Thor #1

Thor #1

Written by: Donny Cates

Art by: Nic Klein

Marvel Comics

2020

*MINOR SPOILERS

A BRAND-NEW, SUPERSTAR CREATIVE TEAM TAKES THE KING OF ASGARD TO NEW REALMS OF GLORY! The prince is now a king. All Asgard lies before Thor, the God of Thunder. And after many months of war, the Ten Realms are finally at peace. But the skies above the Realm Eternal are never clear for long. The Black Winter is coming. And the God of the Storm will be powerless before it.

I have been a fan of comics and superheroes my entire life. The heroes of Marvel in particular played a major role in my love for the magic of storytelling both as a reader and later on as a writer. In my time reading these stories, I have related to Spider-Man for the sense of responsibility that drives him as he swings through the streets of New York. I have supported the savage yet noble Wolverine’s struggle against the weight of his past that constantly tries to haunt him. I have been inspired by Captain America’s sense of duty to always do the right thing simply because it is the right thing to do. The list goes on and on.

However, of all the great heroes within Marvel’s pantheon, the epic stories of one particular character has always filled me with a sense of magical wonder, stories that take you to far away lands and throughout the cosmos with high stakes, astounding battles, and a fantastic cast of characters. All of this connected with me greatly. The character I am referring to is none other than The Mighty Thor.

This latest adventure of the God of Thunder continues everything I love about the character and the different worlds within the Ten Realms and more. The premise of this story is that since the War of the Realms, Thor has become the new King of Asgard and The All Father. Though gaining this position had always been a dream of Thor’s, now that he has it, he finds himself doubting whether it is something he truly wants as he feels conflicted by his duties to his people as King and his longing to be the adventuring warrior he once was.

While Thor was about to give a speech to the people of Asgard, something terrifying and unexpected happens when the devourer of worlds, Galactus, crashes into the city, causing widespread panic, death, and destruction. Thor in his rage attacks Galactus, but the devourer reveals that he is here warn Thor of two major threats that will destroy the entire Universe if not stopped. These two threats are known as The Star Plague which will then be followed by the even worse Black Winter. Thor summons the former Heralds of Galactus and they decide on a plan that will see them align with Galactus against these Universe destroying forces. Galactus, however, has his own addition to the plan, one that will cause us to see Thor like never before.

This was an amazing first issue. The writing by Donny Cates is excellent. He shows in this book that he truly understands what makes Thor stories so great. One aspect he gets extremely right in this book is the well written dialogue and narration that plays a big part in exploring the inner struggles of the hero, Thor, and contains a great depiction of how the weight of a crown can truly affect a man, even if that man is a god. Another aspect that is well done is the level of epicness and scale of both the story and the threat that Thor and his allies must overcome.

Equally as good as the writing is the art by Nic Klein. The artwork in this book is some the best art I have seen from a Marvel Comic recently with many of the other Marvel books that I have read in recent months suffering from having too much inconsistent quality in their art throughout their stories. In this comic, everything from the action sequences to the facial expressions of the characters adds a great deal to the quality of this story and to the book overall. It is through the combination of the fantastic writing and stunning artwork that makes this first issue so great.

The overview of the plot I gave of this first issue above is just the bare bones of what occurs in it. There are other great aspects explored in this story that I don’t want to spoil as I am giving my highest recommendation for this first issue. You should definitely check this book out, especially if you are a fan of Thor or of the high fantasy genre in general.

Nicholas Slade

Nicholas grew up reading J.R.R. Tolkien's books, watching Disney and Studio Ghibli films, and reading Marvel comics and Japanese manga. The superb storylines and characters ignited his passion for writing. He graduated from Full Sail University in 2015 with a BFA in Creative Writing for Entertainment. During his writing career thus far, Nicholas has had numerous short stories and articles published in an array of literary magazines and websites.