Thor: The Goddess of Thunder and Thor: Who Holds the Hammer?

Thor: The Goddess of Thunder and Thor: Who Holds the Hammer?
Jason Aaron, Russell Dauterman, Jorge Molina, 2015

Premise: The son of Odin is no longer worthy to wield Mjolnir, and the only one who can lift the hammer is an unknown woman who takes on the power and the responsibility of being Thor. Collects Thor #1-5 and Thor #6-8 and Annual.

The nice thing about waiting and catching up on comic books later is that you tend to only read the good stuff. The less nice thing is that sometimes you know the ending.

Happily, the fact that I went in knowing the reveal at the end of the second volume (the identity of the new Thor) did not diminish my enjoyment in this case.

For me, these issues had just about the perfect balance of humor and drama. The art and writing take the larger-than-life characters and plot seriously, but it never gets too dour or bleak.

It wouldn't be a perfect jumping-on point for someone who's not used to sprawling comic universes and stories that continuously build on each other, but I don't mind reading the set-up in the front of the first issue and moving forward from there.

New Thor is awesome. I loved her powers, her wit, her determination, and her simple conviction that because she could be a force for good, therefore she would.

I like that she's Thor, not Lady Thor or Thor Girl or whatever. The only downside is that, similar to Hawkeye, it makes the characters challenging to talk about.

Her relationship with "Odinson" (the now-unworthy-Thor) is great. He appreciates her strength and courage, and he soon chooses to support her as chosen by the hammer. Of course, he's also determined to figure out who she is.

Lots of awesome ladies who are connected to Asgard in various ways appear by the end of book two, and I might appreciate some of them even more if I catch up on the rest of Aaron's Thor run. I liked that the story played out several intersecting stories of female power, most notably contrasting Odin's blustering attempts to reclaim rulership of Asgard from Frigga with Odinson's cooperation with the mystery Thor.

I've often enjoyed the idea of Thor comics more than the execution, but this was just a solid, fantastic experience, the writing, art, action, and humor all ideal.

Also, frost giants, elves, evil CEOs who dabble in dark magic, and, of course, Valkyries. I'll definitely be reading the further adventures in (the frustratingly numbered) The Mighty Thor #1.

5 Stars - An Awesome Book