Thor: God of Thunder #5 Review

Thor continues to chase after the powerful and elusive God Butcher, Gorr, as this series just continues to deliver the goods.

Thor: God of Thunder #5

Gorr, travels throughout space and time murdering the gods of every civilization in an effort to gain revenge against the gods he once turned to who never came when he needed them most.  His latest stop, thanks to the time travel abilities at the Palace of Infinity, is one of the very earliest of gods from 14 billion years ago.  After taking this godling’s heart he brings it back to the librarian of Chronux.  Gorr is interrupted by Thor, naturally, and the two fight viciously until Gorr is able to slip into the future.  When Thor follows, he finds himself partnered with his older self, and 900 years too late to stop Gorr.

This is a very intricate, but very well written story from Jason Aaron.  It’s the type of story that if someone were to come to you and ask you about what’s going on in the new Thor book, you’d pretty much just need to hand that person these five issues.  It is so detailed and makes use of over two thousand years as its canvas to tell this story that you could never adequately tell another person about it.  They’d just have to read it for themselves.

And that’s exactly what a good story should be like.  It shouldn’t always be summed up in just a sentence or two.  Even stories like Star Wars with its simplicity have deeper levels of humanity, theology, and good vs. evil.  Right up front in this story we have the three different versions of Thor with different levels of power, bravery, intellect, and maturity.  Take a part the story and build three stories comprised entirely of each time frame and you’d still have pretty complete stories.  The young Thor grows up a little.  The present day Thor is at the height of his selflessness.  The future Thor is a tired, old man reigning in a virtual hell.  Aaron really excels at this building of these three distinct versions of Thor.

However, it’s the God Butcher, Gorr, that steals the show.  First, I love the name “Gorr”.  It’s very reminiscent of the monsters created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.  Those monsters were most commonly seen in Journey Into Mystery, which, of course, was where Thor first appeared.  Gorr is a true test for Thor.  While reading this first arc, I have to admit I have no idea how Thor is going to win.  It was then that I something occurred to me.  Gorr has been infected by Thor.

What I mean by that is that Thor’s heroism against the beast has impressed him.  So now he’s acting like him in some ways.  Case in point, his black berserkers are derived straight from the vikings who called themselves the Berserkers when they freed the young Thor from Gorr in the 10th century.  (It’s implied, maybe, that the black berserkers are indeed the vikings themselves, but if someone could clear that up, I’d appreciate it.)  So, these people who worshiped Thor are now the basis of Gorr having help in his deicidal plans.  On top of that, Gorr’s presence in Chronux appears to be part of a plan to give him a world of his own to play with…  As a god himself?  I could be way off base, but I think the only way for Thor to win this is for Gorr to need to realize he’s become the very thing he sought to kill, a god.

I admit…my ideas have made my head hurt, so please, feel free to tell me I’m crazy or give me some of your own thoughts on what the next arc will bring.

Esad Ribic’s art on this series, thus far, has been stellar.  His figures are perfect and his ability to be able to easily bounce from one era to another is amazing.  On top of that he’s getting a great deal of help from Ive Svorcina’s colors.  This is a visually stunning book that is every bit as interesting to look at as it is to read and discuss.

Together, the art and story of Thor: God of Thunder might just be the most innovative and the very best of the new Marvel NOW! launches.

Tags: Jason Aaron Marvel NOW! Slider Thor