If you aren't reading Journey Into Mystery, the book that continues the Thor numbering when Thor's star vehicle itself got a fresh number one to coincide with the movie, you're truly missing one of the best books Marvel is putting out. Let me put it this way; I never thought they'd have me rooting for Loki, but they do.
If you haven't been following Thor, Loki was the one who manipulated Norman Osbourne into attacking Asgard on Earth during "The Siege." When it became apparent Osbourne and his flunky the Banana colored Superman Facsimile would destroy his home town/castle, Loki uncharacteristically sacrificed himself for the good of Mom, goat cheese, and the Aesir Way. Thor later got wistful about all the good time he and his brother had devastating the universe with their "Dad likes me bestest!" battles, and he found a reincarnated Loki on Earth. Loki is now prepubescent boy who is more mischievous than evil, and Thor brought him back to Asgard, heralded by the sound of thousands of gods shouting "What the F--keth!?!?"
I was right there with them until Loki took over JiM. This Loki truly is unpredictable, as is fitting one who considers himself the god of chaos. What is becoming very apparent, though, is that he has strong affections for Thor, Asgard, and Lady Sif (in that "My big brother is dating the head cheerleader" kind of way). Through the story, Loki is guided by a raven which is actually the personality of his previous incarnation. Loki knows that his old self isn't trustworthy, and we get to see how much stock he's willing to put into the way he used to think about the universe.
If you like Greg Pak's Hercules, this is right up your alley.
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I'd set myself the task of reading everything I could from Dark Reign up to the end of Seige, so I followed Gillen's Thor up to the end of Thor Siege Aftermath, where Thor went down into Hades (AGAIN) to rescue a former comrade. I was very impressed with how Gillen respectfully continued much that JMS had set in motion in a fairly sympathetic fashion, and then he pretty masterfully began working lots of other threads into the tapestry and hitting the beats on all the different subplots he'd got going. His Thor comics were old-school Marvel done right in how they gave good value each issue while moving things forward all the time.
He might have come in doing editorials work in terms of 'repairing' what Marvel thought was wrong with JMS' run, but he managed to make his Thor run work in parallel with Siege, rather than just being an optional adjunct to it. Although it was caught up in the same events, Gillen handled the Asgard-related issues with great assurance and pushed his own stories forward at the speed that best suited them, rather than speeding anything up or inserting anything new in there just for the crossover (OK he prob wasn't as interested in the Volstagg and Ragnorak bits, but he worked them in like a pro.)
Gillen was obviously working to a such a well-paced longterm plan that I was surprised to be reminded on this board lately that he quickly made way for Fraction (presumably shortly after Thor Siege Aftermath?) He showed a lot of care and craft in his work.
The only problem I had with Gillen's Thor comics was the largely insurmountable one that we were seeing things playing out that we'd seen played out many times before in Thor comics. Leaving that aside, Gillen wrote a very respectable run. It's good seeing that he is now able to pick up and run with some of the more intriguing threads from his Thor run.
Thanks for the reccomendation, Rich. Maybe it's time I started buying a Marvel comic again.
It's interesting how the Asgardian family dynamic has changed now that both Odin and Loki are back. Thor and Loki are experiencing an affectionate, brotherly relationship that they've never had before in the book, while Odin is being presented as a cold-hearted, emotionally and physically abusive jerk that Thor states he sometimes hates "with the passion of ten thousand suns."
I'd like to see Balder, who was revealed to be a third son of Odin during JMS's tenure, come back and add another level of family conflict here.
The .1 issue of Journey, though, was exactly what it should have been. It just encapsulated everything that's been going on recently into one issue. This one is written by Robert Rodi and drawn by Pascal Ferry. Like you, Rich, I find myself pulling for this kid, desperately hoping he comes out on the heroic side, or at least the "playful, smiling thief" type.