With the run now finished, here is One thread for the whole damn thing
I'll start.
So “The Mighty Thor” has finally wrapped up, which means we can discuss the series as a whole and how people feel about it.
For me, looking back to the first issues it now comes with mixed emotions.
Structurally, I think the run is pretty sound. Aaron crafts a tale with at least a fair degree of technical skill, building tension where needed and moving from one scenario and crisis to the next in a way that keeps the story moving. I looked forward each month to the next installment, which is usually a pretty good sign.
Of course, skill at storytelling is not ever going to be the final word in a comic run. How the writer sets up problems and solves them goes hand in hand with how they treat the characters, and it is this area that I think fans will be the most divided.
Aaron writes Jane Foster as an awesome hero.
Aaron writes Thor Son of Odin as far less awesome.
Right from the start, this story was about worthiness. We didn’t know who had the hammer, and the reveal of that was an integral part of the story and another area where I think Aaron did well. What we did know from the outset, however, was that Thor wasn’t worthy.
Over the course of the run, the Son of Odin has been continually confronted with that dilemma. And, sad to say from my point of view, three years later we are no closer to a resolution. The run ends as it began, with Thor unworthy to lift his hammer. Which is now even more of a problem because there is simply no hammer to lift.
This, I think, is an area that Aaron left rather underdone. We never learned within the run itself why Thor is unworthy. Oh, Aaron gave interviews spelling it out and there was the Unworthy Thor mini in which the thunderer announces that all gods are unworthy. But frankly, that last idea seems a little… off. To me anyway. Others love it, and that is their personal opinion.
And look, there is certainly ample evidence provided by Aaron that the gods are indeed unworthy. Right from the get go, in fact…
This was very early in the run, and right after Thor had lost his hammer AND his arm. His actions could perhaps be excuses in the face of multiple trauma’s. Sadly this was not the only time his motivations were questionable. It was a recurring theme, and as stated above Aaron’s decision as the writer is that he [Thor] finishes unworthy still. Not really hard to believe when we had scenes like much later and just after Jane was revealed to him as the new hammer bearer.
Thor cheated on Jane and blamed her not telling him about having the hammer as an act of revenge.
Ouch.
The thing is, all the gods in this run come across pretty badly. At least, all the male gods. Thor is petty, Cul is slimy, and Odin is a flat out ass-hat until the very last issue. In fact you’d struggle to find a single male character in the book who spends most of the time acting with intelligence or a consistently decent moral compass.
Which brings us to another recurring theme in the book, and one where I think Aaron gets a little heavy handed. The girl power theme.
I have read Wonder Woman for years and certainly appreciate decently written female leads. I was very impressed by the Fearless Defenders and the recent Spider-Woman series. But I am always wary of when the writer starts writing his female leads as strong by showing the males as weak, and here I think Aaron loses me and maybe others.
At first, it was just all the Marvel women turning up to help Jane fight the Destroyer when Cul sent it to get Mjolnir back [with the Son of Odin there as well backing her up.] But as the run went on the guys just seemed to be sooooooo incompetent. Thor himself struggles to get anything right – in fact he never succeeds in a single task he sets for himself until the very last issue [where he helps bring Jane back to life]. And of course you could say that the story is about Jane/Thor, but I think if you are going to use legacy characters like the original Thor then maybe there is an understanding that you throw them some kind of bone. Jane’s final words to him in the last issue are to say he can be Thor without Mjolnir, but you would sure as hell never know it from the last 30+ issues.
And then of course there was the whole thing were Titania surrendered to Jane JUST because she was a female hero [after, as many noted, she helped a bunch of guys beat She-Hulk almost to death in one of her first appearances]. She ever mentions it will be good to spend some time in jail to help her boyfriend Krusher Kreel with his ‘wandering eye’. Imagine that – Thor and the Absorbing Man have the same character deficit when it comes to being faithful.
Double ouch.
I mentioned at the start of this that Aaron writes Jane as awesome. Her certainly does. Maybe, in fact, a little too awesome. Looking back from the very beginning, Jane has few to no flaws. She is always pretty reasonable and level headed compare to the stubborn idiocy of Thor and Odin. She is unfailingly compassionate, unflinchingly brave, and very early on states she has no doubts about her role. In fact, with no experience at all she wields Mjolnir with the skill of one who has carried it for centuries and even has it display some new powers.
And maybe this is why the other characters around her have to be so laden with problems. Because Jane simply has none. The only thing she struggles with is her terminal cancer every time she turns back into a mortal, and that is only a problem because she keeps rushing off as Thor to save lives. Hardly what you would call a flaw. Simply put, Aaron writes Jane as a paragon. She is out-thought tactically by Malekith of course, because he has to be a credible villain, but in her entire time with the hammer I can’t think of a single questionable decision or time when she did something she regretted. Maybe not telling Thor she had his hammer, but he is such a dick about it when he finds out one can hardly blame her.
So where does that leave us? Well, Aaron will continue writing Thor in the next series, staring the actual Thor. Presumably he will, at some point, be worthy again. Jane is still alive and we may see her with a hammer in the future as well. Hopefully by the time that happens she and Thor will be able to stand side by side again as true equals.
My own final opinion – I was happy for most of the run but disappointed at the end. Some will say it’s because it was not the story I wanted to read. To which I can only say, with all respect, “Obviously.” While I like Jane I didn’t enjoy seeing Thor get trashed over and over and really was hoping for more growth for him as a character, and for him to actually BE Thor again, without her having to leave the book for that to happen.
Overall - I give it a 7.5 out of 10. Individually some great issues and the whole thing hangs together, but at a lot of expense to of some of my fave characters. I would actually give a 6.5 but the incredible art lifts it. Russell Dauterman did a magnificent job on each and every cover and issue he worked on.
People's feelings about the run will vary, naturally.