Thor, Volume 1: The Goddess of Thunder by Jason Aaron

So I’ve been reading comic books for over three decades now and this is the first time I’ve actually given a damn about Thor. I mean, I’ve certainly watched all the movies (Ragnarok soon!) but Thor was always a secondary character to me even before then, and certainly not interesting enough to pick up a book about. So when this turned up for free as part of Amazon’s periodic Kindle Marvel graphic novels sale (even though, for the hundredth time, this is a trade paperback not a graphic novel,) I figured, oh why not.

You guys, this is a really good book. Firstly, it does an amazing job of catching up the casual reader with all the convoluted nonsense of the Marvel Universe to set the stage for where the book begins. Secondly, the story itself is engaging and fun, with Frost Giants coming to Midgard, and the new Thor in conflict with old Thor. The B-plot of Odin’s return to Asgard(ia) was also excellent reading, and I’m very excited to see where this book goes, so much so that I’ve already purchased the next volume.

If Thor was always this interesting a character, then I’ve definitely been missing out. His title always just struck me as General Hospital with superpowers and squabbling deities, and I’d much rather have been reading about the angst of teenagers and beyond in the X-books and other titles I so enjoyed growing up. My only complaint is that Sif gets short shrift as usual (plus, did they change her hair back from being made of the night sky? Bummer, if so.)