Immortal Thor #5: If They Be Worthy

Last month’s Immortal Thor #4 redefined what it means to be “worthy” of Mjölnir – a rule first set by Thor’s now-dead dad Odin. The comic asserts that Thor can now define “worthiness” however he wants. Now, the only thing that makes someone “worthy” is Thor deciding they are. This twist led to Thor assembling a new Thor Corps (a superhero team of Thors) – comprising Beta Ray Bill, Jane Foster, Storm, and (most surprisingly) Loki – to defeat the ur-thunder god Toranos. In Immortal Thor #5, the new Thor Corps takes turns wielding Mjolnir in what feels like an elaborate but entertaining game of Hot Potato until writer Al Ewing pulls another clever but heartfelt plot twist from his bag of tricks at the comic’s climax. The dialogue mixes upbeat banter with gravitas, though Thor using words like “tautology” is a touch jarring – especially after the previous run liberally sprinkled Thor’s vocabulary with modern colloquialisms. 

The comic’s opening exposition dump, which describes the origins of the first gods – Toranos, Gaea, and Utgard-Loki – is surprisingly one of the issue’s strongest portions artistically. There is a strong lyrical quality to Martín Cóccolo’s artwork. One need look no further than the opening page, where disparate images of the moon (where the Thor Corps fights Toranos), Toranos’ giant “wheel of fate”, and planet Earth form a triptych. The immensity and awe these old gods inspire is only furthered by Matt Wilson’s moody but sometimes une color choices. The genesis of the old gods, for example, is dominated by hot pink lightning illuminating the darkness and the face of the Demiurge who created them. 

As the comic’s creative team continues building their own mythological canon ( borrowing liberally from other religions and mythologies), it will certainly be interesting to see where the next arc — featuring a reworking of a Norse myth — takes us.