Thor: God of Thunder #18: Review

Jan 2014

Jason Aaron, Das Pastoras

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Story Name:

Days of Wine and Dragons

Review & Comments

Rating:

Thor: God of Thunder #18 Review by Peter Silvestro (February 1, 2014)

Review: Everybody seems to love Jason Aaron’s Thor but I don’t get it: though I liked the early issues of the God Butcher arc, it ultimately struck me as overlong, too dark and dreary, with an anti-Christian undertone running through it. Esad Ribic’s art likewise I found grim and unappealing. With “The Accursed” I saw some improvement with Ron Garney’s art being more inviting but I felt Aaron’s writing did a mediocre job of combining the light trappings with the grim undertone, almost as though he were writing funny stuff against his will. And that carries over into this issue: yes it’s nice to see young Thor on his way to becoming the hero he is now—and the poignant story well serves that theme—but I found him very unlikable and the art made him look like an ape on most of the pages. Oh yeah, the art: detailed pen and ink sketches by Das Pastoras are quite well done—but still present a dreary comic. And everybody seems to love him too. I can’t tell what it is but I’m not seeing what everybody else appears to be seeing. Oh well, there's the previous fifty years worth of Thor left for me to enjoy. One thing I did like about this issue: the dragon, instead of being the usual kind, looks like a cross between a dog and a shark. I thought that was cool.

Comments: First appearance of Heimdall in this series; to tie in with the movies, he is portrayed with dark skin. The final page is a message from Jason Aaron reviewing his previous work on the series and gives an idea as to what he has coming up.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Thor: God of Thunder #18 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

The Faroe Islands, A.D. 894: a hungover young Thor awakens inside the mouth of a huge dragon. The She-Vikings cheer the hero who delivered them from the beast that had been tormenting the village. But that’s not how Thor remembers it. The dragon, alive and equally hungover, is named Skabgagg; Thor encountered him on the trail of the marauders and they found a band of trolls were the culprits. Slaughtering them all, the two new friends celebrated, leading to their inebriated condition. The She-Vikings investigate and confirm Thor’s tale so the feasting begins.

Three days later, Thor returns to Asgard where Heimdall warns him his father Odin is displeased. In the dragons’ realm, Skabgagg is likewise scolded by his father for consorting with humans….

A week later, Thor is again summoned to the She-Viking village where Skabgagg has returned, demanding food and drink and inadvertently killing one of the women. Thor wakes the dragon who is pleased to see his friend again. But Thor is here to punish him for his misdeeds. Skabgagg, hurt by his friend’s unexpected betrayal and offended by his judgmental tone, gives Thor the battle he is looking for….

Hours later, the dragon dead, Thor can’t bring himself to join in the celebration and quietly leaves the village for Asgard….

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