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Thor: God of Thunder #1-2
Thor: The Saga of Gorr the God Butcher
A trail of blood consumes Thor’s past, present and future! Gods are vanishing across the ages and Thor must unravel the gruesome mystery of Gorr the God Butcher! In the distant past, Thor discovers a cave echoing with the cries of tortured gods! In the present, Thor follows the bloody wake of murdered gods across the depths of space. And millennia from now, the last god-king of Asgard makes his final stand against Gorr’s berserker legions. As Thors from three eras race to stop Gorr, his scheme’s full extent is revealed: What is the Godbomb? At the end of time, the universe’s remaining gods are enslaved, building a machine that will forever change the face of creation. Three time bending Thors unite, but will it all be for naught as the massive Godbomb is triggered? Collecting THOR: GOD OF THUNDER (2013) #1-11.
272 pages, Paperback
First published November 18, 2014
61 people are currently reading
316 people want to read
About the author
Jason Aaron
2,360 books1,678 followersJason 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 130 reviews
June 1, 2022
4.5 stars but I’ll round up because this story and the artwork come together like Voltron to form an epic tale. I was in awe reading this. Esad Ribic is amazing with his craft. I was turning each page slowly like I was reading some ancient text, excited to see what gorgeous picture awaited me in the next page. Gorr the God butcher, due to his upbringing, wants to kill all the gods. Jason Aaron writes a wonderful tale of Thor, or Thors, giving all they had to stop him. I had read Aaron’s most recent Thor first so it was cool to see where some of that stuff came from. If you haven’t read this one yet, jump on it ASAP!!
*Re-read 5/29/22 - 5/30/22
Still holds up. Just as good as I remember it.
*Re-read 5/29/22 - 5/30/22
Still holds up. Just as good as I remember it.
March 6, 2016
I really enjoyed rereading these two volumes. Such a great story.
Gorr is the ultimate bad guy he really is. How do you stop someone as relentless and so full of hate? The only negative thing I could say against him is his physical design because he looks like valdamort.
Thor is fantastic in this. My favourite quote from the God bomb volume is from the All father - "be the God of all gods!" Spine tingling.
The art from Ribic is stupendous and the action is unforgettable, especially when Thor smashes two Mjolnirs together.
A must read.
Gorr is the ultimate bad guy he really is. How do you stop someone as relentless and so full of hate? The only negative thing I could say against him is his physical design because he looks like valdamort.
Thor is fantastic in this. My favourite quote from the God bomb volume is from the All father - "be the God of all gods!" Spine tingling.
The art from Ribic is stupendous and the action is unforgettable, especially when Thor smashes two Mjolnirs together.
A must read.
March 15, 2015
This volume contains issues 1-11, and covers the entire Gorr the God Butcher storyline. I had already read volume 2, and thought I was getting volume 1 from the library, but this was a great packaging job.
Since I already reviewed volume 2 I will focus on the first half instead...
The story starts off with Thor in Iceland circa 900, with the discovery of a severed head, which turns out to be a God as per Thor...then we move to present day Thor the Avenger, who answers a prayer for rain on a distant planet...when he asks why they didn't pray to their own gods, he's told they have no gods, which baffles Thor. He searches and finds the hall of the gods for this distant planet, and discovers they have all been butchered by someone...then he is attacked by a mysterious black figure.
Move forward thousands of years and we see an old broken Odin on the throne of Asgard, alone and exhausted...only we discover this is actually Thor of the future, fighting multitudes of the same black beasts from the present day.
As the book continues, each Thor faces the same foe; Gorr, the God Butcher. Icelandic Thor fights him in the past, present Thor seeks knowledge of all missing gods and journeys the cosmos to find them all slain, future King Thor fights the hordes of Gorr singlehandedly (literally only one arm) as the last God standing, not just in Asgard, but in the cosmos.
Things start to converge, and set up the inevitable showdown...but that's part 2.
Aaron has given us the holy trinity of Thors, past present future, and the depth of character that allows him to delve into and create is fantastic. This isn't about Asgard and the gods, or the Avengers (though we do get a short cameo from Iron Man that illustrates the deep respect and bond between the two, which I truly enjoyed.) it is about Thor.
I don't want to get more into it, but this is a great Thor book, and way to rejuvenate the Son of Odin. I give the first book 5 and the second book 4, so I round this double sized volume to 4.
I'm not even getting into the existential philosophy and deep subject matter, which goes down well because there's still lotsa Mjolnir throwing and blood spraying for those who like the action and plenty of Thunder from the Thunder God.
Since I already reviewed volume 2 I will focus on the first half instead...
The story starts off with Thor in Iceland circa 900, with the discovery of a severed head, which turns out to be a God as per Thor...then we move to present day Thor the Avenger, who answers a prayer for rain on a distant planet...when he asks why they didn't pray to their own gods, he's told they have no gods, which baffles Thor. He searches and finds the hall of the gods for this distant planet, and discovers they have all been butchered by someone...then he is attacked by a mysterious black figure.
Move forward thousands of years and we see an old broken Odin on the throne of Asgard, alone and exhausted...only we discover this is actually Thor of the future, fighting multitudes of the same black beasts from the present day.
As the book continues, each Thor faces the same foe; Gorr, the God Butcher. Icelandic Thor fights him in the past, present Thor seeks knowledge of all missing gods and journeys the cosmos to find them all slain, future King Thor fights the hordes of Gorr singlehandedly (literally only one arm) as the last God standing, not just in Asgard, but in the cosmos.
Things start to converge, and set up the inevitable showdown...but that's part 2.
Aaron has given us the holy trinity of Thors, past present future, and the depth of character that allows him to delve into and create is fantastic. This isn't about Asgard and the gods, or the Avengers (though we do get a short cameo from Iron Man that illustrates the deep respect and bond between the two, which I truly enjoyed.) it is about Thor.
I don't want to get more into it, but this is a great Thor book, and way to rejuvenate the Son of Odin. I give the first book 5 and the second book 4, so I round this double sized volume to 4.
I'm not even getting into the existential philosophy and deep subject matter, which goes down well because there's still lotsa Mjolnir throwing and blood spraying for those who like the action and plenty of Thunder from the Thunder God.
August 6, 2016
One of the best Thor stories I've ever read, and one of the few comics I've read in recent months that had me totally and completely hooked the entire time. The word "epic" gets tossed around a little too freely in my opinion, but I have to use it here: this story truly feels epic, stretching across time and space, littered with myth and allegory, all centered around a viscerally philosophical core theme.
And yet, somehow, the book still manages to feel deeply personal for Jason Aaron, like he's working out his own thoughts on religion over the course of the story. He writes both as Thor and (the great new villain) Gorr the God Butcher, and you can clearly interpret his feelings from both ends. Gorr, despite his moderately cheesy Voldemort looks and silly name, is a near-perfect supervillain. He's impossibly strong and cunning, but his motives for killing all the gods also MAKES SENSE. He's not just a random madman threatening to blow up Manhattan for no reason. He has a deep philosophy that drives his every action, and I really love that.
Now, there are bumps in the road. Once the story introduces time travel the threads begin to fray a little bit, as almost all time travel stories do. There are some blunders in the final act that seem a little too stupid for someone of Gorr's deviousness, and the final battle itself is pretty tough to follow. I'm honestly not 100% sure what the Thors were even doing (that's right, there are multiple Thors) to try and stop him, but I trust that whatever they were doing was working.
But, final battles in comics are almost never the most satisfying part anyway. The characters matter far more, and Jason Aaron understands that. I mean, he writes three completely different Thors from different time periods, all with very clear, perfectly-realized attitudes about their role as the god of thunder. It's impressive, and incredibly cool. This is one I definitely see myself re-reading in a few years.
And yet, somehow, the book still manages to feel deeply personal for Jason Aaron, like he's working out his own thoughts on religion over the course of the story. He writes both as Thor and (the great new villain) Gorr the God Butcher, and you can clearly interpret his feelings from both ends. Gorr, despite his moderately cheesy Voldemort looks and silly name, is a near-perfect supervillain. He's impossibly strong and cunning, but his motives for killing all the gods also MAKES SENSE. He's not just a random madman threatening to blow up Manhattan for no reason. He has a deep philosophy that drives his every action, and I really love that.
Now, there are bumps in the road. Once the story introduces time travel the threads begin to fray a little bit, as almost all time travel stories do. There are some blunders in the final act that seem a little too stupid for someone of Gorr's deviousness, and the final battle itself is pretty tough to follow. I'm honestly not 100% sure what the Thors were even doing (that's right, there are multiple Thors) to try and stop him, but I trust that whatever they were doing was working.
But, final battles in comics are almost never the most satisfying part anyway. The characters matter far more, and Jason Aaron understands that. I mean, he writes three completely different Thors from different time periods, all with very clear, perfectly-realized attitudes about their role as the god of thunder. It's impressive, and incredibly cool. This is one I definitely see myself re-reading in a few years.
September 17, 2023
I love this. It's a perfect example of when a comic has great story, writing and art, all working in unison together. The 3 Thors from the different time periods is fun, especially when they're all together, and they managed to make Gorr into a new strong and worthy villain for Thor. This is one of the best modern Thor stories and the one I usually recommend to people who are looking to read some Thor comics.
June 27, 2021
Jasona Aarona většinou vnímám jako někoho kdo mě příběhově většinou moc nebaví, tohle rozhodně není případ v God of Thunder. Příběhově je to totální paráda, prolínání v čase, filozofie a zpochybňování úlohy bohů... Jednoznačně tomu pomáhá i fakt, že to není prvoplánově drsný ale vše plně funguje v čele s úžasným Gorrem the God Butcherem, který zase není jen obyčejný záporák ale komplexní charakter. Minimálně jeden z nejlepších komiksů za posledních 10 let, mě pohltil natolik, že sám zvažuji jej dát do svý all of time. Všechno je totiž úplně úžasné.
May 29, 2022
pretty good, bit confusing to read at times but still really enjoyable. art was really good and gorr was cool but u felt like he wasn’t as cool as people made him out to be.
July 17, 2022
Pero qué buena historia. Jason Aaron impresiona con el inicio de una amenaza capaz de matar Dioses y tratarlos como si fueran la más pequeña de las vidas. Una historia que reflexiona sobre las deidades y nos da un villano en el cual uno puede o no congeniar con su ideología pero no la puede refutar, tan así que el mismo Dios del trueno pone en duda todo lo que él es. Una batalla maravillosamente ilustrada por Esad Ribić que nos hace sentir que realmente leemos una historia de dioses. Una historia que me emocionó y me hizo ver queé el Dios del trueno tiene mucho que contar.
April 13, 2023
If the movie had half the charm and swagger of this comic it probably would have been Marvel’s best film. It had the feeling of Old Man Logan with the destructive ramifications of Infinity War.
For the DND lads. This is the story of Karstaag vs the Mallus
SPOILERS
It was starting to lose me with the constant changing of timelines throughout the first couple comics but when it brought all the thors together for the final fight I was totally into it. Cool to see the different stages of Thor’s life and how they all judge each other so harshly. Gorr was such a better character in this comic too, seeing him develop into the horrible monster he is by the time the bomb is set to go off over the course of thousands of years makes so much more sense than the origin in the movie. Honesty the entire last comic is just epic.
Hmu if you wanna borrow it gang
For the DND lads. This is the story of Karstaag vs the Mallus
SPOILERS
It was starting to lose me with the constant changing of timelines throughout the first couple comics but when it brought all the thors together for the final fight I was totally into it. Cool to see the different stages of Thor’s life and how they all judge each other so harshly. Gorr was such a better character in this comic too, seeing him develop into the horrible monster he is by the time the bomb is set to go off over the course of thousands of years makes so much more sense than the origin in the movie. Honesty the entire last comic is just epic.
Hmu if you wanna borrow it gang
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 28, 2022
Great! Fun and adventurous, suitably epic for the god of thunder! Definitely got me excited for the new Thor movie coming out this year!
Read
September 4, 2024hell yea
August 31, 2025
Would have like to have seen Christian Bale as *this* Gorr.
April 30, 2021
Una de las mejores sagas jamás contada en la historia de los cómics y del arte secuencial.
Reducido a Marvel: Dentro del top 10. Un verdadero nuevo clásico.
Reducido a Thor: No es el número 1 solo porque existe esa maravilla llamada la Saga de Sutur. Pero es un segundo lugar muy bien merecido.
5/5
Reducido a Marvel: Dentro del top 10. Un verdadero nuevo clásico.
Reducido a Thor: No es el número 1 solo porque existe esa maravilla llamada la Saga de Sutur. Pero es un segundo lugar muy bien merecido.
5/5
November 29, 2014
This is not classic Marvel, written for a young audience. This is somber, violent, and philosophically deep. We have excellent art by what appears to be the same artist all the way thru. To rare a treat these days. A complete story in this hardback collection. One of the better things I've seen come out recently from Marvel.
April 26, 2019
Wow this was incredible i was blown away by how much i loved this. The Art is mind blowing and story is epic. I haven’t read a ton of thor but this is by far my favorite thor story I’ve read.
July 31, 2022
The first Thor comic I’ve read and it was a pretty great one. Thor can easily be very bland but I thought he was pretty interesting and complex here. He didn’t just seem like an idiot jock. The art was amazing and the story was a little convoluted but not too much that it was nonsensical.
There were some really interesting ideas brought up here that I didn’t think were fully explored enough. Mainly along the lines of Gorr likely being right in his mindset. I also felt they did a lot of talk of gods being selfish beings, but it was never fully shown. They were more so just ignorant.
All in all if the MCU had followed closer to this plot and taken Love and Thunder more seriously, they definitely would’ve had a better movie. There was even a decent amount of humor in this that never felt grating
There were some really interesting ideas brought up here that I didn’t think were fully explored enough. Mainly along the lines of Gorr likely being right in his mindset. I also felt they did a lot of talk of gods being selfish beings, but it was never fully shown. They were more so just ignorant.
All in all if the MCU had followed closer to this plot and taken Love and Thunder more seriously, they definitely would’ve had a better movie. There was even a decent amount of humor in this that never felt grating
December 9, 2022
En lite snäll fyra på den här. Egentligen kanske 3.5 men jag avrundade uppåt.
Om man är besviken över filmen så är förlagan faktiskt mycket bättre. Eller I alla fall helt annorlunda i ton. Den enda likheten är är Gorr, en djupt troende som förlorar sin familj och svär hämnd på gudarna som inte hjälpt honom. Det finns en liten tjusning i konflikten. Man kan ju egentligen undrar vad alla diverse gudar i Marvels universum egentligen är och vad dom gör för nytta?
Vilket för oss till nästa positiva punkt. Serien tar sig egentligen inte på så jättestort allvar.
Som seriefantast så blir man hänförd av illustrationerna och kombination mellan bild och story.
Det som drar ner på betyget är egentligen att storyn är aningen ofokuserad, som den ofta blir när serier som getts ut som följetong samlas i en 300 sidors episk bok.
När jag läst den klart så landar jag i att den helt klart är underhållande och i mitt tycke mycket intressantare än filmen.
Om man är besviken över filmen så är förlagan faktiskt mycket bättre. Eller I alla fall helt annorlunda i ton. Den enda likheten är är Gorr, en djupt troende som förlorar sin familj och svär hämnd på gudarna som inte hjälpt honom. Det finns en liten tjusning i konflikten. Man kan ju egentligen undrar vad alla diverse gudar i Marvels universum egentligen är och vad dom gör för nytta?
Vilket för oss till nästa positiva punkt. Serien tar sig egentligen inte på så jättestort allvar.
Som seriefantast så blir man hänförd av illustrationerna och kombination mellan bild och story.
Det som drar ner på betyget är egentligen att storyn är aningen ofokuserad, som den ofta blir när serier som getts ut som följetong samlas i en 300 sidors episk bok.
När jag läst den klart så landar jag i att den helt klart är underhållande och i mitt tycke mycket intressantare än filmen.
June 22, 2023
This is really good, wow!! I am glad I was able to know more about one of the most intriguing villains in the Marvel Universe. Gorr is the type of antagonist that will keep anyone invested in the story, he was truly very well written! Also, the art is also very beautiful and it just adds to the story, I love it!!
February 26, 2024
Gosh what a story. Esad Ribic knocks it out of the park with the artwork here. Gorr is truly freaky in a way that many comic villains just aren't. The three time periods were confusing at times but Thor comics tend to throw time travel in just for fun, so you gotta just go with it. This was definitely worth reading, just don't expect the tone to be as light as the movie adaptation.
October 16, 2025
A fun read! The art styling was great and I loved the narrative text that helped it read a tad more like a norse saga. Only disappointment was reading this and knowing how wasted Gorr was in the MCU. He was a compelling and truly evil villain who would have been amazing to see properly adapted on the big screen.
November 20, 2024
Takes the concept of its narrative structure to such interesting places in a way that adds an insane amount of depth considering the iconic and long historied character it is centered on. Also the two page spreads in this... mind blowing
February 10, 2021
3’5-4⭐️
April 27, 2024
So freaking cool the movies did god butcher dirty tho
July 2, 2025
Gorr the God Butcher? more like Gorr the Cool Guy 😎
June 20, 2022
My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:
https://youtu.be/LvXFa4uBRKs
Enjoy!
https://youtu.be/LvXFa4uBRKs
Enjoy!
March 2, 2023
This is such a fun and easy read, and I really loved seeing Thor’s from different timeframes unite!
January 8, 2021
This was a crazy read. I have read bits and pieces of the overall story arc but never the complete arc, so it was nice to read it straight through. The artwork is beautiful and probably "the best part of the book." It also has some wonderful humor scattered throughout the story, too , which was surprising considering the serious nature of the story being told. I thought it had good character development (which seems hard to do with a character like Thor, who has "been around" for sixty years with Marvel and is "a few thousand years old, himself," but the author surprised me and pulled it off by developing Thor's character in ways of which I do not recall seeing before).
It is a serious story, that is for certain. It attempts to tackle the blending of science fiction and religion by questioning humanity's loyalty to any divine pantheon due to the larger number of "unanswered prayers."
The artwork truly is beautiful in this series; it is actually "better" in some sections than others. I took great delight in "studying" it, admiring it. The artist did an amazing job, especially when it came to capture Thor's facial expressions. I actually cannot think of any art in the book that disappointed me, which was a welcome change of pace.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story (even if the Godbomb arc took longer than I would have liked). It was a fun story arc to read, and I am glad that I got a chance to read all eleven issues in sequential order. It was an amazing arc to read, and I am glad that I decided to read it after all.
It is a serious story, that is for certain. It attempts to tackle the blending of science fiction and religion by questioning humanity's loyalty to any divine pantheon due to the larger number of "unanswered prayers."
The artwork truly is beautiful in this series; it is actually "better" in some sections than others. I took great delight in "studying" it, admiring it. The artist did an amazing job, especially when it came to capture Thor's facial expressions. I actually cannot think of any art in the book that disappointed me, which was a welcome change of pace.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story (even if the Godbomb arc took longer than I would have liked). It was a fun story arc to read, and I am glad that I got a chance to read all eleven issues in sequential order. It was an amazing arc to read, and I am glad that I decided to read it after all.
July 8, 2022
THIS is what Thor stories can be? Step up your game, MCU! Holy fuck this was good. My favourite Thor stories so far were the JMS run and his arc from Infinity War to Endgame ("I'm still worthy" always gets me feeling things), but this takes the cake. Esad Ribić's art is beautiful, and conveys both the intimacy of the smaller moments and the bombast of the showdowns in his own distinctive style. Jason Aaron, meanwhile, created a fantastic villain (that Christian Bale did justice to even though Taika Waititi did not) with both inner complexity and a chilling sense of terror following him around. He also wrote Thor at three different stages of his life in such a way that every Thor helped us better understand the peculiarities and motivations of every other.
The one part of this I'm not a fan of is the ending. Some great questions were raised in the rest of the story, about whether Gorr was actually solving the problem he correctly diagnosed, and whether Thor was justified in trying to stop him. Both questions were rather neatly answered and swept under the rug in the finale, and Aaron didn't seem to have the confidence to fully unpack what's so messed up about the god-worshipper relationship, and whether it can be improved. Hopefully, this story was only meant to start the exploration of these questions, and I will find what I'm looking for in future volumes. Either way, I'll remember this story as something special. And Love and Thunder, as a pale imitation.
The one part of this I'm not a fan of is the ending. Some great questions were raised in the rest of the story, about whether Gorr was actually solving the problem he correctly diagnosed, and whether Thor was justified in trying to stop him. Both questions were rather neatly answered and swept under the rug in the finale, and Aaron didn't seem to have the confidence to fully unpack what's so messed up about the god-worshipper relationship, and whether it can be improved. Hopefully, this story was only meant to start the exploration of these questions, and I will find what I'm looking for in future volumes. Either way, I'll remember this story as something special. And Love and Thunder, as a pale imitation.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 130 reviews