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

Every journey must come to an end, but in every end, there is a beginning. This much is true for All-Father Thor.

Jason Aaron’s run on Thor is nearly at an end, but his time in the present is now finished. There’s something bittersweet about an issue such as this. For one, it’s always a great feeling to see a creator get to finish his story, especially one as excellent as Aaron’s Thor run. However, that’s exactly what it is, an end. Sure, there’s still King Thor, but this is more than likely the last time that we will see Aaron’s present version of Thor outside of Avengers. Thankfully though, this issue is nearly perfect in its execution and sends off present Thor in a wonderful way.

Throughout the entirety of this issue, so many emotions should be riled up within your heart. Every single character that Aaron has worked on for the past seven years appears in some form during this issue. Each of them gets their time to shine. They bring humor, reverence, joy, and excitement to the page in ways that will bring the same out in you, which is the best thing anything can do. There’s a sense of contentment reading this issue, like, everything feels that it will be alright, at least for the time being. Things have changed, changed drastically, yet this issue, without ever saying it, gives a reassurance that everything will be alright for the characters that we love.

The surprising thing about this issue though is that Present Thor hardly even shows up. When he does though, it packs an emotional gut punch. Everyone is waiting for him to arrive at his coronation, but he has better things he could be doing. Showing Thor doing these often-menial tasks, as All-Father no less, in this issue shows how much he has grown over the course of Aaron’s run. It’s extremely heart-warming and will probably bring a tear to your eye. If you’re anything like me, you didn’t care much about Thor before Aaron’s run, but now, he’s one of your all-time favorite characters and this issue shows why.

Mike Del Mundo’s art perfectly encapsulates the emotions that you should be feeling while reading this issue as well. His art is often more dream-like than normal in this issue, which really creates that sense of reassurance mentioned earlier. His settings feel grandiose, yet small with the character being the focus of nearly every panel. He absolutely nails that atmosphere needed to make this issue as emotional as it needed to be. He was definitely the best choice to illustrate this final issue for Present Thor.

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