Thor: God Of Thunder #14

Writer Jason Aaron Artist Ron Garney

 

Introduction

 

Thor: God Of Thunder is the little Marvel Now title that could. The series has just come off of the incredible superhero career defining moment in the god butcher, then sent a shockwave through the entire universe with the magnum opus known as Thor: God Of Thunder #12. The issue had everything we could possibly ask for in superhero comics. The story showed how the son of Odin is different, yet still completely the same since his introduction in 1962. There is very little progression in the span of superhero comics, which is why such a beautiful forward thinking installment of the series should have been celebrated more than it was upon release. In the next chapter readers were shot into the Malekith arc, proving once again that writer Jason Aaron is not screwing around on this book. He literally has done absolutely no wrong, and yet barely anyone in the mainstream comics press is paying any attention. The adversary has grown much more formidable in these pages, which may have been necessary due to his incompetent portrayal in the initial pages of Walter Simonson’s run on the title. After a strong first issue of the arc, lets see if Aaron can continue to deliver. At this point it seems like the writer is competing against himself.

 

Writing

 

The author continues to open the issue with some narration that is written without an ounce of cliche. Few scribes have the ability to do this in the space of modern comics. The sneak peak into the lives of the dwarves is a welcome exploration of the nine realms. Content of the soup in opening pages highlights the bizarre sense of humor bestowed upon the book. The brutality of the big bad king of the dark elves is also shown off in another grand fashion, that does not quite outdo the first issue but comes close. Increasing the power of the supporting cast is quite an honorable choice to continue to make things interesting for the series. Small captions describing locales or passing time are little touches that make the plot much more amusing to follow. A line of dialogue involving a giant and a certain hammer should bring a chuckle to most fans. The new allies of Thor are handled incredibly well in the span of just a few pages. The characters prove that the writing is still top notch.

 

Artist

 

Garney gives readers some good pencils that are not quite as strong as the previous installment of the arc. The pencilling style can look too scratchy at times, and detract from the rest of the pages. Towards the end, the hasty look can get more and more noticeable, until the previous pages eclipse the quality of the end. Maybe with some extra time and focus Garney can deliver something more worthy of mjolnir next issue. Page layouts are fun here, they can be massively dynamic to fairly mundane. The design of the big bad is also refreshing, as the movie version almost completely deviates from the Simonson rendition of the character. This one see’s something more cohesive and moving. Hopefully in #15 the audience will be given an installment that is the same quality as the cover.

 

Conclusion

An under the radar Marvel Now book continues to deliver a new layer of brilliance in Thor: God Of Thunder. Jason Aaron has written a considerable amount of consistently enjoyable books at Marvel. Add this to his list, as it may very well go down as one of the best runs on the character in decades.