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King Thor #1: Review

Sep 2019
Jason Aaron, Esad Ribic

Story Name:

Chapter One: Twilight of the Thunder God

Review & Comments

Rating:
4 stars

King Thor #1 Review by (September 11, 2019)

Review: This is Jason Aaron’s swansong as writer of Thor and, having wrapped up the main stories in the regular monthly THOR with issue #16, here he wants to close out his last loose end: the saga of King Thor at the end of the universe. I have mixed feelings about Aaron’s run: on the one hand he is the creator of the female Thor, unmasked as Jane Foster and for that he will be one of the greatest contributors to Marvel history. Jane was clearly the most successful of the alternate heroes introduced around this time (Sam Cap, Ironheart, Totally Awesome Hulk, Kate Hawkeye—Miles Morales Spider-Man doesn’t count as he had been created for the Ultimate comics earlier). Her character was solid, yet vulnerable, balancing her human and divine lives, not to mention she was very sympathetic for the readers. And Russell Dauterman’s lovely art (plus Matthew Wilson’s magical colors) made this look like nothing else in the company’s history. Many other great things included the War of the Realms, though the build-up seemed to go on forever. Yet on the other hand, I couldn’t warm to Aaron’s anti-religious attitudes. His first two arcs, “The God-Butcher” and “The God-Bomb,” were dark and ugly, partly because of Gorr’s bitterness toward all gods. After this Aaron settled down for a while, only returning to the issue during the “Asgard/Shi’ar War,” where he substituted snide sarcasm for Gorr’s bitterness and anger in mocking religion. Again, Jason Aaron is certainly permitted to insert his personal beliefs into his writing; most writers do. [I could wonder why Marvel would want to publish something potentially offensive to the 80% of Americans who claim to believe in a God of some sort but I won’t.] I did think that an atheist was a strange choice to write a comic series whose characters were gods and I did feel that Thor and especially Odin were somewhat lacking in the nobility and wisdom that they displayed over the decades of writers that preceded Aaron so we’ll have to see what direction this final series should take, with Gorr ironically becoming a god himself.

Comments: Story continues from the very end of THOR (2018 series) #16. Shadrak was introduced in THOR GOD OF THUNDER #4 and played a significant role in the Asgard/Shi’ar War in THE MIGHTY THOR (2015 series) #17-18.






 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

King Thor #1 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Thor’s granddaughters, the Goddesses of Thunder, arrive at Omnipotence City, hoping they can find someone to aid King Thor in the final battle with Loki. But the place is dark and deserted and there is only one god left: Shadrak who has inherited the job of librarian from his dead predecessor. As he tells them about All-Black the Necrosword wielded by Loki he is attacked by a flock of Necro-Ravens dispatched by the villain….

Back in Asgard, Thor the All-Father faces Loki the All-Butcher in their final battle, both with powers increased beyond anything they have ever known. Delighting in the destruction he is planning for the end the universe, Loki impales Thor on his sword and pushes him out of the exploding Asgard and to the surface of a world that oozes jellied acid. Thor hurls Mjolnir out, telling it to go to the nearest burning star and when it returns blazing, he uses it to ignite the napalm, blowing the planet to hell. Thor now knows that Loki must die….

In Omnipotence City, the Goddesses fight the deadly ravens and Shadrak finally remembers what he is god of: bombs. He detonates his devices and the City is destroyed….

Thor is distracted by the destruction of Omnipotence City, allowing Loki to tear the All-Father’s guts open and scatter his intestines. Loki is fighting for the final fundamental truth of all existence: nothing lasts forever. Loki tells Thor how he killed Odin, approaching him on his deathbed and whispering into his ear the details of every evil thing Loki has done and telling Odin it was all his fault for not killing Loki in his crib. But Thor knows this is a lie as he is the one who killed Odin, putting him out of his misery with a mercy killing. Thor adds that their mother Freyja died of a broken heart, regretting ever having loved Loki. Thor hooks Loki to Mjolnir and hurls him into the sun—but Loki destroys the sun and fires darts at Thor, hurling him down to the surface of Midgard, while announcing his plans to destroy the planet as soon as he has killed Thor. Thor, impaled on the darts, prays to any god that can hear him—and in answer to his prayers, Loki is stabbed through the back with the Necrosword…wielded by Gorr, the God of God-Butchers….



Esad Ribic
Esad Ribic
Ive Svorcina
Esad Ribic (Cover Penciler)
Esad Ribic (Cover Inker)
Esad Ribic (Cover Colorist)
Letterer: Joe Sabino.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Loki
Loki

(Loki Laufeyson)
Thor
Thor

(Odinson)

Plus: Goddesses of Thunder, Gorr the God Butcher (Gorr), Shadrak.

> King Thor: Book info and issue index

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