Alex Spencer

This page works to link up the disparate areas of Marvel New York, each with their own localised characters, stories and genres. This Punisher panel really breaks down those barriers, as one genre intrudes on another.pic.twitter.com/llNXaOOWAE

TIM: As the magic of the other Nine Realms starts to intrude on to Midgard, the panels of everyday New York become detached from the page and tip like dominoes.pic.twitter.com/m9f8FqOIUp

TIM: The final domino falls (note the blank corners signifying this double-page-size panel is also askew) and New York erupts into a rainbow of Matt Wilson pyrotechnics. When you want to blow shit up on the comics page, there’s no one better.pic.twitter.com/7E2QboH69e

TIM: (Minor spoilers if you’ve avoided promo for War of the Realms) The “open your eyes” line feels so directed towards Daredevil that it has to be foreshadowing for what’s going to happen to him during this event.pic.twitter.com/l38Fnyaa5P

This panel does a great job of selling the premise of this entire event – the clashing of mundanity and epic scale, an incursion of things that shouldn’t be here. Plus, the frosting-up of the windows is an A+ detail.pic.twitter.com/jeHfgTUOwD

TIM: The background of this panel features both Thori terrifying a Dark Elf into submission, and one of my favourite minor tropes: a fantasy creature getting absolutely blatted by a car.pic.twitter.com/o5GTZqx8AD

Asgardians misunderstanding heroes’ names and turning them into fantasy titles is a hoary old trope (cf. “Man of Spiders”, in this very same issue) but for some reason I love this one. CAPTAIN OF AMERICA.pic.twitter.com/v8XSiwmkXI

The one dud note in the issue for me was some of the dialogue given to Daredevil and Dr Strange. The glib quippiness is dialled up to Spidey/Iron Man levels – presumably to contrast with the Asgardians, but it means Midgard's heroes don't feel distinct from *one another*.pic.twitter.com/tXjvIMPneA