hulk tries another tactic.

The Wasp generally does not have a good showing in this book.

The Hulk eventually goes into a bestial rage and defeats Caine. He's then tempted by Loki's power. But the Hulk rejects the offer in short order.

The Hulk has tossed Loki's knife into the ocean, meaning it's still technically out there for someone to find.

Nothing great, and the actual fight with Caine is actually a bit boring (the idea was surely to give John Estes a lot of wild things to illustrate, but it all feels a bit staid). Once the Hulk is around, he definitely gets more of a focus (which is not surprising considering the writer). He's the main fighter against Loki's minions, his loss of control is an important point for the character, and he's the one who gets tempted. Pym at least holds his own from a superheroics point of view, unlike the Wasp. But i do like seeing the distrust between the more establishment heroes and the Hulk; if anything, i wish we had more interactions like that. I also wish that anything that happened here could have had impact on the regular line of books. Generally though, it's a fun little special.

Quality Rating: B-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP place this (along with some other Hulk appearances) between Hulk #419-420. But per the comments from Ben and Michael this will fit better in an earlier era for Henry Pym. So i've pushed this back into 1993, before Pym returns to his Giant Man identity. It's worth noting that Loki is technically a prisoner of Mephisto's realm at this point, but the unusual way in which he manifests in this story may circumvent that imprisonment and/or be an escape attempt. Loki will similarly be shown to be able to send his spirit outside of Mephisto's realm in Avengers annual #23 and Thor annual #19.

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A