Having dealt with saving death from complete and utter nonexistence, Jane Foster might have expected a bit of a breather. As it turns out things are not at all restful for her in the near future. There are beasts of darkness with glowing, red eyes that have been let loose. Unable to contain the threat herself, the doctor/hero finds herself in the company of Avengers in the eighth issue of Valkyrie: Jane Foster. Writers Jason Aaron and Torunn Grønbekk guide Marvel’s newest Valkyrie into new territory in an issue drawn by CAFU with color by Jesus Aburtov. Aaron and Torunn Grønbekk take Foster in a direction in which she gets a bit of the experience that will likely settle her into the super-heroing life just a bit more solidly. 

Jane Foster has been pretty busy since she took-up the mantle of Valkyrie. In recent months she has dealt with marginal villains and saved the life of death itself, thus securing the continued survival of the Marvel Universe for a bit. That little excursion found her working alongside Dr. Strange. Now duty calls on her to work with others of his caliber as the conflict involving strange mystical creatures finds her running into Captain America and the Avengers in Part One of a story called, “At the End of All Things.” Once again, the life of a humble doctor and Valkyrie takes her headlong into a mystery. 

Aaron and Grønbekk tumble Foster through the adventure with a firm eye on what makes her unique. The writing team gives Foster a great deal of power and basic wisdom about magic, but without a solid understanding of why she knows what she knows. She is given to following instincts which are tempered by the basic compassion of the kind of mortal doctor anyone would be lucky to have. It’s subtle, but the specific worldview of an established medical practitioner as a superhero clearly serves as the center of a character who is quite unlike any other hero marvel is ushering onto the comics rack regularly. 

CAFU gives iconic characters like the Avengers their own space and power while keeping Foster firmly planted in the heart of the issue. She may be contrasted against far more familiar characters, but CAFU finds subtle ways to make Foster look like the most important character in the book nonetheless. Aburtov’s colors amplify the power of CAFU’s clever sense of balance with dynamic depth the gives metal a stylish sheen and energy a radiance all its own. 

Aaron and Grønbekk push Jane Foster in a path to self-discovery that fuses perfectly with the overarching action of the series in a way that feels perfectly fluid. Rather than alternating different elements of the hero’s life, it’s all deeply integrated. Action sequences find Foster finding more and more about the Valkyrie energy that she is connected worth in one of the most harrowing on-the-job training experiences imaginable. 

Grade: A-