King Thor #1 Review: Thor and Loki’s Final Battle Begins

Thor versus Loki. A battle endlessly fought. Now, at the end of time itself, that battle looks to be coming to an end.

Jason Aaron’s epic run on Thor is at an end with King Thor. Everything that he has done since he began his work on the character is coming to a head. Now, with original Thor: God of Thunder artist Esad Ribic returning, this feels like an epic event. The thing about this series though is, at least with this first issue, it feels more like a sequel to “Godbomb” than anything else. It reads more like the end to a trilogy that started with “The God Butcher” and that’s necessarily a bad thing. This is a solid start to what seems like is going to be an excellent end to one of the best runs in comics.

From the jump, this issue is action-packed. Thor versus Loki has never been more epic. It’s exciting, tense, and thrilling simply because you don’t know how anything is going to happen. This is one of the first times in Aaron’s run where you don’t know everything will end up okay because you don’t know the future. The story simply is. You don’t know who will live, who will die, or even who is still alive. It’s encapsulating in a way that is very different than how the rest of Aaron’s Thor run has been encapsulating.

As mentioned though, this first issue reads much more like a sequel to “Godbomb” than anything else. This is a blessing and a curse. For readers who haven’t read much of Aaron’s Thor and are jumping back in, then they don’t feel lost. Even readers whose first Thor issue is this, they can read it and still understand most of it. But, for longtime readers, there’s a bit of disappointment stemming from the lack of acknowledgment of the rest of Aaron’s run. This is still the first issue so that could change, but here, it’s a bit sad, even though it doesn’t even come close to making this issue bad. This first issue is still fantastic.

Esab Ribic’s return to Thor is also a huge draw to this issue and series. His depiction of the Odinson quickly became the standard look for the character in many people’s eyes, including mine. So, to see him return to the final run of the story he helped start seven years ago, it’s wonderful to see. His art is absolutely stunning to behold, which is no different in this issue.

His art is bold, expansive, and cinematic in the absolute best ways possible. Each page contains at least one thing about that makes it seem like a classical painting that one sees in a museum. Every single page in this issue is absolutely gorgeous. A few will even send your jaw-dropping to the floor, especially the final page, which I will not spoil.

CHECK OUT: Thor #16 Review: Every Story’s End is a New Story’s Beginning