It’s a great time for Thor right now. The character is coming off Thor: Ragnorak, easily the most well-loved of his solo films, and is currently part of one of the most anticipated films of the last few years (at least) in Avengers: Infinity War. So, it’s a little hard to imagine that just a few short years ago in 2010, Chris Hemsworth’s face wasn’t synonymous with the character and Marvel needed to make sure that audiences had an accessible comic to buy after seeing the first Thor film. This resulted in the short-lived “Thor: The Mighty Avenger,” an all-ages series by writer Roger Langridge, then up-and-coming artist, Chris Samnee (in his first major work for Marvel), and colorist Matthew Wilson.
Written by Roger Langridge
Illustrated by Chris Samnee
Colored by Matthew Wilson
Lettered by Rus WootonCollects Thor: Mighty Avenger #1-4. He’s banished, he’s mad, and he wants to FIGHT. THRILL as he battles robots the size of cities! GASP as he tames the mightiest sea creatures! SWOON as he rescues damsels from the vilest villains! It’s Thor as you’ve NEVER seen him!
“Thor: The Mighty Avenger” came out right before I got back into comics. I became aware of Samnee’s work once he took over “Daredevil” with Mark Waid and I didn’t know about this series until recently. With Thor having such a big presence in both film and comics right now and Samnee announcing his Marvel departure, I saw quite a few people mentioning this series with fondness. It seemed like a great time to fill this hole in my Thor reading.
In Volume 1 of “Thor: The Mighty Avenger,” Langridge and Samnee return to Thor’s first days on Midgard, in a series of standalone stories that retell his origins. The film influence is obvious as they start out very similarly, with Thor stranded on Earth without his legendary hammer, Mjolnir. The book quickly resolves that as Thor finds his trusty hammer, uses it to pound on a classic Thor villain, starts developing a relationship with Jane Foster, teams up with Ant-Man and The Wasp, and even gets in a bar brawl with Captain Britain. It’s a rare book that manages to tell a truly successful all-ages story. The pacing is quick with exceptional visual storytelling for younger audiences, while never dumbing down the story. It’s just a whole lot of fun, and you can tell that the creators were having a blast while making it.
Roger Langridge is a very economical storyteller, which makes sense since he’s an artist himself. You won’t find large caption boxes full of exposition, but Langridge still spends the time to develop Jane and Thor’s character on their own, as well as slowly develop their relationship together during this first volume. Langridge, along with Samnee, deftly show the progression from their initial attraction, to infatuation, to much stronger feelings by the end of this collection.
Langridge also quickly establishes minor characters, so we instantly get a feel for them. Within two panels of a phone conversation with Jane’s ex, their complicated relationship situation is quickly laid out. So, when her ex shows up later, his motivation for waiting around as long as he did during Thor’s bar fight is easily understood. Langridge does the same thing at the end of issue #2 with Jane’s boss at the museum. His self-centeredness is made obvious when he thinks giving Jane an extra 20 minutes for lunch is an adequate compensation for almost getting killed by Hyde. It also provides a good bit of context for when he fires Jane in the next issue, after blaming her for the security lapse that let Hyde into the museum.
Langridge has a good handle on how the banter between a group of good friends works, even in the Old English style dialect that the Norse gods use. When Thor responds to Hogun’s protest to driving in their drunken condition with, “My condition is most pleasing to me, thank you very much,” it felt like one of those beats in an MCU film that would have evoked the audience’s laughter.
Continued belowThe real star of the book though is Chris Samnee, even back then when he was just starting out. While Samnee’s style is a little sketchier than it is now, it’s still instantly recognizable. The first thing that stands out is the character acting. Samnee’s ability to perfectly communicate how a character is feeling is unmatched. This is evident even from the collection’s cover – Thor has a smirk that embodies the swagger and pride that he is so widely known for. Samnee also manages to show the infatuation of Jane Foster and Thor through just their smiles toward each other, as they first meet and develop their fledgling relationship.
It’s not just the little moments and facial expressions where Samnee excels. There are several splash pages throughout (mostly of Thor smashing someone or something) where Samnee is executing several things at once. A good example is in a scene from issue #2 where Thor has just smashed Hyde through a wall. Thor is definitely striking a pose, but he doesn’t appear stiff. His arm is drawn over-extended from swinging Mjolnir, and the dust from the crumbled structure provides a trail to see the hammer’s arc. Thor’s face is mid-yell and shows the effort he’s exerting. Hyde’s momentarily disfigured face is shown having just absorbed the hit from Thor, as he’s crashing through a pillar in the foreground and bits of debris are flying everywhere. This all contributes to the kineticism that Samnee imbues this single, still image with.
Admittedly, it’s a little hard to separate Samnee’s work from Matthew Wilson since they are long time collaborators. But just as it is now, Wilson’s color work really complements Samnee’s style. Wilson favors a flatter style of coloring, which is perfect for Samnee’s solid linework so that it doesn’t get over-rendered. The combination of the two reminds me of really good polished animation, like something out of Batman: The Animated Series or Justice League. Wilson excels in the moments where Thor is summoning lightning, lighting him in high-contrast as bolts pierce the background. There are also several scenes that take place at sunrise and sunset when it almost feels like the page is glowing.
After finishing this first volume, it’s a tragedy that this book got cancelled after only eight issues. I almost don’t want to continue since the first four issues are a satisfying chunk of story, and I don’t want to get to the end with dangling story threads. Still, I’m excited to have another modern Thor story to recommend now, along with the current Jason Aaron run. The biggest lasting impression that I have after finishing, is just being amazed at just how good Chris Samnee was, even starting out. Now, I’m even more excited to see what he tackles next.
