Comic Books

Is It Good? Thor: God of Thunder #9 Review

June 12, 2013

Thor: God of Thunder #9 brings us Godbomb Part Three wherein three Thors from across time and space take on Gorr the God Butcher. Who ya got? And is it good?

Thor: God of Thunder #9 (Marvel Comics)

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We open with Gorr having a little pillow talk with who I can only assume is his Twi’lek-esque, head-tail sporting baby mama. Well, whatever passes for pillow talk with Gorr the God Butcher these days: basically him talking about how gods are annoying little dipshits. Also, how badly he wants to kill them. Different strokes, right? Also, if Gorr and his kind get an ice cream headache, can they feel it in their head tails? Inquiring minds need to know.

Gorr, the William Wallace of his God Butchers.

Meanwhile, the three Thors aboard their space-faring Viking warship formulate their strategy for taking on Gorr:

And finally, we get to the battle we’ve been anticipating with the fury of a thousand raging nerd-boners: The three Thors vs. Gorr the God Butcher:

“Business is about to pick up, folks!” — Jim Ross voice

And what a battle it is. An old-fashioned barn burner and slobber-knocker of deific proportions. Writer Jason Aaron and artist Esad Ribic usher us through the fight sequence with aplomb. Every crushing Mjolnir blow resonates. Each enigmatic Gorr shadow-tentacle attack sickens to the core. Astronomical objects get tossed to the wayward. Celestial bodies are torn asunder. Space sharks carry their Thors into battle and among the swarming stars like thieves newly loosed, a thousand razor-sharp teeth glinting like the sharpest knives in the cosmo… er, sorry. There are goddamn space sharks. Point being: this is a fun-ass, entertaining fight to behold. The only problem? Shit’s getting a little too epic.

I’m a huge fan of Aaron’s epic prose narrative but after so many issues it’s starting to wear in certain spots. When every swing of Mjolnir is “bone-rattling and muscle tearing,” and Thor keeps swinging “harder than ever before,” and we’re being bombarded by description after description of “Thor the Father. The Lord of Asgard. Thor the King of Kings,” or “Thor the Holy Hero. Champion of the Cosmos” accompanying every panel — the emphaticalness begins to fizzle and starts treading on purple prose territory. The grandiosity keeps with the theme we’ve had in pretty much every issue in the God Butcher/God Bomb saga but a little more show and less tell wouldn’t be so bad. Or as old Thor might say, “Tone it down, lad.”

8.0

Great fight sequence between the three Thors and Gorr.
Solid art by Esad Ribic as usual.

The epic narrative gets a little superfluous at times.

Is It Good?

All in all, an enjoyable issue that leaves me eagerly anticipating the next installment and how everything wraps up. Gorr is a formidable foe with a rich, interesting back story and motives — I only hope the premise doesn’t start to wear too thin. And where the hell were Thor’s daughters in this issue? Here’s hoping we see more of them; they were an interesting inclusion in the last issue and I hope their roles fill out accordingly.