Thor is now the king of Asgard and everything has changed. But the more things change, the more they end up staying the same. Spoilers for Thor #1 follows.
Following up Jason Aaron’s run on Thor is no easy task to follow. Kind of an unenviable task to be quite honest. Yet, here are Donny Cates and Nic Klein taking on that task. And, with this first issue, they seem to be quite up to it. This is a fantastic first issue that takes the status quo from the end of Aaron’s run and runs in a different direction with it. In fact, it’s a completely different direction and it’s an exciting one at that.
Now that Thor is king of Asgard, how do you go about creating new challenges for him? That’s the biggest problem going into this series. Cates and Klein embrace that though and use it as a way to bring about something grandiose and cosmic. And that grandiose and cosmic thing is Galactus transforming Thor into one of his heralds to fight a universal threat. It’s a genuinely shocking moment that is executed absolutely perfectly.
Not only is the moment great though, the rest of the issue is great as well. This issue really does a great job of establishing the weight that Thor now carries on his shoulders, even if he doesn’t want to admit it. It’s something very apropos of the character, but also an organic development of what the character has become over the past several years. This is best exemplified by Mjolnir being slightly harder for him to pick up. It’s a great detail that makes the character feel real. It’s a great detail that carries over his mindset from Aaron’s run regarding his thoughts regarding his worthiness, as well as the weight that he now carries. Cates and Klein seem to have a great handle on Thor and it’s exciting to see where their run goes from here.
As for Klein’s art, it’s such a great mix between Olivier Coipel (who is also the cover artist) and Esad Ribic, two of the names most associated with Thor over the past twenty years. His art captures the cosmic side of the character so well, while also bringing out the fantasy elements perfectly. Most Thor artists tend to only focus on one or the other, but Klein does both and it’s great. Thor inhabits an odd crossroads of fantasy and cosmic, so to see both being embraced, it’s wonderful.