Thor No. 11 review: Freyja believes that Thor is worthy

The War of the Realms looms, and Thor searches for one weapon that he believes can turn the tide of the war when it arrives: Mjolnir.

The past several issues of Thor, minus one, have served pretty much entirely as set-up for The War of the Realms. It makes sense because this is the culmination of Jason Aaron’s run on Thor, and every piece needs to be aligned when the story is finally being told. But it has been slightly frustrating not getting a whole story arc or even focusing on Thor in several issues. This is definitely not the case though because this issue feels like true set-up for The War of the Realms from a character, story, and emotional standpoint.

Jason Aaron excels at crafting intricate and emotional character backstories and adding to their mythology in new and inventive ways, which is exactly what he’s done with his run on Thor. This issue very much feels like the beginning of the end of his work on the character in that respect because this issue focuses on how Thor continues to view himself as unworthy, which stems all the way back to “The God Butcher.” To see Thor as he is in the issue reminds you that he’s still broken, still longing for what he once was, even though everyone around him still sees him as that.

Bringing in Freyja to talk with Thor and tell him exactly what he needs to hear, even though he doesn’t want to hear it, was so smart. Thor and Freyja have had a great relationship for a while in the comics, way better than Thor and Odin, and she sees what is truly in him, not what he believes himself to be. This is pretty obvious set-up for Thor eventually summoning Mjolnir and becoming worthy again toward the culmination of The War of the Realms, but that doesn’t make the emotional resonance any less powerful.

Image by Marvel Comics/Art by Lee Garbett

This issue also does some solid set-up as to where each of the main players to follow are in their lives, such as Jane Foster, Volstagg, Sif, and Loki, and how they may continue to play into the war. This issue is pretty much saying these characters and their stories haven’t been forgotten, and they will matter moving forward, so hopefully that’s the case.

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Lee Garbett’s art in this issue has a very different feeling than the rest of the series though. He has a much more realistic style than Mike Del Mundo does, so it’s a bit jarring to go from Del Mundo to Garbett. However, this may have been intentional because the style feels like an in-between on Del Mundo and Russell Dauterman, who is the artist on The War of the Realms. So it’s almost like a transitionary issue.

Garbett does a good job with this issue though and really does a solid job at displaying Thor and his power levels. Much of this issue visually cares more about the action than reaction, and Garbett does a great job of conveying that with his art.

7.9/10 

The War of the Realms is about to begin, and Thor is all but ready to begin to fight it and defeat Malekith.