Comic Info
Comic Name: Ultimate Thor
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Carlos Pacheco
# of Issues: 4
Release Date: 2011
Ultimate Thor #2
Reprints Ultimate Thor #1-4 (December 2010-April 2011). Is Thorlief Golmen actually Thor the God of Thunder or is he mad? When James Braddock calls in Dr. Donald Blake to examine Thor, he makes a discovery…Thor might not be delusional. A tale of Ragnarok and an ultimate betrayal leads to events in 1939 that changed the course of the world. The world needs Thor, and the danger coming might be even greater than ever believed.
Written by Jonathan Hickman, Ultimate Comics Thor is a Marvel comic book limited series under the Ultimate line. With art by Carlos Pacheco, the series serves a prequel to The Ultimates Volume 1: Super-Human.
I really liked The Ultimates when it launched and thought both Thor and Captain America were two of the more interesting creations for the Ultimate line. Thor always seemed too powerful in the Marvel-616 universe, and Captain America often felt too bland. The Ultimates managed to add edge to both characters, and with Ultimate Comics Thor, you learn about the events leading up to The Ultimates.
The story essentially has three parts. It has the past in Asgard, 1939 Germany, and present day. By the end of the title, all three parts neatly lock together and the story does flow. One aspect of the Ultimate line is that it was meant to streamline the Marvel Comics storyline and make continuity matter a bit again. While it kind of fell off this approach, this limited series does fit nicely into that concept.
Ultimate Thor #4
Thor’s sanity was a big portion of the early issues of The Ultimates. He believed he was a god, but he was also potentially mad. I liked the ambiguity of the character and felt it lost a little something when it was determined that Thor wasn’t mad (which was the obvious answer to the madness question). Despite being a little disappointed by this solution, this story works around the ideas of why he was “mad” and how he convinced people to let him be part of a program if he was unstable.
I also think that Pacheco’s art works well with the character. It is a nice blend of realism and comic book style. He does a good Thor and despite the bulging muscles and perfect form, he feels a bit more natural than the Earth-616 Thor he was based upon.
The only problem with Ultimate Comics Thor is that it is short. The story pours out quickly and it is always is a tricky balance to find a comic drawing out events or shortening them. Ultimate Comics Thor isn’t the worst “shorting” of a storyline, but it would have been nice to let the story breath a bit more…Thor could carry his own series on Earth-616 with less dimension, so he could have (and should have) gotten more of an opportunity here.
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