by Matt Fraction (writer), Oliver Coipel (pencils), Mark Morales (inks), Laura Martin, Justin Ponsor, & Peter Steigerwald (colors), and Joe Sabino (letters)
The Story: Thor and Sif go on a dangerous mission to the heart of the broken World Tree while Silver Surfer searches for a new target for his master’s hunger.
The Review: In this first issue, Matt Fraction gives us several things that Thor fans will most likely enjoy, things that have been lacking from the series for some time, certainly more than a year.
First off is Fraction’s heavy inclusion of the Marvel cosmic. The Silver Surfer and Galactus get a healthy chunk of attention this month. It’s well-written stuff that shows that Fraction has a solid grasp of writing the Surfer, reflecting his burden and the gravity and entrapment of his endless quest. More than that though, these scenes continue the dose of the cosmic that has been the strongest point of Fraction’s run on Thor thus far. However, unlike in his previous arc, the use of recognized Marvel cosmic characters like the Silver Surfer make it even more palpable than the brand new World Eaters.
And hey, Sif actually plays a fairly substantial role this month. Despite being resurrected and, presumably, in a relationship with Thor, Sif has been almost completely absent for so long that I was expecting to start seeing her on Broxton milk cartons. While her dialogue is fairly run-of-the-mill, Fraction’s use of her was exciting in and of itself, particularly since it seems to hint at a long-term commitment to the character and her place in the series as a major member of the cast.
Fraction also does fantastic work with Loki. His mixture of childish glee and old-beyond-his-years determination and insistence on helping make for a charming character that you can’t help but like.
Unfortunately, despite all of these positives along with an epic feel that shows an understanding of what Thor should be, this issue oddly falls short of being truly great, ending up being a little underwhelming as a result. I think a key part of this may be due to the complete separation between the Surfer/Galactus stuff and the rest of the comic. The book is a little scattered due to this, as though a Surfer comic and an Asgardian comic were smashed together with no commonality in narrative, tone, or cast. I think this ultimately takes away from what either side has to offer as without the necessary page space, Surfer can’t do more than what we’ve seen him do plenty of times while the Asgardian portions are action-heavy as is.
Also, using a Broxton preacher, Fraction pokes a little bit at how an Asgardian presence reflects on religion and the Christian god, which is intriguing, and but not explored enough and as a result, somewhat half-baked. The hints at Fear Itself weren’t clever at all either.
That said, I have to give a lot of recognition to Oliver Coipel’s absolutely awesome artwork. Coipel simply belongs on this comic and shows an intuitive comfort with the content. This is clearly the sort of stuff that he excels at as an artist, maintaining a high-budget cartoony feel with undeniably epic tones and a hint of gleefulness. His action scenes are slick, his big monsters are great, his characters are likable, and there’s lots of detail all around. No complaints here.
Conclusion: Not necessarily jaw-dropping reinvention or anything, but still a very solid Thor comic. In many ways, I think being a new #1 actually does the book a disservice, creating more expectation than it needs. It’s a continuation of Fraction’s Thor, no more and no less.
Grade: B –
-Alex Evans
Grade
Conclusion