Thor #1 spoilers

[Hypestyle]

...So is it Donna Blake?

[jphamlore]

My candidate for who can wield magic strong enough to defeat even Odin's power is alternate future Loki. We have already seen in Remender's work how someone with knowledge of the future can enchant an axe to be powerful enough to kill Celestials, a feat that Odin was unable to muster on his own. Think of what Loki did as knowing the password to Mjolnir using future knowledge, giving this password to Nick Fury, then changing the password to Mjolnir for his own purposes.

Somewhat in parallel with the Thor movieverse, I think alternate future Loki is manipulating Jane Foster with the goal of making it appear as if only he can prevent the forces of Malekith from winning, guaranteeing the future that alternate Loki wants.

[Rage.Of.Olympus]

My candidate for who can wield magic strong enough to defeat even Odin's power is alternate future Loki. We have already seen in Remender's work how someone with knowledge of the future can enchant an axe to be powerful enough to kill Celestials, a feat that Odin was unable to muster on his own. Think of what Loki did as knowing the password to Mjolnir using future knowledge, giving this password to Nick Fury, then changing the password to Mjolnir for his own purposes.

Somewhat in parallel with the Thor movieverse, I think alternate future Loki is manipulating Jane Foster with the goal of making it appear as if only he can prevent the forces of Malekith from winning, guaranteeing the future that alternate Loki wants.

How would Loki be anywhere near powerful enough to circumvent Odin's magic, especially one as powerful as the spell on Mjolnir? Did he get his hands on the Infinity Gauntlet or something? No, that's not it. The Celestial Axe was actually enchanted by a spell that Odin created and was sealed by his blood. He just chose not to use it.

Also that explanation makes no sense. A password? It's a mystic hammer, one powered by Odin himself. I can't imagine what reasoning could be given for this and a few words making Thor unworthy that doesn't come off as convoluted and idiotic in the face of past continuity.

He's literally shown complete control over the hammer:
Thor_338-05.jpgThor_338-06.jpgfear-itself-01-35-36.jpg

That scene spits in the face of all known comic history and just plain common sense.

Also what's up the horrible portrayal of Odin and his character? Where is the wise ruler of Asgard? Why is he a large petulant baby here that just throws a pointless tantrum without any good? Also his disrespect towards Frigga is just weird. So is her audacity to challenge his authority to his throne. The Odin Force is literally the life blood of every Asgardian and also the entire Nine Worlds. It's like the Pope talking back to God or something. I can't even take it seriously.

[lcg16]

Thor had to spend 10 years doing good deeds as Donald Blake before he was deemed worthy and given the mental push by Odin to go to Norway to reclaim Mjolnir/find the cane so for 10 years he was deemed unworthy.

I thought Marvel envisioned Ragnarok as a cycle that happened over and over to the Asgardians every once in a while (a cycle finally broken by Thor in the Ragnarok storyline itself in the 2000s or something?)

So previous to that, Thor basically went through cycles of unworthiness and worthiness, with being cast out as Donald Blake being the last and latest one. (I think, before that, in the cycle previous, he was cast out as Siegfried or something...)

And I mostly buy Malekith as Thor being absolutely week...plus an attempt to pull something in from the movieverse too, lol.

I'm more annoyed the new Thor doesn't...actually...do anything...in the issue. Bloody letdown, heh. Also, I like the previous mention that the Whisper might be about Balder.

[ImprobableQuestion]

Well that's another shock after Onslaught, that Odin couldn't lift the hammer. We are seeing here something outside the realm of the Asgardians. Has Fury discovered what science the Asgardians are using and can circumnavigate it? And is that why Fury doesn't have any fear of the Asgardian gods? It would put a whole new light on the Unseen if that was the case. It would mean that behind the scenes, Fury had the number that could nullify every being he ever came in contact with. Not the Watcher maybe, because Fury didn't know what they were right up to the time he worked out all the Watchers knowledge was in his eyes.

As Man on the Wall, Fury fought threats from across time, space, and the multiverse. If anyone could find a way to circumvent the hammer's spell, it 's him.

And the thing about Odin's inability to lift the hammer not making any sense, he agrees with you! In story it makes no sense, which means that something is afoot, not thatbJason Aaron is "spitting in the face of history."

[ImprobableQuestion]

It's Malekith + Frost Giants (of the made-of-flesh kind, not the made of ice, but I digress).

He's outnumbered and outmatched, and already tired from weeks of trying to lift Mjolnir with ALL of his might. It's plausible, taking the Odinson to a new low. And the axe is no slouch, either. It's Jarnbjorn, a powerful weapon capable of mortally killing Celestials. Why Malekith tossed it aside... ya got me.

While Malekith disarming (pun intended) Thor feels cheap and... insignificant (should be at least a splash page), it's a better read than the gruesome act that I thought might happen.... Thor tying his arm to Mjolnir with the straps that bind Mjolnir and pulling and.....

Anyhow, the deed is done.

It leaves a few questions....

Does the Odinson still command the wind and storms?

What kind of enchantment can stop Odin? I know only of Bor (Odin's father) or Buri (Odin's grandfather) being the only ones who could do such a thing...

He should have the same level of control as Young Thor, which was fairly formidable. I think he should maybe have a sandwich or something before he tries though.

[toddx77]

At first I was skeptical because this felt like pandering for the next 8 months and while it does still feel a little like that I did enjoy this issue and the direction looks interesting. It seems like Aaron is going towards that Asgard being under a patriarchy rule hasn't had the best results so now Asgard and the power of Thor will have a matriarchal rule instead. Looks to be interesting and I feel like this was partly done to make her a bit similar to Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman comes from an island only of women and now Thorina gets the power of Thor while Asgard has a woman as its ruler.

[jphamlore]

I have a feeling Jason Aaron will be able to tell fans he told them in plain sight who was the cause of the current problems for Thor Odinson. Didn't future King Thor tell current Thor to kill his brother Loki? King Thor wasn't kidding.

[Cryptid]

Must admit that I'm surprised how much the enchantment is bothering people so much. It's not so hard to believe that Odin worked some kind of accidental monkey's paw into the spell that is thwarting him now, or that his return has changed the status of things in a way we have yet to understand. The whisper seemed a little cheap to me -- I was expecting Thor to commit some last-ditch deed that saved the day but lost him the hammer -- but the Odin didn't flag my attention as a big thing.

So what do you folks think of Russell Dauterman? It was hard to imagine this book without Esad Ribic, but the art this week did kind of a brilliant job of balancing between big drama and cartoonish humor. The image of Thor riding a frightened goat into combat manages to make the character look heroic and the situation look ludicrous, which is a nice balance. Some pages reminded me of Frank Quitely, with some of the cartoon quirk and dance-like blocking but obviously not the bumpy features and puckered seams, while others seemed like a funkier version of what Oliver Coipel does. He seems promising.

[Eisenhorn]

Must admit that I'm surprised how much the enchantment is bothering people so much. It's not so hard to believe that Odin worked some kind of accidental monkey's paw into the spell that is thwarting him now, or that his return has changed the status of things in a way we have yet to understand. The whisper seemed a little cheap to me -- I was expecting Thor to commit some last-ditch deed that saved the day but lost him the hammer -- but the Odin didn't flag my attention as a big thing.

So what do you folks think of Russell Dauterman? It was hard to imagine this book without Esad Ribic, but the art this week did kind of a brilliant job of balancing between big drama and cartoonish humor. The image of Thor riding a frightened goat into combat manages to make the character look heroic and the situation look ludicrous, which is a nice balance. Some pages reminded me of Frank Quitely, with some of the cartoon quirk and dance-like blocking but obviously not the bumpy features and puckered seams, while others seemed like a funkier version of what Oliver Coipel does. He seems promising.

Dauterman's art was brilliant. There were definitely hints of Quietly there. What's interesting is Thor's seen some of the most quioxotic art talents in recent years: Olivier Coipel, Esad Ribic and now Russ Dauterman. I don't think any solo Marvel book (obviously Avengers and X-Men have had a murderer's row of great artists) has had such a great run of artists over the last few years.

As for the story... the premise is interesting. Something is definitely wrong -- it could all be tied to Odin's return or it could be a wibbly wobbly timey wimey hammer thing. It could be anything but if even Odin -- who's been shown over the years as having absolute control of Mjolnir -- can't lift it, something is very wrong. People seem to think Fury whispered to Thor -- but Thor says Fury didn't really say anything -- so maybe he wasn't the intended audience. What if Fury was whispering to Mjolnir? This recalls that scene from the first Thor movie right as Odin/Tony Hopkins was in the midst of banishing Thor to Midgard -- Odin seemed not so much to be casting a spell as speaking to Mjolnir. He was talking quickly and in a soft voice... whispering?

Thing I didn't like: powering down Thor (again -- sigh). I thought Aaron was beyond this given that he had Old Thor kick Galactus' behind -- but it's a favorite trope among Thor writers. Now, Thor's supposedly lost a significant amount of his power without Mjolnir and he's some lesser warrior getting his mojo handed to him by Malekith -- certainly an insidious villain but not, I believe, all that capable of beating Thor even in a weakened state. In any case, I fully expect Marvel to retcon the whole arm thing at some point or fix it so that Thor gets his arm back -- if they can give Tony Stark a new ticker, they can certainly give Thor a new arm. Of course, everything's forgiven (as far as I'm concerned) if they let Thor wear his armor again (the Simonson-designed gold one -- I love that costume). Hey -- it was good for circumventing Hela's curse so why not a broken arm?

Having said that, I think the current storyline is the perfect opportunity for Thor to explore his elemental powers. Mjolnir was always supposed to be a kind of nexus for Thor's powers -- enabling him to channel his elemental powers in the same way Morpheus 'needed' his Eagle Stone (and other gems) to 'control' his dream powers. But to paraphrase what Dream said -- the gem was a kind of prison in itself.

Now that Thor's lost the use of Mjolnir (and his arm) maybe it's time for him to leave the prison of his own making and find other ways to be the deity he (still) is.

Semi-rant: Thor has always been my favorite character and I just think there's so much story that isn't being explored because writers (or editorial) want try to make Thor more 'relatable' by finding ways to limit his vast powers. So you get these sort of semi-clumsy story premises like this current one. Sorry Jason -- I really love your work and am willing to give this storyline a shot because you let Thor job Galactus -- but too many Marvel writers have tried weakening Thor over the years in uneven attempts to advance the character. It's cheap and it doesn't really work.

To be clear, I get the reasoning -- it's being done to show that Thor simply isn't a super-strength superhero archetype (a la Superman) -- but it also takes away from what makes Thor NOT Superman -- the fact that he literally IS the Norse Thunder God. Why not embrace the fantasy? Why not explore the mythology further? Why not make Thor the undisputed most-powerful Avenger -- their Nuclear deterrent? If the X-Men had the Phoenix, why can't the Avengers have a real God as opposed to this dude with a big hammer who likes to get into it with the Hulk?! It's not like they need Thor in every single issue. Frankly, the way they've used him over the years (with the exception of Jon Hickman) has made it like he's not even there.

That's why I've always hoped Neil Gaiman would write Thor someday (it was explored in the early aughts... sigh) -- Neil has no problem writing Dream Kings or Gods or Time Lords or entities of immense power and making them interesting -- it's not like he took their powers away. It was more like he put them in situations where absolute power meant almost nothing -- where a soft touch or a clever move was better than a flash of lightning or the rolling peel of Thunder. Neil also has the writing and popular clout to get Marvel editorial to let him do it. Not going to happen, I know, but here's hoping...

[Doomuniverse]

The reason Sif couldn't lift it, was because of her own Tomboy-ish ways, which is good in battle, but not in true Lady nature.

WTF...hahahahaha. What the hell is going on around here?

[Tendrin]

WTF...hahahahaha. What the hell is going on around here?

I often ask myself that question when I read some of the posts here.

[billee0918]

What a great issue, beautifully written, illustrated and paced. Can't wait to see the new Thor in action and intrigued by the mystery of her identity. Long live Thor - Goddess of Thunder!

[yet another]

What a great issue, beautifully written, illustrated and paced. Can't wait to see the new Thor in action and intrigued by the mystery of her identity. Long live Thor - Goddess of Thunder!

Hopefully she will live at least 18 issues! More is always welcome of course.

[Link]

So is this supposed to be how future Thor got his destroyers arm? I thought is arm was already burned off or wounded in Uncanny Avengers? Why isn't that showed in this comic? Did they just ignore that entirely? Anyway, I flipped through this and the art was pretty great, I enjoyed the spalsh of the frost giants attacking the under water base.