The Marvel comics universe is huge and sprawling and complex – and it’s tricky sometimes to figure out where to hop aboard.
I thought since I’ve been on a comics kick lately, I’d do some short reviews of some Issue 1s I’ve tried out lately, of new or recently relaunched Marvel series. Come window shop the superheroes with me!
Image may be NSFW.
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Title: THOR #1 [AKA Crankypants Odin gets Pwned by his Spectacular Wife]
Writer: Jason Aaron
Art: Russell Dauterman
The Buzz: This one got a lot of promo attention because of the whole THOR IS A LADY NOW aspect of the book.
All You Need To Know: Marvel comics Thor is mostly a storybook version of Thor from Norse myths. Odin is his dad, Loki is his brother, etc. This Thor has also been an Avenger for decades. His hammer is called Mjolnir, and Odin once cast a spell on it so that only those worthy of the power of Thor could lift it. Turned out, that was a dick move. But that’s Odin for you.
Story: We don’t actually find out who the new (lay-dee) Thor is in this issue. What we get is depressed, miserable Original!Thor on the moon while his family and friends explain what happened in a previous Marvel event: someone whispered something in his ear, he’s not worthy any more… eh. What’s fascinating is that no one now seems to be worthy. His friends, many of whom have wielded Mjolnir before, can’t lift the hammer off the surface of the moon. Turns out Odin can’t either and he is EXTREMELY PISSED ABOUT THIS.
We might not get an answer to the question of who the new Thor is in Issue 1, but what we do get is a whole lot of fascinating domestic and political argument between cranky-pants Odin (recently returned from a long holiday) and his wife Freyja who has been ruling Asgardia as the All-Mother in his absence and doesn’t plan to give the power up any time soon. Considering how she was fridged (ha, Frigged) in the second Thor movie it’s nice to see Freyja front and centre here.
Art: It’s cute, slightly old fashioned in a children’s illustration kind of way (especially the faces) which I like in a Thor comic. Mind you, the only Thor comic I’ve genuinely liked was the frankly adorable Thor: the Mighty Avenger [The God Who Fell to Earth] with art by Chris Samnee so I’m biased that way.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
But What Did I Miss?: This issue is certainly very good at letting you know all the immediately relevant backstory to the comic but I still felt like I was walking in on someone else’s party. I don’t think I’ve ever read a main continuity Thor comic before, which might account for that. There weren’t really any characters I didn’t have a basic idea about thanks to the movies, though, so I guess this is a good place to start Thorring along?
Would Read Issue 2?: Hell yes, I want to know who the new Thor is. I will be a bit sad if it’s not Thor’s mum. They DO answer that question in Issue 2, right???
