Soon, Thor would meet his demise. But now, while he still has fight in him, he battles the Utgard gods and attempts to save his friend, Heimdall. Following Utgard Loki’s schemes in the previous issue, Thor and his fellow Asgardians have traversed the winding maze and found another Minotaur at the end of it. Enter Kemur, the Elder God of Violence.
We are introduced to Kemur’s origins and his ties to Atum, son of Gaea, god of the sun. Al Ewing tells the story like a mythic tale of godly proportions. It reads like something you would find in an Old Norse poem, equal only to how Stan Lee and Jack Kirby used to write Thor in Tales of Asgard.
Marvel Comics
Jan Bazaldua keeps the visual style modern, but manages to nail Thor’s classic look, with his square jaw, broad stature, and bruiser demeanor. Matt Hollingsworth puts in dynamic colors that direct the action and evoke electrifying effects. Combined, they create a look that’s not ripped from mythological paintings, but feels right at home in comics.
Thor’s battle with Kemur is grand. It’s a challenge that can’t be solved with pure might alone. The God of Thunder has to go creative with the tools at his disposal and ask a little help from Executioner. The caption boxes narrate Thor’s fight as if fate, aligning past and present into an immovable line. Thor wields magical weapons that feel gifted by the thread of destiny itself. In the pages of Immortal Thor, gods are living ideas that compete for winning principles, and stories are the very essence of being. The creative team successfully brings Thor to the level of legend, honoring his extensive history in the Marvel universe and his origins in Norse mythology.
It’s difficult to follow up on such an inventive issue, where Utgard Loki used the concept of a coin as a meta storytelling device. There’s not much here that compares to that, but it trades that off for epic splash pages and high-octane action.
Immortal Thor #23 is a mythic story that chronicles the God of Thunder’s final trials as he nears his fated demise. With two issues left, there is no clear clue as to what will befall Thor, which is exciting and troubling at the same time.
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