STOP! Hammer time! Has that ever been used in a Thor comic? Probably, right? Hammers are all over Thor: God of Thunder. You get your money's worth in hammers, that's for sure, and you love every minute of it. All time is hammer time in TGoT.
Anyway, this book shares the stage with Hickman's Avengers as one of the best books being put out by Marvel right now. Nobody's holding anything back, it's 110% all over the page. A true excercise in the strengths of the medium. So how does this issue, Godbomb Part 3, hold out?
Gorr the God Butcher has been traveling the cosmos, well, butchering gods. Forsaken by his gods long ago, Gorr stumbles upon a powerful weapon that seems to feed off godblood and sets out to rid the universe of all gods. Thor, seeking avenge the dead gods, follows Gorr all across the spaceways and, eventually, millennia upon millennia into the future where he meets Thor All Father, future him as a failed King of Asgard.
Unfortunately, time travel is a tricky thing. By the time Thor arrives, Gorr has already enslaved all the universe's remaining gods and is using them to build a gigantic "godbomb" that will rid the universe of all divinity.
As this issue opens, Thor, Thor All Father, and the young pre-Mjolnir Thor the Viking God, all ban together to face Gorr in a glorious battle to the death.
Esad Ribic's art, man. I mean, it's probably my favorite of all the Marvel books so far. It's so expressive and detailed. You could sell some of these panels as art pieces and I'd hang them in my offices.
This could be on the side of a van
It's some of the coolest beans. It's the kind of art that impresses you right off the bat, but you don't fully appreciate it until you go back and just really look at the art.
The artwork's biggest strength is Esad's ability to portray the epic scale of the book. Gods the size of mountains and the realms of slain deities feel as awe inspiring as they need to be to pull it off. Plus space sharks:
The writing for Thor: God of Thunder has been super strong and this issue is no different. When you first meet Gorr, he's some kind of uber powerful madman hellbent on massacring gods. But over the last few issues, he's been becoming something of a tragic villain. It's an approach that is no where near new, but here it works.
More than that, this comic really uses the comic book medium. We go everywhere, from a library inside a City of Gods to a multitude of strange planets. We see Elder Gods and take rides in viking ships that travel faster than light. And not once does it feel forced or artificial. We're shown things that'd cost a fortune if made into a film and are able to go places story-wise that would way too out of left field for both TV and film (see: space sharks). That's what makes comics special and I'm glad Jason Aaron understands this and uses it to his advantage.
This issue is light on the dialogue, what with the epic three-on-one god fight, but it flexes its writing muscles in the narration that plays over the whole thing. Told like an epic poem, it's filled with lines more awesome than a thousand space sharks.
Pick up this book, dear readers. As badass as this issue is, it's double that having read the whole run. It's a book that fires on all cylinders and other cliche expressions meaning it's above average. This is a book that illustrates what makes comic books such an amazing medium.
Whatever you're doing, whatever you have going on, whatever you think you have better to do, stop. It's hammer time.
Nailed it.
