Reviews 

Review: The Mighty Thor #8

By | November 24th, 2011
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

Written by Matt Fraction
Illustrated by Pasqual Ferry

Who is Tanarus, and why is he the new God of Thunder?

Who is Tanarus and why is he the new God of Thunder indeed? Introduced earlier this month in Fear Itself 7.2, this issue marks the first adventure of one of the Marvel Universe’s more interesting new additions and it does a considerable (and unexpected) amount of curtain pulling as the new status quo for Marvel’s “main” Thor book is laid bare.

Click on down to find out just how questionable of a move that was.

I am fully willing to admit that when Matt Fraction took over the last volume of Thor from Kieron Gillen, I was not the book’s biggest fan. In fact I dropped it and went back no less than three times. Something about Fraction’s take on the character and his universe just rubbed me the wrong way, though I am now thinking that it may have been a case of growing pains getting misinterpreted by my sometimes sensitive comic book sensibilities. As Fraction guided the book into its relaunch and through Fear Itself and beyond, its clear that his grip on the Asgardian side of the the Marvel Universe solidified in a very tangible way and began to place his mark on the book much the way he did with The Invincible Iron Man.

Another thing I am okay admitting is that I also, by and large, enjoy comics that challenge me considerably more than comics than stick close to the mold. Particularly ones that play around with the concept of storytelling itself and bend the fourth wall to create tension simply by virtue of looking deeply at what it means to have these characters exist in a fictional realm. As of Fear Itself 7.2, it sure looked like The Mighty Thor would be going down a road like this. Having Tanarus appear mysteriously in Thor’s ashes as a reactive affect to the fact that God’s exist entirely because humans will them into existence (an idea pioneered by JMS during his run on the book and picked up much more explicitly by Fraction with this current story) was a stroke of genius and, to my blood, using storytelling itself as a method of havoc creation in this story really appealed to me as a fan of unconventional storytelling.

Unfortunately, while this issue still holds to some of those ideas, the initial depth and challenge I assumed would be coming from this story was quickly redefined as a more traditional comic book story with a conventional villain and conventional motivations that have very little to do with the redefinition of storytelling. In short, the fact that I could understand the story as clearly as I did was a major bummer. The legitimate challenge to dig deeper for understanding presented to me by the Fear Itself epilogue is all but gone now, and that impacts my view of the book more than I thought it would.

However, despite the story taking a more conventional shape, that does not mean it has taken a bad shape. Fraction’s new status quo for Asgard and the various supporting cast members that inhabit it’s general vicinity is the most unique approach we’ve seen to the characters in quite a bit. Reading this issue was the first time since the fall of Asgard in Marvel’s second to last money-maker Siege that I felt the rubble was being rebuilt, both literally and figuratively, in an interesting way. Plus, as always, Volstagg warmed the cockles of my heart in such a way that at least one commission of him will be requested at my next convention. So, despite not being the story I thought it’d be, I’m still engaged enough to keep reading.

This would be the point that I drop in a few lines of hyperbole about Ferry’s art being as tight and spectacularly defined as it always is. Unfortunately though, that is not the case as the art this issue was, at best, uneven. Sure there were points where the fluid, almost ethereally expressive design work we’ve come to expect from Ferry was in full swing, but there were also points of legitimately jarring deviation. Some of the characters just looked straight-up disjointed in places and the usually strong facial expression work Ferry has shown us in the past fell flat multiple times. Sure, even on an off day Ferry can wipe the floor with most artists working in comics today, but this was still an off day.

Overall, while I liked this issue and the book is continuing to build back to the level it maintained during my love affair with the JMS & Gillen runs (or my love affair with Journey Into Mystery for that matter), it fell flat in more than a few instances and has a bit of work to do to build back a few of the high points I had going into this issue.

Final Verdict: 8.0 – Buy(ish)


Joshua Mocle

Joshua Mocle is an educator, writer, audio spelunker and general enthusiast of things loud and fast. He is also a devout Canadian. He can often be found thinking about comics too much, pretending to know things about baseball and trying to convince the masses that pop-punk is still a legitimate genre. Stalk him out on twitter and thought grenade.

EMAIL | ARTICLES