Comic Review: Thor (2018-) #1

Thor #1

Marvel Comics

Writer: Jason Aaron

Artist: Mike Del Mundo

The Thor series is coming off a rather impressive run written by Jason Aaron so there is a lot of pressure for him to keep this run going. After Aaron’s impressive Thor: God of Thunder series there were two exciting tales of Jane Foster acting as Thor. Including her death and rebirth. She died trying to protect Asgardia from the wrath of the Mangog. Although Jane was successful in stopping the Mangog Asgardia was destroyed in the process. Now she is powerless. Since then The Odinson has once again become Thor to help fight the continuing War of the Realms. In the first issue, readers get to see what that means. Ancient artifacts are scattered across the cosmos after the destruction of Asgardia. Thor is now crossing the Earth to find the artifacts that reside there.

Jason Aaron returns to write the characters he has been lovingly crafting for years now. All of the gods of Asgard have returned but not as they once were. The gods are now trying to reclaim their glory after having lost the magic of Asgard. Jane Foster and Agent Solomon return as ambassadors of Earth to help them rebuild.

There is a lot of fun in the story. Juggernaut makes a cameo and we get to see how much this Thor has to change his tactics. After losing his worth The Odinson can no longer rely on the power of Mjolnir. It was tossed into the sun to stop the Mangog and left Thor without his hammer. It is a similar approach that Aaron took when writing Doctor Strange recently. Unlike Strange, however, The Odinson stills uses might over the mind. Thor struggles to use his punch first approach when his punch has less impact. Aaron tries to show us right away how much harder Thor has to work when his weapons hold less power. Thor takes some major beatings at the hands of the Juggernaut. It takes a giant arsenal to bring the monster down.

The art by Mike Del Mundo and Marco D’Alfonso does a great job. The exaggeration in facial expression and body movement brings the characters alive. They try to have some fun with perspective and sound effect placement. It makes the read a lot of fun. The art team uses tighter shots to heighten tension. Like a closeup on Thor’s face as Juggernaut approaches. They will also use wider shots to increase the action. This is used when Namor cameos to fight Thor over a missing artifact.

The color scheme is similar tones within scenes. It can look a little blended together at times. It makes it so the art almost feels washed out. The bold colors stand out a lot more. It means that reading panel by panel in the digital setting will not be as impactful as by page.

As you may have noticed there are a large number of characters that show up in this first chapter. There is also the welcomed sight of Skurge The Executioner and Baldor The Brave who have been residing in the land of the dead. Aaron is not afraid to play within the mythology of Thor which makes the story feel epic. Aaron adds to the Thor mythology with tales of future Thor. We get a short post credit tale of King Thor in the future fighting a space shark. It is a silly moment that quickly turns dramatic before the end.

This is a promising start to the series. Details like Thor using a tugboat to get around and store weapons shows that Aaron is not trying to take everything too seriously. While dramatic moments between Thor Odinson and Lady Freyja display the emotion that comes when Aaron is ready to get serious. The dialog feels very natural and fitting for the characters.

I would highly recommend this first issue of Thor. The characters are all handled very well. The foreshadowing of things to come is promising. The art has some beautiful looking panels. Jason Aaron seems to be handling the pressure well in continuing the story of Thor.