Thor was pretty good. I can't say I was super stoked with how it ended in regards to Galactus and the Black Winter, mainly because I find 'MOAR POWER!!!' resolutions to be kinda boring, (I prefer characters be creative with their abilities, rather than just throw a bunch of raw power at a problem) BUT I can see how going that route can play into the themes going on, and I think i can see why it was done that way. Especially if my other speculation about Thor needing a successor that better embodies modern ideals is true. First they need to show Thor's current go-to methods for a contrast, and maybe have those methods bite him in the ass later. It may be that, in hindsight, it will become apparent that his highly aggressive and violent methods caused more problems than would have been caused by a more.... diplomatic or creative resolution. (tho, I can't say what he did at the end was not creative at all, I didn't see what he did to Galactus coming. But it was very, very violent, and all about displays of power and dominance.) The stuff about the speculation above in the spoiler tags did happen, and though a shocking scene, what I said above about it does hold true, still.

spoilers:
but one thing the spoiler from before left out, and the part i find the most interesting about the whole issue, is the final page, where we see that Thor saw this, went home and put up Galactus' head as a trophy and all that, (which might have been a potentially disturbing callback to Cates' Thanos run) but kept what he saw a secret. Even when asked directly about it, he lied and said he saw nothing but blackness. Also, Surfer came to him, showing real concern not just about what transpired and the fate of the galaxy, but for Thor as a person, on an emotional level. He was very clearly trying to get Thor to open up, not just about events, but how he felt about them, And Thor just... would not share that part. He had gone through a huge ordeal, and was clearly traumatized by the things he had experienced and seen, but would not talk about it. But unlike with Loki, he had no excuse to attack Surfer because he got a bit too close to his sad feelings. That he outright lied about what he saw is... troubling. I'm someone who also struggles with that, with not wanting to share anything emotional, and even I can see that what happened there was hugely unhealthy. And this bottling of emotions, his refusal to openly display any emotion other than anger, (even though he does clearly feel sad, and overwhelmed, and he's clearly been traumatized by his experience with Galactus and the Black Winter, he's trying to hide that from others) this façade of stoicism, strength, and dominance that he's trying to project, trying to solve everything with violence, and the need to be the baddest ass in the room... above, i kind of danced around saying it outright, even though i did have it in my mind, I know putting this label on it will be controversial with some people, but this issue cemented in my mind that it is trying to deliberately address the fact that Thor is very much embodying certain aspects of toxic masculinity. He does have concern for others, as evidenced by him evacuating the planets (except the last one) and all, and I know he means well, so i am not saying he is a bad person, but the way he's handling these situations is... probably going to cause problems both for himself and others due to his desire to appear strong and dominant in a very stereotypically masculine way.
end of spoilers

Anyway, Loki wasn't in it, unfortunately, so we have to hope what Cates said about the timeline holds true and he is in in the next few issues, i guess.

I saw a solicit for issue 9 of Thor: https://www.cbr.com/thor-9-reintrodu...ampaign=CBR-TW sadly, no mention of Loki yet again, which is frustrating. But it seems to be bringing back back Donald Blake, despite the fact that last we saw him, he was a decapitated head locked in a dream state, so it may be more of a flashback or something. And... dawned on me. Though Thor didn't exactly choose it, this was Odin's doing, it is still a pretty major difference between Thor and Loki, that Thor had this alternate identity. Though Loki has used illusions and whatnot to blend in in the past for one purpose or another, one thing he has never done is maintain a permanent secret identity. I wonder if this is yet another difference between them that might be played up, another way to illustrate how they approach the world differently.

Also, I made a couple Loki desktop wallpapers the other day, just cus, and you can download them here, if you like:

https://imgur.com/a/pjFtmKQ

I used the Olivier Coipel variant cover for Agent of Asgard, and Del Mundo's cover for Dr Strange #381