Review: Thor #16

STORY

So with this issue of Thor Jason Aaron’s run finally comes to an end. For me its been a bumpy ride with plenty of highs and a whole lot of lows along the way as well and looking back as I read this issue I can see who Aaron was setting things up for this conclusion from very early one.

The War of the Realms has ended, Odin has stepped down and Thor is the new All Father. In character for Thor though he is of doing what he always does regardless of the wishes of Odin, he is off being a hero instead of attending his own coronation. In a rare move this issue presents Thor being a more subtle hero kind that the monster beater we are used too. He’s off rebuilding churches, feeding the poor, delivering organs, he’s kinda well Superman to be honest. This sort of thing is really more his bag than Thor’s but it does show a different sort of man he will be as king given everything he has been through in the past few years. Now we have seen King Thor a few times before and this one is of to a decidedly different start but not an entirely unwelcome one. There is goning to be a lot for future writers to build of from the bones of Aaron’s run for sure. I just hope they mine more of the interesting stuff that the ideologically contrived.

As interesting as seeing Thor journeying from realm to realm, making his presence felt as the new ruler and defender of all are the characters in and around Asgard as they discuss the aftermath of the war or Thor himself. Aaron has shaken up some of the long established status quo by having a unified realms including a new Congress of Worlds with the Black Panther as the senator representative of Earth. With Volstagg a senator as well we are introduced to the Ministers (of Justice) Three, replacing the Warriors Three with Hildegarde standing with Hogun and Fandral instead of Volstagg. We also see the League of Realms, warriors from across the nine worlds who act as a police or strike force to put down trouble before it gets out of hand, with Balder the Brave a prominent member. There are some nice character moments with several members of Thor’s cast including Old King Thor and Young Thor, Loki, Thori, Beta Ray Bill and even Throg gets a bit of dialogue but Odin himself has the most touching moment as a father looking over his legacy in terms of his son.

Sadly, I personally can’t say its all good. Setting up Odin as if he is experiencing elderly dementia or Alzheimer“s just strikes me as rather wrong. While the Asgardians are not in the same way as Olympian’s this still doesn’t fit into the long established lore for these gods, and honestly Aaron has never respected any of that lore. He retcons’ things at will with no regard for continuity, history or consequence and its one of the things that ended up driving me away from the title. Mind you Thor is my second favorite Marvel hero right after Spider-Man so I don’t offer this lightly. There are a (thankfully) few ideological pushes in the background and for the love of God Marvel, just stop with the F’ing selfies! Seeing Asgardian gods taking selfies nearly made me stop reading the book.

ART

The art is a bit of a mixed bag for me. Del Mundo is clearly talented with a nicely painterly rendered style. Layouts are nice with good flow, he’s good with using color to define mood and I was tickled to see many characters in the backgrounds from throughout Thor’s long history. Unfortunately this art seems more suited to a children’s book than a major comic hero. The pastel color palette and over abundance of airbrush just gives a book depicting a Viking god of thunder a rather unwelcome softness. On top of that Odin’s height is inconsistent but ALWAYS far shorter than he is typically depicted, likely to depict his increasing weakness.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Its not great but its also not bad and has some interesting moments that can be built upon. 3 out of 5!

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THOR #16
Writer:Â Jason Aaron
Art:Â Mike Del Mundo