Sif
Written by: Kelly Sue Deconnick
Cover by: Travel Foreman
Art by: Ryan Stegman
Colors by: Juan Doe
Marvel Comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 21, 2010

So have you been missing a strong stoic female presence in the Marvel universe? Well Marvel has answered your call with its Sif one-shot. This is the closest to a threat to Wonder Woman that Marvel has ever had. I know that I definitely want more and hope that there is at least a mini-series in the works. I really enjoyed this one-shot and really hope everyone checks it out. Plus it has another one of my favorite characters in it, Beta Ray Bill.

Basically what happens in this issue is that Beta Ray Bill comes to Earth in search of Thor in order to help him with a rather difficult predicament. He and his love cannot get their ship back because it has locked them out in order to preserve their lives, but only an Asgardian can defeat the foe. Well being that Thor is rather busy at the moment dealing with other things, Sif offers her service to Bill. While this is a very simple and predictable story with an easily formulaic story structure, it is still a ton of fun and very well done. I am extremely impressed by Kelly Sue Deconnick‘s grasp on the characters and their voices.

The issue is filled with action and adventure and the artwork by Ryan Stegman beautifully portrays it all in vivid detail. I really enjoyed Stegman’s take on all of the characters as well as the stunning layouts throughout the story. While space can be an easy thing to slack detail on, Stegman definitely does not do so with the beautiful artwork and Beta Ray Bill’s wonderfully drawn ship. I definitely would recommend this book to anyone that is a fan of good artwork especially anyone that has enjoyed any of Stegman’s other work.

Overall I just really want to put a spotlight on this issue for the great teamwork on all involved on this project, because I have read a lot of one shots that are just there for someone to scratch a creative itch with their favorite character and not to impress the reader but this is definitely not the case here. If you get a chance check out this issue and see if you enjoy it as much as I did. If you are at all a fan of any of the current Thor stuff you need to pick this up as well. I will definitely be adding this to my keep pile and hope to see more from Sif soon.

I give Sif a 5 out of 5.