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Posted in: Avengers, Comics, Marvel Comics, Review | Tagged: avengers, baldur, fantasy, hela, jason aaron, karnella, loki, Marvel Comics, Mike Del Mundo, sci-fi, sindr, skurge the executioner, thanos, thor, thori, tyr, valkyrie
Thor #4 Review: Artistic Problems and Lame Plot Points Hurt an Otherwise Good Story
Sindr and her forces interrupt the wedding of Baldur and Hela, and Thor has been apparently killed by Loki. Thanos, however, has his own business to settle with Hela. Karnella, Baldur, Tyr, Loki, Skurge the Executioner and Thori battle against the Fire Goblins of Muspelheim. Meanwhile, Thor hopes to get the help of the Valkyrie and the warriors of Valhalla.
Thor #4 brings an end to the first act of the series, bringing the reader the climactic battle for Niffleheim and the throne of Hel.
It's somewhat undercut by the goofiness of some of the plot points. I initially praised this new start for Thor for its humor and the additional personality it gave to Thor. Now it's starting to get in the way of the tension and drama.
For example, what was Thanos's big reason for being here, you might wonder? To break up Hela and advertise for Infinity Wars. Then Hela reacts in a sitcom-y fashion for comedic effect, and you struggle to believe this is the former Queen of Hel.
Mike del Mundo's artwork loses its luster too. I was never a big fan of it, going back to Mark Waid's Avengers series. However, it kind of jelled for me with Thor #1, and I kind of grooved on its storybook-like qualities. Here, it falls apart. You never get the feeling of a big battle for the fate of a realm. Backgrounds are empty, and you only get snapshots of instances set against a white backdrop. The color work, with assistance of Marco D'Alfonso, is good; the palette is wild and eye-catching. However, it doesn't make up for the line art.
Thor #4 is very much a mixed bag. The high points of Thor fighting Sindr, Thori having a crisis of faith, and the return of the Valkyrie are cool. However, many parts of the story are rough, and the artwork makes it hard to get sucked into the book. I can tentatively recommend it to those who've enjoyed this new series, but you have to be tolerant of Mike del Mundo's artwork and the goofier aspects of the story.
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