Thor #8

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Story: Jason Aaron

Artist: Russell Dauterman

Colors: Matthew Wilson

Letters: Joe Sabino

Publisher: Marvel

 

 

This is it, seven months of mystery and red herrings all culminate in Thor #8. Hey that sort of rhymes. If you’ve managed to avoid the spoilers of the character’s identity reveal, rest assured I will not be the fly in your ointment. What you read here will be as major spoiler free as it can possibly be, but we will talk a bit about what this new revelation could mean for the Marvel Universe’s future.

Jason Aaron once again scribes an excellent issue in the narrative of this new female Thor. Under the control of Cul, brother of Odin The All Father, The Destroyer has been sent to put an end to the goddess of thunder. Used to be Thor or as he’s simply refered to now, Odinson, and the All-Mother Freyja gathered an all-star group of female heroes to aid Thor in battle. What unfolds is an epic “girl power” combat the likes of which Marvel has never seen. The real beauty is how it manages to pull itself back from being a cliché and simply stay a — girls kick ass — book. What this particular issue does better than any before it is make use of its cameos without having them steal the focus away from our lead. Some of my favorite quips come from Jessica Drew’s lesbehonest lines. We even get teased with finding out what made Odinson “unworthy”. My money is on parking tickets or dropped the hammer on an elderly woman at a Home Depot. Once the end reveal of this new Thor’s true identity epilogues the book, readers will be left both excited for the future and wishing they didn’t have to go through Secret Wars to get there.

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The visual team of artist Russell Dauterman and colorist Matthew Wilson have a unique style for a big action book like this. It’s best described as light hearted most of the way but nails the intense moments when it needs to. Really the only hiccups to be found in the book were some odd camera angle choices during simple dialogue scenes after the battle.

If you’re one of those readers that’s been on the fence about trying Thor, or you just like to jump in on the big moments; Thor #8 is worth the money.

Now let’s talk about what Thor means for the future of Marvel post Secret Wars. With this series being replaced (for the moment) with Thors, it could have been a place to return everything to the status quo. Nothing about where this issue went suggests that to be the case. I admit, in the beginning of all this I was hestitant about the changes to the character. Seeing new characters be built from the ground up always makes more sense to me than changing an existing character to make them relevant again.

Side Note: Hey Marvel if you really want to have every Thor ever in the Thors series, don’t forget these guys…

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Jason Aaron’s female Thor has been something special and unique in a publishing line we thought was all but out of fresh ideas. In a way he’s just getting started. Yes, it wouldn’t be the first time a superhero would be taken out by cancer. We know that this Thor’s story will end after Secret Wars in a tragic and guttwrenching way, but how we get there could be one of the most emotional stories Marvel has ever told.

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