Mighty Thor #2 – Review

by Matt Fraction (writer), Olivier Coipel (penciller), Mark Morales (inker), Laura Martin (colorist), and Joe Sabino (letterer)

The Story: Thor and Sif begin training a new team of heroes, Odin may be up to no good, and the Silver Surfer brings Asgard an ultimatum from his purple-hatted master.

The Review: Now that’s more like it. I was one of the, apparently, few people who enjoyed Fraction’s arc on Thor.  That said, there was something vaguely underwhelming for me about the first issue of Mighty Thor, something I wasn’t quite able to put my finger on.  This time out though, I got a rock solid experience.

As I noted last month, I continue to enjoy Matt Fraction’s use of Sif.  She’s the major cast member she’s supposed to be and, as Thor’s significant other, she’s frequently in the thunder god’s company.  Between this, the new “brigade of realms” Thor forms out of a motley group from the various worlds, a brief but humorous Volstagg cameo, and a tense scene of dialogue between Odin and Heimdall (plus Destroyer!), this is becoming more than just a Thor comic.  It’s becoming almost a “Thor family” title, or an Asgard comic.  Thor is a major member of the cast, but he by no means carries this comic.  The result is a very satisfying package that feels like it has more meat on its bones.  It’s one thing to have a comic where you get to read Thor, and it’s another thing entirely to have a comic that lets you read Thor’s world, or at least his corner of the Marvel Universe.  Character-wise, Fraction is doing a solid job of using almost all of the tools at his disposal.

But hey, I’ve not even touched upon the Surfer/Galactus stuff.  I love Fraction’s bringing the old school sci-fi/cosmic stuff into what is otherwise a fantasy comic.  It ends up feeling like a jam session of sorts.  More than that though, after dealing with monsters and, earlier in the issue, a “stone colossus,” there’s something very cool about having the Asgardians facing down someone like the Silver Surfer.  They’re facing something so far out of their world, that it’s out of their genre.  When Heimdall says that the Surfer comes from “beyond” or calls him a “star-bastard,” it’s just really, really cool.  It’s akin to, say, a group of Predators showing up in the Hyborian Age to challenge Conan the Barbarian.  It shouldn’t work, and yet it does, and it’s awesome due to the weirdness.

Thor: God-Size Special #1 – Review

By Matt Fraction (writer) Doug Braithwaite (art) Dan Brereton (art) Mike Allred (art) Andy Troy (color) Laura Allred (color) Frank D’armata (Color)

The Story: After realizing that their collective memories of their former compatriot Skurge the Executioner have been manipulated, Thor, Balder and Loki travel the nine worlds to uncover who or what is behind this treachery. After a run in with Hela, the Mistress of the Dead, and battles with a horde of dark elves and a grumpy storm giant, the team finally learns who’s behind their maligned memories. But they quickly realize that not just their memories are at stake, but rather the fate of all creation.

What’s Good: Well, I’ve been sitting here for a few minutes thinking and flipping through this comic to recall or find something that I thought was good and nothing is really surfacing. The beginning and the end of this comic that deals with the fate of Skurge are the best parts of this read. Matt Fraction does a good job of painting him as a tragic hero. But this is only about eight pages of this oversize issue, which brings me to….

What’s Not So Good: This one-shot suffers from relying on strong characterization, rather than an actual good story when the former relies on the latter. The retelling of Asgardian family dynamics while Thor and his siblings  fight enemies that seem to come from nowhere and have no connection to the task at hand is tedious and boring. Fraction’s characterizations come off as pretentious and drain any sense of adventure that might arise in this story.

The idea of bringing in different artists to tell different parts of this story is novel, but doesn’t really bring anything to the over all tale. Sure, there are some pretty panels, but not pretty enough to save this comic.

Concussion: I’ve enjoyed all of Fraction’s Thor one-shots save this one. There’s too much back story and retelling of Asgardian personalities and not enough action and adventure. In the previous one-shots we were shown something novel about Thor’s persona, like his rebelliousness for example. But here we’re just treated to Thor the cliche, rendered by different artists.  Pass on this one.

Grade: D+

-Rob G.