I stopped reading comics regularly more than a decade ago. Fed up with some terrible storylines -- yeah, I'm looking at you, One More Day, although you're not alone in that category -- I decided my time and money was better spent elsewhere. Still, every now and then I'm tempted to check in and see what's going on. Today, I decided to read The Mighty Valkyries: All Hel Let Loose.

I wasn't familiar with The Mighty Valkyries, per se. There used to be a character named Valkyrie, aka Brunnhilde -- if memory serves, she was mostly tied to the Thor books and the Defenders group -- who bore little resemblance to the Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) of the Marvel movies. A quick Google search reveals that Brunnhilde was killed off in the comics in The War of the Realms, a miniseries in 2019. Now, the MCU version has been written into the books, although slightly different than we've seen her in the past ... and she now has a name, Runa, which makes sense since "valkyrie" is more of a job title than a name anyway. Much like the MCU's version, she is the last of the original valkyries.

The other hero in this book is Jane Foster. Originally conceived in the comics as a nurse, and later a doctor, she became an incarnation of Thor for awhile before becoming a new Valkyrie in the same War of the Realms storyline that killed off Brunnhilde. She changes form when she becomes Valkyrie, much like Thor did in his Dr. Donald Blake years, and she wields Undrjarn the All-Weapon, a weapon that can change its shape into any weapon according to her will. She also has a flying horse, named Horse, at her disposal.

How's that for backstory? I had some catching up to do.

Now, let's look at All Hel Let Loose.

First things first, I have to give high praise to the art, which is excellent. Full marks to Mattia de Ilius, Erica D'urso and Marcio Menyz, who brought the story to life.

The story, written by Jason Aaron and Torunn Gronbekk, is a little more bewildering. Perhaps that's because I haven't been reading many comics lately, but All Hel Let Loose -- originally published as a five-issue miniseries -- doesn't work very well as a stand-alone book.

Jane is working in a morgue, apparently a demotion given to her at a New York City hospital (the same one where Dr. Stephen Strange works without consequence) for going off on too many world-saving adventures. Runa is off in a distant star system trying to discover her name -- she learns it in this book -- and rescuing an oracle from slavery. The death goddess Hela has been absent from Her, returning home to find her wife Karnilla raising three stolen goddesses in secret. The undead dragon Fafnir is making a claim for Hel. A magical wolf -- a grandchild of Loki's -- has escaped his bonds and is roaming free in New York. Kraven the Hunter has been hired to kill him. And Loki ... is being Loki.

I think that's it. That's a lot. For most of the story, I was kind of lost.

But did I mention the art? It's really, really good.