Written By Andrew Fontana
Metal. That’s the word that describes this debut issue. Metal. Bone-crushing, head banging, stadium-filling metal.
I couldn’t help but hear a little Amon Amarth in my head as I sat down to read this comic. Longtime Thor scribe Jason Aaron’s been penning epic God of Thunder yarns for the better part of six years now, so he knows how to keep stuff fresh. Still, I wasn’t really expecting a huge departure from his previous volumes.
But that’s what we get in Thor #1. There’s an ecstatic glee in both Aaron’s writing and Mike Del Mundo’s lush artwork that brings a whole different sensibility to Asgard’s favorite son.
There’s a scene early in the issue that’s evocative of Thor’s new direction. Odinson waits at the entrance of a cave while a certain lumbering mutant prepares to make his entrance. We get the usual THOOM sound effects, but Del Mundo cleverly uses that oft-used sound effect to highlight the shock on Thor’s face.
It’s a very fun, very comic book addition to this little panel that’s just one indicator that Aaron and company are carving a new path. The dialogue is light, humorous, and balances surprisingly well with that ever-present Shakespearean flourish. Even Thor himself is cheery, despite missing an arm and technically still unworthy.
The back-up focusing on King Thor is just as solid. Clocking in at ten pages with stellar pencils by Christian Ward, “The Grace of Thor” is a pallet cleanser that packs enough punch to justify its own book. The backup doesn’t actually connect to the main plot. There’s enough weirdness, gorgeous art, and a crazy cameo at the end that justifies its inclusion. It’s sad to have Jane Foster’s Thor gone, of course, but Aaron does more than enough to make Odinson’s return organic and necessary. As Jane herself said a few issues back, “There must always be a Thor.”
