Review: Lightning Strikes Twice In ‘Immortal Thor’ #1

To be frank, there’s no superhero title I’ve anticipated like Immortal Thor. I was a huge proponent of the series predecessor, Immortal Hulk, and have come to love Marvel’s Asgard titles almost as much as the Spider and X-titles. I’m excited to say, this issue delivered, but in a way I didn’t expect.

The newest journey of the All-Father of Thunder begins here from Al Ewing, Martin Coccolo, Matthew Wilson, and Joe Sabino.

Thor is having a good day. He’s turned away a frost giant invasion. Loki has restored the rainbow bridge. He’s saved the oppressed and destroyed Midgardian fascists. Unfortunately that’s about to change. Thor is the god of the storm. What happens when he meets the god of the superstorm? And what of the pantheon he belongs to?

This issue is charming as hell for the first two-thirds of it. This issue could easily be Thor’s perfect day. He defeats Frost Giants by telling the sky that he’s disappointed in it. He comes to an understanding with Loki, who restores the Rainbow Bridge. He gets to be a hero, not a deity on Earth. While the first two acts aren’t anything groundbreaking, they get Thor at his core, and Ewing shows that he understands what makes the character tick. He doesn’t necessarily ground it in the mythology, but in the spirit and history of Marvel’s version of the hero.

But then it shifts. The feat Thor performs easily at the beginning is suddenly difficult. And Ewing introduces the threat of the story- a race of beings that are to the gods what the gods are to mortals. This third act twist is brief, but awe inspiring. This is a Thor story at its best- an epic about the mightiest hero on the planet facing something even bigger than he is. I expected some horror influences, like it’s sister title, but there wasn’t any of that here, which definitely worked in its favor.

Coccolo and Wilson makes it look incredible. Coccolo creates powerful figures, but he also has a soft line. His Thor is broad, and commands the attention on the page. His take on Loki is completely distinct from any other we’ve seen before- heavily inspired by everyone who’s come before, but they have distinctly non-binary appearance. It makes it clear this is a culmination of everything Loki has been through for the past few years in particular. The Utgard-Thor is a massive figure in each page, needing five pages to fully debut and built of storm clouds and too big for a page to contain him entirely.

Wilson has been one of the most consistent presences in Thor for the past decade. He creates a visual consistency with every Thor book going back at least to the Jason Aaron run. His colors make the Ten Realms come to life, from the dominating presence of the Frost Giants to the joyful whirlwind tour through Midgard. It’s just as impressive that he uses blues and greys to make the final confrontation of the issue so deep and engrossing as well, going from a literal rainbow to a pitch perfect representation of a supernatural superstorm.

Sabino steps in extremely well. He conveys a lot of information clearly and makes the exposition engaging. He also varies balloons and fonts to make it all very distinct but still readable.

Immortal Thor #1 is available now from Marvel Comics.