The Mighty Thor #18 – Review

By: Matt Fraction (writer), Alan Davis (pencils), Mark Farmer (inks), Javier Rodriguez (colors), and Joe Sabino (letters)

The Story: Mysterious, unquenchable fires break out over Broxton as Freyja dreams of a forgotten war from long ago.

The Review:  When Alan Davis draws an issue, it’s grounds to be excited.  When he draws a high-fantasy comic, it’s time to just fork over the money.  As anyone who’s ever flipped through Avengers Prime should know, while Davis can draw a great many things, his work is nothing less than transcendent when drawing fantasy stuff.  Naturally, Matt Fraction gets this, as this issue is the most straight high-fantasy of anything we’ve gotten from Fraction thus far.  This allows Davis to really go to work, immersing us in a uniquely fantasy yarn that feels epic and distinct from anything else Marvel is offering.  With genre diversification not being Marvel’s strong suit, it’s nice to see Davis doing what he does best and Fraction giving us a straight high-fantasy comic, taking us away to faraway worlds and long-ago times.

Thor #613 – Review

by Kieron Gillen (writer), Rich Elson (pencils & inks), Jim Charalampidis (colors), and Joe Sabino (letters)

The Story: Thor journeys across hell on his quest for Eir-Gram while Tyr tries to hold the line.

What’s Good: In this issue, Kieron Gillen’s latest story-arc really feels like it’s come together into something really special.  There’s a greater sense of craft and purpose that leads to a thoroughly entertaining and page-turning experience.

Part of the reason for this is Gillen’s use of narration.  The narration only accompanies the scenes depicting Thor’s quest, but it lends it an epic feel that makes it seem all the more grand and Odysseus-like.  It makes Thor’s journey seem even bigger and more inspired.  It’s also proof of Gillen’s skill as a writer, functioning as an extremely clever way for him to condense Thor’s trek into only a few pages, without making the reader feel cheated or the material rushed.

Better still is how Gillen even goes so far as to bring humour and self-awareness into the book through this narration.  The narrator actually turns out to be a visible character in the comic whose sole function is, well, narration.  He’s actually narrating Thor’s quest for Mephisto as well as us, which somehow turns Mephisto into a reader much like ourselves, almost putting him on our level of experience.  Apparently Mephisto is so powerful, that he’s actually able to read, or listen to, the comic book that he’s in.  It gets even more fun when Mephisto even offers criticism of the narrator’s “writing,” and by extension, Gillen’s.

While Thor’s journey is certainly epic, Gillen also continues to strengthen Tyr as a character.  Gillen has not only brought Tyr back in his run, but also expands the God of War further, making him both conflicted and badass and more compelling than ever.  It’s easy to make a god of war a two-dimensional ass-kicker, and Gillen is doing anything but.  This is a Tyr forced to live up to, and negotiate, that very stereotype despite the fact that he is very capable of feeling fear.  There’s a great shame complex to the character that I love reading.

Thor #609 – Review

by Kieron Gillen (writer), Billy Tan, Batt, & Rich Elson (art), Christina Strain & June Chung (colors), and Joe Sabino (letters)

The Story: Loki faces the consequences, Kelda stands and fights, and Volstagg picks himself up.

What’s Good: With Thor not being present this month, several supporting characters pick up the slack.

Kelda, a character I’ve enjoyed since JMS introduced her, still strikes a sympathetic portrait.  Her defending Bill’s parents was touching and it was nice to see them come together.  Of course, it’s always a blast just to see Kelda kick some ass.  She’s one of those characters’ whose potential we’ve never been sure of and I’m glad to see her in a more empowered position this month.

Having a similar “fist-pump” moment this month is Balder, who reminds the world why his name is “Balder the Bright.”  Gillen does his best to make Balder personify the Heroic Age.   When he lights himself up to rally the troops and owns the Hood in a Matrix-like fashion, it’s all kinds of awesome.  Balder has bumbled around quite a bit and it’s nice to see him take up position as the quintessential hero.

Thor #604 – Review

by Kieron Gillen (writer), Billy Tan (pencils), Batt (inks), Christina Strain (colors), and Joe Sabino (letters)

The Story: Balder begins his war with Doom, as the Latverian dictator’s experiments stand revealed.

What’s Good: Gillen and Tan have a very unenviable task in following one of the greatest Thor runs of all time.  Thankfully, Gillen tries his best to work in the spirit of JMS’ final few issues.   There are no problematic shifts in character voices.  Balder and Loki in particular remain just as sound as ever.  If anything, Loki seems a little less sinister and a little sleazier under Gillen’s hand.  His manipulations are just a little more blunt and obvious, but for the time being, it works given the circumstances.

Gillen also gets the award for writing the most arrogant and pompous Doom of the month.  At times it’s a little over-the-top, but ultimately, Gillen successfully straddles the line between badass and campy. Gillen’s Doom is a vibrant, scenery-chewing read and really dominates every page he appears on.

In the meantime, there’s a rather humorous Fantastic Four cameo in the book that got a smile out of me and I actually felt Gillen’s Balder to be an improvement over JMS’ portrayal of the character over the past few issues.  While still a far cry from Reed Richards, Balder actually isn’t a dumbass under Gillen’s pen, despite maintaining his standard heroic shtick.

On art, this is some of the best work I’ve seen Billy Tan produce in some time and is head and shoulders over his recent New Avengers work.  It’s clear that Tan put absolutely everything he had into this issue.  It is easily up to the standard that Coipell and Djurdjevic have set for the series.  It’s very detailed, while maintaining a dark and epic atmosphere and mystique.  Tan’s effort is close to faultless and superior to Djurdjevic’s rushed work last week.  Despite my concern, if Tan can maintain the quality he showed this month, he was definitely the right man for the job.  Also, his illustrations of Doom’s “experiments” are fantastic.

What’s Not So Good: I was nothing less than irate over Gillen’s treatment of one of JMS’ original characters.  In my review of last week’s finale, I stated that JMS’ massive change in direction for this character was perhaps the most interesting strand he left open at the end of his run.  Gillen, however, seemed to have nothing for the character and so, decides to kill said character off.  He basically took one of the most interesting dangling plots that JMS left behind and completely snuffed it out.  The fact that he does this in literally the very first scene of the book is nothing less than insulting.

Even if the character isn’t dead, it doesn’t change the fact that Gillen has placed the character in a passive position of distress, in need of being saved.  This would be a massive step backward from the terrifyingly pro-active state JMS left the character in.

Other than that, Doom, while enjoyable, does refer to himself in the third person a little too much.  Also, there’s a bit of dialogue where Donald Blake essentially out-thinks Reed Richards.  That Reed would not be able to figure out a basic line of reasoning, especially one related to technology, is ridiculous.

Finally, in an effort to convey Jane’s shadowed surroundings, colorist Christina Strain somehow manages to change poor Jane’s ethnicity.  I had no idea Dr. Foster was Hispanic.

Conclusion: It’s far from the horrific drop-off some predicted, but there are some small glitches and the character death is absolutely unforgivable.

Grade: C+

-Alex Evans

Thor: Defining Moments Review

by J. Michael Straczynski (writer), Marko Djurdjevic (pencils & inks), Danny Miki & Allen Martinez (inks), Christina Strain (colors), and Joe  Sabino (letters)

The Story: Bill’s final fate is determined while Sif and the Warriors Three battle the doombots.

What’s Good: If you approach this book as just another 22-page issue of JMS’ run on Thor, it really is pretty solid and is consistent with the series’ quality as of late, at least as far as the writing is concerned.  It’s also got a couple of moments that’ll have you saying “hell yeah.”

Chief among these scenes is one involving a very angry and very naked Volstagg that is a perfect combination of comedy and pure awesome.  It is, of course, that same combination that defines the character himself.  The sequence is outrageously badass, but maintains Volstagg’s characteristic charm.  Oh, and Hogun and Fandral are absolutely on fire this month with the fat jokes.

Most readers are probably coming to this issue most concerned about the fate of Bill.  At first, it’s hard not to be a little disappointed.  That said, if you expected him to scream “I HAVE THE POWER,” turn into a god, and battle Doom, you’ll be sorely disappointed, but really, such an ending would be just a little stupid.

Instead, Bill’s ending is the best he can manage by just being Bill, and so Straczynski maintains the integrity of the character and his sub-plot.  Make no mistake, he is a hero and, ultimately, he is accepted as an Asgardian, but he does so without abandoning his humble roots or acquiring superhuman powers.  Bill’s tale has always been about being a mortal, a little guy in a world suddenly populated by the very large.  Bill’s fate is only so poignant because JMS retains this theme; Bill remains that little guy, but even so, he manages become a hero among the biggest of the bigs.

Meanwhile, JMS leaves us hanging regarding Kelda.  I think we all suspected she was more powerful than she let on, and now we’re going to see that in action.

What’s Not So Good: It’s hard not to be a little underwhelmed by this issue.  JMS’ run has had such an epic quality, that it’s hard not to expect his final issue to be grander.  What we get isn’t really any sort of massive flourish or cataclysmic ending.  Rather, we just get another solid JMS issue that simply lives up to the quality of his previous issues, no more and no less.   This final issue really has no feeling of closure and though the cover may say “finale,” that’s not what we’ve gotten.  That said, the issue also didn’t contain the sort of “hot potato” landmark shift in status quo that writers often leave off their runs with.  Ultimately, this feels like the last issue of a story arc, but certainly not the last issue of a run.

Finally, this may be the worst looking issue of Thor that Djurdjevic has drawn.  While the art is by no means unbearable, it’s weak by the standards Djurdjevic and Coipel have set for the series.  It reeks of an artist desperately trying to make a deadline.  The level of detail continually falters, with many of the more zoomed out shots and smaller panels suffering a great deal.  There are also a few panels where Donald Blake looks like a substantially younger version of himself.  Having three different inkers on the book also certainly didn’t help, making the book feel even messier with its details even more in question.  It makes the book feel sloppy, chaotic even.

Conclusion: It’s a strong issue of Thor, but it’s not the “finale” it claims itself to be.

Grade: B

-Alex Evans