Giant Size Thor Finale Review

Giant Size Thor Finale

Giant Size Thor Finale doesn’t mark the end of the Thor series, but it does mark the end of a fantastic run by J. Michael Staczynski and a budding love between two of the supporting characters of the series.

In the last issue, Bill, a resident of the Oklahoma town that Asgard hovered outside (and above) of, stumbled upon three Asgardians who were in cahoots with Loki and Dr. Doom.  After overhearing of the atrocities being performed on the Asgardians, Bill took on the trio with disasterous results.

Now, bloodied and dying, Bill lies in the Latverian snow as Balder, the present Lord of Asgard, arrives to find out what has happened.  The three villains claim he was enraged and they did all they could to subdue him without lethal force.  However, when Bill whispers to Balder what he has seen and heard, Balder takes on and kills the three villains.  With his dying breath, Bill tells Balder to tell Kelda, the Asgardian girl he has fallen in love with, that he loves her and make sure she knows that to be truth.

Meanwhile, in Oklahoma, Doombots are dispatched to kill Don Blake, but they must be able to do so before he is made aware or he will be able to turn into Thor and, essentially, be unbeatable.  Fortunately for him, Sif and the Warriors Three are there to put up enough of a fight so that Blake can transform and turn the tide.  Thor is unable to gather information about the origin of the Doombots, but after having his clothing burned away by the Doombots weapons, we learn that Volstagg has earned the nickname “the Mighty” for more than his fighting prowess.  Sif finds herself unable to tear her eyes away from whatever it is that has earned him his nickname.  I wonder…  Whatever could she be looking at?  She’s looking down, so does he have big feet?  It can’t be his tummy because you can clearly see that through his outfit.  Maybe he has some really gnarly knee or something from a long ago battle.  Whatever she’s looking at, it certainly is mighty.

Back in Latveria, Kelda learns of Bill’s death and is overrun with pain that manifests in wrath.  She vows to be the one who finally puts an end to Loki’s evil deeds once and for all.  Unfortunately, the preview of issue #604 offered by Marvel that follows the end of this story doesn’t look to be very kind to Kelda when she gets to Doom’s castle.

Next week, Thor’s new creative team of Kieron Gillen and Billy Tan will be leading this tale to the ultimate conclusion and through the Siege tie ins.  They have very large shoes to fill.  Straczynski has built a new legacy around Thor that hasn’t been seen since the 1980s.  I’ve always loved the Thor series.  I especially loved Walt Simonson’s run and the run in the late 1990s that started with the Heroes Return period, but this is a new direction for the God of Thunder and it has been everything I had hoped for from the man who made Spider-Man interesting again and doesn’t seem to know how to strike out with a character.

On the art side, Marko Djurdjevic is a spectacular artist.  His pencils are impactful and emotional.  He is best known for his character designs and cover work.  So, I’m betting we’ll be seeing more of him, but we might not see him do quite the same amount of work as he did with this book.  I still hope to see him work on another book like this so he can showcase his his talents.

(Image courtesy of Marvel Comics.)