by Randy Lander

THOR #41 "Taking Charge Part 1 of 3" Neutral (3/10) Marvel Comics Writer: Dan Jurgens Pencils: Stuart Immonen Inks: Scott Koblish Colors: Dave Kemp Letters: Comicraft Editor: Tom Brevoort Price: $2.25 US/$3.50 CAN Raise your hand, anyone who believes the big death in this title will take any more than it did the last couple of times. Yeah, me neither. Which means that this issue, a big funeral, full of pomp and circumstance, seems at best pointless and at worst downright ridiculous. Jurgens tries hard to convince us that this is a big change in the realm of Asgard, and to show us the mourning throughout the land, but he spends the first half of the story trying to hold out hope that the dead character might survive the issue and the second half on a hasty and half-hearted funeral. Though the story is intended to make us see the grief of Thor as he tries to save his already-dead father, for me it came across more as trying to convince the reader that Odin might not actually be dead. That seemed a pointless exercise to me, because anyone who has read Marvel's "Look, we're killing off a big name character!" PR knows that he's a goner. Or maybe it's just that seeing the Thunder God dealing with the very human emotions of denial didn't ring true to me. At any rate, I'm left in an interesting position, not believing that Odin can be revived but yet also not believing he's gone for good, which makes the funeral and all the pretty speeches seem hollow to me. It's probably not fair to blame Jurgens for any of the problems I have with the issue. He does a capable job of conveying the grief of the realm, and the respect everyone had for Odin. But I keep coming back to the reality outside of the comic, that Odin will probably be back, and even if he's not, that he's been dead before and it has never really changed Thor to such a degree that it made for incredible stories anyway. In that regard, I view the story as a failure, as it failed to draw me in enough to forget the ridiculous hype, which has been the most remarkable thing about the death so far. Though the art is by Stuart Immonen, Scott Koblish is absolutely the wrong inker for him. Immonen's beautiful linework is obscured in shadow, and while this may be intentional to keep the dark tone of the book, he winds up looking more like a poor man's John Paul Leon than himself. In fairness, the book does look dark and moody, but I don't think it suits Immonen's style, and it really is some of the weaker finished work I've seen from him as a result. Probably the most interesting thing about this status quo change is the role it will push Thor into, but that change is soundly ignored for most of the issue, and by the time it comes up, it's too late to save the issue. I don't believe the dead character is really dead, and even if he is, I don't believe it will impact on readers or this title all that much when all is said and done. Email Randy Lander comments about this review.