The Unworthy Thor #5
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artists: Oliver Coipel, Kim Jacinto, & Pascal Alixe
Colorists: Mat Lopes, & Jay David Ramos
Letterers: VC’s Joe Sabino
Cover Artist: Oliver Coipel & Matthew Wilson
Variant Cover Artist: Leinil Francis Yu & Matthew Wilson; Chris Stevens & Frank Martin
Release Date: 03/22/17
Rating: Rated T
Price: $3.99
WARNING: This review contains BIG SPOILERS for The Unworthy Thor #5 and the future of The Mighty Thor.
During Original Sin Thor, once the mighty God of Thunder was rendered unworthy when Nick Fury whispered something to him. The words whispered were only known to the Watcher, who Fury had killed. Those words were so powerful that Thor dropped his hammer Mjolnir, unable to lift it. Since he passed the title of Thor to Jane Foster, who now secretly wields his Mjolnir. Now going simply by Odinson, he wields his battle axe Jarnbjorn. Odinson has fallen deeper into despair without his trusted Mjolnir, all due to words that were whispered to him and never repeated.
Nick Fury now serving his sentence as the Unseen regrets ever uttering those words alerts Odinson to a new hammer on old Asgard, one that survived the reality destroying Secret Wars that saw the destruction of the merging of the Ultimate Universe. Odinson, his goat Toothnasher, Hel-Hound Thori, and his longtime friend Beta Ray Bill arrived at the ruins of his old home now within the Collector’s collection. But they are not alone, Thanos the Mad Titan has sent Proxima Midnight, Black Swan, and a mysterious hooded ally to retrieve the hammer but none could lift it. Now Odinson has reached the hammer, if he be worthy he may once again possess the power of Thor and save his friends and home.
Plot: Thor arrives at the hammer of Ultimate Thor and no matter what comes next nothing will ever be the same.
Story: This story has been years in the making. The events here were actually set up during Aaron’s run on Thor: God of Thunder, which is both good and bad, as was the series for me. I think Aaron’s Thor was very strong and well written, but it did drag on a bit too long. I felt like the story never really had an ending. I guess now it finally does.
Thor: God of Thunder came out in 2012, and ended in 2014. That same year Aaron did the only good event (in my opinion) Marvel had in over a decade, Original Sin. That means for about 3 years we waited for the pay off for that whisper. Now I do not lay this on Aaron’s feet though, I lay the blame for that on Marvel. They had so many events and agendas that this story just never happened. Odinson for that matter hasn’t really even been used since Jane became Thor.
Now Odinson is on a precipice; Is he worthy of this Mjolnir? Can he lift it? Will he become the Ultimate Thor? Those are all good questions, and the answers are ones we may never know. Odinson decided none shall possess this Mjolnir, as it does not belong to any of them, including himself that it will be there for it’s rightful owner when he hears it’s call just like Odinson has. Odison makes short work of everyone after gathering some lightning-fueled powers from this new Mjolnir and vanishes them all from Old Asgard and returns it to its former place.
I enjoyed this issue and the reveal of “The Whisper”? I guess I have to say what those words were, we find out here that Nick Fury whispered “Gorr was right”. Gorr the God Butcher was a character that play a big role in Aaron’s Thor: God of Thunder. Gorr essentially told Thor that humans would be better off without the Gods they worshiped because Gods are vain and vengeful. Thor hearing this realized that all Gods including himself are unworthy.
If you were looking for a conclusion to the Odinson’s saga, you won’t get it here. This book leaves us with more questions than answers. We know from the solicitations for The Mighty Thor that we will have an Ultimate Thor, and many (including yours truly) believed it would be Odinson, but by the end of this book a mysterious person claims the Ultimate Mjolnir saying that it called them and that he will be the War Thor.
While I did enjoy this mini-series and I liked the twist at the end, I am left with a question. How long will this story take to be revealed? It took 3 years to reveal the whisper, a year to reveal who the female Thor was, I just don’t want to have to sit through another few years to discover who this War Thor is. I personally would prefer a quick reveal and I am hoping it is Eris Masterson, Thunderstrike.
Art: The art here isn’t my favorite. I prefer all around highly detailed art. The art here is focused detailed. If the character or scene is important they are detailed, if they are not there is little to no details. You can see this in the backgrounds a lot of the time. Now while this may not be my favorite style, I think it does fit this title. This mini for me is like an Epic Poem of sorts. This is the Saga of Odinson, or a part of it anyway, and this style fits that tone well. The panel layouts and the colors fit perfectly for the story and the art overall is solid.
Verdict: Overall, this book is really good, as it ties up a LOT of things that we have been waiting for over 3 years to see wrapped up while also weaving new threads. This mini could have been condensed, maybe even an oversized one shot to be honest, but it was needed. I say pick it up especially if you are a fan of Odinson or The Mighty Thor as this will be a big piece of what’s to come for both.
Star Rating: 4 Stars