Thor is Back!

Thor is Back! or so says the back cover of the Trade Paperback edition of issues 1-6 written bye J. Michael Straczynsky. I actually bought this six issue compilation after hearing good things about the new Thor online. I did not even know Thor had died / ended at some point in the past. I had collected a bunch of Thor comic books when I was a kid and for the most part enjoyed the issues very much (I still have them here somewhere).

Without spoiling anything this was an enjoyable read and you should read it if you get the chance. Other wise I am just going to comment on the comic below and so it is time to insert a spoiler warning.

Warning! Spoilers below - this comic is old enough if you care about such things go read the comic before continuing! Spoilers below!

I have to say that I was very happy with these six issues reprinted in this collection. The writing was sharp and I expect a lot from JMS after watching Babylon 5 (B5). While JMS can sometimes write some really bad stuff when he does not listen to others (see B5). The pacing of the issues was good I was always entertained. The art was good I would even say a little better than your normal comic book. Lots of big nicely done splash pages that would befit the return of a god.

The story starts out with the rebirth of Thor (of course). There is some interesting dialog between Thor and Doctor Donald Blake. Thor returns to earth and builds Asgard in of all places Oklahoma - which makes me happy since I was born in that great state. Lots of interesting dialog with the locals which makes me think this is a comic book where is the fighting? Well we get a bit of that when while looking for the lost souls of other Asgardians Thor meets and then kicks Iron Man's ass. This was great because well Iron Man is so full of himself and Thor is a god of Thunder. This fight should never be anything but one sided and even Thor says he had always held back in the past. As a side note this is where those of us who did not read Marvel comics during the Marvel "Civil War" period found out what happened to Thor. It seems that yes indeed Tony Stark is an ass.

There are then many pages devoted to Thor's new quest to find and recover the other Asgardians. They have become trapped in human bodies and might die if not freed. The recovery of other people of Asgard leads to the predictable funny interactions with the locals of the small town that is now the neighbor of Asgard. Of course Thor's search reveals evil that must be dealt with once it is discovered. This evil appears to include Dr Doom for some reason.

The last comic ends with a nice climatic piece of art and I hope to find the next Trade Paperback compilation sometime soon.