Thor: God of Thunder #1

Title: Thor: God of Thunder #1
Date: January, 2013
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Jason Aaron
Penciler: Esad Ribis
Colorist: Dean White
Letterer: VC's Joe Sabino
Cover: Esad Ribis
Editor: Lauren Sankovitch, Jake Thomas, Axel Alonso

Thor is often at his best when he's interacting with the characters of Norse mythology, rather than the modern mythology of the Marvel Universe. This story proves to be a fine example of that, as Thor is kept firmly in his own continuity for the duration.

The story is really three stories, taking place in the past, the present, and in the (possible) future. The villain is Gorr the God Butcher, a murderer of gods and entire pantheons.

The opening story, set in medieval Iceland, has Thor encountering some of Gorr's handywork while visiting a Norse village. Thor has defeated the frost giants that were menacing the region, and he's getting the rock star treatment from the locals. Thor is presented here as a brash young adventurers, and when he finds the remains of a slain Native American god, his young confidence is shaken for perhaps the first time.

The second segment, set in the present, but on a distant planet is the best part of the book. One of the things we seldom get to see with Marvel's gods is them actually functioning as gods. In this segment, we get to see Thor actually answering someone's prayer. It's a really interesting scene, and it leads to Thor's second crossing of paths with Gorr.

Now, Gorr himself never appears in this issue, but that is part of what makes the storytelling effective here. The villain is given sufficient time to be built up as a very serious threat, which is necessary to make the final segment, which takes place in a possible future, credible.

That ending segment is a bit Elseworlds-ish (or at least reminiscent of a What If? story), but it was effective on the strength of the first two segments.

Good start to this new series.

Rating: 8/10

The Lone Ranger #0

With Free Comic Book Day upon us, here's a Free Comic Book edition from 2007's offerings.

Title: The Lone Ranger / Battlestar Galactica Season Zero
Issue: #0
Date: 2007
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Writer: Brett Matthews, Brandon Jerwa
Artist: Sergio Cariello, Stephen Segovia
Colorist: Dean White, Inlight Studios
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Cover Art: John Cassaday, Stephen Segovia

Flip book.

Cue up the William Tell Overture! I'll start with The Lone Ranger.

The Lone Ranger opening action sequence with a caption narration recounting of the Lone Ranger's creed was surprisingly awesome. The exchange between Ranger and Tonto that followed was worth a decent chuckle without the humor seeming out of place or disrespectful to the original material. Tonto is a character who gets put under a microscope a lot, and I have to say that I was impressed with the glimpse we got here. Gutsy move to include the word "God" in the Ranger's creed too. I think that an upfront display of faith works for some characters, and this seems like a good choice. Sergio Cariello did a great job of telling a fast-paced action story with the artwork while the captions established the character. This was a really good start!

Flip over and... There are those who believe that life here began out there... Oh, wait. That's the old version of the show.

Anyway, this takes place two years before the Cylon Holocaust. How do we know? The second caption says so.

Adama and Tigh take command of the (a bit the worse for wear) Galactica for a search and rescue mission in the Romulan Neutral Zone. No, wait. I mean, um... just plain "Neutral Space". I think that's located somewhere between the Positive and Negative Material Planes.

Anyway, just as I yanked myself back out of Star Trek (and D&D) paradigms, here's Commander Adama leading the away team in classic Kirk fashion. At least he's not taking the first officer, chief medical officer, navigator, and chief engineer.

They then exchange a bunch of tough-sounding military jargon. "We've taken a hit and we're going down hard." "Brace for impact!" "Weapons hot and eyes open." "We've got trouble. I'm getting multiple readings all around us." While this is happening, they are getting shot down, finding the marooned crew they came to rescue and then getting into a even more trouble as the "to be continued" looms ahead. This was full of sound and fury, and as far as I could tell, it signified nothing.

One good one and one bad one makes for...

Rating: 6/10

The Avengers #1

Title: The Avengers
Issue: #1
Date: 2010
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Klaus Janson
Colorist: Dean White
Letterer: VC's Cory Petit
Cover: John Romita Jr., Jason White
Editor: Lauren Sankovitch, Tom Brevoort

Sadly, not John Steed and Emma Peel. This is a 2010 reboot for Marvel's long-running superhero team comic. The roster on the cover features Iron Man, Cap, Thor, Spidey. and Wolverine. What? No Giant Girl this time around? Actually, by the time we're on page 4, you've actually got more than 25 prospective team members being recruited. But still no Giant Girl. Unless they changed her costume. There were some I didn't recognize. So it's Steve Rogers (out of costume) doing the recruiting, and they finally settle on the characters from the cover (including some other dude as Cap) plus Spider-Woman and Hawkeye. Oh, and a woman named Maria Hill, Agent of SHIELD, apparently, as team leader.

Within moments of the getting-to-know you stuff it's "Let's do the time plot again!" (feel free to sing along), as Kang shows up to warn Stark about some device he hasn't invented yet. Stark: "It's a doomsday device." Thor: "You invented a device who's purpose is doom?" Ha!

At this point it degenerates into silliness involving Ultron, the "children" of the Avengers, and some dystopian future that is supposed to be distinctive from all of the other dystopian futures that Marvel heroes have confronted over the years. Spidey manages a few more witty lines before everything fizzles out and we get to the backup feature, a reasonably interesting prose history of the (retconned) Avengers. Oh, and the lovely pinup by Arthur Adams and Laura Martin that features just about all past and present Avengers? Still no Giant Girl.

Rating: 4/10