Thor #5 Review

THOR #5
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Art by Oliver Coipel

This is probably the first issue of Thor that I have thoroughly enjoyed. It might have something to do with the fact that this is probably the first issue of this book that I would actually call a Thor comic book. There isn't a hint of JMS's political and world views expressed in this issue and he doesn't use Thor and other heroes or villains as props in his political agendas. This is just a Thor story at heart and all I can say is that it's about time.

The opening of this issue immediately told me I was going to like this month's offering. It featured one of the townsfolk erecting a mail box at the base of Asgard so they could give Thor and the other Asgardians an invitation to a party. I just found the entire scene with him putting it up and Thor coming down to check his mail hilarious and the end of the issue with all the gods showing up to the party because of the promise of cake just capped off a great sequence.

Oh ya, despite how much I wrote about Thor checking his mail and everyone eating cake, this issue actually features a lot of progression in Thor's quest to find the rest of his Asgardian breathren. It seems he's already found a large chunk of gods since last issue and is currently trying to find Sif. Heimdall can't seem to locate her, but points out a disturbance that is blocking his view that sets Thor on his way to investigate.

What he finds is dozens of people trapped in an underground bunker and supposedly Sif is with them. Their captor appears to be someone inside the Destroyer armour, which leads to a lengthy battle with Thor. Thor, wishing to free his friends before the Destroyer can kill them, doesn't bother to pick and choose or try to identify exactly who it is he is freeing. The act of freeing his breathren reveals it was Balder locked inside the Destroyer armour. It seems he blames Thor for the destruction of Asgard during Ragnarok.

The biggest revelation comes when Thor goes to check on 'Sif'. The beautiful woman turns out to be a new, more female version of Loki. After revealing he no longer plans to cause any trouble since his destiny with Ragnarok is over, Thor allows him to go free for the time being. The various other gods that were trapped and free by Thor have all vanished, leaving Thor bewildered as to what happened. At the end of the issue, it is revealed that this was all orchestrated by Dr Doom (!) to free various evil gods, such as Enchantress, what looks like a Frost Giant and another that looks like a close up on a snakes eye, among others. I'm not sure what Doom has planned here, but it looks like Marvel is planning something big with him, as he has this and his alliance with Namor and Atlantis as some very noteworthy developments for him as of late.

Verdict - Must Read. The first true issue of the new Thor series and a welcome change from the ham fisted spiel JMS has been throwing at us. Anything with Doom in it pretty much gets my seal of approval and the return of Loki was definitely interesting, to say the least.

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