Volume 05: Thor: The Last Viking

Thor: The Last Viking

Author and Illustrator: Walt Simonson

"I live! The heat revives me. Yet I am broken inside."

The beginning of a four-year run on the series for author and illustrator Walt Simonson starts out shaky, but by the midway point has built itself a solid platform from which to scream, "I'm damn memorable, after all!"  After that point it changes focus to a less interesting situation, but overall remains stronger than its beginnings.

In Simonson's hands the hitherto unknown alien enemy that goes up against the thunder-chump eclipses the hammer-wielding hero in how remarkable he turns out to be. For me, so too did the thoughtful Balder, despite his substory being small. And, not to be outdone, the Allfather also comes across as more engaging than his son. All of which leaves Thor's star somewhat deflated by the end. But that's okay because the storytelling is what's most important, which is something that Simonson proves he's clearly good at.

He also did the art. I'm guessing he's either a wizard able to generate more hours in his day than the rest of us or he simply never sleeps.

The version of the story presented in the book is the recoloured edition. I'd prefer they didn't do that to important works, but, in all honesty, besides a few lazy gradient fills the result is fantastic, remaining respectful to the amazing art while breathing new life into the environments. The quality paper stock used by the publisher really does the restoration justice. I still believe that it was an unnecessary step, but it didn't make me twitch as much as it usually does, although that's perhaps because I'm not much of a Thor fan to begin with.

I'm sad that I might never get to read some of what's hinted at in future issues, in particular the journey undertaken by Lady Sif and her companion, and the continuation of the aforementioned Balder story.

The book collects together The Mighty Thor #337-343.

Verdict: