This book is about the conflicting notions of predetermined fate and control of one's own destiny. It's about anger at being manipulated and the determination to take direction of one's life. These are all ideas to which we relate, about which we are curious... but the characters and concepts used to present them are so lofty and removed from human experience that the reader feels distanced from them a bit. Still, the art is rich in its darkness, and the script is one of the more accessible in the Paradise X line thus far.
X-51 the Watcher accompanies Thor and two allies -- former enemies both -- to Asgard where they hope to bring Ragnarok, the end of all Norse legend, raining down on Odin the All-Father's head. Thor and friends are ticked now that they've learned they are nothing more than constructs of Odin's imagination and have been a slave to his whims for centuries. Thor has decided the time has time to take control of his own destiny, even if it requires making Odin's Armageddon prophecy come true... albeit in an indirect fashion.
Yeates's richly detailed artwork brings a world of Norse gods to life. His work here reminds me a great deal of Jae Lee's work, especially from The Sentry. I would imagine that's due in no small part to the same colorist -- Jose Villarrubia -- being involved in both projects. Yeates and Villarrubia drown this book in a maudlin atmosphere. There's a bitter, cynical overtone here that's communicated through the visuals. If anything, it's too effective, transferring the mood to the reader, but that's a compliment to the quality of the artists' efforts.
The most interesting aspect of the script is the notion that Thor is using Odin's own beliefes and prophecies to wrest control of his life and those of the other Asgardian creations from the elder "god." Of course, there's not a lot of subtlety in the book. I picked up on the child-parent rebellion riff early on, so it seemed redundant when Krueger, in the latter half of the issue, spells it out so obviously.
Krueger fills the reader in on the odd nature of Marvel's Asgardians as nothing but manifestations of a little man who's been granted great power, but I found I never got over that just-walked-into-the-theatre-in-the-middle feeling. It doesn't help that Thor and his allies aren't exactly who or what they appear to be, though it is in keeping with the notion of these beings as malleable puppets. The themes in this book are sound, but it's difficult to relate to them through the eyes of gods and monsters.
