Thor: God of Thunder, volume 3: The Accursed (Marvel NOW!)

After the fall of the God Butcher, the three Thors of past, present, future return to their own timelines. Their memories of their exploits might be fading away, but that doesn’t mean we’ve seen the end of that Asgardian trinity. In a new storyline spanning generations, a threat from the past escapes Hel. This dark elf has one goal: become the leaders of the dark elves or kill them all. It doesn’t matter which course of action to this demented aspiring leader as if he’s the only dark elf left, he’ll still be the leader!

   In a plot that resembles Lord of the Rings, a group of warriors from the nine realms are assembled, led by Thor. Their mission: take that murdering elf down. Travels, adventure, sex, betrayal, and trickery await this assembly as the hunt down their prey. The only thing missing is an all-powerful ring that needs to be thrown into Mount Doom.

   But before Thor’s mission, we catch up with Jane Foster. Life’s dealt her a bad hand and you’ll never see Thor more venerable when he can’t fix her. It’s a touching reunion with hints of a new earthling romantic leading women waiting in the wings.

  This was a very good storyline. Though I swear I thought Gandalf was going to jump out any moment offering his assistance. (If Magneto would’ve somehow appeared in this story, I would’ve counted it!) There’s a lot of LOTR in this book and with the whisper of a coming war between the Dark Elves and Asgard, I’m sure we’re going to see more of the ‘League of Realms.’

  Is that so bad?  No, but compared to the last storyline in volume 1 and 2 of this series, ‘The Accursed’ does hold a candle to them. Plus, I was more interested in the new lady in Thor’s life. She’s a newly graduated SHIELD agent and the series seemed to have forgotten her after the conclusion of the first issue in this volume.

   Why introduce her if you’re going to forget she even existed an issue later? Does that character appear in other Marvel Comics that I don’t know about? I’m interested to see what writer Jason Aaron had planned for that plot angle.

  The art continued to be top notch with very interesting Norse art style touches. The covers were excellent and Thor is becoming one of my all-time favorite characters. This book, while a little too Tolkien for my tastes, has a very good opening chapter and a great closing chapter that focus on Thor and a dragon with dad issues. I’m still hooked and cannot wait for volume 4!

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.