Comic Review: Thor #3

Thor #3

Marvel Comics

Writer: Jason Aaron

Artist: Mike Del Mundo

We had quite a few marriages in the last month or so, and Jason Aaron obviously decided to jump on that bandwagon with Thor. There was no teasing and no big promises – you open the book and you are at the wedding between Balder and Hela. But fear not, as there is no shortage of schemes, god fights, murder and Thori to keep things moving.

The Pros

The issue opens in medias res as we get a glimpse of the wedding. This worked well as it threw me a bit off, before going back a few hours to the big fight. And boy what a fight that was! Thor vs Fenris, Balder vs Hela, and Loki vs Tyr and Tyr’s mustache. They went all out at each other, before finally taking a break and trying to settle their differences. This is when the book shifts back to the wedding.

The wedding is actually the more interesting part of the book, as it offers a good amount of scheming and SHOCKING TWISTS. The ending of the book is especially interesting as we see an unexpected guest arrive to stop the wedding. I was actually wondering where that character was when the book started, as he was a prominent figure in The Unworthy Thor miniseries and it seemed Aaron had some big plans for him. Well, I got my answer and it sure is going to complicate the whole situation.

Mike Del Mundo does a great job with the wedding part of the book, as the palette of faded colors compliment his lines extremely well. There is a certain page where Thor visits a certain place I will not spoil and that page is stunning. His character design is also worthy of praise. I particularly enjoyed the design of the vow master – just a regular skeleton in a suit. Brilliant.

And of course, Thori is the best murder dog!

The Cons

While Del Mundo handled the wedding part of the book really well, the fight was not as good. There were some nice panels, but there were even more messy ones. At times, it was really hard to see who was who and to understand what was actually happening. This is mostly due to some seriously flat coloring of these pages. The pages with Sindr were especially bad as it was so hard to distinguish where she ended and the background began.

The book composition is also a bit lacking. Some twists would have gained a lot in shock value if they had been left for page turns. They are still interesting, just not as jaw-dropping.

Conclusion

While the issue left me wanting in the art department, it was still a crazy ride and a great read. Jason Aaron still has some interesting ideas for Thor and his supporting cast, and I’m excited to see where he takes them. Hopefully he’ll hurry up with the War of Realms which he started building up to half a decade ago. I’m fed up with Malekith, just end him already.