Gods and CEO's
When you're reading a story about thor...No wait, scratch that, when you are reading a story about a certain powerhouse, most of the time you'd expect him to fight giant, monstrous threats who can easily ravage cities. But giving them a more real world opponent is a bit tougher than it sounds, and it's not the same as providing a very intelligent villain either, which basically enforces the Brain vs brawn concept. Luckily, Jason Aaron has found a good way to give thor an interesting villain who fits both categories well.
When you're a lumbering, honorable and wise Thunder God with a huge magic hammer, the easiest problem you can solve would usually involve hitting things, which is pretty understandable. But there comes a situation where breaking and smashing won't solve everything. Our hands are sometimes tied and we have to play our cards correctly in order to resolve a specific problem. This is where Agent Solomon comes in, because while thor loves earth, he can't do everything on his own, so he needs someone who understand the issue at hand. That main villain for this arc would be the CEO of the Roxxon energy company, who acts like his main intention is to save earth, whereas in reality he is enforcing it's destruction. At first glance, the CEO isn't much of a threat, but there are of course good implications that he isn't really just a normal greedy businessman, otherwise why would his nick name be Minotaur? Speaking of which, you know how I mentioned earlier how this new foe was apt for both categories of being a powerful and unique villain? Well, unsurprisingly, the great thing about the Minotaur is that he is a suitable opponent for both Solomon and Thor. To Thor, the Minotaur is probably some monster who needs to be stopped through physical means; on the other hand, for Agent Solomon, he's a ruthless businessman who has done nothing but ensuring the success of his own personal desires. This is a great way to link both of the arcs main characters to one another, considering it gives them a common ground to stand on. Of course we don't see Roxxons alternative from, but considering the implications I'm sure it's pretty obvious as to what is going on.
Moreover, shifting through time has become a common aspect of Jason Aarons thor, so I am very excited to see the older version face off against the galactic devourer. However, I really hope that there is an actual connection between the Roxxon company and Galactus. Because while the fight scenes will probably be amazing, it's always better to have a clear connection between two plot lines, so it hope it gets addressed in the future issues.
The art is as usual absolutely superb, but again, Ribic needs to work on the silly facial expressions, because It's one of the few things that actually bother me, but other than that there are a couple of fantastic scenes that are expertly colored and drawn.
Overall, Jason Aaron does a very good job of providing thor with new and exciting adventures that challenge him mentally and physically. We're going to see thor deal with a problem that needs a slightly different approach to hammer bashing, which is by the way, pretty great.