Editorial content for Thor, God of Thunder, Vol. 2: Godbomb

After the cliffhanger ending of THE GOD BUTCHER, GODBOMB opens with a quick one-off that shifts the focus over to Gorr and his origins. Anyone hoping for great revelations or complex characterization might be a little disappointed by the Spartan motivations of the God Butcher, but as far as villains go, he's not the least sympathetic. And it does show just how quickly he loses his way when compared to the situation he creates on the alien world that Thor visited at the very beginning of the series. More disappointing is the artwork, which, while doing a functional job with the story, doesn't live up to the stellar work by Esad Ribic on the rest of the series. Part of this might be the coloring as well, but it feels different, less epic in scale and presentation than the rest of the volume.

When the story gets back to the future, though, it's with the force of a hammer's strike. Picking up smoothly from the end of the last volume, GODBOMB exposes Gorr's endgame: to create an actual bomb that will destroy every god throughout all times, past and future. It is the logical outcome of Gorr's philosophy, and it's interesting to see how far he's come in the 900 years he's been in the future. Having defeated every god of the time, Gorr uses his defeated foes as slave labor to create the weapon that will destroy them. He is also shown to have a wife and son with him on his world, which is an interesting touch as at first they seem to be the wife and child he lost while on his home world.

Meanwhile, King Thor and Thor the Avenger prepare themselves for the last assault on Gorr's world. It's fun and entertaining to see the two iterations interact, King Thor with his bitterness, his loss, and Thor the Avenger with his determination. All that's missing is Young Thor, whom Gorr reaches into the past to bring into his slave pits to be the one to complete the bomb. As a slave he meets a number of other gods, most important his own future granddaughters, the Goddesses of Thunder, who stand out as fun and who will hopefully be making appearances in future volumes.

With all three Thors in the future, it's inevitable that they would meet up, but even though it’s expected, the way it happens is worth a good laugh for the visual alone. And once the three get together, the differences and similarities between them really shine, with Young Thor's brashness and his disappointment in his future selves juxtaposed with King Thor's embarrassment and yet regret at how he's changed. It's interesting to see the different sides of Thor and how they all come together to fight the last battle against Gorr.

The battle itself is intense, epic, sweeping across worlds, into stars. It is a battle of gods not holding back, and it is satisfying to see. Of course, if the battle could be won solely through the cracking of skulls, then there would be little to take away from it. Instead the character of Gorr is complicated by a few effective twists concerning his wife and child, and Thor is not able to defeat him simply because he is stronger, but because he is a better person. And that is the difference, really, that allows Thor the Avenger to triumph, because he still believes in the ability of men and gods to do good, that they have the power to create and to destroy, and even though some gods may falter, there are those who can use their great powers responsibly.

GODBOMB is a fitting and satisfying conclusion to the story started in THE GOD BUTCHER. The art is top-notch, the storytelling epic while easy to follow, even with time travel and gods and three different Thors. Nothing is held back, from enormous black serpents to planets exploding to space sharks. The volume delivers an action-packed, funny, meaningful look at the God of Thunder and sets a high bar for this young series.