Thor by Jason Aaron, Vol. 5

Thor by Jason Aaron #14-15

by Jason Aaron, Mike Del Mundo (Artist)

As Jason Aaron’s staggering THOR saga draws to a close, the effects of Malekith’s raging War of the Realms are felt far and wide! Loki spends some quality time with his dear old dad, Laufey — and, sent on a vital mission, will Cul the Serpent redeem himself at last? Centuries ago, a moment of destiny arrives for young Thor — for the War of the Realms even reaches into the past! But when the epic war comes to its inevitable conclusion, what is left for the God of Thunder in the here and now? And in the far future, King Thor must once again reckon with All-Black the Necrosword — now in the hands of his murderous brother, Loki! It’s time for one last, cataclysmic showdown as the end of all things draws near!

COLLECTING: Thor (2018) 12-16, King Thor (2019) 1-4

Genres: Marvel, Comics, Fiction

232 pages, Hardcover

Published April 12, 2022

About the author

Jason Aaron grew up in a small town in Alabama. His cousin, Gustav Hasford, who wrote the semi-autobiographical novel The Short-Timers, on which the feature film Full Metal Jacket was based, was a large influence on Aaron. Aaron decided he wanted to write comics as a child, and though his father was skeptical when Aaron informed him of this aspiration, his mother took Aaron to drug stores, where he would purchase books from spinner racks, some of which he still owns today.

Aaron's career in comics began in 2001 when he won a Marvel Comics talent search contest with an eight-page Wolverine back-up story script. The story, which was published in Wolverine #175 (June 2002), gave him the opportunity to pitch subsequent ideas to editors.

In 2006, Aaron made a blind submission to DC/Vertigo, who published his first major work, the Vietnam War story The Other Side which was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Miniseries, and which Aaron regards as the "second time" he broke into the industry.

Following this, Vertigo asked him to pitch other ideas, which led to the series Scalped, a creator-owned series set on the fictional Prairie Rose Indian Reservation and published by DC/Vertigo.

In 2007, Aaron wrote Ripclaw: Pilot Season for Top Cow Productions. Later that year, Marvel editor Axel Alonso, who was impressed by The Other Side and Scalped, hired Aaron to write issues of Wolverine, Black Panther and eventually, an extended run on Ghost Rider that began in April 2008. His continued work on Black Panther also included a tie-in to the company-wide crossover storyline along with a "Secret Invasion" with David Lapham in 2009.

In January 2008, he signed an exclusive contract with Marvel, though it would not affect his work on Scalped. Later that July, he wrote the Penguin issue of The Joker's Asylum.

After a 4-issue stint on Wolverine in 2007, Aaron returned to the character with the ongoing series Wolverine: Weapon X, launched to coincide with the feature film X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Aaron commented, "With Wolverine: Weapon X we'll be trying to mix things up like that from arc to arc, so the first arc is a typical sort of black ops story but the second arc will jump right into the middle of a completely different genre," In 2010, the series was relaunched once again as simply Wolverine. He followed this with his current run on Thor: God of Thunder.

Reviews

[Kieran Healy · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’ve read everything this alludes to, you might like it better. But it reminds me of all the Star Wars streaming shows that call back to random crap like video games and an animated movie only hardcore fans watched. At one point Spiderman literally pops in for one panel to say “And Queens!” like it means anything. Which I suppose it does. But that kind of multi level crossover callback nonsense makes reading this not enjoyable. Also the art is over-photoshopped. I’d go 2 stars but there are some admirable writing qualities, and this problem is endemic to most big Marvel comics anyway.

[Geekaffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starkes Ende für einen herausragenden Marvel Run. Aarons Thor ist für mich einer der besten Runs der Marvel Geschichte.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was pretty disappointed with this wrap-up to Aaron's run (not that I was too impressed with most of his run, anyway), and I also realized I should have read War of the Realms before finishing this "final volume" of his. Some of the artwork is good; but it was so hit-and-miss for me that I found I did not care for most of it. I felt like the ending was intellectually dishonest of the author, but then again, in his "afterward" he states that he created a "god" (or gods) he could believe in and worship by the time he finished writing the final issue, so perhaps that helps explain why he ended it the way he did I suppose.

There were some moments I did like (but not enough to rate it higher than 2 stars). First off, "Young Thor" and his attitude is a lot of fun in these issues - I cannot deny that. His behavior and attitude, while obnoxious, is actually a bit refreshing for "Thor" as a whole because of how "different" this portrayal of Thor is. At the same time, though, it seems Thor must have really pooched the screw to no longer be worthy of wielding Mjolnir like he was at the end of the Thor: Son of Asgard miniseries (or, the author just decided to ignore that little factoid in order to tell his version of Thor) (I know the argument can be made that those stories happened in an alternate universe, but I don't agree with that argument because of Thor's having encountered the Eternals as well, well over 1000 years ago (as described in Thor Volume 1, Annual #7) and his wielding his hammer during that time and the Son of Asgard stories were written as untold stories of Thor and his "crew" as youths). So, while Aaron has chosen to rewrite Thor's history as it were, his take on Thor as a young Viking was still an interesting perspective (interpretation) on Thor. That being the case, I loved that Thor "suddenly" became worthy when he was willing to give up his own life to save the lives of those he loved most, his parents, regardless of the mistakes they made trying to rear him. That was a pretty cool moment when the four "versions" of Thor from different times joined together to fight Malekith's bonding with a symbiote (don't remember if it was supposed to be Carnage, Venom, or another symbiote) and the symbiote was about to kill Odin and Freya. "Viking" Thor leaps to their defense and is astounded after he saves them to find himself wielding the hammer he has been seeking to wield for hundreds of years if not for a millennia or so. I also loved the moment when he returns to "his own time" and goes to try to pick up Mjolnir and then realizes he does not need to do so, that it no longer matters to him if he can pick it up or not. He decides he is going to live and enjoy life "before he gets old" and is no longer any fun. Another cool moment in the compilation and the run.

I also greatly enjoyed the story where Cul saves a group of young dark elves and discovers the power of love in the process as well as the fear that love can generate in a person; it was also great because he expected his name to be forgotten due to the nature of his mission and yet his saving these young dark elves inspired a kind of revolution amongst them and they fought on in his name. So it was cool that Cul's name was no longer associated with fear and death but was not associated with hope and freedom and salvation (as it were).

I enjoyed Thori's response to no longer having to "murder" Dark Elves or any other foes of Asgard while fighting at Thor's side; it was a pretty cool moment in the book as he thought to himself "so this is what peace feels like" and how grateful he is "to the dog gods" to finally be able to be at peace. Another moment that was well-written by the author (even if he has Thori mentally thanking "the dog gods" for finally being able to live in peace).

It was interesting that Loki gave up his life to provide a "power source" for Sol and that the stories he told the sun continued to provide the power source needed to keep the sun lit and providing Earth with energy and continuing life in the process. That was a cool redemptive sacrifice on Loki's part, and I loved that Thor told Loki the truth, that their mother never stopped believing in Loki and hoping Loki would renounce his past in order to be the savior for Asgard. And her hope in her son, her belief in her adoptive child, proved to be true "at the end of time."

I loved that Malekith was punished for all of eternity at watching the part of himself that was the truest part of himself being taken away from him. The "moment of truth" when he made the choice to become who and what he would become is revealed: he was but a young child and forced to burn the bodies of dead elves and not-quite-dead elves after a battle, and this traumatic experience forever scarred him and became the seed that would grow over time and transform him into the Dark Elf he would become. So it was fitting that the beings in charge of "Hel" took this from him as they removed his "younger self" and placed it in an idyllic moment in time where the young Malekith could live in peace and harmony and have fun, frolicking with the youthful forms of the dogs and other creatures that were a part of his hunting party. It was an eternal torture for Malekith to see his younger self having fun and enjoying himself, being loved and not having a care in the world. I did not expect that but it was still fun to read.

I love Thor's granddaughters; they are pretty cool characters and I am glad they have shown up in the Forever Avengers series (even if briefly). I guess I do not know who their parents are, now that I think about it, nor do I know who Thor supposedly married to allow his granddaughters to be born.

The best part of the book, bar none, I think, had to be a scene from the library at Omnipotent City. There is this one-page shot that shows shelves of stories about Thor. The titles that can be read on the spines are taken from storylines in the comics, which was pretty cool to read. I spent a few moments trying to read all of the titles and if I could remember what the stories were about that the titles referenced. One of the best pages in the book.

The "second best" part of the book (or tied for best) is when Odin hugs all three versions of his son Thor (the Viking Thor, "modern" Thor, and future/old Thor) and tells them how much he loves them and how proud he is of them. A really cool moment in the book and I felt was probably a defining moment for Thor, on the one hand. So it is interesting that Donny Cates has taken a different tack with Thor, Oden, and Freya when he stared writing the book, how Odin and Freya are again at odds with each other after their being reconciled by the end of Aaron's run and how Thor again has issues with his dad of course, with Odin now being the spirit living inside Mjolnir and holding Mjolnir together, their relationship has definitely taken quite a turn.

The final four issues in this compilation, the King Thor stories, were a bit of a mixed bag for me. Even then, there were some things that I liked about them and how Aaron finished his run on Thor. I really enjoyed the "Thor: God Cop" story - that was fun to read and it might actually be fun to read a miniseries (or even maxiseries) about this "God Cop" and his adventures. I thought it had potential and maybe it was just a one-trick pony, but I still enjoyed it.

Thor becoming a living "god world" was crazy; I do not know how that would have worked. It was still a cool image, though.

And Thor becoming Lord of the Ice Apes and falling in love with the Jotunn princess was crazy and funny at the same time. But, yeah, it was cool that their son was a Jotunn prince who would one day sit on the throne of Asgard and rule. I liked how he put it: The secret story of the torrid affair between the ape god and the fiercest she-blizzard in all of Jotunheim. The story that would spawn Thor's firstborn son. The Giant of Thunder. Now that could be a fun story to read as well (probably a miniseries, but who knows?).

I also liked how two of Thor's granddaughters prayed to some deities on Gorr's home world Indigarr but did not know if their prayers would be answered. It was pretty awesome that their prayers were answered, to be honest. I loved that moment when those deities came to All-Father Thor's aid in the future and helped him defeat Gorr. Granted, these were deities that Thor had brought to the planet to replace the ones that had been killed, but they still watched out over the planet as best as they could. So, yeah, it was a cool moment in the book when they appeared. And it was also cool how they watched over Gorr at the end of time as well.

Finally, I liked that Thor was described as putting his hammer on the throne of Asgard the night before so that he would be forced to pick it up before he could sit down. This was a daily test for him, to see if he was still worthy to be the All-Father and remain "king" and ruler over Asgard. I thought that was pretty cool and showed a lot of maturity on Thor's part as well as humility.

However, by the time I reached the end of the fourth issue of "All-Father Thor" and his granddaughters, it really felt like that it was a story that really did not need to be told or was worth telling. All of the gods in the known universe are apparently dead, now, and Thor and his granddaughters are the only gods left until the "new gods" of Indigarr are reawakened from their slumber. Really, if the author was being intellectually honest, he should have ended the book on a "sad" note, that entropy took over and there was nothing left "at the end of time" but eternal darkness, death, entropy, and nothing. That is the direction the book was heading, but then the author must have had a change of heart or something because he then "reintroduces" five more gods who have been awakened to help Thor and Loki fight Gorr. And then he goes on to describe how, on this future Earth after Gorr is defeated, gods and mortals live together in harmony and work together. It's just . . . like a giant . . . "whatever" or something. Not only that, but because of Thor's final battle to defeat the "Necro-whatever" and the destruction it caused, the remains of creation are collapsing in on itself and none of the gods can truly stop this "final collapse" (that would probably just cause another "Big Bang" and the rebirth of another Galactus-like "force of nature" and the creation of a new universe, a new reality). So what does Thor do? He sails into the darkness one final time to do battle with entropy for however long "forever" lasts so that those who remain on Earth and Indigarr might go on living in this empty, barren expanse of "nothingness" because of how reality had been destroyed. So both an inspiring ending and a depressing ending. It is pretty cool that Thor does that, that he makes this final sacrifice like he does, but it still comes across as senseless and hopeless and depressing because it is implied that eventually he is going to fail and his failure will cause the final death (and probable implosion) of this universe.

I just got . . . tired of Gorr. Just so tired of him. And then the Thor: Love and Thunder just wasted his potential as a villain. It was just . . . I don't know how to put it . . . I really think Gorr should have won and killed Thor and allowed the rest of the universe to implode, only to be followed by a creation of a new universe but with no gods (if Gorr had truly become as powerful as he claimed he had become). Not that I want to see Thor die, but that is the only intellectually honest ending for this story that the author told. All of the gods should have died, but apparently the author had a change of heart and allowed some of the gods to survive. Or perhaps he was trying to make some kind of point with how Gorr's story ends? It is said of Gorr that he would be "a man who would be cared for by the gods. Amidst paradise. For the rest of his life. Was it heaven for Gorr? Or a form of hell? No one would ever know." I think it would be a form of hell because he has no one else to interact with on Indigarr, no one else like himself. Granted, it also depends on how much of his mind remains, how sentient and aware of his surroundings he is. If he has been reduced to a "simpleton" (as it were), then he will be able to enjoy life by himself and not having any other sentient beings with whom to interact and engage. So, depending on his level of intelligence and awareness would determine if it is heaven or hell, and the way he is written, it seems like he is not that aware of his surroundings which would make it "heaven" for him.

It was just so weird and jarring to see these slumbering gods on this planet awakened and joining the fight against Gorr. Especially after seven years worth of issues hating on all gods and declaring that all gods are not worthy, that they are evil and petty and small-minded. The way the author ended the story just does not make any sense, on the one hand. The only way it makes sense for me is that it is the part of him that he says he lost - the "religious" part of him - expressing itself as a longing for loving gods, for a deity he can once again believe in after having lost the faith of his youth (as it were). It is like he wants that innocence restored, that belief in a higher power and a sense of destiny and that there is more to this life after we die, that death truly is a doorway into another realm of existence and not just the end of us and we become worm chow or something.

I thought it was interesting how the author ended his run. He did the same thing Geoff Johns did with Green Lantern: Johns created an ending to his story that basically wrapped things up for Hal Jordan. It was like Hal Jordan's story was basically over after Johns' finished his run. Aaron did the same thing with Thor. The next author can either use what was written in Aaron's run and build upon it, or he (or she) can go in a completely different direction and come up with their own stories, their own "legends" of Thor. Donny Cates is taking what Aaron did and building upon it and expanding Thor's "mythos" even more, but Donny could also have taken a completely different tact with Thor and gone in a new direction while ignoring as much of what Aaron did as he wanted (like Cates has done with the new Hulk series - he has ignored what happened in Immortal Hulk to tell his own Hulk stories).

I'll bump it up to three stars (maybe 2.5 - 2.7 rounded up). Despite how off-putting the artwork was for me and the ending, I think I did like enough of this compilation after all to make it 3 stars. I do not know if I will ever read it again, and I clearly should have read War of the Realms before reading this final compilation in Aaron's run, but I am still glad that I took the time to finish this run.

[Rob Marney · Rating 4 out of 5]

The War of the Realms tie-in issues are quite good, giving us some space to the characters who were one-note and ridiculous earlier in the run. The King Thor wrapup issues are less good, because frankly I was way over King Thor and its "turn everything to 11" mentality long before it started redoing villains while changing nothing about them. Jason Aaron's afterword says he knew the last page long before he wrote the miniseries, and it shows: it's a good ending for the series as a whole, but the work to get there is rather silly. While the presence of good, just gods in King Thor fighting Gorr really messes with the anti-theist themes of the Aaron run as a whole, they're used effectively here; the problem is the earlier plot holes, not these guys.

[Relstuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like Jason Aaron wrapped his run on Thor pretty well. I loved the start of his story - wasn't nearly as interested with some of the Jane Foster as Thor parts of the story. Good to see the Norse part of Marvel getting some mainstream love (though I suspect some of the revival was due to the popularity of the films - not that there is something wrong with that).