Back in 2005 Marvel comics released a six issue mini series starring the cosmic hammer bearer Beta Ray Bill. If you are familiar with this character you already know how awesome he is. A bio-mechanoid construct of an alien race known as the Korbinites infused with a real soul. Beta Ray was designed to be the champion and protector of the Korbinites. The demon Surtur, on a mission to destroy Asgard, destroyed the Korbinite homeworld and forced the entire race to flee on ships into outer space. Beta Ray led them while his people slept in stasis. He found himself on Asgard where he fought Thor, picked up fabled Mjolnir, and bested the thunder god in combat. Odin saw the good and noble soul within Beta Ray and bestowed upon him the hammer Stormbreaker, equal to Mjolnir in power and strength. Beta Ray became an oath-brother to Thor and has since gone back and forth shepherding his people to a new home and assisting Asgard however he can.
There. Now you're up to speed. Stormbreaker begins with an impending doom looming on the horizon for the Korbinites. Galactus, the devourer of worlds, has been spotted heading to New Korbin. But Beta Ray Bill is nowhere to be found. He is on Asgard fighting against Ragnarok. All around him his Asgardian friends are dying, Volstagg and Sif murdered before his eyes. The fight intensifies when he is suddenly transported away by the spirit of his deceased oath-brother Thor. Thor asks him to leave Asgard to its fate and protect his people while he can.
Galactus is barely recognizable, having been nearly destroyed in the events prior, and sets about feeding off the planet. Beta Ray successfully repels him until Galactus's herald arrives. Stardust, the latest harbinger of death arrives on the scene giving Beta Ray the fight of his life! Galactus resumes feeding off the planet and Beta Ray's people and world die before his eyes. The fight ends in defeat with the Korbinite champion left alone in the void of space where his planet once stood. Twice in one day he had to watch the people he loved die.
Beta Ray Bill awakes amidst the floating remains of his world. He receives a message from his faithful sentient starship Scuttlebutt that the essence of his people yet survives. Beta Ray rendezvous with his ship discovering a Meta-Orb containing the collective spirits of his people. On the monitor he sees Stardust hunting down and killing the remaining Korbinites floating in space among the debris. Burning with vengeance Beta Ray Bill engages Stardust once more, this time without the help of Galactus. Their battle destroys planets and rips holes in the dimensional fabric of space/time.
Beta Ray's retribution is absolute. Stardust, in a desperate effort to claim victory, opens a portal to another dimension, one filled with the darkest, deadliest of beings. A worm covered tentacle reaches out grabbing Beta Ray. He rips off the horrid finger and escapes being pulled into the dimension. Stardust closes the rift but the severed piece yet remains. It begins to take shape forming into the visage of the elder god Asteroth! Stardust and Beta Ray Bill have to set aside their differences and confront this terrible enemy together or risk the fate of the universe itself!
This story is awesome! Artist Andrea DiVito (best known for Annihilation and Nova) renders epic drawings and powerful imagery. The story by Dan Berman and Michael Avon Oeming is well crafted and epic in scope (everything one could ask for out of a cosmic story). The story unfolds with two narratives occurring in tandem, one of Beta Ray Bill and the other of his people preparing for Galactus's arrival. The fight scenes are beyond epic and story retains a relative simplicity. It's about faith and justice. The arrival of Asteroth propels it into a whole new level of intensity and dire threat.
It probably isn't the best story to begin with if you are unfamiliar with Beta Ray Bill and the cosmic universe but it gives you a firm grasp of who these characters are and what motivates them. It is done consistently with previous stories and respects continuity (both things I look for in the great stories of Marvel). Stardust first appears in this story and the battle between him and BRB is truly the stuff of legends. The next time we see Stardust is in the pages of Annihilation, an even greater story, one of my favorites. I was floored by the intensity and presentation of the story and for that I give it high marks!
Overall Ranking: 7 out of 10
You'll be a fan of Beta Ray Bill after reading this story.
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