Paul Jenkins (1) (1965–)

I only started reading Marvel comics in the past year. I've been trying to read the major "event" storylines, but have also been picking up individual Thor collections since he is my favorite Avenger. I chose this collection because the price was low and it is a stand-alone; e.g. you don't need other books in order to understand what is going on. The four stories collected here are all tied together by the question "what is Thor's purpose and why is he here"?

In the first story, Asgard is show more under attack and Thor goes to the dungeon to question his brother Loki about whether this is Raganarok. What follows is an interesting lecture by Loki (broken up by Thor beating on him) about how everything has a purpose, even Loki himself, and that Ragnarok must and will happen. Can Thor accept Loki's explanation if it brings into questions Thor's own purpose in the world?

The second story opens with Thor being summoned to a hostage situation. The villain wants Thor to bring back his 5 year old son, killed while trying to fly like Spiderman. Thor tries to convince him to stand down by explaining why Asgardians cannot interfere with men's choices. An interesting look at free will.

The third story is similar to the second in that a Catholic priest finds his faith in doubt after seeing what Thor can do. If Thor can open a rainbow bridge and travel between worlds, how can he know that his savior was even real? Thor provides an answer, though not one I was expecting.

The last story is something of a folk story taking place in Wales. A writer is putting together a travel guide and a stranger shares a fun story about a dragon's battle with the Asgardians.

Another reviewer was disappointed that this collection raised some interesting questions but never seemed to answer them. I felt that the point was that the questions needed to be asked but the answer is for the reader to decide. Overall, this collection takes a more philosophical approach to Thor's character rather than the standard "bash the enemies" story. It's not for everyone, but I found it very well done. Recommended. show less

I really wished this was a finished galley. I was really into the story and the art, but on page 58 the words disappeared and we only had the art. The art is amazing and so is the colorist, but there is too much going on to figure out from the pictures alone. Around page 74 we loose the color and only have the black and white frames. This is okay, and I still like the artwork, but as mentioned before, you can not follow the storyline. The story line as I followed is a Scare city full of show more monsters who have created their own polite society is breaking down as people are killed with a strange light. Our main character is a zombie mom who is kind of funny. She wants to figure out what is happening and save her community. Her vampire husband has to go back to scaring when the bakery profits slow down because of the strife. I really do look forward to seeing the final version of this graphic novel. show less

This was a good story arc. I liked the depiction of the trans protagonist, and her relationship with her disabled brother. There are some emerging questions about which "team" of Alters is right, and those are intriguing.

I thought the compiled end matter had a bit too much of the "...person who JUST HAPPENS TO [have some marginalized trait]" phrasing going on. (That phrasing always annoys me because a) it adds unnecessary words, to b) pointedly distance the person from the trait, which c) show more implies there actually is something shameful about it, while d) getting "ally points" for making a big deal about how it's not a big deal to them, and e) plays into the idea that the only valid way to write a character with this trait is to have it not actually matter to their lives...) show less

This one was so weird. Now I know where 6-handed Peter Parker/Spider-Man comes from...although I'm not entirely certain I really needed to know that.

The Queen was weird, the spider birthing process is bizarre, but I can honestly say I won't be forgetting this one anytime soon. It was so weird, but as such, it definitely left an impression.