Can't See the Forest for the Trees

Thor #1
Marvel Comics (24 pages/$2.99)

Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Artist: Olivier Coipel

Following on from his excellent runs on Amazing Spider-Man and The Fantastic Four, Babylon-5 creator JMS turns his attention to arguably the Marvel Universe’s most clichéd and one dimensional character. I know some writers who would love to write Thor, but I’ve never really felt that the Thunder God was much more than a one trick pony. Even Walt Simonson’s classic run on the title focused more on his supporting cast than the titular hero. The one thing I felt was missing from most tales of Odin’s favorite son has been any real sense of humanity.

That humanity was always anchored in Thor’s original alter-ego, the lame physician Dr Donald Blake. In this relaunch issue JMS takes the concept that Blake has been in “limbo” for many years and uses it as a platform to spin the series focus through 180 degrees. The tone and underlying theme of the book is best summarized by the following dialog from Donald Blake:

This is one of the strongest title launches I’ve read in a while and the combination of JMS’s powerful scripting and Olivier Coipel’s excellent artwork pulled me in from the first stage. This one has everything from cosmic grandeur to human pathos. Let’s hope that it stays the course and what could easily have been a one-note power trip fulfills the promise of developing into a compelling human drama.

Review copies supplied by Austin Books & Comics