Journey Into Mystery, Vol. 4: The Manchester Gods

Journey Into Mystery (2011) (Collected Editions)

by Kieron Gillen, Richard Elson (Illustrator)

The MANCHESTER GODS dread URBAN PANTHESISM arises in the north of Otherworld, the British Subconscious! Don't look panicked. We just mean "Civil War." A Civil War that Asgardia refuses to interfere in. Publicly. Behind the scenes, Loki is a one-man intervention force. Also: Secret mission from Hela! COLLECTING: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY 639-641, THE MIGHTY THOR ANNUAL 1

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

104 pages, Paperback

First published December 5, 2012

About the author

Kieron Gillen is a comic book writer and former media journalist.

Reviews

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Manchester Gods may very well be the strongest arc of Kieron Gillen's Journey Into Mystery series. A brief three issues it struggles with the position of godhood in a modern age that has mostly left gods behind. When new, more modern, gods come to usurp the position of England's oldest deities Loki (and Leah) are thrown into the midst of the war with one goal: bring peace to Otherworld, no matter what. Kieron Gillen brings his own snappy banter and cultural commentary, while Richard Elson brings some interesting god designs and some spectacular explosions of a fantasy-urban war.

Unfortunately, also included is an annual for The Mighty Thor and while it isn't terrible, it's completely unrelated to the Journey Into Mystery and makes the trade collection itself a somewhat disjointed read.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Manchester Gods story proper is a fun sideways look at Marvel Britain, complete with great scheming and terrific repercussions for the JiM comic itself. It was a nice new direction for JiM [8/10].

Unfortunately, the Mighty Thor annual jammed into this book doesn’t do it any favors. I’ve never been fond of DeMattheis’ work, which tends to be incoherently mystical, and this is par for the course. It also is almost entirely pointless *especially* when placed in a Journey into Mystery volume where it totally doesn’t belong. Its only saving grace is some really nice cosmic art [5/10].

[Poto · Rating 3 out of 5]

The dialogue was still good, but the rest of it isn't quite so much. Except Leah. ;_;

NO IDEA what that Thor issue was about, wtf Silver Surfer and Galacta.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

The biggest disappointment I have with this book just lies in how short it is. The three-issue Manchester Gods story collected here (plus a bonus Thor Annual that doesn't matter and can easily be ignored) presents an intriguing and well-realized new idea that doesn't really get its due.

Here we are in the 21st Century, and all the gods we see represented in the Marvel Universe are thousands of years old, all standing for an individual idea. Loki's the God of Mischief. Thor's the God of Thunder. We occasionally hear from the likes of Zeus and other ancient gods, none of which really represent modern ideals as much as they just represent nature. So, why not some new, modern gods? That's what the Manchester Gods are. Gods of the industrial revolution and of modern progress (well, the last few centuries at least, which is pretty fresh as far as mythical gods go).

Unfortunately, this fantastic idea just doesn't get a ton of exploration. Loki sets out to stop the proliferation of these new gods, which seem to threaten the old ways, but before this scenario can really start to shine, it gets resolved. It's not a completely final resolution, and I'm hoping Gillen is just setting the stage for future appearances of the Manchester Gods, but it does feel like the setup just kind of gets blown past instead of lived in. Oh well, I still really enjoyed this one.

Gillen has done some fantastic work on Journey into Mystery, which comes to a close in the next volume (a crossover with Thor). I'm very much looking forward to Young Avengers and his other work. He's a really fresh voice, part comedic, part grand ideas, part humanity. It's a great mixture that feels perfect what comics need right now. Hope he keeps it up!

[Mark Sutherland · Rating 4 out of 5]

The conclusion of Gillen's Loki arc introduces the forces of modernity to Britain's cosmology, and gives him a good reason to do what he does best. Unfortunately, it's saddled with a Thor annual that's completely incoherent and ultimately pointless.

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honest to god Kid Loki is a joy to read. This volume is so quirky.

[Willow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love everything about this entire series. Just read the whole thing, it's worth it.

[Effing · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main part was solid as usual, but the Thor annual at the end had too much "ooh, look at how mysterious I can be" too early for me to care about whatever I was supposed to be reading.

[Bekka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this a lot, it reminded me of American Gods in a lot of ways! Just wondered why there was a Thor one shot in the back, when it had nothing to do with the story Loki was following.

[MJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was probably one of the best things i've ever read

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure why it took me so long to (a) get a copy of this book and (b) read it, but here I am, missing kid Loki and wanting to re-read the rest of his Journey Into Mystery saga.

This book has Loki being dispatched to Otherworld to provide unofficial aid in their conflict with the Manchester Gods, another spin on modern gods coming into conflict with the old. Young Loki tries to determine how best to handle things in his own Loki fashion and as expected, there's more to this situation than what was initially assumed.

The ebb and flow of this story are consistent with what we've experienced across the rest of Gillen's run for this title and I'm all for it. Loki in this younger form is not an outright villain, but then again it could be argued that neither was his elder incarnation for the most part. And the mid-story turnaround was both surprising but still somewhat unexpected. Then again, what else could we expect from the likes of L0ki?

The book ends with a Thor annual whose story is completely unrelated to what was covered in the Journey books but was a solid enough story on its own. I'm always going to be a bit on the fence about the Scrier since he's just so weird, but it made for good cosmic-level writing together with the likes of Galactus, the Silver Surfer and of course Thor.

[Maja · Rating 3 out of 5]

"You're a manipulative little brat. I trust you about as far as I can throw you.
Luckily, that's a fair way. You're tiny and I'm pretty damn strong."

How is it that JiM stories becomes ten times more fun as soon as Daimon shows up in them? They really could have done more with the whole Trio of Trickery, their interactions are amazing and all too brief. The storyline itself is interesting (it's basically the plot of American Gods), but not developed all that much.
Bonus points for making me really emotional at the end. "Ikol, you're a fool. It's not about the kissing. I don't care about the stupid kissing. She was much more important than that."

[Black Tea Lady ☕️📚 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kid Loki es un placer leer, me encanta la personalidad de este personaje, es muy divertido, me hubiera encantado como BFF. Ahora este tomo tiene un ligero sabor a American Gods de Neil Gaiman, tal ves el hecho de juntar leyendas y viejos mitos con los tiempos modernos es lo que me hizo pensar en esto. Una baja importante durante este número es que Kid Loki realmente pierde a su BFF Leah, fue un poco triste este momento porque me gustaba este dúo dinámico. Pero sabemos que ella regresa en Young Avengers cuando los dos son jóvenes adultos. Me encantó!

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kieron Gillen tells a very British tale of gods and magic. Kid Loki continues to delight and this story stills rings true. His and Leah's relationship is continuously fun and the ending disheartening. At times I thought the story didn't serve a purpose but the end changed that. The art by Richard Elson was stellar. The Mighty Thor Annual was not a great read. It was a slog to get through and didn't feel connected in any way. Overall, a good read that with better dialogue than plot.

[Tim B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than decent collection regarding another war in Otherworld. This did not seem to to go along with the Otherworld that had been portrayed in early Captain Britain, Uncanny X-Force, and Wisdom. Captain Britain was there but the focus was more on Loki and his scheming. The Thor part at the end I assume was just there to play up Otherworld themes from Chaos War.

[Fae Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay

The first half of this was great, with Loki finally having enough bs, and unfortunately losing the only person he cared about besides possibly Thor. But I was a little confused about the ending this, does it connect this series to the one involving Sif?
Like I said the first was good.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really helpful companion to the Journey into Mystery volumes I was reading (Featuring Lady Sif, Fear Itself Tie in, etc).

[Jeannette Michelsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would say this was the weakest of the series. The ending was very good and heart wrenching though.

[Munch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was going to be a 5, was having great fun with Loki, then they wasted my time with a random Thor issue for the last 30ish% :(

[Mel]

Read via single issues. Interesting look into Marvel Britain, which I know nothing about, but seemed rushed.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sucker for Otherworld.

[Silas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have enjoyed this run from the beginning, but this volume rushed things and spoiled some of the experience. Coming on the heels of an odd crossover with the New Mutants, this volume jumps to England and Otherworld, which would be relatively interesting if the story weren't so abbreviated. It looks like it will continue, but it wrapped up a number of other story elements rather abruptly in a way that was ultimately unsatisfying. The storytelling, itself was solid, I just found the ending rather came up short, and then the book was bulked out by an unrelated cosmic story featuring Thor. Not a terribly strong volume.

[P. Kirby · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I suspect there's a smarter way to win this war than just having everyone take turns hitting each other in the face with hammers."

So sayeth Kid Loki.

The Otherworld, subconscious of the British Isles, land of fairies, trolls, and Camelot with its table of no corners, is under attack from an entity calling itself the Manchester Gods. It manifests as a walking, highly mechanized suburb, giving the story a tinge of Neil Gaiman's American Gods, with the plot being a battle between the old gods/myths (King Arthur, et. al) and the newer forces of industry.

Otherworld asks Asgard for help, and the All-Mothers say no. But on the sly, they enlist Loki, their favorite secret operative, and task him with saving Otherworld.

Loki, with sidekick, Leah, and some help from Hellstrom (mmmm, Hellstrom, yum) gets down to saving days in the only way he knows how. The tricksy way. (Which, of course, is bound to bite him in the ass somewhere down the line.)

This, the fourth volume in the Journey Into Mystery saga, had all the shiny things I love: snappy dialogue, humor, action, clever plotting and Hellstrom. No, Leah, you can't have him. He's mine, all mine. 'Sides. You're Hela's handmaiden and we all know how that turns out in this story. (Sigh. Poor Loki.)

But I shorted this installment a star because the last section, a story involving Thor and The Silver Surfer was DNF worthy. First, I'm sooo not into surfer guy. Just not. Bleh. Second, the plot is like an example of how to write a story where every action was pretty much Deus Ex Machina. I mean, Thor and the Surfer just hang around while Galactus, The Other, and Scrier do a lot of dick fencing and almost tear apart the fabric of the universe. While Oblivion giggles like a schoolgirl in the background. (Okay, so Oblivion's smart-assery is the only bright spot in the story.) Oblivion observes, several times, that the reader's puny mortal mind can't comprehend what is actually happening, that the events are too large, too infinite in scope. And I thought, "You got that right. I have no fucking idea what's going on."

Me thinks this short story arc is a set-up for Journey Into Mystery, The Mighty Thor, Everything Burns, but it was Bo-ring.

With the exception of the scalding hot mess at the end of the volume...Volume Four was awesome.

So let's just pretend the last 20 or so pages didn't happen?

[J'aime · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed the first three trade volumes of Journey into Mystery (JiM). However, this last volume left me somewhat dissatisfied, not to mention confused. The book is split into two parts: the Manchester gods and a solo Thor story. The first opens with the mystical folk of Britannia (King Arthur, fairies, Captain Britain, et al) under siege by new "Manchester gods." So far, so good. They send to Asgard for help and the All-Mothers say no, which ticks off Thor. Thor, who died in Volume 2 of JiM; who didn't appear in Volume 3; and who is suddenly alive and annoyed in this volume. I asked around and learned that he was brought back in the "Tanarus arc" of The Mighty Thor. But, that is not particularly helpful to newbies just starting out in Marvel comics (like me). A notation, or even a brief recap, mentioning this would have been very helpful! Moreover, there is no interaction between Thor and kid Loki - which were some of my favorite scenes in V1.

The All-Mothers do want to help Britannia, but on the sly. Enter kid Loki, who is sent to "help." The main part of this story was as entertaining as the last three volumes. Loki and Leah engineer an end to the war (though not in a way anyway else approved) and continue their playful bickering. However, when he returns to Asgard, the All-Mothers are not pleased with his solution but the story ends abruptly without explaining why.

The second part is a seemingly random Thor story where he gets involved with Galactus, Silver Surfer and three near omnipotent "villains" I had never heard of. The story was okay on its own, but it didn't really fit into this volume of JiM which had focused on kid Loki for the past three volumes. I felt like it was thrown in to fill out the book. I can understand filling the book to give customers value, but why this story? Overall, I was disappointed. I still enjoy kid Loki, and look forward to buying the Young Avengers with the character, but this volume felt unfinished and oddly put together. Recommended, but with reservations.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would've loved to see this series, as it was, just run of it's own accord. Instead, it was tied into at least three crossovers. It spun out of the Fear Itself crossover (and it's first trade is branded as such), then there were two volumes where it was given time to build on it's own some. Next there was the Exiled crossover with New Mutants, and now this volume, the last "solo" JiM trade. It features a great premise, which makes the state of it's run even more depressing!
The ideas that Kieron Gillen came up with for this volume are very reminiscent of Gaiman's American Gods, where we have old English gods and mythical characters (like Arthur, Merlyn and, er, Captain Britain) defending their realm against newer, industrialized Victorian gods. Throwing young Loki and Leah into the mix to try and help things without it seeming like Asgard is getting involved is fun. Unfortunately, it felt rushed and squeezed into three issues (and then the trade is filled out by a Mighty Thor annual by another writer which has nothing to do with this series!). I'm normally not a fan of decompressed storytelling and "writing for the trade", but I would've liked to see this story stretch out some more and really play with the idea (and especially some of the characters moments, specifically with Leah).
Coming back to my original point, I'd venture that this was cut-down to make way for a crossover story with The Mighty Thor, which would ultimately end both titles before their respective Marvel Now relaunches.
Gillen had a 25 issue run on this with an clever take on a classic character, and eleven of those were used on crossovers.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuing the adventures of Loki, who's been resurrected as young scamp. Our title character is asked to do a little undercover work here. A group of new, factory-inspired industrial-age gods are invading the British "Otherworld," which is represented by faeries and trolls and so forth. The gods of Avalon ask for help, but the Asgardians are bound by treaty to deny them. If Loki becomes involved, though...well, everyone knows he's not inclined to follow orders.

The story takes a turn, however, as Loki finds himself swayed to the invader's point of view. What's the mythical English countryside besides a vehicle for feudalism anyway? And so Loki's loyalties shift, with big implications for Asgard and the personal storyline Kieron Gillen has done such a good job developing.

The flipped loyalties make for an interesting tale, especially since the "gods of modernism" concept seems like something I've seen done before. At three issues, the story feels a little brisk--I would have enjoyed one more issue to pace things out. (Instead, this TPB has a weak, unrelated Thor annual by J.M. DeMatteis.) The developments here will have implications, though, and I look forward to reading them.

Read Digital Issues

[Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not realizing the microscopic 4 on the spine, I pick this up thinking it is a stand-alone so imagine my surprise when I have NO IDEA WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON but I end up liking it anyway (especially since there is a There Will Be Blood reference in the second panel). I may not fully understand the giant spiders with mansions on their backs attacking the Otherworld but I enjoy the way Gillen writes a 16 year old God of Mischief. I get the gist of where this comic is going and I am thoroughly entertained enough that I will be making it my business to pick up the previous three books.

Oh and after the main tale, there is a Thor one involving a centuries long battle between The Other and Scrier that Thor gets in the middle of while Oblivion looks on creepily in the background.

Enjoy.

[Sunil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loki gets involved with a civil war between the titular Manchester Gods, the gods of the modern world, and the Otherworldian gods, the gods of myth and magic. It's like American Gods in three issues! This story seems to come out of nowhere and doesn't feel connected to what came before, although it does feature some recurring characters. It's more notable for Loki's continuing character development as both a person and a friend to Leah, who continues to be a fun foil for him. And then there's a random Thor story about cosmic entities fighting cosmically and I have to assume it has something to do with the next story arc.

[Nathanael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kid!Loki's adventures are always a joy to read, but this volume was probably my least favorite so far. I suspect Gillen had to wrap this storyline up quickly because Everything Burns was about to start. There are a lot of really fantastic ideas that Gillen could have played with, but with so few issues to work with, there is only so much they can be expanded upon. The Thor issued also included is interesting, but completely out of place collected with JiM and I'm also somewhat confused as to where it fits in the Thor/Loki timeline since I was under the impression Thor was no longer bonded to Donald Blake. Maybe that changed during Thor's own run, but it was rather confusing for me. Really brilliant art in that Thor issue though.

[Tiamatty · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the more brilliant parts of Gillen's JiM run. It explores the nature of myth, how it influences society, and how society influences myth. Otherworld's been a major part of Marvel's British characters for a while, as a reflection of a more classical, Arthurian ideal. It was a Tolkien-esque place, full of knights and fairies and trolls. It was idyllic. But that's not really Britain any more. Britain has long been a more industrialized place. So this arc explores that, by having industrial gods out of Manchester. And it creates a moral conflict between the past and the future.

Also, Loki and Leah are adorable together. Funny dialogue, great art. Feels. All the stuff that one expects of this JiM run. But mostly, it's the brilliant concepts at play.