Thor #5. Spoilerific review.

[vitruvian]

I guess you'd expect the orders of an omnipotent person to be carried out no matter what. At the end of the day, though, Odin has never been portrayed as literally omnipotent in the same way as the god of the Abrahamic religions, neither in the comics nor in the myths as far as I'm aware. So either way you look at it, he was merely being droll.

His orders are being carried out, is my point... he tells the seers to look, they're looking, they're just not seeing anything. So the degree of his potence is not at issue.

[jphamlore]

I have the impression the World Tree is not in great shape, and Odin, especially in Fraction's run, received knowledge from it.

In Hickman's Ultimates, Odin and the World Tree were the two focal points channeling energy to the Asgardians, so Reed's Children took out both.

[DurararaFTW]

Simonson might have made Odin likable but the fragments of myth we have don't suggest anything of the sort. I know Marvel are not beholden to the meagre scraps of myth that remain but in those Odin is scary, intense and mysterious.

So have him be that then. dumb, cowardly and impotent Odin is what we have now.

[jphamlore]

Back in the day hardly anyone interacted with grumpy Odin, so for all they knew, it could be Mangog sitting on the throne.

[Andy]

Spoilers/





Wait so Titania just gives up because, what? "GIRL POWER!!" lol. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.


This entire thing sounds like Jason Aaron's naughty bedtime dreams. Glad I decided to wait for Thor to come back and pass on this. Are they still dragging your wallets along with the mystery of who it is?

[shgs]

Spoilers/





Wait so Titania just gives up because, what? "GIRL POWER!!" lol. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.


This entire thing sounds like Jason Aaron's naughty bedtime dreams. Glad I decided to wait for Thor to come back and pass on this. Are they still dragging your wallets along with the mystery of who it is?

Who would be stupid enough to buy a comic book just to find out something they could easily wait and find out on the internet? That's not why Aaron is keeping it a secret.

[Andy]

Who would be stupid enough to buy a comic book just to find out something they could easily wait and find out on the internet? That's not why Aaron is keeping it a secret.

Do you really believe this?

It's an incredibly, incredibly common marketing tactic. Mystery gauges interest and interest produces sales. The sales are incredibly likely to take a hit upon the character's reveal, ESPECIALLY if it turns out to be some boring C-lister like Roz Solomon that people have no enthusiasm for.

[shgs]

Do you really believe this?

It's an incredibly, incredibly common marketing tactic. Mystery gauges interest and interest produces sales. The sales are incredibly likely to take a hit upon the character's reveal, ESPECIALLY if it turns out to be some boring C-lister like Roz Solomon that people have no enthusiasm for.

Funny then, that the only reactions on here seem to be I hate the mystery, I know who she is already or I'm really enjoying the story so the mystery doesn't bother me.

[Rogue Star]

Do you really believe this?

It's an incredibly, incredibly common marketing tactic. Mystery gauges interest and interest produces sales. The sales are incredibly likely to take a hit upon the character's reveal, ESPECIALLY if it turns out to be some boring C-lister like Roz Solomon that people have no enthusiasm for.

Speak for yourself. I love Roz Solomon. And she's got to start somewhere if she's ever going to climb the alphabet ladder.

[Lady Warp Spasm]

Thor #5. Where Aaron explains to his critics that they're wrong. At length.
And Odin goes for bros before ho's.

spoilers:

The comic opens with Odin in Asgard, who is furious that Thor's hammer has been picked up by a woman unknown, who is also using Thor's name. He believes it is stealing Thor's birthright. Thor protests that he gave her the name, but Odin is not mollified, and stomps off. Next we move to NYC, where new Thor intervenes in an Absorbing man and Titania's robbery. Again the topic of Thor's name, and sexism comes up. Thor breaks his jaw, then Titania throws the fight as an expression of girlpower and feminist solidarity. She even goes to jail voluntarily because new Thor is so awesome. (I'm not making this up.) Back to Asgard, where Odin brings in his new Minister for Enforcing Stuff. It's Cul Borson, his brother; a serious, moustache twirling villain of old who Odin believes is reformed because they've been on a boy's trip camping for a few months in old Asgard. Cul couldn't look more evil, as befits a character who's name is French for arse. (That's always amused me.). Freya disagrees, and says Arse/Cul's appointment has to be approved by the council of worlds. Odin stomps off again. There's a nice scene between Thor Odinson and Sif in what looks like Asgard's best pub. They decide they're too alike for a relationship to work, despite the love. She's drunk, and a bit belligerent and really ticked off when she realises that he's not come to talk to her, but to find out if she's the hammer wielder. Shift to the moon, where Freya comes to warn new Thor of dark times ahead; what with Malekith, Cul, and Odin's intransigence. Thor makes a vow, not to be worthy of Mjolnir which Freya seems to see as a fickle, unreliable thing; but to live up to the name. Back to Asgard, where Odin pulls out the Destroyer to go after Thor and Mjolnir.

end of spoilers

Review: (rant alert)
I can appreciate that it's hard for writers of today in terms of how much negativity their stories instantly get on the internet. And they may strongly disagree with angry fans, and want to give their side of the story. I just hate when they bring those arguments into the actual comics. A lot of this comic was Aaron preaching from his soapbox about feminism, and why it's fine that this female Thor gets the old Thor's name.
I actually have been enjoying this run. I like this new woman, I've been enjoying hammer less Odinson, and the politics between Freya and Odin, and I agree with most of what Aaron was saying. Even so, being lectured on why he's right in the middle of the story annoyed me. If I was one of the readers who doesn't like the idea of Thor losing his name then I'd be seriously pissed off about being talked down to.
Rick Remender did exactly the same thing after the furore about Havok's infamous speech, and it infuriated me. It just feels like an abuse of an author's privilege to me. I wish they'd defend their position in interviews or on their own websites, and leave the comic pages for actual stories.

If you take out the preachy bits, it's actually a decent comic. The fight is a washout, but the Asgardian family dynamics and politics are very interesting. And I loved the scene between Thor and Sif, which was funny, and beautifully judged. Freya becomes more interesting by the issue.

Art wise: Following on after Dauterman is a horrible job, because he has been outrageously, spectacularly good. Mollina is a fine artist, (and I like his work anyway) and does a good job. I think his style is a little too pared back for the Asgardian characters, but he does some lovely facial expressions, and the NYC scenes are great. He's just not Dautermann.

So what do you all think. Am I being excessively grumpy, (possible) or would this have been a much better comic if Aaron had left out the meta justifications, and just told his story? I'm giving it 3/5.

Thank you for the very thorough review. Being preached to about anything much less the exact thing you discuss is a big turn off to me. I am one of those women who does not need girl power and feminist look at me stuff, I will follow a character if they're interesting, compelling etc. no matter what they are. But when it's rubbed in my face when it does not have be? Forget it. I understand I am a rarity in this regard and that's fine.

I just want this new Thor to be a compelling replacement. I have not seen that yet and frankly I have no desire to continue to read while she is the main character. I do like Aaron's Odin though, he is hilarious and a lot of fun.

At any rate, I'll hang tight until the secret wars / battleworld dust settles. If this new Thor remains the new status quo, I'll politely shuffle onto something else. It won't be the first time Aaron has pushed me away from something or Thor for that matter.

[Hypestyle]

Has Odin's brother been seen before? Who was the Serpent?

[Blacksun]

Really fun way to Aaron adress all the negativity against the new Thor.

what happened to Marvel? they are so feminists now, like spider woman she said she was feminists and now thor. I'm liking it.

Odin is a douchebag, hope all mother will come back to rule asgard

[Raye]

Has Odin's brother been seen before? Who was the Serpent?

He was the focal point/big bad of the event Fear Itself. He, (as mentioned in the issue) killed Thor in it. Though Thor struck him down at the same time, and Odin swore to guard his body in Asgard, leaving Asgardia to be ruled by the All-Mother in his absence. During the Tenth Realm recently, Loki went to get Odin to help, and as a side effect Cul (who was apparently alive again, no explanation for that has been given yet, but hey, Thor got better, so...) was also set free.

[Habis]

Spoilers/





Wait so Titania just gives up because, what? "GIRL POWER!!" lol. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.


This entire thing sounds like Jason Aaron's naughty bedtime dreams. Glad I decided to wait for Thor to come back and pass on this. Are they still dragging your wallets along with the mystery of who it is?

Well, truth to be told Aaron seems to be going for the "Grrl Powah!" angle, but it feels a bit forced. Women have been kicking ass in the MU for decades now, what so special about a woman wielding Mjolnir?

And Titania is a jerk, beating her husband that way. Talk about double standards.

[themasething]

This is the second straight issue where Aaron has brought an issue to a grinding halt to jump on his soapbox and preach about how he's a feminist minded writer and we just have to deal with it. This issue just showed how much he wants to jump up in real life screaming "F**k you fanboys! Feminist power forever!" at all his detractors. It's this type of in your face, all or nothing, "listen and do not question" mentality that has turned generations of people against feminism in general over the last couple of years. If Aaron is so desperate to preach AT US (Don't think for a second in this issue that it was preaching to us, it was preaching at) then there are other places to do it. Go do interviews, and jump on Tumblr where being preached at is the norm and those of us who just want a good story can ignore it and get back to reading the story. This is the same reason I recently decided to drop Bitch Planet; which while having a good story and interesting characters I want to read about, get's hijacked by a writer who wants to preach at the readers about their feminist beliefs and doctrine.

The mystery is who the new Thor is, how she is worthy, her connection to the overall narrative and the drama with the Asgardian royal family is a really good story and it's been the only reason I decided, against my own personal gripes with the book, (For the 1000th time, a NAME is non-transferrable, yet the powers and title of "God/dess of Thunder" are.) to give this book a shot. 5 issues in and many soapbox moments killing momentum of the story later, I'm giving this one the flick. A good story is getting screwed over by a writer and his ego.