Last month Torunn Grønbekk and Michael Dowling offered readers a Jane Foster comic book that was a great introduction and felt blockbuster in scale. Better yet, it’s not a cheap movie tie-in or a comic produced simply to sell to readers who went to comic shops after seeing Thor: Love and Thunder. That made getting my hands on Jane Foster & The Mighty Thor #2, out today, even more exciting since it begins to explain how Thor fits into things.
It was surprising that this series would reveal Jane Foster wielding Mjolnir again. She went to Hel and back in The Mighty Thor and Valkyrie series–both collected here–to shed the monicker of Thor. Thankfully Grønbekk explains how Thor’s hammer came to be untethered from him while also setting up a larger conflict worth resolving. In this way, by the end of this issue, it’s very clear this series could easily be a mainline Thor book continuing what Jason Aaron did and building on it for the better.
This issue takes readers to fantastical locations, continues to show the war on Asgard, and has Jane Foster uncover mysteries worth exploring. Dowling and color artist Jesus Aburtov pull off these many scenes changes well with a great example of atmosphere when Jane returns to where Thor was plucked from our reality. The chaotic war scenes amp up the action while Jane does her detective work.
The scene with Thor is particularly well done. Take a look at the preview and check out the details in his helmet and clothing or how the portal encompasses the word balloon. Some of the chaos of war can lack detail, but as far as characters they’re as sharp as ever.
A big battle is taking place on Asgard.
Credit: Marvel
The scenes with Jane do end up feeling slow and way too expository, though. She’s basically talked at by men like Odin who know things she doesn’t. It’s cool to see her follow the breadcrumbs, but she’s more a bystander in these scenes, making for a slow-going and sometimes boring adventure. It builds nicely to the final scene, setting up a big fight, but more could be done to make her an active part in the adventure.
Epic in scale, Jane Foster & The Mighty Thor #2 ends up sidelining Jane Foster for exposition. It’s doing the heavy lifting to explain how large this story is while also continuing to write Jane and other characters accurately in the modern era, which makes for an entertaining chapter. It’s just a letdown it has to get all this exposition out of the way before the story gets to its next exciting chapter.
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