Writer: Jason Aaron / Artist(s): Becky Cloonan, Russell Dauterman, Chris Burnham, Jill Thompson, Oliver Copiel, Mike Del Mundo, James Harren, Daniel Acuna, Andrew MacLean / Marvel Comics
Jason Aaron’s Thor run has been one of the most consistently entertaining books on the shelves at least since 2012 and shows no signs of wavering in quality. Aaron has one of the most unique blends of high fantasy and Marvel mythology I’ve ever read in my years of reading comics. Issue #700 stands tall as a tribute to everything we’ve come to love about the rich, chaotic universe of the Ten Realms.
This book serves a bird’s eye view of all the moving pieces in the current status quo of Malekith’s War of Realms. The story reaches across time and space from Young Thor in the past all the way through to King Thor and his granddaughters in the far future (in case you forgot, Thor fist fought Galactus in the future…hardest Thor alive). Even the frog Thor gets a storyline. The central focus is on Odinson and Karnila defending the World Tree from Malekith’s proxies.
The story is mostly effective at reminding us of the state of things and of giving us a taste of things to come in this Marvel Legacy stretch of Aaron’s run. Still, every storyline, while put together in a slightly jumbled fashion, manages to never let up as far as action and intensity. Even the frog story was kinda lit. The artwork is unquestionably outstanding. Aaron brought in a damn Murderer’s Row of top notch artists for each of the storylines. Becky Cloonan, Oliver Copiel, Walt Simonson, etc….this list is long and distinguished. Russell Dauterman is still the best of the current pantheon of Thor artists without question, but #700 gave us a close contender in Daniel Acuna, who provides a gorgeous fight between Jane Foster and an especially pissed off She-Hulk.
Bottom Line: Aaron masterfully took several storylines that each could have been standalone books and blended them into one massive book that’s well worth the price point. If you’re still on the fence as to whether or not Thor is the second hardest Avenger alive (sorry, y’all but Steve Rogers) after reading this book, I don’t know what else to do for you. An incredible read.
Reading The Mighty Thor? Find BNP’s other reviews of the series here.
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