As Jason Aaron’s “Thor” epic draws to a close I find myself wanting to deeper explore the character. Having read Walt Simonson’s seminal run, I wanted to know more about the Norse Thunder god’s comics publishing history. As I was looking through the bookshelves at my LCS I found J. Michael Straczynski’s run and decided to give it a go. So with that said, welcome to my summer comics binge! I’ll be covering Straczynski’s “Thor” run beginning with “Fantastic Four” #536-537, a prelude to his actual story, taking place after Marvel’s “Civil War.”
“Fantastic Four” #536-537"Fantastic Four" #536 Cover
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Penciled by Mike McKone
Inked by Andy Lanning, Kev Walker, Cam Smith, Kris Justice
Colored by Paul Mounts
Lettered by VC’s Rus Wooton
As with many Thor stories, “Fantastic Four” #536 begins with a hammer. Mjolnir crashes to the Earth, specifically Oklahoma. It’s quite similar to the scene in the Thor movie. Before Thor made his triumphant return to Marvel Comics, he was cloned and used as a weapon in “Civil War.” That will be dealt with later down the line, but before all that Straczynski could fully bring Thor back into the fold, he needed to ease the God of Thunder back into the comics and what better way to do that than with Marvel’s first family?
It’s actually quite odd, placing this new beginning in a different book. I’m sure once the actual story gets started, things will look better, but I don’t understand the point of beginning Thor’s new adventures in a “Fantastic Four” comic. Why not just launch the book? I guess things had to be set into motion so that “Civil War” could happen, and Thor could make his proper resurgence in Marvel comics, but it’s an odd choice.
As a stand alone Fantastic Four story, it’s not terrible. It has high stakes, plenty of action and lot’s of Dr. Doom, which is okay with me. The only thing representing Thor is his hammer, again something integral to his character, but nonetheless, still puzzles me as to why it’s included in this particular omnibus.
So Mjolnir crashes to Earth, quite similarly to the 2011 movie, except in Oklahoma instead of New Mexico. Six months later the crash site is under government observation, again similarly to the movie (It’s quite easy to see where the MCU drew inspiration from during the early stages). In New York we see early glimpses of “Civil War,” Tony Stark meeting with officials in Washington D.C. and Reed Richards moral dilemma about the whole situation. Then a distress call comes in for the team, as the crash site is overrun by Doombots. With their master left for dead and rotting in hell what’s the worst that could happen?
Only Doom is no longer in hell. I’d argue this is more important to the Fantastic Four comics than it ever was important to the Thor comics as it shows the return of their nemesis. As I’ve said, the only thing tying these comics to Thor is Mjolnir, and I’m again perplexed as to why this is included in the collection.
Doom’s escape from hell is pretty fun conceptually and I like that his lust for power is ever present as he tries to wield the Thunder god’s hammer. It reminded me of Jason Aaron and Christian Ward’s King Thor story where King Thor fights an overpowered Dr. Doom. It seems Doom and Thor’s fates are always intertwined.
While the placement of this story will continue to confound me, I don’t dislike it. It’s actually quite good. As a Fantastic Four story. The art is pretty decent, Mike McKone turning in some good pencil work. I was surprised to see four inkers on these two issues. I didn’t really notice it though. And while the art is completely fine, I have no complaints, nor would call this the best art I’ve seen, it’s not the main event. It’s not whose name is next to Stracsynski’s. No we’re all here for Oliver Copiel’s art, his Thor design which would inspire the movie’s look as well. It’s something of a let down not to see Copiel’s art beginning this story.
Overall, as a Fantastic Four story, these two issues provide sufficient entertainment for one to peruse. Again, and I know I must sound like a broken record by this point, I just don’t see why it was nessecary to include this as a prologue to the story to follow. Even if we get a glimpse of Don Blake at the end ,foreshadowing what’s to come, this omnibus could have done without the two Fantastic Four issues and goes down a couple notches in my book for it.
Be sure to come back next week as J. Michael Straczynski’s “Thor” story truly kicks off and the fun actually begins. As for now, reading this first bit, felt like something of a chore. Some housekeeping before the dinner party.
