|
THOR #80
"Ragnarok Part the First"
Mildly Recommended (5/10)
|
Marvel Comics
Writers: Michael Avon Oeming & Daniel Berman
Artist: Andrea DiVito
Colors: Laura Villari
Letters: Randy Gentile
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Price: $2.99 US/$4.25 CAN |
"Avengers Disassembled" begins, as have so many of these big crossover stories, in a title other than the main one it will affect. In this case, Thor, which is undergoing a pretty hard change of direction from the "Thor takes over the world" story that defined much of Jurgen's run on the title, as well as setting up the "Avengers Disassembled" story. The good news is that the latter elements are pretty good, playing nicely into Avengers history in creating a threat that could shatter the team, and the artwork by DiVito is flat out gorgeous, perfect for the high fantasy meets superhero style of the book. The bad news, at least for me, is that Oeming and Berman are no more able than anyone else to interest me in Thor, and I'm a bit nervous that their first issue seems to ignore major chunks of what happened in Walt Simonson's run (the definitive Thor) and casually kill off characters who have been around since the Stan Lee days. Change can be good, but it can also be a bit too extreme, and I'm not sure what we're going to wind up with here when all is said and done.
Whenever someone's first issue kills off several major characters and makes radical status quo changes, I generally think you can start counting the months until someone reverses things back to status quo, basically making the story you're currently reading meaningless. Contrary to popular opinion, status quo change isn't impossible in comics, but it has to be done more gradually and naturally for it to stick, rather than done for shock value, and Oeming and Berman go for the latter here. Mjolnir shattered is a fantastic image, but it is by its very nature a temporary change. That, however, should have been the big shocker for the issue, because it's like seeing Captain America's shield shattered... it speaks directly to the power involved in this particular story. Unfortunately, the writers go overboard, also killing off a major supporting character and crippling another, and thus I don't believe that any of this is going to wind up sticking. The suspense remaining for me is whether we'll get a cosmic reset button or just the rules changing mid-story so that the powerful enemy becomes less powerful.
In fairness, I've never been a big fan of Thor, and all of the creators are working against that. The flowery poetry that makes up the opening narration just makes me grind my teeth, and the whole mythic epic feel of the thing doesn't float my boat when you're talking about superhero comics. That said, I can't deny that Oeming and Berman do a pretty good job on that score, writing a story that feels like a blending of Norse mythology and modern mythology. Their take on the forging of Mjolnir contradicts some details of stories told by Walt Simonson, which is the last thing you want to contradict when writing this title, but the epic feel of the forge of a god's weapon and what it could mean if stolen is certainly an interesting premise. Indeed, the premise of this book, that Loki somehow gets a hold of a powerful weapon and in so doing forces Thor to gather the Avengers, is both true to his character and a nice nod to the origin of the Avengers, which owes a debt to Loki's manipulations as well.
While I was merely lukewarm on the writing, however, I can't deny that Andrea DiVito does some of the nicest art to grace a Thor comic in quite some time. DiVito's version of Asgard may not be as intricately detailed as the one that we saw in many of Jurgens's issues, but he makes up for it with a classic look to Thor and Loki and a general fantasy meets superheroes feel that is perfect for the book. In addition, nobody can complain that this issue lacks action, because DiVito's rendition of Loki's forces meeting Thor's in battle is truly spectacular, and Laura Villari's colors are vivid and powerful as well. Visually, this book is a treat.
True Thor fans may like this issue a great deal more than I do. For one thing, the book does feature some classic foes, like Loki and Ulik, and more of a straight superhero approach than we've seen on many Marvel comics these days. Unfortunately, for me, a few minor but important contradictions to the Simonson version of the mythos, an overly ambitious attempt to make the book feel important and earth-shattering and my own general dislike of the characters and concepts leaves me fairly unimpressed.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
