Review: Thor: God of Thunder Vol. 3- The Accursed

Quick Summary

Pros: The main story is a fun romp of adventure and comedy. All of the new characters introduced here are a pleasure to have. The book’s message is well done, especially at the end. Everything here looks beautiful.

Cons: Malekith proves to be a somewhat boring villain up until the story’s conclusion.

Overall: Thor comes out swinging in this brand new adventure where fun and epic battles are wonderfully contrasted with intense moments of serious reflection. Readers will get a kick out of the new cast of characters and will be more excited by the time they finish this book than ever before. The main villain starts out a little stale but redeems himself in a unique and unexpected conclusion. This is not a story for any comic fan to miss.

Story

In Thor: God of Thunder Vol. 3: The Accursed, Jason Aaron starts another adventure with Thor that is sure to be “worthy” of the god’s mighty name. Readers are introduced to a band of new heroes and villains who together play out a story that focuses more on friendship and tactical maneuvering than sheer brute force. That isn’t to say the book lacks violence though, as there is enough hammer smashing and cosmic warring here to satisfy any comic fan. Though there are a few tiny flaws here and there, this is an incredibly optimistic start to a new chapter in the God of Thunder’s life.

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The main story, in this volume, follows Malekith’s escape from prison and subsequent attack on the dark elves. In response, Thor is called upon to stop him, with the help of a diverse team of representatives from across the nine realms. This leads to some humor and conflict as the group goes through the growing pains of working together as a team. It is wonderful to see and adds some brevity to a story that is otherwise filled with darkness.

It also lends itself well to an examination of the book’s main themes of friendship and teamwork. This newly formed League of Realms starts out fighting each other more than they fight Malekith. Thor realizes this quickly and sets about making the team work together as friends in order to perform better. All of this is designed to mirror the current status of the nine realms, groups of different people coming together as one in order to achieve a common goal. This is also a clear commentary of the status of humanity itself in a statement that urges people to come together despite whatever perceived differences exist, a wholesome and pleasant message to see.

As the team sets about fighting Malekith, one of the book’s few negatives is exposed. Malekith proves to be a rather generic villain for the majority of the story, and is overall far less interesting than the God Butcher. His main purpose here is to tease the League of Realms along and then vanish right before they are able to capture him. The first time this happens it is alright, but after the second and third time it starts to become tiresome. It doesn’t help that his powers are rather erratic and ill explained as well; if he can turn Thor’s liver into glass then what is stopping him from killing Thor by turning his brain into glass? Things like this make him more frustrating than enjoyable, until the book’s conclusion.

The book’s conclusion redeems Malekith as a villain and does a fantastic job in setting up the next story arc. After a rousing speech from Thor urging them to elect their own ruler, the dark elves pick their leader based on fear, leading to Malekith being legally elected as ruler of the dark elves. It works as both an interesting twist and as a meaningful commentary on how fear can corrupt democracy. Having the story’s villain use politics to defeat the heroes is a stroke of genius and not something that I expected from a Thor comic. It also opens up worlds of possibilities for the next volume, as thoughts of Thor navigating complex political treaties and forging democratic alliances sound incredibly interesting.

Flanking the main storyline in this volume are two issues following the exploits of Thor at various points in the history of Midgard. The first tells the story of his return to Earth after the events of Godbomb (Review). It is a decompressed issue designed to update readers with the events of Midgard, such as Jane Foster being diagnosed with cancer and Asgard remaining in the skies of Oklahoma, and to reconnect Thor with the realm as a whole. The second issue shows Thor befriending a dragon and then being forced to kill it when it threatens the safety of a nearby village. Both stories are great and present Thor in a gentle light that highlights exactly how much he cares about Midgard.

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Art

Ron Garney’s art and Ive Svorcina’s colors make a wonderful pair in this book as they provide the majority of the pages that readers will see. These two combine their talents to form a book that is detailed and colored in a way that makes it feel magical. It truly feels like the nine realms are bleeding into this book as Thor jumps from frozen, white wasteland, to colorful candy cane forest, and then back to desolate worlds of destruction. This is not just a good looking book, it is a good looking book packed with the visual diversity that a cosmic epic like this needs. All readers can be sure to find pages that they like in Thor: God of Thunder Vol. 3: The Accursed.

Continuity

Thor: God of Thunder Vol. 3: The Accursed follows the events of Thor: God of Thunder Vol. 2: Godbomb. However, since this volume starts a new story arc, it a great jumping on point for new readers.

The story continues in Thor: God of Thunder Vol. 4: The Last Days of Midgard.

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below.

• Asgard’s current location is the result of the beginning of Thor Vol. 1 by J. Michael Straczynski.
• The concept behind the Congress of Worlds comes from The Mighty Thor By Matt Fraction Vol. 2.