Writer: Torunn Grønbekk
Artists: Juan Gedeon & Sergio Davila
Inkers: Sean Parsons & Juan Gedeon
Color Artist: Matt Wilson
Cover Artist: Nic Klein
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
It all comes to a close. Thanos, Dr. Doom, Hela, Odin’s soul trapped in Mjolnir. It all ends here. The new All-Father has been through much in the last few years after being crowned the new king of Asgard. But after all the battles and bitter victories, Thor finally claims victory. Read this review of Thor #35 to see how the God of Thunder concludes this latest adventure.
If you’re interested in this comic, series, related trades, or any of the others mentioned, then simply click on the title/link to snag a copy through Amazon as you read the Thor #35 Review.
Review:
Don’t let the Nic Klein cover or the synopsis fool you! There’s not one hint of an epic story here at all. I’m sorry to say, but this comic is not good. There is no epic conclusion, no big final battle, no great revelation about everything’s that happened and might happen in the future. It’s all just a big rush job. There will be SPOILERS throughout this review. Let’s get to it.
The issue picks up with Thor continuing his tale from the previous issue where he recalls a random adventure of his younger self and Loki to the forcibly aged-up young Hela. If you’re not caught up, there were time-travel shenanigans that led to Thor encountering and saving a baby Hela and somehow, someway, she ended up getting aged up to a preteen. While Thor tells his tale to Hela, Jane Foster is witnessing a reconciliation between the old kings of Asgard, Odin and his own father Bor, and she even has one with Odin too.
There’s not much to say about this issue that I haven’t said in past reviews about this story arc. It’s rushed, the plot and its pacing is poor, the characters don’t all act like themselves for the most part. The main story and its themes are very derivative of many past Thor stories in recent years, and Juan Gedeon’s art is incompatible with an action-oriented story, let alone a Thor story. But to give credit where credit is due, Torunn Gronbekk does her best to give most of the main characters a generally wholesome ending, such as Thor, Laussa, young Hela & young Loki, Jane with Odin & Bor, and Thor reflecting on his time with his father.
She does resolve things between Dr. Doom and Hela where they’re even now. Hela knew most of what would transpire, knowing that Doom would save her in the past and lets him go because of it. But it’s all resolved in just one page, I’m not kidding. On top of that, Gronbekk doesn’t even try to resolve the Thanos and the Black Stone storyline at all. No hinting of the Mad Titan’s status now, no foreshadowing of the Black Stone’s connection to Hela. Nothing. It also doesn’t help that the two plots are illustrated by two different artists, and Sergio Davila’s art is definitely a step up from Gedeon’s art, but it’s excluded to the young Thor and Loki tale and not the present day story which has Gedeon’s art.
Final Thoughts on the Series:
Now, here are my final thoughts and a short review of Donny Cates’ Thor run. It’s safe to say this run started very big, what with the whole Black Winter and Thor killing Galactus (who ends up getting resurrected thanks to Dan Slott of all people in the Reckoning War). While I wasn’t a big fan of that story arc and its contents, I was still along for the ride and when it came to the Donald Black story arc, I was invested again. But then there was the God of Hammers story arc and the abrupt death of Odin, who ended up getting stuck in Mjolnir.
Obviously, the run had its ups and downs, but it had plenty of promise and the capacity to still entertain and be enjoyable. However, it was clear that after the Thor vs. Hulk: Banner of War crossover event, the writing and stories were starting to decline. Things were rushed, some characters were acting out of character, the book kept switching out Nic Klein for other artists, some plot elements were either ignored altogether and never fleshed out after their first debut despite their massive in-universe significance, like the Black Winter. So, when Donny Cates left both his Hulk and Thor titles, the Thor title suffered the worst.
I couldn’t tell you why Donny Cates left – I’m not sure myself – but once he left, this book just died. It wasn’t fun, it lost all its momentum, the stories and characters were not excitable or compelling, and it just felt rushed. It was clear after the first story arc following Cates’ departure that Torunn Gronbekk either isn’t ready to helm her own comic title or she wasn’t the right person to conclude this Thor/Thanos storyline that Donny Cates set up as far back as the very first story arc of this series. It also didn’t help that Marvel Comics had Juan Gedeon take over as the main artist for the rest of this run instead of putting Nic Klein back on as the main artist or getting someone else of similar caliber. Either way, this creative team wasn’t able to close out this series well, no matter how much they tried. Hopefully Al Ewing’s The Immortal Thor series will jumpstart things again for Thor.
Final Thoughts:
Thor #35 is the finale to this Thor run and it tries its best to wrap up everything it can into as neat of a bow as possible. As expected, not everything is handled well, some character resolutions are rushed, some story elements are overlooked if not outright abandoned, like Thanos and the Black Stone. Surprisingly, the endings to the stories with Thor and his father Odin are a little unexpectedly wholesome. The creative team do their best to give this story arc as clean a conclusion as possible, but sadly they fail to stick the landing.