The Mighty Thor #14 – Review

by Matt Fraction (writer), Pepe Larraz (art), Frank D’Armata (colors), and Joe Sabino (letters)

The Story:  Thor finds himself trapped in his own nightmare, while Enchantress takes more pounds of flesh from Donald Blake than he expected.

The Review:  It’s always an annoying situation when you get issues like this that are divided into two separate plots, with one of the plots being much more interesting than the other.

Don’t get me wrong, the other plot (Thor stuck in a “collective dream”) isn’t at all bad.  However, it’s not especially remarkable either.  The idea of Thor ordering no one to think of anything was humorous and, certainly, the setting has loads of potential, where things are constantly changing and unpredictable and determined by no one’s person psyche.  We’ve seen plenty of stories with characters lost in their dreams, but the idea of a “collective dream,” an amalgamation of the psychology of several dreamers’ dreams, all of whom are lost in the same location, is fresh and promising.  It also leads to a great moment; the dwarfs worst nightmare, as pre-eminent builders, was a great touch by Fraction.  That said, the Mares still don’t quite make sense to me.  So…they kill you just to send you to a their dreamworld, which is of your making?  Or do you just get sent to dreamworld if they render you unconscious?  And what’s the purpose of this, given that it seems like an awfully roundabout way of dealing with your enemies?  Some of the details are a bit befuddling if you spend to much time thinking about them, which has been something that has plagued Fraction’s run on Thor.

The problem is, however, that the other story involving Blake and Amora is much better.  It feels smarter, more brooding and psychological.  Fraction’s Enchantress oozes malevolence and is great to read while Blake seems just a little unhinged, just enough that it’s compelling, without ever going over the top.  Admittedly, there are similarities to Jason Aaron’s recent arc on Incredible Hulk, but this is a much more ominous, tighter narrative, without Aaron’s excesses.  Blake and Amora have a strong dynamic, with Enchantress being a great black hat, and Blake being nutty enough to be ominous while still being sympathetic.

Thor #617 – Review

by Matt Fraction (writer), Pasqual Ferry (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and John Workman (letters)

The Story: Thor awakens the resurrected Loki and Dr. Eric Solvang finally finds someone to listen to him as Uthana Thoth continues to expand his dominion.

What’s Good: In all honesty, if you’ve liked Matt Fraction’s first two issues of Thor, you’re going to like this one for pretty much all of the same reasons as the quality remains utterly consistent.  It’s still the epic, quirky mix of fantasy and old school sci-fi that’s had me raving over the last couple of months.

Beyond that though, this issue introduces an elephant into the room: a resurrected Loki.  I’ll admit, while I was curious, I was also a bit miffed; Loki’s death was a big event at the end of Siege and was examined nicely by Kieron Gillen, and he’s already being brought back from the dead?  It seemed hasty.

Well, I was wrong to doubt Matt Fraction, as this is far from simply bringing Loki back.  The Loki Fraction introduces is essentially a new character to the series.  I won’t spoil the surprise, but what Fraction does here is utterly ingenious, essentially making an old character completely new and fresh both in personality and what he stands for.  There’s huge potential here.  Furthermore, Loki’s human alter-ego, a child street hustler in Paris, is an absolute delight to read in all his carnie goodness.

I also was surprised by how well Tony Stark functioned in this book.  It’s a character Fraction knows very well, but one that also works very well as a middle-man between the quantum cosmologist Eric Solvang and the Asgardians.  He’s basically a big name Marvel Universe figure who serves as a bridge between these two very disparate genres who both occupy that same universe.  It’s well-done by Fraction.

Art-wise, Pasqual Ferry and Matt Hollingsworth deliver another knockout, even in an issue that’s a bit more restrained, focusing more on everyday environments.  The work is still brimming with character, both comic booky and incredibly polished.  Art-wise, there’s nothing not to like here and I really loved Ferry’s goblins, who made the last page funnier than it should have been.