Writer: Jason Aaron / Artist: James Harren / Marvel Comics
Thor is having a good run lately. He has what I’m told is a fantastic movie out in theaters and possibly one of the best comic books you could ask for on the shelves. Jason Aaron has hit his years long epic tale of gods, monsters, and heroes out of the park more consistently than at least 80 percent of the other books out right now, Big Two or otherwise.
I’m just going to say it now so there’s no confusion as far as where I stand: this issue might just be one of the most impressive issues of the series to date. The lion’s share of the issue was put towards an all out slugfest between The War Thor and Mangog aka “Gods Jump Up To Get Beat Down.” Aaron uses a mysterious narrator (whose identity is revealed later) to give readers a refresher history throughout the mythos. This is the kind of fight you expect to see when you’re dealing gods and cosmic enigmas. However, Mangog’s appearance in Aaron’s run clearly isn’t just about throwing yet another slobberknocker on the spit. His hatred of all gods is an understandable one once it’s explained in full and is obviously in keeping with Aaron’s running themes about the responsibility that comes part and parcel with godhood and the lack accountability for such beings.
James Harren’s art doesn’t line up aesthetically with Russell Dauterman, but it’s still gorgeous. His style brings a necessary energy to this brutal, destructive throwdown. It’s been a long time since I read through a fight that actually made me cringe with each punch thrown.
Bottom Line: Genuine pathos, gorgeous art and super powered violence on par with an extinction level event? If there were talent show judges reading this book, they’d have sent all the competition home for the night.
Reading The Mighty Thor? Find BNP’s other reviews of the series here.
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