This week Marvel unleashes KING THOR #1, the epic final chapter in Jason Aaron’s seven year story about the Odinson. Frequent collaborator Esad Ribic returns to bring this story to life on the grandest scale imaginable.
***SPOILERS LIE AHEAD***
Not only is it an extreme rarity to have one creator get the chance to stick with a story for seven years, but it’s even more rare that it be this great throughout. Readers have been through so much with Jason Aaron and his Asgardian tales through the years. King Thor #1 taps into the gravity and stake that readers carry with them into this final chapter.
In the far future, King Thor has lived longer than any god who came before him. The only constant throughout this eternity of existence is the hatred his brother Loki shares for him. It’s a hatred that burns the entire universe and all the realms. This hatred is harnessed and directed straight at King Thor.
At the end of all that was Thor Odinson, would you rather have it any other way? Loki versus his brother Thor, consumed still by a bitter sibling rivalry. Loki is at his most sinister and depraved here and it doesn’t disappoint.
We’ve been getting a lot of Loki recently throughout a number of Marvel titles, but that doesn’t make this showdown any less compelling. Nobody’s comic books encapsulate the word “epic” like Jason Aaron’s Thor stories–King Thor will be no different.
To properly put a bow on the Jason Aaron era of Thor comics, it wouldn’t be right without bringing back Gorr–now the God of God Butchers. One of the greatest and most prominent character creations of the modern age, Gorr’s appearance at the end of this issue will leave readers shook.
We also see our old friend Shadrak appear once again for one last stand before joining his beloved books in a pile of ash. These two returning characters join the popular Girls Of Thunder, Thor’s trio of granddaughter gods. King Thor #1 checks all the boxes of character’s that should be present at the very end of Jason Aaron’s run.
The battle of Thor and Loki itself throughout the issue is brutal and unrelenting. Fan-favorite mastermind artist Esad Ribic brings his A-game once again. Every punch and slice will have readers grinding their teeth or feeling a chill run down their spine–especially that bit with Thor’s intestines.
Colorist Ive Svorcina brings the thunder as well, giving Ribic’s illustrations a cloudy mystique and impending doom aesthetic. These pages come to life in exactly the grand, epic fashion that the story calls for. Jason Aaron couldn’t have asked for a better art team to truly bring his vision to the page.
King Thor #1 is everything you could ask for and more from the final chapter of Jason Aaron’s long tenure with the God of Thunder. This final chapter should further solidify Aaron as one of the greatest writers to ever grace Thor comics, if not THE greatest.
No matter where you jumped onto the series, King Thor will undoubtedly satisfy your thunder-lust.
