Thor: God of Thunder #12 (Marvel)

Rating: 4/5 – Humanizing the God of Thunder

After the epic conclusion to the God Butcher storyline that ran in Thor: God Of Thunder for the first eleven issues, issue twelve takes a break in the action.  The entirety of this issue focuses on Thor connecting and reconnecting with all different people on earth.  From a visit to a man on death row to his reconnection with his previous love Jane Foster, Thor the god takes a moment to make these connections as “human” as possible.  It’s an issue that sets out to humanize Thor from how we’ve seen him over this past year, a god doing battle across space and time.

Although this issue does include the three different Thors from previous issues, most of the scenes involve the Thor from the present day.  As mentioned above, Thor interacts with a lot of different people throughout this issue, but a few of those scenes really stand out.  When he visits Jane Foster, we learn that she now has breast cancer.  It’s a well written scene that shows just how powerless a god can be when faced with a situation like cancer.  Its a touching sequence not only for Thor, but for the reader as well.  Whether or not you have knowledge of Jane Foster from previous Thor stories, the scene is both heartwarming and sad at the same time.  Writer Jason Aaron does a great job of making Jane Foster seem just as strong as Thor as she battles cancer.

There’s also a couple scenes that involve Thor and his potential new love interest, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Rosalind Solomon.  These scenes lighten the mood of the book and again, shows the human side of Thor as he nervously and romantically tries to connect with a human that he starts to have feelings for. It will be interesting to see if Aaron explores this romance further in future issues.

Although previous artist Esad Ribic doesn’t handle the art duties, artist Nic Klein steps in and does a great job.  His style of art is a better fit for a story like this.  His art works in this issue and in no way comes off as a let down from previous issues.  There’s a lot to like within this story and it gives us a nice break before the next storyline starts up.  Although not all of the scenes are equally as strong in this issue, the overall theme of this issue is both powerful and touching.

Reviewed by: Shawn Hoklas – shawn@comicspectrum.com
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