Immortal Thor vol. 2: All Trials Are One

If, however you manage it, you’re able to read and enjoy vol. 1, is what follows worth it?  From a page count to price perspective, definitely.  Not enough to make up for the gross imbalance of the previous volume, but six issues and 137 pages for $20 isn’t bad (for this day and age).  Is it good enough for what’s inside?  Yeah, I think so.

Previously, Thor was enlightened to the existence of the Utgard Thor, Toranos, who was determined to lay waste to Midgard.  He was fought off, but not before revealing that this encounter, and the challenges that Thor’s adopted homeworld now faced were engineered by his own mother Gaea.  So the God of Thunder has some learning to do:  Of the history of Utgard itself, his own encounters with the gods in the hazy days of his youth, and his mother’s role in their imprisonment.  All while his own enemies plot and scheme to find a new way to destroy their hated foe – by making theirs Marvel!

One of Ewing’s strengths as a writer is his ability to draw on some of the mustiest bits of Marvel continuity and effortlessly weave it into a modern context.  Seeing him do that while telling an all-new story about the Hulk in “Immortal Hulk” was one of the frequent joys of reading it.  I was more or less familiar with the continuity he was weaving into that series, however, but I’m much less so with Thor’s history as opposed to the Green Goliath’s.  That also goes for his mythical inspiration as well.

So when the writer starts bringing up Utgard and its inhabitants, I’m a bit unsure as to whether or not there’s a mythical basis for it, or if he’s really building off of that “X-Men/Alpha Flight” crossover from the 80’s.  Whatever the case is, I’m still able to enjoy the story being told on its own terms, as the story of Thor and Loki encountering the Utgard version of the latter in their youth is straightforward in its depiction of the epic challenges they face and the contrast between the past and present personalities.  It’s a bit harder to appreciate the mythmaking being done by Gaea, however, as it comes off as more exposition-y and exceedingly abrupt as it transitions to the next leg of the story.

Which involves foes that will be familiar to longtime “Thor” readers, and one that has his origins in this title while also featuring prominently in “Immortal Hulk” as well.  Anyone who read the first volume will know who I’m talking about and it won’t surprise them to learn that they’ve gone and bought the company that publishes Marvel Comics in the Marvel Universe, and now have the ability to launch their own “Thor” comic to try and dictate the Thunder God’s legend and character.

That’s how we get “Roxxon Presents:  Thor #1” an issue-length goof that presents the title character, and his civilian alter-ego of Chad Hammer as someone who fights for humanity, so long as they think he’s cool.  But now they don’t!  How could this be?  Could his evil brother Loki be behind this falling out of coolness?  And even if he is, how will they be able to see past his illusions – if they don’t shell out for the awesome 8K spectacle provided by Roxxon’s Roxxspex AR goggles for the low, low price of $899.99?

Most of the issue is just Ewing delivering up the dumbest, most bro-tastic take on the character and his new corporate sponsor.  This approach frequently got a laugh out of me due to both the writing and the art from Greg Land, who I really hope was in on the joke here.  While the artist has taken a lot of flack over the years regarding how obvious he can be in tracing his characters’ looks from other media, he can do good work when he’s asked to tackle offbeat or over-the-top superhero spectacle.  That’s the case here and it really serves the story – as well as that one part where Ewing drops the mask, sticks the knife in, and lets you try and go back to laughing at everything when you’re told what this is really about.

This leads to a more conventional superhero dust-up that closes out the volume with some surprising twists both during and after.  It leaves the title character in a much more precarious spot than before, which made me glad that I got the first three volumes of this series in a buy-two-get-one-free deal.  There may be a lot of work in vol. 2 in order to wrap your head around all of the mythologizing and high-concept storytelling the writer throws out here, yet it feels worth it in the end.  Enough for me to want to see what’s at “The End of All Songs”…