Bill goes hunting for Odin, still desperate to resurrect his lost hammer Stormbreaker, but the former King of Asgard is far from his glory days. Stormbreaker is never coming back, but there is one place where Beta Ray Bill could restore his full powers. The All-Father of nothing offers the Korbinite a path to immortality, at a price not even a god can afford. Grab your wingman, some brews and open up Beta Ray Bill #2 by Daniel Warren Johnson, colorist Mike Spicer and letterer Joe Sabino.
The great gods of Asgard are known for their legendary battles. Y’know what else is pretty cool, though? The 1989 Patrick Swayze movie Roadhouse.
Daniel Warren Johnson puts the chocolate in our peanut butter by having Bill and Odin put on tight T-shirts that show off what totally shredded daddies they are and have Bill get into a bar fight on his quest to get his mojo back and not be a sad horse man anymore.
Last issue, when Vishal and I complained about this comic being too connected to other stuff going on across the Marvel line? Well, we seem to have mostly cast that off and now Johnson is free to draw whatever he wants. And what does he want to draw? A horse man in a T-shirt, a one-man game of pingpong, a bar fight with aliens that look like retrofuturist punks, the fiery pits of Muspelheim and a fun cross-section of Bill’s ship/AI, Skuttlebutt.
I’ve mentioned before my love of cross-sections in comics, and this one is a dadgum “Where’s Waldo” of an OHOTMU page if ever I saw one. Pore over the two-page spread, and you’ll find pinball tables, bandoliers that lead to floating space-machine gun turrets, a tiny Marvel editorial office, JAKE AND THE MURDER FALCON FROM MURDER FALCON, a banner for Johnson’s beloved Boston Red Sox, presumably Johnson hunched over a drafting table aaaaaand …
Skurge the Executioner, fresh from being bored in Valhalla and in search of adventure or, at the very least, shenanigans. Also guns. Apparently after Skurge’s legendary Last Stand at Gjallerbru, he got too much of a taste for iron and lead and has gone full Tex-Ass. That might be a bit much for some people, but Skurge’s general foolhardy loudmouth personality provides enough comic relief to drown out those concerns.
From there, Bill builds up a questing party that includes Skurge, Pip the Troll, who appeared briefly in the first issue, and Odin, who since ceding the throne of Asgard apparently has taken to barbacking and wearing a sweaty old tank top, jeans and chains. Oh, and he brews his own beer now, like any aging white man who needs a hobby.
What do these four men have in common? They’re all dealing with feelings of impotence. Odin misses ruling all he surveys on his golden throne. Bill misses his ax and being able to shift between his horse and Korbinite forms. Skurge misses being alive and shooting stuff. And Pip feels a kinship with Bill in not loving his own appearance.
I haven’t quite gotten a good read on Johnson’s Pip yet. He’s not quite the gruff-yet-impish trickster of his Warlock and the Infinity Watch or X-Factor days. Hell, he’s not even Asgardian or Asgard-adjacent. What’s he doing here? Perhaps that’s to be revealed.
Anyway, Odin charges Bill with going to Muspelheim to retrieve Surtur’s old Twilight Sword, which he believes contains the right amount of magic to allow Bill to change forms again. Also it’s a giant frickin’ sword, so it looks cool.
Also cool looking are the four warriors who guard the Stygian Gate, the Bifrost-free access point to Muspelheim. Part Shogun Warriors leftovers, part Kirby sentries in cool hats, these four men (machines? Somewhere in between?) warn Bill of the toll his journey is likely to exact on him and his party, and threaten him with challenge should he return changed for ill.
Oh, and Skuttlebutt is a shapely robot lady now. Don’t ask me why, because I haven’t read issue #3 yet, but that is certainly a choice. Am I about to see a horse fuck a robot? Only time will tell.
Dan Grote is the editor-in-chief of ComicsXF, having won the site by ritual combat. By day, he’s a newspaper editor, and by night, he’s … also an editor. He co-hosts The ComicsXF Interview Podcast with Matt Lazorwitz. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, two kids and two miniature dachshunds, and his third, fictional son, Peter Winston Wisdom.
