Today we look at adjective-less Thor 620.1. First off, I like Thor. I had never really read Thor comics as A kid. Only really reading the Spider-man and X-men books. I also did not read the Avengers books. So I was only tentatively aware of what the character was about.However when I started really reading comic books again and then dipped back into the super hero stuff, I picked up a trade paperback that introduced me to Thor properly. Thor had been gone for a while. Marvel had been resting the character and presumably looking for someone interesting to relaunch him. J. Michael Straczynski was that someone.
JMS (for short) is known as the creator of "Babylon 5", and had just finished a long run on "The Amazing Spider-man". JMS reintroduced Thor to both the Marvel universe and to many new readers like myself, his engaging, exciting and down right funny comic books drew you in from issue one and never let you go. You cared about these characters with in pages of being introduced to them. I did not even know who the Warriors Three were at the time, but I liked and rooted for them all before they even showed themselves.
That is how I was introduced to Thor. I was likely not the only one, because a short number of years later Thor was the center of a, and now another big crossover, he has also had a big and successful Hollywood movie produced. Not bad for something considered one of Marvel's hardest properties to adapt. And it really shows you that he has broken into the mainstream when my grandmother can tell you more about the character now then I could 5 years ago.
So with the movie on the horizon, and multiple Thor titles coming out it is no surprise that Thor got a .1 issue. Like the others this issue was designed especially to introduce new readers to the title and catch them up. As such it is a done in one (as they say) issue, meaning it features a self contained story.
Okay so on to the comic.
The cover is, kind of 'meh'. We see Thor, standing and summoning lightning and he looks pretty serious but that is it. What this cover does do is it tells you exactly who is the star in this book, I suppose if you wandered into a comic store after watching "Thor" you'd have no trouble recognizing him. As opposed to lets say if it featured a Thor villain or supporting cast.
On the first page we are introduced to a pair of local town folks from Broxton they appear to be driving to Asgard. From their conversation we learn Asgard is having a party, and they are relieved since the large order of beer the party goers have asked for will help their business.
So this is really the part where it goes down hill, yes it goes down hill on page 1. There is a lot of exposition on this page, which is fine and expected in this kind of book, Unfortunately the writer does not take the chance to explain to the reader why Asgard is in Oklahoma, or why Asgard is in ruins, We only get a single line to this regard. "Strange things have been happening in these parts since they came to live here." That is it, have fun with it kid you are up to speed. Right?
Imagine your only knowledge of Thor is from the recent movie and you paid your $2.99 because you heard the '.1' issues were good jumping on points and then you read this page. You would already be lost by page 1. Or hell if you haven't read a comic book in years, or this is your first Marvel book, or any number of other scenarios. Oh, by the way,
THERE IS NO RECAP PAGE!
There is no recap page in a book designed to bring new readers up to speed. Hell there isn't even a page with the character names on it. I know who Balder is, I know why Balder is king instead of Odin or Thor, but a new reader does not. All it takes is a line of clever dialog or a basic recap page.
There is a dozen ways to resolve these problems, hell slightly more dialog would of done it. Look I will give you a line Marvel, for free. "Strange things have been happening here since Thor brought his city and his people to Oklahoma... and now after it came down during during that Siege* by Osborn... well folks don't know what to make of it" *(Editor note: these events happened in Siege 1-4)
Then the second man can follow up with the bit about being glad they ordered so much brew. Don't be afraid of the canon and don't hide it, If you make the story good then that same new reader will find himself buying a 'Siege' trade paperback in the future to catch up. Leave them wanting more, don't leave them confused.
Hell, some of the best parts of the JMS run and the recent run on Thor is the interaction between the towns folk and the gods. It is down right heart warming how friendly these two very different groups of people are to each other. When people warm your heart you then you care about them, and when you care you pick up the next issue. That is the point right? Why fuck up this opening scene this bad? An outsider going to Asgard is such a perfect time to use him as the audience surrogate, use him as a device for exposition to catch the reader up, and a wonderful time to bring some of that previous chemistry that made the series so popular.
Let us move on, There is a party at Asgard, in honor of Thor himself. We see a neat framing device where the characters sing the praises of Thor, the reader sees some cool flash backs. They are vague though. It is more more like the writer is just showcasing the many exciting adventures of Thor, instead of introducing the mythos proper. I can't fault it to much though as the art is good here, and the scenes are genuinely exciting.
Edit: You know what would of been good? A backup feature showing this photo numbered with a list of the comics the scenes take place in.
Next a rock giant appears and introduces him self to Balder, he claims to have a gift for Balder in honor of Thor. He unveils a large item behind him and we see Thor turned into stone, no wait, it is a statue of Thor he says.
Yeah so... he is about as convincing as my 4 year old niece is when she tells me that her grandma said she could eat candy and 'princess cake' for dinner. However Balder the shining light of Asgard and every other Asgardian in attendance including the Warriors Three and Sif falls for it and then compliments him on the nice Thor statue. They then invite him to feast with them. Balder turns around only to discover between panels the stranger has turned every other Asgardian into stone. I guess the rock giant ran around the room patting them on the head real fast while repeating, "Duck, Duck, Goose."
The mysterious new villain turns out to be... duh duh DUH! Grey Gargoyle, in disguise. He is a Frenchmen who turns shit to stone by touching it. He used to fight Thor before he went into a less suicidal line of work, such as harassing Iron Man. Apparently here he has defeated Thor by tricking him into getting close and touching him. We learn his evil plan, oh and he can only turn the Asgardians to stone for an hour. I guess he kept Thor on ice, err stone by touching him repeatedly.... Touched repeatedly by a frenchmen as he drove him from Alaska to Oklahoma.
But hey don't worry apparently Thor gets out of the stone by, well basically by being Thor. He confronts Grey Gargoyle and has a rough time with him (maybe his foot was asleep or something?) but he finally managed to defeat GG via some cleverness. Which is actually a nice change of pace.
(Grey Gargoyle offers to get Sif stoned)
GG then runs away from two guards, Agardian mooks really, even though he just held his own against Thor. Which strikes me as being a little bit like fighting Superman to a standstill and then running away from Robin and Batgirl.
Grey Gargoyle does get away (he has an appearance to make in Fear Itself, I guess he's trying to shake of years of villain decay lately) and our story concludes. We don't get a preview of upcoming story arcs or anything like that in a few of these books.
Another issue here is Adjective-less Thor changed it's title (again) back to Journey into Mystery starting at 622, with a completely different creative time. And a new Thor title launched at the same time called The Mighty Thor. Which seems confusing for someone who picked up this 620.1 hoping to get into this comic book.
Overall this is an okay Thor story but it does a shitty job introducing new fans to Thor, to the mythology of the character, to it's supporting cast, and does nothing to excite you about the future of the series. If you want to get into Thor pick up JMS's Thor vol 1 trade paperback, or pick up Journey into Mystery 622, and The Mighty Thor, all do a much better job and introducing the character and concepts then this book.
I will let Balder have the last word on this one.
Up next Invincible Iron man 500.1
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