Thor Volume 1: Goddess Of Thunder

by Jason Aaron

[Quirky Cat]

The unthinkable has happened: Thor has lost his hammer, and a new Thor has stepped up to keep Midgard safe in his stead, and the most interesting part? Thor is now a she. Goddess of Thunder continues a very long story arch, starting with Thor: God of Thunder (four volumes). There are also pieces of this story in Original Sin (where it is originally shown that Thor loses his hammer). Reading these are not required to understand the basic plot, but they do flesh out the details.



Before you ask, not the new Thor's identity is not revealed in volume one, so you're going to have be a bit patient! (Or you know, just go online and read it somewhere else, because I'm not spoiling that). It's worth noting that the mask she wears is multifaceted in its protection of her identity: even Odin and all of his resources cannot figure out who she is.
We're dropped off right in the thick of things: Thor is unworthy of wielding Mjolnir and he (understandably) doesn't take that realization too well. Odin's back, and he doesn't handle this news well either (also, being the jerk he is he plans to undo basically everything the All Mother has worked to build up in his absence – more on that later). So naturally Malekith and the Frost Giants take advantage of the lack of a Mjolnir powered Thor and attack Midgard. This is where our wonderful heroine stops up to the bat.
Malekith and Agger (Roxxon CEO and professional jerk) have it out a bit in this volume, which was pretty satisfying to see. If only we could see them at each other’s throats all the time! Instead we're given Odin having a massive temper tantrum (what else could I possibly call it?). He's angry that Thor is unworthy; fuming that someone else picked up the hammer; and furious that that someone is a woman. Really reminds me of all the reasons I don't usually find myself liking Odin (Sorry to all the Odin fans out there, please don't kill me!).
On the bright side, Thor (the original, male one) handled the news of a new Thor pretty well, once he got used to the idea. In fact, it's his fault that we have such a confusing time with this whole 'Thor' business, since he gave her the name. Which totally sounds like something he would do?
What I love the most about our new Thor is that she appears to have a better understanding of physics (or at least that's my assumption) so the hammer moves very differently than anything we've ever seen before. It's amazing really. There were a lot of “girl power” hat tips as well, which I found absolutely hilarious. So if you're looking for a different twist on Thor, with a decent amount of humor, you'll enjoy this.


For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks