Demarcoa's Profile

The art around the Destroyer battle is really well done, and this issue feels slightly more focused than some of the other Roy Thomas Thor comics. The dialogue still doesn't really work for me, it's too wordy and slows the comic's action down. Once all the other characters in this series show up in the latter half things take a turn for the worse in terms of fun. At that point everything starts to really drag on, especially the stuff with the Destroyer who is defeated through really convoluted means I don't think paid off well at all.more

Thor shows off a new outfit in this issue and it is extremely 90s cheese. It makes me think he's wearing a giant dickie or bib. This issue is a lot like the other Thomas/Wyman comics - interesting but somewhat inconsistent and clumsy art, too many characters, too much going on. The flow between panels isn't great, either, and some of the dialogue feels unnecessary. The Destroyer shows up with a cool entrance and decent fight scene, so that's something.more

I really don't love this art style. Iron Man and Thor look so weird, but it does a decent job at making the Mandarin seem otherworldly and intimidating. There's some really good character work between Thor and Tony at least. I like how they kind of are figuring each other out. The rest of the story is alright, as Tony is figuring out his new life as a superhero and Avenger. The ending where H appy is apparently killed by an evil Iron Man doesn't feel very original, though.more

I like the focus on Hercules' psychology at the start of the comic. I found the art pretty consistently impressive, too. The Eric Masterson human drama kind of feels out of place and like its come out of nowhere. It is odd focusing on his family when I don't feel we've really gotten to know them much nor do they strike me as overly interesting characters. That being said, Eric going through a custody battle does feel like a pretty interesting dilemma for a superhero.

The Wrecking Crew break-out scene felt very... comic booky. They break out Wrecker only for the villain to reveal he could have escaped at any time, and they only do that to reveal the presence of Ulik. It just doesn't read as organic of a moment and then leads to the rest of the Crew to try and turn on Wrecker, only for him to reveal he was just kind of testing them. That's dumb, but at least Ulik teaching Wrecker new powers was an idea to drive the rest of the issue forward as Hercules is confronted by them while wrestling with trauma from their last encounter.

Some of that dialogue is just so on the nose, though I did like Thor intentionally losing to help Hercules get his confidence back. That's a good moment. The back-up story with Sif was more middling in quality but I liked that art, too.

Overall this issue isn't perfect but definitely felt worthy of a read.more

Roy Thomas' Thor has been pretty consistently underwhelming, unfortunately. This is pretty cringe dialogue and there's something just off about Thor working with such an obvious villain like this, helping create these "Godlings." It just doesn't really work as a plot of me and just starts piling on too many characters this issue. The art is phenomenal, at least, but at a certain point I just wa nted this comic to end because the story just turns into a total mess by the end.more

I was skeptical going into this one after not having a great time with the previous issue. But this was sincerely fun when a mind-controlled Hercules attacks Thor. That's a good old-fashioned god-brawl and I'm here for it. The dialogue isn't great, though. Thor worrying about child-care in the middle of all of this feels out of place. I kind of started checking out when the High Evolutionary showed up. He's not a good thing for this series and things already seem to spiral out of control the moment he shows up. The Dark Dweller feels like an after-thought by the end of this issue.more

This issue opens with some killer art. The Eric Masterson stuff is weird but this comic leans into its weirdness quite effectively. Though I found some of the dialogue and pacing of the story to be a bit clunky and even bloated. The Dark Dweller was an interesting villain in both writing and design. The back-up story with Fandrall felt a lot weaker. He just takes a guy to visit her mother? W eird.more

Last issue ended with an interesting twist where Odin got a hold of his old sword and everyone seemed to teleport somewhere primordial and changed clothes. This issue pays that off with a boring-ass battle and seemingly a trip into an alternate Asgard. It's alright. Deodato's art is at least something even if his depiction of humans is a little ridiculous. He's certainly a welcome addition to close out this series and the alternate Asgard is a welcome change of pace for the story arc, but I'm not convinced it will be enough to salvage this run. more

I really like the art at the beginning as Thor reforges Mjolnir. The rest of the issue however is mostly dedicated to Thor, Odin, and Red Norvell yelling at each other about Donald Blake and Red becoming Thor. It's not very compelling and Red's dialogue is pretty cheesy. Things get worse as that conversation just leads to Odin dumping some exposition (but at least that comes with the return of some creative imagery and a somewhat interesting flashback). Then Thor and Red duke it out and it's not great. Still, this comic does have little moments that make it kind of a fun and quite a bit does happen here.more

This era of Thor working with the High Evolutionary is cluttered with too many characters and devoid of enough fun to really be enjoyed. It's a bit of a shame. I like Roy Thomas normally. Art isn't very impressive, either, often not working for me well with the substandard writing. Thor's design here is awful, although a couple of panels stand out at showing Thor's expressions nicely. They do something fun in that Thor and the High Evolutionary are attacked by the same rock-people from Thor's first comic appearance, which happened 400 issues ago. I wish it was more of an enjoyable experience though, as the High Evolutionary's creations take up a lot of space in this comic for nothing gained. There's also way too much exposition in the later half of the comic after the rock people are defeated. Donald Blake being separate character from Thor and having him with Jane Foster and her kid adds to this feeling of bloat, but I guess we resolve that here. There's way too much going on in this comic for that moment to have any weight, though, and we end up overly focused on Thor and the Godpack fighting some High Evolutionary creation dude living in space and wearing only underwear. It'd dumb, extremely clunky, and way too drawn out thanks to this comic's supersized nature.

Back-up story with Red Novell and Sif was just okay, kind of boring. There's another with the Warriors Three that's more fun as they battle a monster. It's a lot cuter than anything else in this mess.more

This is alright. As the first Thor comic of the 90s, this works pretty well as a sort of flashback issue going over key moments in Thor history up until this point. I like the art and writing more than I don't. The art especially does some cool stuff in this comic, but obviously it is nothing that new to the series since this is mostly a recap of existing content. I like the idea of a back-up story focused on Hogun, as it feels like these Thor characters never get enough time in the sun, but the story is pretty short and insubstantial.more

On the nose writing that is closing out the Thor series with one hand and doing Onslaught things with the other, kind of failing at both. This reads like a mess.

This story arc has interesting ideas but Messner-Loebs really fails to consistently deliver on them. It was so unclear what was going on with Asgard that the stakes of the story aren't really conveyed well. Even the purpose of that sword seems badly explained. I had hoped for better. It feels like the team went all out for the #500 and we've settled back into this malaise. It's so awkward and clunky and fails to do that essential comic book thing of flowing one panel into the next.more

Reading the issues leading up to this, I've been kind of worried about what this big anniversary comic is going to be like. Deodato's art makes it feel at least a little special and I'm curious what's going on with this devastated Asgard Thor finds himself in. I thought it was an alternate reality but now I'm not so sure. Either way this feels like a huge step up in quality compared to what cam e before it. It's not great but it is a lot better.more

There's very weak connective tissue within this story arc, but these comics don't make sense alone, either. It's not a great read. Art remains all over the place in terms of quality. Dialogue and writing is worse. Thor gets hired by some rich people. Again it is a plot point that could be interesting but it is executed terribly and the rich characters are awful.

This started alright but completely falls apart. Two wannabe superheroes attack Thor, thinking he's still without powers. It doesn't go very well for them. This was fun but definitely could have been done better. Things start to look sloppy very quickly and I don't like the art style here.

This is indeed a strange comic where Thor seems willing to overlook Enchantresses' continued villainy for the sake of a romantic relationship. It gets incredibly awkward at times as it is a huge plot point in the story once the two wake up in Central Park to find all magic in the world suddenly gone. The art is pretty inconsistent and the dialogue is okay at best, but there are some flaws in eve n the grammar.

There's a really well done fight scene where a powerless Thor fights a gang of thugs, though.more

This has a decent start with Thor battling a fighter plane above Europe. I really liked the art for that and it hits that 90s sense of style quite well. The rest of the comic is much leader, with Thor and the High Evolutionary chatting while the latter's creations, the Godpack, watches on and provides commentary. The cast is way too cluttered for that sort of thing to work at all. Some of the dialogue is quite clunky while Thor comes across as quite childish. The art also loses its polish after the more focused and cleaner looking opening.

One upside is quite a bit does go on in this comic for a single issue.more

Intriguing for sure, but I don't know what the functional purpose was for having this issue be mostly exposition from Lex and Ozymandias. With all the exposition, we still don't know how the Watchmen reality would be saved by Ozy's plan in the DCU being successful. The most compelling part of the story is seeing how the "real world" is responding to the superhero stuff in real time. I appreciate that Putin is taking advantage of the heroes going to Mars, etc. The art is almost flawless, as usual.more