Thor: First Thunder

Relive the first year of Thor's return to earth in this 5-issue collection from Marvel. In terms of an origin story, there's not much being rebooted. But there's not much being rehashed to where I felt that I had read this story before. 

The real crux of this story is the relationship between Donald Blake and Thor. It answers a nagging question that I have had about Thor and Blake for a very long time- where does Blake go when Thor is summoned and vice-versa? 

Donald Blake's love-affair with Jane Foster is another key element that has matured somewhat in this retelling of Thor's origin. It's not that insipid soap opera drivel that Stan and Jack did back in the 1960s. Of the many things Stan Lee could do well, writing a love story wasn't one of them...

The one thing about this book that I had trouble with was the art. Or maybe it's the inks. Heck it could be both. Tan Eng Huat (Legion: Sox of X) is the artist. I admire some of his subtle nuances, like having Donald Blake's bad leg be atrophied. But when it came to noses, the artist gives everybody the same one- a long green bean of a thing. And for some reason, Huat liked to draw faces where you can see up their nose. 

The last quarter of the book is inked by a different person other that Huat ,who for the most part does double duty. The new inker's stuff looks much cleaner and more in the style of John Bryne or Sal Buscema. I like it better as the Huat pencils which also tend to look blurry. That would be okay for action scenes, but even the static ones look out of focus.

A good story with art and inks that need polish. 

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.