Holy crap, is Jason Aaron on fire lately. His Doctor Strange is the best new Marvel series, Star Wars is still really good, and his creator-owned The Goddamned promises to be all kinds of crazy (I've only read the first issue so far and am waiting for the trade). And here comes the next chapter in his epic Thor run, yet again re-numbered and re-titled (In Marvel's defence, though, this easily could be a great jump-on point for new readers, it is very friendly in that regard).
Aaron writes an extremely tight and gripping political story of civil war in Asgard (Marvel loves them some civil war, hehe) and another war in one of the ten realms, all cleverly orchestrated by Malekith the Accursed. The story is so tense, I couldn't put the book down until I was all out of issues.
And, even though the political intrigue is a big part of the story, there are also many awesome quiet character moments. At this point, it's no secret that the new Thor is Jane Foster, who was battling cancer for the last couple of years. The book actually starts with Jane going through the round of chemotherapy, while explaining that, basically, every time she turns into Thor, it cleans her body of all the poison, while leaving cancer intact, because it is a part of her. I mean, that's some dark and emotional stuff right there.
Also, Loki is back, and he is still being Loki. There are a bunch of big surprising twists involving his character, and it seems that, at least so far, his story continues in this series. So if you love and miss your favourite God of Mischief after Al Ewing's brilliant Agent of Asgard or Kieron Gillen's Young Avengers/Journey Into Mystery, look no further.
Oh, and probably my favourite part — this volume ends with one of the most bad-ass and emotional fights I've seen in comics recently, which I won't spoil too much, but trust me, it's awesome.
The book still looks gorgeous thanks to the great artwork and cool layouts by Russel Dautman, and, of course, the colours by the great Matt Wilson. I gush about him every time I read a book he worked on, but he absolutely deserves all the praise. The guy is a genius.
Overall, this was probably the best Aaron's Thor volume so far, incredibly well-written, gripping, and will definitely leave you wanting more. Oh yes, there are a couple of big cliffhangers at the end, hinting at possible future plots and stories. So do yourself a favour, read this book. It rarely gets that good in the realm of superhero comics.