Thor: God of Thunder Volume 1: The God Butcher (Marvel Now)

by Jason Aaron

[inlibrisveritas]

Thor has quickly become a favorite of mine, replacing Harley Quinn at the top of my ‘must read’ list. Mind you she is still my favorite female villain ever, but I no longer feel that need to buy all of her comic books or graphic novels. I’ve been reading the older Thor comics for a while, but it wasn’t until recently that I began buying the issues in earnest.

The thing I love the most about Thor is that he doesn’t do what other superheroes do, which is mostly hang out on Earth and fight ‘normal’ supervillains. Instead he tackles what some would call weird, but thankfully the Marvel Now! run was equipped with a fantastic writer that turns weird in to a unique and stand out piece of work. The God Butcher story arc brings something new to the table. There is a mysterious shadow cloaked figure killing the Gods (or Immortals) of all the worlds and Thor himself has a target on his back. We are given three different time lines to follow, which sounds hard to keep up with but it’s actually a really awesome way to tell the full story all at once without drawing it out longer than needed. I love seeing the three different versions of Thor because they are so different yet clearly the same.

Young Thor is brash and foolish hardheaded, he rushes headlong into battles and fights like he has something to prove and in some ways he does. He doesn’t wield Mjolnir yet and he wants to live up to the standard his father has placed before him. Current Thor is as we have known him. Still brash but willing to stop and think, and is far more caring than Young Thor could ever care to be. He still harbors old wounds and is still prone to do things deemed ‘unwise’ but they are less likely to blow up in his face. Old Thor is very much like Odin…though I would dare to say not as much of a prick as Odin can be. He’s wise and both weaker & stronger. He fears very little, but those things he holds closest to his heart hold tremendous power over him.

This is definitely a series worth reading and I love the fact that I own nearly all of the single issues. I’m sad it’s run is at an end, but I still have another 6 or so issues to go before i reach the ending.