CREDIT: Marvel
Rating: 4/5 – The New Goddess of Thunder Finally Debuts.
by ComicSpectrum reviewer Adam Alamo.
For months, Marvel and current Thor writer Jason Aaron have been promising a change in the status quo of everyone’s favorite hammer wielding God (read: a new female Thor). They have teased the reader with promotional images and interviews, but have offered little in the way of actual information about who she is and how she came to lift Mjölnir. Two issues in, we still do not get many answers to these questions, but the teasing of her debut is finally over. There’s no more buildup. There’s no more hype. The new Goddess of Thunder is no longer confined to a couple of panels at the end of the book (which is what we got in #1). In issue #2, we finally get to see the new Thor in all her glory as she rips into action (and a horde of Frost Giants that get in her way) in what essentially is a brawlfest.
That’s not to say that Aaron didn’t introduce us to the new Thor in a substantive way, only that he did it within boatloads of butt-kicking action. As Mjölnir leads the way into the story now in progress, Aaron kicks it old school with thought bubbles to let us in on Thor’s inner monologue. While at first I thought this was corny, I ultimately thought Aaron used it effectively to highlight that underneath her new personality, we have (I suspect) a normal person. In many ways, it reminded me of when another mortal, Eric Masterson, held the very same role. It also emphasizes that the mantle of Thor is a force in and of itself that guides not only her hand in combat, but also all that old English that comes out of her mouth. I think we too easily forget that Thor is not simply a person, but a power granted to the one worthy enough to wield the hammer. The art and action sequences by Russell Dauterman further bring this new Thor into her own, if only by simply being so different from the art of the previous volume. The lines are clean and detailed, which gives the book an overall fresh new feeling, and Dauterman’s use of onomatopoeia is truly unique as he incorporates it into the art. I had trouble making out a few panels, but I think it had more to do with all the shattering white ice than the style.
Jason Aaron could have easily written an issue laden with exposition that revealed the new Thor’s identity and took us through the paces as she discovered her new powers. Thankfully, he chooses to move the story forward with a 20-page action sequence that instead sees our new heroine smash her way onto the scene. It’s refreshing to let the action guide the story after a lot of heavy set-up. Wile we yet do not know much about who specifically this new Thor is, this issue definitely got me excited to learn more.
Reviewed by: Adam Alamo
(adam@comicspectrum.com)
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