More than perhaps any other solo Marvel character, Thor presents an automatically massive canvas on which to paint stories, which can run from the historically unanchored dawn of Asgard to the very end of time. His are stories that can span most (if not all) of human existence and, more importantly, beyond human experience. The cosmic, the microcosmic, the human and the other, all wrapped up in Thor’s potential.
That’s what makes reading the beginning of a new Thor arc so exciting: what are our parameters? What level of Thor are we working on? How big is the story going to be and, perhaps more importantly, how is the creative team going to push it into new territory?
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Al Ewing and Martín Cóccolo’s The Immortal Thor Vol. 1: All Weather Turns to Storm looks to push Thor not only into larger metaphysical realms, but also to push the definition of the title of Thor.
First, the book establishes a force bigger and more primordial than the Asgardian gods: prototypical gods, beings of power that precede power. Springing from a somewhat forgotten Claremont/Smith concept (which is, of course, bastardized from Norse mythology), Utgard, The Land of True Things is a space outside existence—or outside the Ten Realms—where shadowy beings who were once gods to the gods reside. They are known as Those Who Sit Above in Shadow, and they are depicted, in Cóccolo’s masterful style, as shadow itself: massive forms of black and highlight. In response, Thor becomes a being made of light–both in Cóccolo’s interiors and in each of Alex Ross’ incredible covers.
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These beings (Toronos, the Utgard-Thor, Utgard-Loki, and even Thor’s mother, Gaea) have designs on Thor, and on reality itself—and they greatly overpower even the mighty Asgardians. The story uses them to explode the scope of reality, and of narrative: these are beings even more powerful than world-devourers or God-Butchers.
Understanding that he is not enough, Thor gathers a crew: Storm, Loki, Beta Rey Bill, and Jane Foster. Utilizing the rules of Mjolnir, he then proceeds to make them all Thor.
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These are massive, incredible stakes, and Ewing uses them to reinvent the modern status quo of the book. Continuing from his Defenders: Beyond, he continues to play with the politics of Loki’s multi-faceted identity. Are they sibling to Thor, are they villain? Track has already been laid for a new understanding of Loki; Immortal Thor appears to be preparing to expand that understanding to Loki’s peers.
All Weather Turns to Storm succeeds in doing what the best Thor reboots much do: it reinvents even as it lays the foundation. It expands even as it conforms to the heart of the characters. It makes a beginning so massive that readers are staggered to think that this is only the inciting incident to something that will only grow with time.
It makes reading future issues a foregone conclusion.
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