Jason Aaron has practically revolutionised Thor as a character for Marvel NOW! with the ‘God Butcher’ and ‘Godbomb’ story arcs. Now, he teams with Ron Garney to tell the tale of Malekith The Accursed’s escape and rampage across the Nine Realms. Can they keep up with the quality of the opening arcs?
Written by Jason Aaron
Illustrated by Ron Garney
Beginning a new arc featuring the bloody return of one of Thor’s greatest enemies: Malekith the Accursed!
Once the former lord of the Dark Elves is freed from his otherworldly prison, the chase is on across the Nine Realms to capture him and end his vengeful reign of terror!
One of the things that characterised Jason Aaron’s first two story arcs on “Thor: God Of Thunder” was his ability to create a narrative that really captured the notion of Thor’s Godhood. He was able to create a narrative the felt truly epic, in the classic sense of the word, that set itself apart from the superhero tales Thor is used to. Even from the first page of this issue, which starts a new story arc that seems decidedly more streamline than the first two, it’s clear that that feeling of an epic narrative hasn’t been lost. It’s also made clear that the focus of this story arc is much wider than just simply exploring Thor as a character as it looks set to explore the world he lives in. Jason Aaron is able to, on the very first page of this comic, give the reader a brief history of the Nine Realms in eight small paragraphs that brings everyone entering the book up to speed about the tone of the issue. It’s just a nice little touch that reminds everyone just how good a writer Jason Aaron is and why he was such a great fit for Thor in the first place.
The trick to starting a new story arc seems to be in deciding what is necessary to address from the last arcs and what is necessary to address in setting up this one. Aaron seems to have foregone that problem by treating setting up this story arc as an entirely new jumping on point for readers. This works largely because it now feels like the twelve issues before this point comprise of one, epic ‘God Butcher’ saga. Instead of continuing threads of that here, Aaron opts to let that story stand on it’s own focus on setting up Thor as he exists now in Asgardia. After setting up how powerful and influential Thor is as a God in the twelve issues, we’re now seeing an exploration of Thor as a man as we see him drink and celebrate with his friends. It’s a small moment and obviously doesn’t have the weight of something like seeing three different time-hopping Thors interact, but as the set-up for a new story arc it most definitely works. It seems like this arc has been designed to capture those excited for Thor’s upcoming film, but it’s constructed in such a way that any fears of a soulless cash-in are unfounded. Aaron’s storytelling is as strong as ever here.
If there is one problem with the book, though, it’s the art. However, it’s not a problem with Ron Garney’s artwork, it’s a problem with the colouring. Garney’s art should feel as epic as Aaron’s writing and, underneath it all, there are glimpses of that in the opening scene dealing with Malekith’s escape. The problem is that the colouring simply does not work with Garney’s pencils. The colouring falls flat and lacks any of kind of definition over the pencils, leaving the artwork feeling rushed and sometimes unfinished. Garney’s pencils needed much more shadow and much higher definition than the colourist, Ive Svorcina, gave them and that brings the entire book down. It’s heartbreaking to see a page where you know a panel is supposed to be a highlight of an epic issue that just falls flat because of art that seems unfinished. Especially considering Ron Garney and Jason Aaron’s past collaborations together on “Wolverine”. That’s what the art on this issue should feel like and, sadly, it just doesn’t.
Continued belowHowever, that doesn’t stop this issue from re-introducing a villain that’s already giving Gorr a run for his money: Malekith The Accursed. This was the main reason it seems people were worried that this arc was simply just cashing in on the hype for the upcoming film as Malekith is the main villain in that, too. However, as stated before, that simply isn’t the case as Aaron still manages to brings his A-game here to craft a villain that strikes fear even from his first reveal. While he only has two relatively small appearances in the issue, it’s enough to crave more and, thankfully, we’re getting just that.
After creating the saga that could very easily best all Thor stories to come, Jason Aaron has proved here that he’s not willing to just sit down and phone it in the rest of the way. Even his attempt at creating a new reader friendly opening to a story arc feels epic and true God-like storytelling of the previous arc. While it is let down by artwork that was let down by poor colouring, it’s still strong enough to stand head and shoulders over a lot of other stories out there. Now, this is how you do a villain story and make him terrifying.
Final Verdict: 7.8 – There’s no reason at all to be getting off this train.
