Thor and Galactus are seemingly at the end of their run together with only one thing standing in their way, The Black Winter itself. Spoilers for Thor #5 follow.
This current volume of Thor, while still only a few issues into it, has quickly differentiated itself from Jason Aaron’s run on the character. Donny Cates and Nic Klein are going in a much more “cosmic horror” direction than Aaron did for most of his run and really, that’s one of the best things that this creative team has done. Take Thor in a different direction. Aaron’s run was impeccable, but to get out of his shadow, the team needed to do something different, which they did. However, with this latest issue, instead of fully continuing on their path, this feels like the issue where the team could have cameos from every big-name Thor villain just so that they can say they had them in the run. It’s not a bad issue, but it’s definitely the worst issue of Thor so far.
What this issue does right now though is the interpersonal moments that take up the first couple and last couple of pages, with the one that stands out the most being Sif and Beta Ray Bill. Why Thor and Galactus’ moment very much feels like a relevant plot set-up rather than a calm, emotional moment, Sif and Bill’s feels the opposite.
These two simply have a somber conversation with one another that allows us into the minds of each of them with exquisite ease. They may be gods, but that doesn’t mean there’s not something human inside them. They have fears, anger, and frustrations that come out in these couple of pages and without these pages, the issue would’ve suffered greatly. Luckily, it is here though, making for an excellent opening to the issue.
Where the issue falls a bit flat though is when Thor and Galactus begin to fight The Black Winter. There are some phenomenal moments, but once The Black Winter enters Thor’s mind and causes him to see all his old villains, the issue becomes a bit trite. It’s an excellently drawn fight scene that feels more like the opportunity to have characters cameo rather than conveying that idea that they want to convey, which is that The Black Winter is feeding off of Thor’s fear. Rather it feels like the team just saying, “Here’s Gorr! You want Loki? You get Loki!” and etc. It’s fun, up to a point.
As mentioned though, Klein’s artwork in this issue is absolutely phenomenal, much like the previous four issues in this series. He captures each and every character so incredibly well that it’s hard to see anyone else draw some of these characters. For example, Klein’s Sif may be my favorite rendition of Sif ever. He makes every character unique in such a great way.
And when he needs to go bombastic, he does that incredibly well too. His art brings a great sense of just the raw power that Thor has at his fingertips and this creates for some gorgeous visuals, which are greatly enhanced by Matt Wilson’s always great coloring. Plus, some of Klein’s designs in Thor’s mindscape reminded me of Control, which is a great videogame and always a nice comparison to make.
