Bam Smack Pow
Fansided

Marvel Pick Of The Week – July 29, 2015 [SPOILERS]

By Matt Conner

facebooktwitterreddit

Pick Of The Week:

Thors 2, by Jason Aaron, Chris Sprouse, and Goran Sudzuka

Thors 1 won Pick Of The Week last month for the gripping blend of Marvel’s rich history and Jason Aaron’s adept approach to the police procedural. In particular, I loved the way he used well-known or exciting new versions of Thor to populate the required tropes, like the grouchy forensic specialist or the tough captain. This issue leaves some of the beautiful character work to talk about the Thors as a police unit, and Aaron proves he is just as good at this.

At the end of the last issue, Loki told Beta Ray Thor that the dead bodies the group has been finding are all versions of Jane Foster, but then the beloved alien was killed. This issue opens with the Thors holding a funeral for one of their own at Valhalla’s Mead Hall in Manhattan. The combination of the dramatic Asgardian armor variants with an otherwise normal bar would usually be played for comedy, but under these pencils, everything has an appropriate somber gravity. Riled up by grief and a fear they won’t admit, the Thors head out to the rougher parts of Battleworld to beat up Hulks, vampires, zombies, and Ultron robots. Again, this scene could have been drawn as the heroism of this group as they seek vengeance, but instead, it’s a frightening depiction of an overpowered bunch of hotheads hitting because they can. This book has nailed every step along the tightrope between We Should Respect The Noble Thors and The Thors Have Too Much Unregulated Power. I don’t think Jason Aaron could have predicted the recent violence connected to the military and police in this country, but his comic beautifully explores the complexity of the national response to this. We love our Thors, we need our Thors, but our Thors make mistakes, and we fear them.

The final act of the book is a fight scene between Chris Hemsworth Thor and axe-wielding unworthy Lord Thunderbritches Odinson where Odinson drops hints that the Jane Foster female Thor we’ve fallen in love with in Jason Aaron’s Thor run is closely tied to these murders, either as killer or target. It’s a consistent presentation of each Thor from his own home book, but the interaction makes each of them more interesting than he’s ever been on his own, and I pray to whichever Asgardian handles Marvel editorial that they both join Jane Foster’s Thor in the post-Wars Marvel landscape.

There are few books out there that can showcase a writer’s love for comic books, crime writing, and social justice. Jason Aaron is turning out his best work by deftly balancing the three parts of this series. It’s one of the best parts of the entire summer crossover, and it should go on everyone’s pull list.

Honorable Mentions:

Age Of Ultron Vs. Marvel Zombies 2, because this 1602 version of the Punisher chopping up a bunch of zombies warms my fanboy heart.

Daredevil 17, because even though it breaks my cosplay-loving heart to lose Daredevil’s red three-piece suit, the panel of the switch is undeniably bad-ass.

Check out previous Picks here!

More from Bam Smack Pow

Home/Comics