Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Jan Bazaldua
Cover Artist: Alex Ross
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Prie: $4.99
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
Thor has a lot on his plate right now. He has the elder gods of Utgard returning and threatening humanity. His birth mother, Gaea the earth goddess, is the very one who unleashed them. His enemies the Enchantress and the Executioner framed him for killing another enemy. But now, the king of Asgard has been sought out by an old friend and fellow god for aid, which may come to help him as well. Read Immortal Thor #13 to see the God of Thunder join the one and only Hercules on a new bold journey.
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Review:
Alright, so after everything that’s happened, you’d think Thor would get back on the case of figuring out what to do with the elder gods of Utgard, his mother Gaea, and his bad PR thanks to the Enchantress and the Executioner. But first, he’s helping Hercules figure something out that might help Thor in the end. The only problem is Al Ewing needs to make it make sense.
So, Thor arrives to Greece to meet Hercules and the two talk and catch up a little on their lives, which is really recap for the audience in case no one’s been reading prior stories written by Al Ewing featuring Hercules. That’s most of the comic before Loki shows up, but Hercules called Thor to ask about Toranos’ phrase “The Wheel has turned.” A phrase he heard his father Zeus, who was killed by the Greek night goddess Nyx, then later reborn as an evil mad version of himself and said the same thing. What Hercules, and now Thor, wants to know is who turned this “wheel”.
Their only lead is to find the night goddess Nyx and question her about it. Last time, she had been defeated by the Avengers and banished back to the Void diminished by Vision. But Hercules brings up that after two “endless nights” falling upon the Earth since then, The King in Black event, the current Blood Hunt event, and others, Nyx must’ve returned. But she needs natural darkness to recover her power, and so the three journey to the Antarctic where they are ambushed by Nyx and her newly revived children, only for Loki to cause more mischief.
Okay, so I said earlier that this comic really is just mostly Thor and Hercules catching up and talking for more than half the time. So when they finally head to arctic and encounter Nyx, things get interesting but only for a little while. It doesn’t take long before things turn back to underwhelming again as Thor and company outmatch their adversaries which undercuts the threat and power that Nyx and her children are supposed to have. But all that aside, the biggest issue is why Al Ewing is having Thor and Hercules go looking for Nyx anyway. See, Thor already knows who unleashed the Utgard elder gods: Gaea. He knows who he’s up against. What we don’t see him doing is forming a real plan of attack or a way to resolve things before they get more out of hand than they already have.
Instead, he’s chasing a vengeful night goddess who would sooner kill him then honestly answer any question he has. All I can say is that this issue is far from impressive, both in the art and the writing. Now, I’m not saying it’s terrible, I’m just saying this story is a huge leap in logic. It feels more like Al Ewing wanting to reuse his ideas with Nyx and her kids and came up with a loose story to rope them into this series somehow. It’s up to the next issue to bring it all together and deliver something good.
Final Thoughts:
Immortal Thor #13 starts a new story arc that brings Thor and Hercules together again for a new journey. While the two godly heroes would love to catch up, they do have a mission: Find Nyx, the night goddess, and question her on who turned the “wheel” Toranos was talking about. But just as they find the night goddess, Loki causes mischief. While it’s nice to see Thor and Hercules catching up, the comic takes a while to get to the bigger story. By the time the comic finally gets to Nyx, it feels like it has to rush things a little to get to the big surprise.