Thor: God of Thunder #1

As someone who only really started reading comics in the 90s, and as someone who was really into dark, violent and the 90's "extreme" style of books things like Thor and Fantastic Four kind of passed me by. Having never read a single issue of Thor i always wondered, "if Thor is a god, why does he team up with the Avengers?", never once did it occur to me that Superman does the very same thing in Justice League which i read on and off.

I actually nearly forgot to pick this up when i went to get my comics on Wednesday, when i realised i hadnt bought it i wasnt sure i was even going to go back after work and pick it up, afterall it was a miserable day here in Scotland, but something pushed me and man am i glad i did!

The first thing you need to know about Thor is, although he is for all intents and purposes a god, he is first and foremost a Viking! He likes drinking flaggons of Ale, bedding the prettiest woman around and telling long tales to mortals about his adventures thus far. He is also a man of conviction, he answers the prayers of those who need him and although he enjoys their praise, he does seem to do things because he feels its the right thing to do, a strong sense of justice is evident.

The actual story itself takes place in two distinct time periods, at both times Thor comes accross the corpses of murderd gods from other religions, someone is making a sport of it and this does not sit well with the son of Odin as he sets out to find just who would want to kill a god.

As i mentioned above, this is my first time reading a Thor book and i absolutely loved it, my only frame of reference are the movies that Marvel released (Thor and The Avengers) so if you liked him in those movies you are going to love him here. That said, Thor in the movies seems a bit more of a spoilt child learning and growing into a warrior where as the Thor we see here is already a man of courage and conviction. Jason Aaron works a miracle in the 20 or so pages he was given and the book does not feel at all like it was too short or that it dragged on, what it does is leave the reader wanting more which is something i dont feel enough of these days. Esad Ribic does some fantastic work on pencils creating a very distinctive look to the story, there is something very retro in both the drawing style and in the comic itself, the book is very details and the colours for the most part are muted with the exception of Thors flowing blonde hair and long red cape. It gives the impression that Thor (quite rightly so) is bigger than life and stands out more than everyone else around him which i have to imagine was the idea.

I actually cant find fault with this book at all, even with it being a first issue! I can easily recommend this to anyone, i didnt think it would be something id enjoy and i found myself loving every page and hanging on ever piece of narritive, even if you are not a fan of Vikings or Norse Mythology i would still ask that you give it a chance. Now the hard part...waiting for issue 2.....