Review of Thor: Goddess of Thunder

Permit me for a moment to rant and complain about Marvel turning Thor into a girl. It’s what old men do. Lately I’ve also turned more toward whittling, listening to angry talk radio shows, and slowly decaying, but in the time I have left on this earth, I want to express about what I see is a growing problem within the comic industry.

Here’s my complaint about Marvel making Thor into a girl: THEY DON’T DO ENOUGH COMIC STORIES LIKE THIS. Really. It’s too darned hard to get a good comic story like Thor: Goddess of Thunder nowadays!

Back in my day of yesteryear, great stories like Thor: Goddess of Thunder weren’t cut short by crossovers, company-wide events, and frequent relaunches, by gosh, by golly!!!

But rather than rant any further about how more comics like Thor: Goddess of Thunder should exist, let’s talk about the one that does exist, as it is excellent.

Review of Thor: Goddess of Thunder

Thor: Goddess of Thunder was written by Jason Aaron and illustrated by Jorge Molina and Russell Dauterman. Aaron had been writing Thor for a while, but during the Original Sin event comic (See! These kids and their pesky events all the time!) a secret was whispered to Thor. The secret made him unable to lift Mjolnir, his enchanted hammer! So the hammer rested on the surface of the moon, unable to be lifted by anyone, including Odin, its creator.

This rebooted Aaron’s run on Thor, which was relaunched as Thor: Goddess of Thunder when a woman lifted Mjolnir, thereby being shown as worthy to receive the power of Thor.

It ran only 8 issues (plus an annual) but those 8 issues told one of the best comic stories I have read in years. I’ll bullet point the highlights:

It feels really old school. All the classic Thor villains–including dark elves and frost giants–are there, straight from the beginning. All the classic Norse window dressing makes this little run feel as if it fits perfectly within the decades of Thor comics, including the best of the Walter Simonsson run.
It feels decidedly modern and fresh. In addition to Thor characters from yesteryear, there are some new characters and references as well. Plus, old characters are used in really fresh and interesting ways.
It is action-packed. And loaded with fun cameos, including a fun splash page gallery in the back half, coming right before Thor battled a classic foe.
The new Thor is wonderfully done. Throughout the series there are thought bubbles where she wrestles with her worthiness, and they are very well done. Further, her interactions with the classic Thor–and his exasperation in not knowing her identity–is fantastic. And I’ll let the art speak for itself when it comes to her look.
The reveal was superb. I was as clueless as Thor was it came to her identity, and I wasn’t disappointed at the end of issue 8 when we finally learned who was worthy of the name of Thor. It was a well done moment.

I highly recommend Thor: Goddess of Thor to any long-time Thor fan or even someone completely new to the character. It has humor and great character moments that make it readily accessible for someone new to Thor. And it also has recognizable beats that will please long time Thor fans.

Unfortunately, another comic event (Marvel’s Secret Wars) ended the run at issue 8, right after the identity reveal. This resulted in the comic being shifted into Thors in order to keep with the Secret Wars event, but that one didn’t character moments of Thor: Goddess of Thunder.

My complaint about Thor: Goddess of Thunder is that they simply don’t make enough comics like this. It’s a well told story and I admit to having a case of the feels several times throughout the series, proving that I’m not made of stone, and that I instead am made of meat and bones and Breugger’s Bagels.

That said, the action and the villains engaged as well. Overall, it is a great comic with great characters and a great story.

So instead of me continuing to lavish praise upon it, I’m simply going to close by encouraging you to get it. You’ll be glad you did. You can get Volume 1 (Issues 1-5) here, and Volume 2 collects issues 5-8 plus the annual.

Thor