Perhaps the most surprising thing to arise from the "Avengers Disassembled" event to run through various Marvel titles last year was the popularity of the final story arc of Thor. Readers really seemed to love the classic and mythic qualities of the plot and script, and it's spawned this spinoff limited series. I'll confess to having missing the first issue, but I'm impressed with what I find in this second issue. This cosmic story boasts some stunning visuals, an interesting conflict among two different segments of a society and some flowery but enjoyable dialogue. Clarity in the plotting isn't among its strengths, though. I suspect that this might read better as a collected trade paperback edition rather than individual issues.
After a rather rough encounter in the depths of space, Beta Ray Bill regains consciousness in the nick of time and returns to his home planet's solar system. There, he discovers all that is left of the Korbinite fleet is his sentient ship, Skuttlebutt, who fills its master in on what happened to his people. It seems a scientific discovery of an approaching threat indicates an apocalyptic prophecy might be true, but the military quashes the opinions of the scientific and spiritual communities. Meanwhile, the new herald of Galactus, Stardust, sets out to destroy the being who harmed his master... which is bad news for Beta Ray.
Di Vito's work on Thor and CrossGen's Brath before that was strong, but his work here is even stronger. I love the thoroughly alien design for the new herald of Galactus. With a limitless number of alien races to choose from, it makes sense that eventually Galactus would opt for a non-humanoid herald. Furthermore, the inhuman nature of Stardust's appearance makes his zealotry and cruelty seem all the more creepy. The artist captures the cosmic nature of the action and characters quite well, and the colors add a lot of energy, especially when it comes to Galactus and Stardust. I also liked the pale yellows and browns used to delineate the flashback sequences.
One of the reasons I don't usually care for Thor comics and his supporting cast is that the purple prose that passes for dialogue for those characters is tiresome and makes it difficult to relate to them. Oeming and Berman's efforts don't fall into that trap somehow. The dialogue and narration is still quite flowery, but it works quite well for some reason. Skuttlebutt boasts a more colloquial tone in its words, so that helps to balances things as well.
The most interesting aspect of the plot is the depicted conflict between Korbinite military leaders and the planet's scientists and theologians. One usually thinks of science and religion to be in conflict, but here, they come together in common purpose and belief. Both are dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge; they're not mutually exclusive. They're about discovery and enlightenment, whereas the military is focused on destruction.
Oeming and Berman's script is far from accessible. Some small recap would have been appreciated here. Furthermore, Stardust's zealous and violent service to Galactus is certainly intriguing, but we're not given an indication of what has made this herald so much different from those that came before. There are several points in this issue at which I was a bit lost, only to regain interest in the story as the focus shifted to other scenes and other characters. 6/10
