I admit it. I bought this collection, one of only two Spider-man trades I own, to read about his encounter with Loki. I had seen panels of Spider-man and Loki eating hot dogs on a rooftop and HAD to know how that came about. It was well worth the effort to locate!

Though I came to the book for this one story, which opens the book, the rest of the collection naturally flows from it and makes sense. Spider-man has been encountering more than his usual share of “magical wackos” (Loki included) and the explanation is revealed herein. Though this is Volume 7 of Straczynski’s Spider-man run, readers don’t need to have read the previous books to follow the stories.

Spider-man and Dr. Strange accidentally unleash Morwen, a chaos sorcerer, from her prison. In Asgard, Loki senses that something is wrong, that it concerns him, and so he comes to New York to investigate. He and Spider-man must team up to save Loki’s daughter, who Morwen has possessed. I love how Loki is characterized in this tale. He’s not the traditional villain – he’s a very powerful, immortal god who’s disdainful of mere mortals. And has produced hundreds of children across the centuries because it’s what Norse gods do! I laughed out loud when Spider-man asks if Morwen is evil like Loki, and Loki replies “I’m not evil, you vile little creature. I’m…complicated.” In fact, the story was packed with humor as one would expect from the witty web-slinger. And the scene on the rooftop alone was worth the purchase of this book!

The subsequent stories all tell the tale of Ezekiel (he has powers just like Spider-man) and why he has come to NYC. How he got his powers has a direct impact on Spider-man and will put him and his loved ones in danger. The story is very well done, with suspense and twists.

Overall, I truly enjoyed this book. The story-telling was excellent and I thought the art was a great complement to it. I liked it enough that I am tempted to find the additional volumes – which are unfortunately out of print. Highly recommended. ( )

This trade collects two Spidey story arcs, the first about Morwen the Sorcerer of Chaos. Morwen, as a villain, is not terribly interesting, but she is really an excuse to have some interesting interplay between Spider-Man and Loki. It is a simple idea, to be sure, but this particular team-up is quite a bit more interesting and original than most I've read.

A short story divides this arc and the next one, "The Book of Ezekiel." We've been waiting on this one for a while, since the likeable Ezekiel has played a critical role in the book for a few years before this story. But this time, Ezekiel reveals his true purposes.

It is a wonderful story that ends far too quickly. The last issue moves so quickly that I felt that I missed a lot of stuff going on the background. There should have been at least one more issue to this arc to fill out the ending a bit more, but overall, it is quite an interesting read. ( )

The first story is an interesting, but somewhat routine one, where Loki reluctantly joins forces with Spider-Man to rescue his human daughter from the possession of an ancient goddess, Morwen. Good humorous interplay between Spidey and Loki. The second story is a nice little bit of filler where Spidey helps the cops bring a young kid back to the straight and narrow. This is followed by Ezekiel's betrayal of Spider-Man, setting him up to be sacrificed in his own place. ( )