Donny Cates has been on a roll with his work on Thor. Things have gotten even more intense in the life of Thor as the new All-Father thoughts of a vacation turned into a nightmare as Donald Blake took his place. Donald Blake return marked a revenge tour for the long out of existence character who Thor once shared a strong bond with. That revenge tour has made everyone on Asgard now setting out to stop Donald Blake. That includes Jane Foster as she learned what her former boyfriend and collegue has done. Now with Jane as Valkyrie along with other Asgardians against him will Donald Blake be stopped. And even if he is can Thor Odinson return from the dimension he is stuck in? Let’s find out Thor #13.
Writer: Donny Cates
Artist; Nic Klein
Colorist: Matt Wilson
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: After giving up being All-Father, Odin set out with Freyja on a journey to regain the love they had for one another. Unfortunately, that did not work out and eventually Freyja left Odin.
In the present Valkyrie (Jane Foster) finds Odin getting drunk at a bar. Valkyrie punches Odin and tells him to get up. As Odin struggles to get up Valkyrie wonders why Odin is so weak. Odin reveals he has lost a lot since they last talked but does not want to be pitied.
Valkyrie reveals Donald Blake is back and is out on a revenge tour after imprisoning Thor in the dimension he was once banished to. She goes on to say that Donald is ripping the World Tree apart to gain the All-Power. Odin says he’ll get his armor.
In the Dimension Blood, Beta Ray Bill is trying to get ready to fight but Lady Sif reminds him they first need a way back to Asgard. Doctor Strange along with Throg and Lockjaw suddenly appear to help Sif and Beta Ray Bill get back to Asgard.
Loki then shows up and after taunting Doctor Strange for a while decides to be the bigger man to offer his help taking on Donald Blake.
Over in Asgard, Donald Blake is chopping down Yggdrasill, the World Tree. Throg suddenly appears and attacks Donald from behind. Right behind Throg are Doctor Strange, Sif, Beta Ray Bill, Valkyrie, and other Asgardian warriors. Donald defiantly says he does not fear anyone.
Donald is suddenly smashed on the ground by Odin. Odin declares that Donald’s journey has reached its end. Odin then asks Donald where he thinks the blood coming from the World Tree goes. Donald is left in shock when he realizes something.
In the eternal dawn dimension Thor is receiving the power from the bleeding Yggdrasill. Thor says that while Donald wants the Odin-Force what he will feel is the Thor-Force. Thor then powers up even more as he says Donald can have all of the Thor-Force.
The Thor-Force suddenly strikes Donald back over at Asgard next to Yggdrasill.
Back in the eternal dawn dimension Thor calls out to his Ravens. The Ravens say they can’t help Thor leave the dimension as only Donald striking his staff can do that. Thor says he has another plan and wants the Ravens to remove his soul and place it in a specific vessel.
Back in Asgard, Donald gets back up after being hit by the Thor Force. He declares that no one can stop him as he is going to take what is rightfully his and get his life back. Odin says that all life comes to an end eventually and it is in his judgement that Donald must be unmade.
Thor’s voice is heard telling Odin he can handle things from here. Donald is then hit with a powerful blow. Thor then appears in the Destroyer armor that his Ravens transported his soul into. Thor tells Donald if he wants power to come and get it. End of issue.
The Good: Thor #13 was all about building to the big finale of “Prey.” Donny Cates and Nic Klein set out to place all the puzzle pieces in place so that the story can be completed without anything being out of place. That is exactly what this creative team accomplished with this issue.
Throughout “Prey” Cates and Klein have built up Donald Blake to be an unstoppable monster. He is driven by pure anger over being forgotten and left to fade away from existence. Every fight and conversation he has had since his return has built a terrifying aura around him as you as the reader see how there is that aura of anger around Donald.
With Thor #13 we see how that angry aura around Donald has left all of the warriors of Asgard having to pull all the resources they can to stop Donald Blake. You see that with how Sif talks with Beta Ray Bill as they need to figure out how to get out of Dimension Blood and Jane Foster as Valkyrie tracking down Odin. Both these scenes serve the purpose of showing how our heroes need to be united like never before in order to stop Donald Blake’s rampage.
In the process of this Cates really gets into how much Asgard has changed. We see that Beta Ray Bill, Sif, Jane Foster as Valkyrie, and Loki have all stepped up to take on leadership positions in Thor’s era as All-Father. Even though Donald did defeat them all previously they all understood that in Thor’s place they still needed to step up. Its their job to take on whatever threats come their way.
Jane not hesitating to call out Odin for becoming a drunk post-War of the Realms was exactly what the previous All-Father needed. Because as was explained in the opening, Odin has completely lost his grove after he failed to fix his marriage to Freyja even after letting go of his All-Father responsibilities. Without having a place to rule and a wife he can spend the rest of his life with Odin was at a point where he felt he didn’t have meaning.
Which made Jane’s appearance as Valkyrie the exact thing that Odin needed. Someone needed to kick his ass and get him to remember who Odin is. Jane not holding back was appropriate to get Odin to find his grove again. It further emphasizes how Jane has been able to make the Valkyrie role her own as she has become one of the key characters that Asgard has.
Loki showing up to lend his help to fight Donald Blake was nicely handled. Even if he has as much of a case to get his revenge on Donald after the returning character embarrassed him in their fight, Loki could not help but get on everyone’s nerves. That is who Loki is and just can’t help himself. Having Doctor Strange there added history to this interaction Loki had with everyone.
All of this built well to how the entire “Prey” arc has been built around making Thor’s return as epic as possible. Even though everyone who came to stop Donald Blake has a strong reason to be the ones to put him down this is Thor’s show. Thor is the one that brought Donald Blake back and unleashed that rage monster on the world. This made the power we saw as we saw the Thor-Force unleashed on Donald even from the eternal dawn dimension put over how powerful Thor is. Thor has really come into his own as he is no longer relying on his father’s power. This is Thor’s show and that is what we saw when he figured out a way to return by putting his soul into the Destroyer armor.
Nic Klein maintained the big event feel for “Prey” throughout Thor #13. Even with all of the set-up that is done in this issue Klein still made everything feel larger than life. The conversation between Jane Foster’s Valkyrie and Odin was an example of that. We went from Odin being nothing more than a drunk to being All-Father Odin we all remember thanks to Jane’s strong approach to helping him. This all led in well into how we saw Thor’s epic return and Donald Blake’s anger leave you wanting more because of how both characters were drawn.
The Bad: Nothing.
Overall: While there was plenty of power showcased Thor #13 is very much the calm before the storm. Every character involved in this story has united to take on the unstoppable rage that has completely blinded Donald Blake. In the process we get a lot of strong character moments that build hype for how the “Prey” story arc will end in its final chapter.
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