Friday, July 12, 2013

365 Comics...192: Thor: God of Thunder #1 (2012)

Holy mother... that was incredible.

I've only ever heard good things (great things actually) about Jason Aaron, from back when Scalped first slarted at Vertigo to when he started working at Marvel. I've been curious, given the acclaim (Scalped is like the Wire of comics, one of the most praised things that I've had no exposure to but constantly meaning to) but given that Aaron has largely only worked on characters I don't give a lick about (Ghost Rider, Wolverine, and, yes Thor) I just haven't had an opening.

The Marvel 1 project with Comixology earlier this year (where they offered up 700 #1 issues for free) afforded me the opportunity, but still there wasn't whole lot of Aaron's work available, nor that even for free I was all that interested in.  His "Marveel Now" relaunch of Thor though his sparked my interest primarily from one word: "Godbomb" the name of the current arc running in the series.  That word, atop Esad Ribic's uniquely epic imagery has turned my disinterest into heavy curiosity.  I want to know what a Godbomb is...badly.

I have put off reading this fist issue knowing that it's not the Godbomb arc and also because it's Thor, a character that quite literally puts me to sleep with his Norse mythos tedium.  But this, this is something special.

It starts deep in the past with warrior Thor celebrating a battle won with wine and women when a scream brings forth the revelation of a dead God in the water.

Tn present day, Thor answers the prayers of an alien child to bring rain.  Upon learning they area Godless culture Thor goes searching for the planets' missing Gods only to find what's left of them.

Deep into the future Thor sits atop Asgard's throne ruler of a deserted kingdom when an attack of the Godkiller and his fierce bipedal hounds home attacking.

I love Thor in space and Aarons' use of both mythology and Sci-Fi as well exploring the Marvel Universe's concept of what Gods are is Fascinating.  Beyond that it is and awesome three-era story structure that just tweaks the pleasure centers of my writerly brain. 

Then there's Ribic's art which just feels Big through and through.  He gets the scope and he provides the pages with a structure to represent it.  Equally his Thor, brawny and beautiful, is given a specific body language that casts him above the average person.  Color artist Dean White amplifies the epic tone with soft digital watercolors that seem weathered and otherworldly. Beautiful stuff all around.

The last thing I need is to start picking up new series or find myself enthralled with new writers or artists but I need to read this story (and don't forget Godbomb). 

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