Advanced Review: Thor, God of Thunder #2

 

Jason Aaron is certainly turning some heads at my LCS with his handling of a very mature iteration of Thor, God of Thunder. And the second issue just continues that three-way tribute to “Tales of Asgard,” the Kirby Kosmic Thor, and the God of Legend in a world he never made (Elder Thor/Almost Odin).

In #2, the emphasis is on young Thor and the Thunder God’s first meeting with the God Butcher, and quite a dramatic meeting it is. Expecting to face the gods of another pantheon on a quest, Thor and the humans who still follow him find instead the God Butcher, who has just offed a fellow immortal and the skies are dripping in his blood.

If you think this book is exciting by those two paragraphs alone, thou hast not seen anything yet-eth!

Even as the story unfolds, at ironic moments we see present Thor seeking the butcher of the “World Without Gods” while during combat we see Old Thor and his final stand in Asgard. Aaron does not even allow for labeling of these transitions of story telling, so this book is depending on the reader to be as sharp as its writer.

And of course I cannot say enough about the painting styles of Esad Ribic (until now, sadly, a talent unknown to me but not any more) and the colorings of Ive Svorcina (sounds like he belongs on Thor’s Norse ship, eh?). Let me say it is neither Kirby nor Buscema, but in the same sentence let me add that the King and Big John would certainly appreciate, I think, the legendary tact these artists are taking. And it is especially effective when we are following the young Thor as one scene seamlessly blends into the next, and the art captures Aaron’s moods so well. Kudos to all on this achievement.

When Aaron first announced this “Tale of Three Thors,” I was not really on the bandwagon. But after just two issues, I am not only on the bandwagon but driving it as chief cheerleader.

Thor, God of Thunder, is a book for our times.