Tag: Loki

Best of Marvel: Week of January 1st, 2019

Best of this Week: Thor #1 – Donny Cates, Nic Klein, Matt Wilson and Joe Sabino

What a Thunderous way to begin the New Year! What better way to celebrate than with a glorious new #1 for the new King of Asgard helmed by the ever amazing Donny Cates, Nic Klein and Matt Wilson with awesome letters by Joe Sabino! This book hit so many good notes and lets me breathe knowing that one of Marvel’s most storied characters is continuing to be in good hands, especially after such an epic run by the awesome Jason Aaron.

The book begins with an amazing splash page of Mjolnir flying through space and then crossing into each of the Ten Realms as someone narrates Thor’s rise as the new King. It’s a beautiful sequence that alludes to the millennia of war between the realms, culminating in Malekith’s Invasion of them all very recently. Klein and Wilson treat the reader to a variety of landscapes from the bright pinks of Alfheim to the cold blues of Jotunheim. The pair do an amazing job characterizing these locales through visuals alone.

Of course, the reasoning behind the monologue and the throw itself is a show of force. Under Odin, the Realms fought each other as they pleased. Asgard was left in ruins because the All-Father was too stubborn to try and rally his people during Malekith’s Invasions. Under Thor, that would not be the case. As Mjolnir cracks through each Realm, without any of them hearing his words, they know to listen and fear him because of his power. This epic opening climaxes with Mjolnir crashing through the head of some monster the Avengers were fighting before Thor calls it back with a smirk from Asgard.

It is at this point that we finally see Thor, months after the War of the Realms. He is gruff, his hair and beard have grown out again and we learn through Tony Stark sharpie-ing a message on Mjolnir that Thor has retired. Sif the All-Seeing reiterates this as she informs the reader that Thor’s smiting days are over and that he must go and be King. 

This is…saddening in all honesty. Thor has spent many a lifetime fighting, drinking and avoiding his destiny for so long. He has always wanted to be king, but even as he walks down the Rainbow Bridge back to New Asgard, he looks as if there’s nothing but melancholy about him. The way that Klein frames this panel makes it seem as if there’s a wide divide between Thor and Asgard. The Realm flourishes now that life has been brought to it under Yggdrasil, but Thor is bored.

As he takes a seat on his new throne, we’re shown just how different he is to Odin. Instead of a shimmering palace, Odin’s hall is made of wood and stone because of the World tree with a rune etched just above his seat: Thurisaz, a symbol of defense and destruction (as the book describes) and perfectly fitting of the warrior king. He ushers his court out of his presence and sighs as he prepares to speak to his people and Loki appears from the shadows.

The brothers relationship here is far more confrontational than I would have expected. Granted, I didn’t read the Loki mini-series, so I don’t know if the Trickster did something to draw his brother’s ire. Thor is very terse with the King of Jotunheim and even throws Mjolnir in slight fury after Loki notes that Thor had to grunt when he lifted the hammer, something he’s never done before and a black portent for Thor’s future. Loki didn’t come out with any of his normal witticisms which was unexpected, but Cates does hint that there a potentially big things in store for the brothers through some narration.

Thor had been meant to speak to his people following the restoration of Asgard, but just as he’s about to regale his people of the new era of peace, his nervous butterflies turn to abject horror as a one armed Galactus crashes into Asgard, right on top of the Asgardians. Nic Klein and Matt Wilson spare no expense in making this one of the most epic double page spreads imaginable.

Galactus face of pain and sends a shiver down the spine as one wonders what could possibly have sent him crashing in the way that he did. The debris, people and smoke fly around the edges of the pages as Galactus’ impact and the snow that follows him creates a sense of unease. Klein makes sure that the reader can feel the weight of the crash and Sabino accentuates it with his EXCELLENT “KRAKOOOMM” sound effect. Wilson excellently blends Galactus varying purple tones to the fire just behind his head to create a sense of extreme heat. Klein creates a grand sense of scale as Thor appears miniscule to both Galactus and the incoming threat.

Not knowing what the hell had just occurred, Thor leaps a Galactus with every intention of sending him to Hel herself until the Eater of Worlds pleads with him to stop, warning him of something called “The Great Black Winter.” Part of said Winter had followed Galactus and caused the skies of Asgard to be cursed with rain and The World Tree began to turn black and die. Thor then calls previous Heralds of Galactus to see what is going on. At the table sits Firelord, Cosmic Ghost Rider and others until the Silver Surfer arrives, still black and intangible (See Silver Surfer: Black).

Thor is angry and demands answers which the Surfer is able to provide. We learn that The Great Black Winter was the event that destroyed the Universe before the one we know today and that the Surfer had hidden away powerful planets for Galactus to consume precisely for this occasion. Cates has done an amazing job in building a new lore and power scale for the Silver Surfer in particular as normally he’d have no secrets from his master.

As Thor dons his vestments of war, he thinks back to Sif and Loki’s words of his bygone days as a warrior. It’s a powerful set of panels as Thor seemed ready to enjoy his days of peaceful boredom. He grunts like an older man only snapping his cape on, but that doesn’t stop his kingly heart as when he approaches Galactus, he commands the World Eater to kneel to him. As The Surfer fills Galactus in on his plan, Galactus tells all about what lies in the void of the Great Black Winter; The form of ones own true death. Galactus reveals that he had gazed into it twice. First he saw the void because he couldn’t father the future things that he would see and next… he saw Thor.

The revelation comes as a shock to everyone as Galactus then blasts Thor with an immense amount of energy. Kein and Wilson make sure to shower the pages with bright light, intense lines and posing until revealing Thor: Herald of Thunder, similar to the cover of the book with Thurisaz as the new symbol of his chest. 

Donny Cates has a particular style when he writes. He scripts grand moments interlaced with shorter ones that build character. It worked when we got into the psyche of the Silver Surfer as he explored the primordial state of being and Thanos as he watched a future where he had killed all of life. Cates has an affinity for the cosmic characters and it shows as he’s taken the reigns of Thor and reminds us of why he and his lore have been able to capture our imaginations for so long. 

Thor has the ability to transverse the Ten Realms, the entire universe if he wishes, but even he suffers the melancholy of duty and boredom. He is a warrior at heart and he needs a great battle to fight in or he loses a part of himself that kept him motivated. With that in mind, Cates is looking to take Thor on a grand adventure in the stars with a buffed powerset that hopefully will expand on his greater strength in the Old King Thor future.

Nic Klein and Matt Wilson make all of this possible however with their amazing art. Klein is easily able to get into the groove of drawing these vast environments, amazingly dynamic poses and heavily expressive faces. Wilson brings it all to life with beautiful and vibrant colors that make you feel as though you’re in there, interacting with the characters. Without them, this wouldn’t feel as epic as it does.

This was a very explosive issue and I’m absolutely excited for the future of this series as I have been with all of Cates’ other work up to this point. It’s definitely a high recommend from me for a promising story and absolutely fantastic art!

Best of Marvel: Week of December 18th, 2019

Best of this Week: King Thor #4 – Jason Aaron, Esad Ribic, Ive Svorcina, Joe Sabino and a Cadre of Guest Artists and Colorists

Seven Years.

Seven years that Jason Aaron has been the primary writer of one of Marvel’s most popular heroes – redefining his history, character and just about everything we knew about the God of Thunder, Asgard and everything within the Norse plane of Marvel’s universe. It has had it’s ups and downs, but through it all, Jason Aaron and his various art teams have stuck things out to tell an amazing story that will be regarded as some of the most important and game changing material in Thor’s publication history.

This final issue of King Thor ends where it all egan, with Gorr the Godbutcher and his fight against the God of Thunder, both of them now at their most powerful. Immediately, the weight of the situation can be felt as Ribic gives us a beautiful double page splash of Thor smacking away debris as he approaches Gorr the Necroplanet. Ribic paints this scene with Gorr’s enormous eyes staring holes into Thor, accentuated by Ive Svorcina’s amazing purple glows as he looks on with anger. The entire scene is coated in the same hue with Thor furiously fighting his way to his much larger enemy.

Aaron writes captions calling Thor Ragnarok, giving him many nicknames – Thor the All-Butcher, the Annihilagod, The END-FATHER as his lightning reverberates across the cosmos, destroying everything in the way of him and Gorr. He notes how easy it is for Thor to destroy things and furthers the idea that’s plagued Thor for centuries; that Gorr was right the entire time. This simple truth has been hanging over Thor’s head since the end of the Original Sin (2014) event which saw Nick Fury whisper those very words into Thor’s ear, making the Odinson into the Unworthy Thor. At the end of Time, it still echoes in his mind.

Gorr, however, revels in his newfound necro powers. He has become death and welcomes the end of all things, especially the last of the Gods including Loki, Thor and the Granddaughters of Thunder. His mission has been one of destruction since his introduction way back in Thor: God of Thunder #2 (2013). He had systematically killed as many gods as he could before his supposed last confrontation with Thor in the Godbomb storyline. In the midst of this battle he nearly swallows Thor whole.

Gloriously, Loki rides into the fight on Toothgnasher, one of Thor’s trusty goats, and does his best to distract Gorr in his own way. Even though the God of Mischief is blinded by the darkness, he still has his tongue and taunts Gorr while Thor fights his way through the darkness. An Unseen narrator speaks about Thor’s own fights with depression over his worthiness. How he wished to one day be able to conquer his demons, but learned that it’s a constant battle that he would learn to live with and channel into his own Storm.

We get another double page spread with Thor’s lightning escaping the blackness of Planet Gorr, cracking dead planets in half as Loki looks on with laughter. Ribic and Svorcina work together seamlessly to make this entire battle seem epic. Thor’s centuries of Rage spring forth and in an excellently colored flash of blue, Thor destroys Gorr with his Storm. However…the cost of this action was immense as the Sun remains black and the edges of the universe are collapsing.

Before we reach the final conclusion, we get a short segment between the Lord Librarian and Shadrak, two characters from the God of Thunder run, as Lord Librarian chastises Shadrak for allowing a set of books to fall. However, upon seeing that they were a bunch of Thor stories, he tells Shadrak that some of the books are old stories and stories untold. We then get a montage from a bunch of Marvel artists of various possible stories for the God of Thunder and the final conclusions for present day character like Baldur, Jane Foster Valkyrie and Sif the All-Seeing.

Back to the far future, however, we learn that Loki thrust himself into the dead sun and began to speak into it, bringing the fires back to life with his many stories to tell. Unfortunately, the edges of the universe forever remain frayed, so Thor has one final thing to do. He whispers final words to Mjolnir, embraces his grand daughters with tears all around and boards a ship to stave off the collapse of the Universe with his Storm.

This was certainly the perfect way to end an awesome run with the character. Jason Aaron reinvigorated Thor even after great series by J. Michael Straczynski and Matt Fraction. Aaron pulled almost everything from his run back into the King Thor storyline and the War of the Realms event that preceded it. This book gave us a final ending for the Old God of Thunder that we’ve been waiting for since he was first glimpsed in the beginning of Aaron’s story.

As Always Ribic reminds us that he’s worth all of the money as his art stuns here as it always has when he’s worked on Thor. His lines are smooth, thick and he puts insane amounts of detail into characters and debris. Everything he draws has a sense of floatiness to it that would be detrimental to other artists, but he used it as an advantage to also display the weight of the situation and the Godly nature of the battle taking place. 

Ive Svorcina was the perfect colorist for this because his colors give this entire story an air of bleakness up until Thor’s final victory. His purples are hazy and his blues show the strength of the Thunder. When the time comes for Thor to fight off the darkness, he appears as a glorious shining beacon as the blue shines on him.

With Donny Cates run on Thor coming next year, he has big shoes to fill after seven years of pretty good story telling. Jason Aaron and his team knocked everything out of the park with this final issue of King Thor and I can’t wait to see what’s next for him as well as his continuing runs on Avengers and Conan the Barbarian. High recommend!