Book Review: Thor, Vol. 2: J. Michael Straczynski, Marko Djurdjevic, Olivier Coipel: Books
Book Review: Thor, Vol. 2: J. Michael Straczynski, Marko Djurdjevic, Olivier Coipel: Books
JMS’ Thor run continues, and continues to be very enjoyable.,
By S. Curley (Charlottetown, PE, Canada) -
J. Michael Strackzynski’s first six issues on “Thor” featured the return of the Norse god and his people from the abyss into which they had entered following Ragnarok. It was a story high on mythic resonance and beautifully illustrated, but low on action and, I argued in my review, somewhat too slowly paced. With the setup out of the way, Volume 2 collects issues #7-12 and the renumbered #600 (an anniversary achieved by adding the numbers of this and the previous two volumes of “Thor” comics together), all written by Stracynski (save some of the anniversary material) and illustrated primarily by Olivier Coipel and Marko Djurdjevic. Some spoilers follow.
When examining the strengths of this volume compared to the previous one, the first thing worth noticing is the increased variance in the stories told. The first volume often seemed to be replaying the same conversation over and over again. The volume opens with a Djurdjevic-illustrated two-parter that sees Thor, having expended most of his power in the previous story, entering the Odinsleep (now the “Thorsleep”) in order to rejuvenate himself. There he encounters the spirit of his father Odin, and learns of the fate of the demon Surtur, and some important information about Odin’s own early life (which will be revisited later). Following that, issues 9-12 cover a variety of stories, including an issue primarily from Balder’s perspective, an issue from Loki’s, and a poignant commemoration of the death of Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, Thor’s close friend.
Of these stories, #11 and 12 merit close consideration. The former, the Rogers anniversary issue, contains some of Strackzysnki’s best writing, in the scene in which Thor succeeds in summoning the spirit of his deceased comrade (Coipel’s rendering of this scene is brilliant). At the same time, the point that JMS seeks to communicate here, namely, that Captain America should not be a politicized concept or used as a cudgel to lobby for one side, while a good idea in principle, also represents a colossal act of chutzpah on the part of the writer. Any follower of JMS’ Marvel work will know that he was the prime mover behind turning “Civil War” into evil Bush-fascist Iron Man vs. saintly liberal-Democrat Captain America. Perhaps this could be read as his mea culpa, I suppose. The latter issue, as Loki time-travels into the past to insure his own future, reminded me strongly of a similar episode of “Gargoyles”, and has some very strong sequences, though only time will tell whether the serious rewrite of Loki’s historic motivations here will be considered a good thing (JMS essentially removes the idea that Loki and Thor’s falling-out was a slow, natural process; Loki is now rotten from the start).
Finally, there is the big one: #600. Loki’s scheming comes to a head, and, without going too much into detail, it is only fitting that it is this point that the book enters the realm of the “Dark Reign” currently featured in the Marvel Universe. My main complaint about this story is, simply, how stupid it makes Thor and Balder look. Whatever excuses you wish to make of them, they more or less stood around while Loki assembled the deathray in front of them, all the while occasionally telling Loki that they were watching her. For a writer best known for his subtle depictions of human emotional states, Loki’s entire storyline possesses all the finesse of a sledgehammer hitting an eggshell.
Looking over this review, one might think I have a lower opinion of this series than I do, but I offer these criticisms in the spirit of JMS’ series, which positions itself as a very intellectual story. I couldn’t rate it any lower than 4 stars (and there is no sequence anywhere near as awful as the Iron Man fight in Volume 1), but I don’t feel it sufficiently meets its own goals to the extent of earning five. Recommended, nonetheless.
Straczynski and Coipel have done it again!,
By Jacob M. Lagory -
I’ll begin by saying that if Amazon allowed us to make half-star ratings, I would be giving this book 4.5 stars rather than 5, for reasons I will get to later.
In this second volume of Straczynski’s run on Thor, we see even more character development and even more beautiful artwork by Olivier Coipel. This time around, Marko Djurdjevic fills in on art duties for 2 chapters. Djurdjevic’s art fits nicely into the series, creating a grittier visual experience when compared to Coipel’s cleaner, more refined art. The art here never misses a beat. The battle scenes, settings, character expressions, and dialogs are wonderfully depicted.
While the first volume of this title dealt with Thor’s rebirth and the recreation of Asgard, this book delves more into the history and politics of Asgard, Thor’s royal lineage, and Loki’s scheming. As the book progresses, we get a truer sense of Loki in his/her new form, and we find out for sure where his/her intentions lie. It’s a load of fun to sit back as this villian is slowly established. Because of the shift in focus, Thor himself takes a back stage to much of the plot, but the story never suffers.
Compared to the last volume, this one has much more action. We see wonderfully rendered battles on snowy plains between the noble Asgardians and their enemies, the brutal frost giants. The final chapter (Thor #600) shows an intense urban battle between Thor and his grandfather Bor, and Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers make an appearance as well. This reminds us that this wonderful fantasy story takes place within the Marvel Universe with superheroes and all. In fact, this juxtaposition is one thing that makes the story work as well as it does. On one hand, we see epic struggles between the Gods, but on the other, we see classic superhero battles and Thor’s mortal host Dr. Donald Blake (sort of like a secret identity, only they share a body and not a mind) going about trying to make connections with people from his past.
My only complaint about the book is when Thor visits the grave of Captain America on the anniversary of his death. Cap’s ghost is summoned and a dialogue ensues between the two former Avengers. The problem with this event is that 1.) nothing that was said is really relevant to Thor, and 2.) The anniversary of Cap’s death is officially happening in the upcoming 600th issue of Captain America. Continuity errors are almost guaranteed to happen, and it’s a shame because this scene of the book is one of the low points in the Thor series as a whole, and could easily never have happened. But it’s a minor nitpick and I’m willing to let it slide.
So definitely pick this book up and try to get caught up with the Thor series. It’s truly one of Marvel’s best books right now, and it may only be a matter of time until writer Straczynski moves on to other projects.
HItler would have been pleased.,
By lakeqi -
Did this book say that Odin created human life on earth? Maybe I misread that part but if its true then thats not only quite blasphemous even for a fantasy book, but it would also have some very serious implications regarding Hitlerian theories of Nordic supremacy. Of course most people would scoff at this take because deep down they might have some unexplored sympathies themselves. Second of all the idea that Loki can go back in time and have such a dramatic effect on the history of his own creation and the creation and history of the world itself is beyond absurd. Its a literary cop out at the core of the story. Maybe quantum mechanics has excused such stories,I’m not expert enough to know, but if this is Quantum physics then give me Newton any day of the the week. The final episode of Start Trek TNG also had some interesting ideas on the backward travel of time, but in this story we are asked just to assume that such things are possible and all that it takes is for Hela to send one back in time. Knowing how many other characters are capable of time travel, means that the past is perpetually at the mercy of the future in ways that make every story beyond meaningless. Existence is quite absurd its true, but this story is not strong enough to be tampering with the nature of reality in the way that it did. Otherwise it was an enjoyable read, I just think that by now this genre of writing should be past such foolish, unsophisticated, hackneyed, and casual uses of time travel.
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