Review by Karl Verhoven
Jane Foster began life in comics as the simpering nurse assisting Thor’s human alter ego Dr. Donald Blake. Involved with Thor’s life throughout the 1960s, she was long forgotten when revived for the Thor films, since when she’s been treated more respectfully. In the comics this began with Jason Aaron needing a replacement Thor.
Aaron settled on Jane Foster, but the volume title is foreknowledge readers of the original comics never had, and rather ruins the mystery over the first half of the content concerning who this new Thor is. Aaron diverts suspicion from Jane by having her shown inflicted with cancer, so unlikely to be battering Frost Giants and dealing the Malekith the Elf gathering allies and plotting against Asgard. This may be a new Thor, but the historically familiar version isn’t discarded. Referred to as Odinson, he’s naturally very interested in who Thor now is.
Russell Dautermann is the primary artist. He’s very good to begin with, supplying thoughtful layouts prioritising the action or emotion, if at the start also unable to clear the clutter from some panels. He is a work in progress, though, and becomes ever more confident in supplying decorative art that holds the eye, and by midway through he’s stunning. His work looks all the better for this collection not including fill-in issues by other artists from the original comics.
The mystery of who Thor might be is sustained well, with the revelation handled equally well, Jane’s character sympathetic throughout and the cancer problem never overplayed for cheap drama. Also good is new supporting character, S.H.I.E.L.D Agent Solomon. Other aspects are more troublesome. There’s plenty to keep Jane’s attention, and Aaron’s villains are suitably slimy, corporate CEO Daniel Agger emerging from a strong pack as slimiest: “Gall is one of many things I possess in prodigious quantities”, he boasts. Malekith’s scheming and gathering allies really is playing the long game, occupying almost all of this collection and not solved here as it leads into The War of the Realms. You may wish Aaron would hurry things up.
That, however, isn’t his biggest mistake, which is backing himself into a corner and coming up with a really dramatic solution, but one that he’s magics out of thin air. It’s really poor plotting for an otherwise very readable collection.
It closes with a slim teaming of Jane Foster’s Thor with the original article battling Apocalypse in the days of the Vikings. It’s readable, but not memorable despite nice art from Mahmud Asrar.
This is a reasonably priced package but copies of used slimmer paperbacks will be even cheaper. Look for Goddess of Thunder, Who Holds the Hammer?, Thunder in Her Veins, and Lords of Midgard. This isn’t the complete saga of Jane’s time as Thor, and cuts off a couple of chapters into what was published in paperback as The Asgard/Shi’ar War. If you’d prefer a pricier collection there are three possibilities in Thor, Goddess of Thunder Omnibus, the first Thor by Jason Aaron Omnibus. or spread over the second and third volumes of Thor by Jason Aaron: The Complete Collection.
