Immortal Thor has been a wild ride. Al Ewing has been finding different ways to challenge Thor as he has taken on various threats from the Elder Gods and Dario Agger. These challenges have brought back up a lot of history from across the franchise. The most recent issue of the series saw villains Radioactive Man, Cobra, Mr. Hyde, and Grey Gargoyle gang up to defeat Thor and breaking him after turning him into a stone statue. What will happen next? Let’s find out with Immortal Thor #17.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Jan Bazaldua
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: Joe Sabino
THE IMMORTAL THOR #17 SOLICITATION
“THE GODS OF MIDGARD RISE! Four new gods walked the Earth, called by Thor’s foes to be his death — a man of fire, a man of stone, a beast of wrath and a trickster-serpent. All had reason to hate the thunder god… and working together, they had the power to end an All-Father’s reign. This is the story of the IMMORTAL THOR… and what broke him at last.” – Marvel Comics
REVIEW
Al Ewig and Jan Bazaldua show exactly who to best transition between multiple storylines. Most importantly, Immortal Thor #17 has every storyline compliment one another to strengthen the overall presentation. This in turn creates a higher degree of danger around what Thor is taking on if it was one straight forward threat.
Right away Ewing and Bazaldua hit us with Thor being transported to a dimension with Donald Blake waiting for him. This meeting sets the tone for the rest of the issue as Donald Blake’s appearance was certainly a surprise. We go from this surprise to continuing to push Donald Blake further as a villain. The pure hatred he has for Thor creates interest in seeing Donald Blake as a main antagonist again.
These unresolved things between the characters played in well how Thor used his powers to get back to the normal realm. Thor’s position as All-Father of Asgard has made him into a God who isn’t easily defeated by methods that would be deadly to others. Seeing Thor reassemble himself and quickly defeat Radioactive Man, Cobra, Mr. Hyde, and Grey Gargoyle was a great show of power.
His allies failing to defeat Thor creates questions around what Dario Agger will do next in order to beat the God of Thunder. That is something we don’t have to wait long to find out as Thor overcoming the four villains appears to be part of his plan. It helps build credibility for Dario that is building up as he has plans in place to take down Thor and Enchantress. This plan also builds a possible crossover with Iron Man in the future.
Through all of the connection between Thor and Enchantress continues to be a highlight for this series. Immortal Thor #17 highlights this with how organic the chemistry between the pair is. It leads to a development that if the chemistry wasn’t built up ahead could’ve fallen flat. Because Enchantress bringing back her Magni Thorson, Thor and Amora’s from an alternate timeline, could’ve been a jump the shark moment. But given everything that has happened thus far this development provides a lot of interesting questions around the ramifications of Magni’s presence in the current timeline.
Through all of these events Bazaldua artwork continues to come into its own. There is so much cool choreography done with how characters show off their powers. Thor reassembling himself gave off the feeling that Radioactive Man, Cobra, Mr. Hyde, and Grey Gargoyle should run away before they face the God of Thunder’s wrath. Magni’s return also had an ominous sense as we are entering into unknown territory for the direction of this story.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Immortal Thor #17 juggles various storylines in a way that compliments each other. In the process multiple characters are put over beyond Thor, adding more interest in where all these paths are leading us to. The final page brings back a character that we never thought we see again. Their presence in the story creates a greater sense of unknown in the journey Al Ewing and Jan Bazaldua are taking us on.
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10
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