Comic Review: Thor #7

Thor #7

Marvel Comics

Writer: Jason Aaron

Artist: Tony Moore

After spending a couple of issues with Old King Thor, Aaron makes a quick detour with a visit to Young Lad Thor.

The issue starts with Odin sentencing two dark elves to death. Just as he burns the convicts, he realises Thor is absent – off in Midgard, drinking with Vikings, as usual. This infuriates him, so he sends his trusty ravens, Huginn and Muninn, to bring Thor back to him. Odin scolds his son and is infuriated with his behavior, but Thor ignores him and leaves to return to his mead. As the God of Thunder takes leave, Loki enters the frame. He offers Odin his help since he has devised a peculiar and wicked plan to bring Thor back to Asgard. Reluctantly, Odin accepts. So Loki (kinda) takes control of the strings of destiny and sets Thor on a path to meet and fall in love with a notoriously savage pagan princess – Erika the Red.

The Ups

On November 14, 2012, exactly six years ago, Jason Aaron’s Thor: God of Thunder #1 came out. It was the start of a long-running and defining run on the character. The Necrosword, the Old King Thor story, Young Thor’s path to worthiness and the War of Realms – all of these plot points were set up in that first series, and all of them are still, for better or worse (I’m looking at you, War of Realms), going strong. It’s safe to say that Aaron’s run has been kind of a big deal for the character, with all of its ups and downs.

This issue is definitely in the upper echelon of his stories, (supposedly) ending the story of Thor’s journey to worthiness. It tells a real human story about love, loss, and mortality, all the while offering insight into what really sets Thor apart from the rest of the Gods. A really fantastic story!

The book features art by guest artist Tony Moore, with colours by guest colourist John Rauch. It’s an amazing-looking book due to some truly great scenes brought to life by the crisp colours. The book flows seamlessly, as the team manages to nicely fit a really touching and well-rounded story into such a small package. In other words, the book looks fantastic!

The Downs

Ughhhh, I don’t know. We had to go through 6 okay-ish issues to get to a really good one? But that’s just superhero comics at work, I guess.

Verdict

Six years is a long time and maintaining an adequate level of quality is not an easy feat. But it’s issues like this that give the creators to tell the readers “I still got it”. A beautiful book and a fantastic read, one that I would recommend to every comic book fan – be they Thor readers or not.