Our Mighty King Thor faces a reckoning…from Sif!
Chris Eddleman: Vishal, while the last issue was pretty good in general for what was just one prolonged fight, I was getting nervous that we were going to have to squeeze blood from a turnip to continue our long-form articles. However—Cates, Klein, and Wilson gave us a big meaty issue to dig into this week, and really restored my interest in this run, even if it’s exploring an aspect of Thor that I don’t fully vibe with.
Vishal Gullapalli: Yeah Chris, we had a bit of a struggle for a hot minute! I’m really, really glad that Cates has decided to rocket forward with the plot here, because we suddenly have a glut of content to talk about. Thor might not be super sympathetic at the moment, but this issue still has a little something for everyone.
Thor & Sif
CE: Our issue starts immediately where the last one ended with Sif facing off against the new King of Asgard. I was kind of expecting a Marvel-style classic fight between two heroes, but Sif is incredibly smart and instead decides to give Thor a much needed chastising, as well as telling (not asking) Thor that she is bringing Bill to Asgard.
VG: Sif is taking absolutely no $#!@ from Thor here – no excuses, no justifications, nothing. Thor’s a piece of garbage and Sif will give him no quarter to try and defend himself. But what I really appreciate is how she’s able and willing to call him out on his macho man persona and his refusal to admit the simple truth that he’s scared. Sif’s relationship with Thor is so different from Heimdall’s and I’m a massive fan of her increased presence in his life.
CE: I absolutely agree. I think Sif could have been relegated to a much less prevalent role in the Black Winter story, but we are getting quite a bit from her, and she seems to be the most heroic and virtuous of Thor’s entourage thus far. In a way, she takes the place of the reader, as we (okay, at least me) have been frustrated with his willingness to, if not endorse, at least allow for acts of genocide and displacement of sentient populations. And while she doesn’t spend much time one way or the other on that decision, she gives him a great bit about needing to be the leader instead of simply doing more Thor stuff (even if we really wouldn’t have a comic unless he was doing Thor stuff).
VG: I don’t know, I’d be down for a full comic of Thor dealing with Asgardian political shenanigans as a reluctant King, but I’m definitely not complaining that we’re getting Thor stuff. I was honestly expecting Sif to stop Thor from committing atrocities after her reaction last issue, but she instead took the time to convince Bill and Thor to stop fighting and let him commit more. I get that this is a legitimately dire situation, but it’s a bit weird to me that Thor’s moral compass is encouraging him to destroy entire planets. We’ll see where it takes her.
CE: And where it takes us…as Galactus has to clean his plate.
Last Meals
VG: So after Sif’s little pep talk, we get some more of Thor leading Galactus to the power-up planets. One of them is described as uninhabitable, which is weird when that same panel shows the displaced life forms being taken to Asgard. One of them’s a jellyfish planet, one’s a planet of giant bugs, and my favorite of them is a planet of telekinetic bears, which are just delightful. I love them dearly and mourn the loss of their home planet.
CE: This was clearly the standout double-pager in this issue, and Klein and Wilson really got to flex their artistics muscles, while Cates got to get into the weird superhero sci fi that he seems to enjoy so much. This is the stuff I absolutely adore from cosmic Thor stories. Aaron came up with some out-there ideas, and Cates seems to be bringing the thunder in a few of these high strangeness planets. I am gonna nitpick though, in that at least one of these planets was clearly a gas giant but, it was shown breaking into rocky pieces. But, you know, it’s a comic book. I don’t like when people do this about movies so you know I would only mention it because it was driving me slightly wild. I liked the contrast, especially, as these planets are pretty much willingly deciding to be destroyed for the sake of saving the universe but, of course, we couldn’t have it be that easy.
VG: Consent is really important! Thor is much less of a horrible person now that the residents of the planets he destroyed were willing to have it happen. That being said, this last planet took the morality out of his hands as Galactus decided to not wait for that conversation and just chomped on that sucker without any warning. This was genuinely horrifying to see, and Cates’ narration really worked to sell just how bad it was. RIP Kryo.
CE: Galactus in this comic seems slightly different to me than in previous appearances, and it works really well for me. Normally he is very patient, emotionless, and somewhat coldly logical. However, throughout this run, he has seemed eternally on his back foot, appearing manic and impatient as the Black Winter looms. It doesn’t seem as though he wants to save the universe though, just himself. It works really well in this particular story, even if it’s a departure from the way he normally appears. He seems almost treacherous…and that is very unlike your usual Galactus. He also keeps getting kind of “owned” by Thor, which makes him seem a little more fragile than usual. I like this now but, maybe this aspect of Galactus should remain unique to the Cates/Klein/Wilson Thor experience. Unique as say, the Black Winter itself, which is ready to fight our heroes with its encroaching dark tendrils. But anyway, we kind of skipped an important bit of narrative set-up, which takes place after Sif transports Thor’s hammer to a place where “no one can wield it.” That place being Jotunheim, in front of the throne of Loki Laufeyson.
A Less Exclusive Hammer
VG: Loki! Loki! I! Am! Screaming! Loki picked up Mjolnir! What in the world did we just witness?! I’m not sure if this means that Loki’s worthy or if it means the enchantment is breaking – the narration over the scene keeps it ambiguous, and just punches me in the gut with its taunting. “This…is a story for another time.” Why can’t this other time be now?!
CE: A lot of storytelling in comics seems to suffer from the “writing for the trade” issue, making very clear arc-to-arc distinctions with very little to tie the arcs together. It seems pretty clear that we are getting some actual ongoing narrative in Thor, which is frankly what we’ve come to expect over the past ten years. This was THE moment of the issue, and not explaining it right away ensures our interest isn’t going to wane even after the Black Winter is dealt with (assuming that next issue is the final battle). As to your point about Mjolnir, I have a pretty strong feeling that issue relates pretty strongly to Thor having to try very hard to lift the hammer and make it return to him. I’m wondering if Thor’s moral relativism isn’t costing him Mjolnir. Granted, that would be a bit of a retread of Thor becoming unworthy several years back, so I’m hoping it’s slightly different. Though that story was an “all at once” loss, whereas, like the Black Winter, this is a creeping insidiousness.
VG: Speaking of prior stories this is retreading (or at the very least calling back to), this scene is so, so reminiscent of the AXIS tie-ins to Loki: Agent of Asgard (specifically #9). In that story, Thor and Loki both get morally inverted, Thor becoming a brutish oaf, and Loki a hero. Specifically, a hero worthy of Mjolnir. Loki defeats Thor with Mjolnir, only for the inversion to wear off and for Thor to claim that there are some stories no one will believe. I’ve been waiting for Loki’s redemption for years since Agent of Asgard ended, and I cannot wait to see what Donny does with him here.
CE: This run very much contains an overarching theme of the creeping nature of evil, and I’m glad to see that continue, as opposed to portraying Thor as completely justified. Thor’s moral compass is eroding, as well as his sense of purpose and duty to his people as their king. Meanwhile, we get the very tangible rot of the World Tree, and also the Black Winter, which is an existential creeping evil that our hero must stop after committing some grave atrocities. I’m interested to see if the lesser evil is going to drive out the greater evil, or if we’re getting a deeper lesson about ends and means.
Marvelous Musings
- “Thor…you unbelievable horse’s ass”
- I love that Bill knows human, specifically English, days of the week.
- Best sound effect in the issue: BWAAAH
Vishal Gullapalli is a comics enthusiast studying computer science to enable his media consumption. He’s currently reading through the entirety of DC’s New 52 (for some reason) and logging his experience.
Chris Eddleman is a biologist and co-host of Chrises On Infinite Earths.
Chris Eddleman is a biologist and co-host of Chrises On Infinite Earths.
Vishal Gullapalli is highly opinionated and reads way too much.
