Jorge Molina

Odin has returned to Asgardia only to find all is not as it should. Freyja is less than willing to relinquish her role as the All-Mother and Thor is no longer worthy of lifting Mjolnir. However, a mysterious woman is now hefting the hammer and taking on the role of defender of Midgard.

Such an excellent comic arc. The plot is excellent and the mystery of the identity of the new Thor is well-hidden (viewers of Thor: Love and Thunder will know the answer, of course, but within this arc there show more are hints but no reveal). I also love that Aaron manages to call out any misogynistic fanboys about Thor being a woman within the world of the comic and smack it down completely. There's also some excellent humour interspersed in here (I particularly loved Spider-Man's speculation on what the new Thor's name might be), which adds some levity to an action and politics heavy arc. Recommended. show less

A-Force Vol 0: Warzones written by G Willow Wilson and Marguerite Bennett and illustrated by Jorge Molina is a series that, having begun during the Secret Wars event, will be continuing afterwards. Hence this volume being numbered 0, presumably so as not to have two volume 1s in a row.

The whole Secret Wars and Battleworld thing remains deeply confusing after having read this volume. Perhaps a bit less confusing than in Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps. A relatively nice and peaceful area show more of Battleworld is guarded by A-Force, a large team of female superheroes headed by She-Hulk. There are a lot of heros that only appear in the background (or on covers...) with the main speaking/plot-driving roles going to She-Hulk, Medusa, Lady Loki, Niko, Captain Marvel, Dazzler and Ms America. And the newbie who isn't named until near the end.

Aside from the fact that the whole Battleworld thing is baffling, the plot in this volume of A-Force was all right. I mean, it wasn't bad but it wasn't that exciting either. And the culprit was hardly a surprise (but possibly wasn't supposed to be). But it was more or less a self-contained story, which I appreciate. I also enjoyed getting to know Dazzler a bit, since she's not a character I've read before. The Thor force didn't make more sense than it did in Carol Corps, but the choice of characters to Thor-ify was interesting.

The main thing that bothered me, after the general confusion of Battleworld, was actually the art. I liked how Molina drew She-Hulk's face in Dan Slott's run, but in A-Force there were just too many boobs almost falling out of costumes, and more butt emphasis than necessary. I mean, it could have been worse, of course, but I still didn't appreciate the level of sexualisation. Especially with Nico, who is under-age. The issue isn't that her costume is revealing, it's that her boobs really did look like they were about to pop out most of the time. Not cool.

Other than that, Captain Marvel had some crap dialogue, but there were a lot of good one-off quips by other characters, particularly those in cameo roles. I liked the new character too, the girl made of the night sky that you can see on the cover. She-Hulk's narration was also good and the introduction to the island of Arcadia where it's all set was actually pretty clear. (It's everything else going on in Battleworld that was confusing.)

I enjoyed A-Force and I would recommend it to fans of any of the characters I mentioned above, or of female superheroes in general. I am looking forward to reading the ongoing series which I am sure will have a less confusing background setting. I also kind of look forward to finding out some of WTF was going on in Battleworld when Secret Wars comes up on Marvel Unlimited.

4 / 5 stars

You can read more reviews on my blog. show less

Promising! I've long been curious about a woman taking up both Mjolnir and the name of Thor, and this volume did not disappoint. After a whisper from Fury makes Thor Odinson unworthy of picking up Mjolnir, a mysterious woman is the first to be able to do so. After a major battle, Odinson grants her the name Thor as well. There is a "talking to the audience" scene a bit later where a criminal Thor is apprehending taunts her, telling her to get her own identity, "Damn feminists are ruining show more everything!" Thor, of course, breaks his jaw. The scene is somehow gleeful and heavy handed at the same time.

In the end of volume one, both Odin and Odinson are obsessed with discovering the identity of Thor. It's hard not to be extremely curious as well. Need to seek out volume two! show less

So high-concept that it can get too clever for its own good and lap itself before the story's even ready for itself, but still more exciting and original than most X-books. A Scottish telepath whose multiple personalities put him one self-affirmation away from transcendent mysticism? Grant Morrison, eat your heart out!