The Mighty Thor #12 Review

The Mighty Thor is back and he’s got a score to settle with Tanarus!

The Mighty Thor #12

In the place outside time and space where the Demogorge lives and puts an end to Gods and Goddesses who have perished, Thor is literally striking at the beast’s heart.  Finally, a deathblow is delivered freeing him and his two companions from the belly of the Demogorge.  In Asgardia, the trolls are attacking to destroy the new home of the residents of the Nine Realms.  Ulik has been outed and as he’s about to kill Heimdall, lightning strikes from the sky, heralding the return of Thor.  Suddenly, all those who had seemingly forgotten that Thor ever existed remember his true place.  The tides quickly turn and Thor puts Ulik down.  When Karnilla arrives to take matters into her own hands, Freya runs her through.  The All-Mother imprison Ulik and Karnilla inside a crystal skull.  As Loki finishes up the story of what transpired, one child asks about the fate of Kelda.  We learn that she was indeed killed, but she was sent to Valhalla to spend eternity with her lover, Bill.

This is a pretty solid conclusion to a pretty solid story arc.  It puts a nice bow on not just the Matt Fraction era since he took over Thor, but also a storyline started during the J. Michael Straczynski run.  Everything from Loki’s true affection for his big brother to the Fear Itself epilogue to the beginning of a new Asgard as run by the All Mother is played out.  It certainly sets a tone for what’s to come.

It might sound weird in a discussion about The Mighty Thor, but the end of this book was really nice.  Loki is regaling children about how Thor, the biggest hero of the Asgardians, returned to memory.  It really showed that while Loki can be cantankerous and not entirely trustworthy, but that he really is on the side of good.  In some ways, it’s a relief because Thor fans don’t have to be saddled with the idea that Loki will always be around plotting and planning.  I mean, really, what more plans can Loki be planning in the shadows and around corners of every building and structure in Asgardia?  It gives this series an entertaining supporting character and Journey Into Mystery one of my favorite lead characters in any comic.  Moreover, I’m glad that the Kelda/Bill story is complete.  I’m not tired of it, but it was getting to a point that you either needed to find a way to bring Bill back or have Kelda continue to get stranger and stranger of a character.  What we got was definitely a sweet ending to that story.

While Giuseppe Camuncoli’s breakdowns and Klaus Janson’s finishes are pretty good and almost evoke a Jack Kirby style, one thing that tends to bother me more than anything else is when a book that is a part of an arc is drawn by another artist or team than who started the arc or had been a part of the ark for more than half of the overall story.  I can’t speak to why neither Pasqual Ferry or Pepe Larraz weren’t on art duty for this issue, but I can speak that most people prefer entire arcs have a unified look to them.  Frank D’Armata’s colors help unify the look of each issue well enough, but having the final part of an arc, an arc that had already seen two artists’ work featured before this fifth part, feature neither of the previous artists is a bit frustrating from a reader standpoint.  Whether it was Larraz, Ferry, or the Camuncoli/Janson team doing the art, I’d much rather have one common artist through an entire arc.  Perhaps this is something the editor for this title should take into consideration.

From here, it looks like Thor will have a quick .1 pit stop before appearing to bring the Enchantress back into the fold for a new arc.  I’m pretty excited to see what the book has in store in the months to come!

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Tags: Matt Fraction Thor