What If…? Thor #1: Goth Thor

Each of the characters shows a lot of personality in this one-shot, especially in the way they react to Thor’s new look. Thor himself is his same boasting, over-the-top self fans know and love; Hulk is surprisingly funny; and Spidey has lines like “That’s so frickin metal.” Even characters who are introduced later in the issue, like Loki and Sif, have clear voices.

Sif asks Thor enthusiastically if his highness “finds himself in a midlife crisis” while Loki tells Thor he looks like he “gatekeeps sadness.” Loki and Sif’s ribbing continues for a whole page. The page is funny enough that it doesn’t distract from the pacing of this 32-page one-shot. It’s actually used as a way to show the emotional escalation of the story by having the symbiote react to what Thor experiences.

The opening of this issue is set during the 80s Secret Wars crossover, one of Marvel’s most lauded events, although some prefer the reboot helmed by Jonathan Hickman that occurred in 2015. While we don’t see much of secret wars in this one-shot, the artwork gives us a look into how those events are changed by Thor having the Symbiote suit rather than Spider-Man.

The art is very neat and balanced. Spidey is outside of an entire panel looking in, which is used to enhance the visual distance of Thor and Hulk in the scene. Sergio Dávila and Aure Jimenez are even able to mimic 80s artwork in a splash page while Bryan Valenza brings the old-school feel to that page’s colors. The various scene transitions are handled well by using dialogue cues or a change in the panel layout.

The panels themselves have a lot of room, which is filled on some pages with a background to anchor the reader in the scene. The art is able to speed up and slow down to keep pace with the storyline. The line art itself in the individual panels is neat enough that even with several moving parts it’d be hard to get lost.