Thor: God of Thunder #17 – Review

by Jason Aaron (Writer), Ron Garney, Emanuela Lupacchino (Artists), Ive Svorcina (Colorist)

The Story: Thor brings the pain to Malekith as the final fate of the league of realms and the dark elf criminal is revealed.

The Review: Not all titles are winners. There will always be an arc, a character or a certain addition to the story that readers will dislike or certainly not appreciate as much as the rest. Quality is not something consistent in most titles after all, nor is personal appreciation. We may love something, but there must be highs and lows in order for the better elements to be easier to perceive.

It is then, to my surprise, rather nice to see that while this arc might have begun in the most obvious of ways, with Malekith being presented just in the time for the movie, there was an actual direction to the story. While the general progression to this point had some good and bad parts, Jason Aaron does show that he can actually do something with some less-desirable elements in the book.

The first thing that Aaron manages to do is actually surprise readers, throwing twists after twists in this issue alone, providing for a great number of satisfactory scenes for those who had no idea of the actual direction the story could go for. With the story being rather straightforward before, the writer makes for a nice use of what had been set up earlier to provide for something rather inventive and expansive for the nine realms and its future in the Marvel universe.

Thor: God of Thunder #16 – Review

by Jason Aaron (Writer), Ron Garney, Emanuela Lupacchino (Artists), Ive Svorcina (Colorist)

The Story: There is a traitor in the league of realms. Who could it be?

The Review: I am currently less than impressed by the current storyline in the book. While it is obvious that Jason Aaron is doing the best he can with some elements that aren’t nearly as good as those he introduced in his first mega-arc, this one still seems to be a manner to properly introduce Malekith to a new readership because of a very specific release a month ago. From the beginning of this story, a lot of the best elements were simply thrown to the side in order to tell a story about a serial-killing dark elf, with Thor now sharing the spotlight with other characters.

However, despite my initial negative overview of this whole thing, I do have to admit that this issue did provide plenty of better elements to the story. With some inner conflicts in the league of realms, the return of how mythology is presented in the Marvel universe alongside a good dose of humor, this issue does raise the bar in terms of quality and enjoyment.

The first thing that Jason Aaron does right is in how he portrays the failings of the league of realms, which was a nice idea, yet poorly executed. Showing just how the group could not really work due to some distrusts and to how politics can influence things in the nine realms, the group disband here due to not only the fact that they aren’t very effective together, but also due to an error from the god of thunder himself. This results in something more beside the cyclical and constant chase for Malekith that the group did in the previous issues, which is a change that is most welcome.

Thor: God of Thunder #14 – Review

Jason Aaron (Writer), Ron Garney (Artist), Ive Svorcina (Colorist)

The Story: The league of realms is formed as they try to hunt down Malekith before he does too much damage to the nine realms.

The Review: New ideas are dangerous. It’s not a particularly pleasant thing to say, but capes comics aren’t always known for their originality as they rely a lot of times on certain tropes to thrive in the market. Nostalgia sells, so it’s usual to see things that are familiar, yet not blatantly so that it becomes tedious or unoriginal. A book with familiar characters or with a title that is already a proven seller will always have a better chance at growing rather than an entirely original book with newer characters. It’s not exactly the market as it is now, but it could be described pretty closely as such.

It is why I am both glad and a bit disappointed to see Jason Aaron trying to play with many elements of the Thor mythology from the Marvel universe. There is a sense of fun and exploration to what the nine realms are with some of the concepts brought forward by the writer, with the league of realms, the fact that there is a council of realms and so forth. The willingness of Aaron to mess around and to introduce some new elements to Thor’s mythology speak well for him as a writer.

Unfortunately, it would be better if some of those elements worked a bit better, as there is perhaps an abundance of suspension of disbelief needed for some of the additions to truly shine. While the idea of a league of realms with a composition of denizens from multiple realms is an entertaining one, it is a bit baffling to see it go forward considering two facts. The first one is the simple truth that Thor, as a character, is known as the hero of the nine realms, which is not a self-proclaimed title but an actual one given to him, meaning that he is most probably trusted by a great many to be a person that can protect others. The other reason can be seen in the previous arc, as Thor had to deal with a god-killer through time and space. Simply put, Malekith doesn’t really seem like much of a challenge, or even one that can really compare to Gorr in terms of scope. He is more defined and can become an apt villain in terms of interest, yet he just doesn’t seem to be a foe as worthy as the previous one.

Thor: God of Thunder #13 – Review

by Jason Aaron (Writer), Ron Garney (Artist) Ive Svorcina (Colorist)

The Story: Malekith the Accursed comes out of his prison and cause some chaos.

The Review: Well, here we are again. Another story that is set to tie-in many elements from a movie for the new readers. While this does not necessarily means that the story including those elements will be bad, the more pessimistic readers might see this as an editorial obligation. The more optimistic ones might think that the writer can be skilled enough to incorporate those elements in his story without hurting the narrative flow and the themes. Between the two, who would be closest to the realities presented by this issue?

There’s a little bit of both here, as unlike the amazing last issue, most of the ideas revolving around the ideas of godhood in the Marvel universe are dropped in order to provide a story featuring Malekith the Accursed. It is a bit disappointing to see such a novel approach to the god of thunder being dropped in order to showcase a character that never was the greatest or most impressive foe in a line-up that include such antagonists as Loki, the Destroyer armor and the Enchantress.

Still, Jason Aaron makes for the most of it as he uses the nine realms and some of the ideas of including some of the actual Norse mythology from Walter Simonson in his tale. The scenes with the dark elves going to rescue Malekith from his prison in Niffleheim are well-paced, show plenty of action and delve into the mythology with enough depth as to bask the readers in the more fantastical angles of Thor’s corner of the Marvel universe.

Incredible Hercules #136 – Review

By Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente (writers), Reilly Brown (artist), Nelson DeCastro (inker), Guillem Mari & Ulises Areola (colorists)

The Story: As Queen Alfyse prepares to lead her kingdom to war against Asgard, the epic saga of Thorcules and Hercuthor ends the only way it can, with the bad boys of polytheism throwing down and giving each other the gift of battle!

The Good: This latest storyline is easily one of the finest crafted by Pak and Van Lente, and that’s high praise for a book that is telling consistently good stories month after month.  Part of what makes this comic, and this storyline in particular; so successful is that for the time being at least both Hercules and Thor have the benefit of being kept at a relatively safe distance from the mainstream Marvel universe.  Since neither character is currently mired in continuity they are both free to enjoy a certain degree of latitude, which the creative team takes full advantage of to great effect.  This issue sees the delightfully absurd premise of Hercules pretending to be Thor taken to its logical extreme as Thor does unto Herc what’s already been done to him.  Presumably this is done in order to somehow stem the tide of Queen Alfyse’s impending war, but we know the real reason is simply to give the guys a chance to beat on each other while wearing each other’s clothes, and oddly enough I am so okay with that.  The battle royal between Herc and Thor is as much a raucous comedy as it is an epic, glorious brawl, and you’ll find it hard not to chuckle as each champion resorts to a string of dirty tricks to best the other.  The best part is that you can still pick up this issue without having read the previous ones and still follow along just fine, and in my opinion that is one of the hallmarks of some great storytelling.  I would of course be remiss if I didn’t compliment Brown and the art team for brilliant rendering this tale of balderdash and bravura, as their efforts made every page a pleasure to take in and enjoy.

The Not So Good:  You’ll notice soon that the brawl between Hercules and Thor devolves into a series of progressively infantile jokes and will either find them to be thoroughly amusing or just a tad too juvenile and out of character.  You wouldn’t be wrong either way though, just be forewarned that this is not your typical superhero battle.  Then again, maybe that’s a good thing.

Conclusion:  Wow, what a damn good comic!  You can’t go wrong with picking up Incredible Hercules 136 this week.  Not to be missed!

Grade:  A

-Tony Rakittke