Thor: God of Thunder has been a stand-out series from the very beginning, telling the type of story that’s epic in scope and has a quality of timeless legend. As with many of Marvel Now!’s best books, it’s just not a typical “super hero” book. If you haven’t been reading this series, go back and pick it up from issue #1. If you have been reading it, issue #9 brings things to a head in epic fashion, and the crazy thing is this isn’t even the climatic issue of this storyline.
So just to get you caught up, there’s a being out there who’s killing gods, so Thor from the past, Thor from our “current” time, and Thor of the future, who reigns as an all-father and king, have joined forces to stop this god-butcher. The question is whether their combined might will be enough to do just that. Meanwhile, Gorr’s plan is coming to fruition. He has designed a bomb that will destroy all the deities of the universe, and he has no hesitation in using it. In fact, he’s desperate to use it, and it’s this aspect that provides the compelling core of this superb story.
There’s just so much to love about this series, but one of my favorite aspects of it is the way it’s written. The tone of it all is like that of an ancient epic along the lines of something like The Odyssey or The Iliad, or perhaps the ancient stories of King Arthur. The poetic tone is perfectly complimented by the great art work, giving the whole book a great tone and feel that, as I mentioned, isn’t like that of a typical “super hero” book but more of an ancient epic or legend.
However, it’s everything that you can unpack from this story that’s intriguing. Stuff like are all gods pretty much the same, and if so, why do we need them? Or the imagery of the three Thors: Thor the father, Thor the bloody redeemer (which in and of itself is interesting phrasing), and Thor the holy hero – it’s quite the Trinitarian imagery. However, the compelling core of this story is the question of why Gorr wants to kill all the gods. For whatever reason, Gorr believes that if he kills all the gods, then he will truly be free. Free to finally live. Now what that might mean for someone like Gorr, to be free to finally live, I’m not entirely sure. Like all great villains, he doesn’t see what he’s doing as evil or wrong. In fact, he believes it’s for the greater good. That it will benefit everyone to finally be free of the “tyranny” of the gods. It’s not an uncommon sentiment. I’ve heard plenty of opinions that have stated that faith is dangerous, that it’s practically child abuse to bring up children to believe in God, and only the weak or the delusional have any need to believe in a god. In short, society would be better if there were no gods. Well, stories like the one in Bioshock have graphically explored what would happen should that sentiment be carried out to its logical conclusion. More interesting, however, is the fact that there are those that have tried to kill God. There was even one who succeeded…sort of.
All throughout history, people like Nietzsche have declared that society doesn’t need God and that God is dead, and the religion known as Christianity would soon follow. Of course, that was back in the 1800s, and now, ironically, they print Bibles in what was once his home. However, go even further back than that, there was a time when God was killed. Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, walking amongst humanity was sentenced to death and crucified on a cross. He died and was buried. God was dead. However, the thing of it was He didn’t stay dead. Three days later, He rose again (setting up one of the most popular hero tropes used throughout history). Death could not contain God. In fact, death was used as a tool for victory in His hands. Jesus’ death and resurrection broke the power of death for all time, destroyed the power of sin and shame once and for all for one and all. It was the ultimate victory attained through the ultimate sacrifice, and it was done not to enslave but to truly set free and to finally bring the life that which had been deprived from us by sin and rebellion. Gorr’s sentiment that freedom can only come through the death of God is not only impossible, but it’s completely backward. It lacks any understanding of who God truly is and what His love for all of us really means. His plot makes for a great comic book story and for some interesting philosophical and theological discussions, but in the end, it’s entirely impractical. One would do just as well trying to eliminate the laws of gravity or stop the inevitable forward flow of time.
Thor: God of Thunder is a book not to be missed right now. If anything, I’m a little worried what will happen once this arc finally concludes, as I can’t see anything being able to exceed the heights it’s attained with the current arc. Seriously, just go pick up this book, read it, and then join in with the conversation.
A BIG thanks to Astro-Zombies for providing the material for this review. Learn more about them at astrozombies.com.
