Comic Book Review The Mighty Thor #15

9

Rating

Published On:2017-01-11

Published by: Marvel

Author:Jason Aaron

Artist:Russell Dauterman

Colorist:Matt Wilson

Letterer:VC's Joe Sabino

A Worthy Successor to X-men 107

Comic book review written on June 20, 2022

In This Issue of

What Else Happens in this Comic?

Asgardia is attacked by the Shi’ar and the Imperial Guard in a surprise attack. It’s aliens, star ships and super humans versus Asgards best. The Imperial Guard are after Lady Thor by the order of the gods of the Shi’ar, Sharra and K’ythri. We’ve heard their names as curses for many comic years, but now Jane Foster and her hammer meet them in person. It’s been forever since we saw Heimdall let loose. He has a one of the best lines in this issue as he fights the unstoppable Gladiator.

How is the Writing in ??

The Dialogue

For those unfamiliar with the Shi’ar, this race of aliens is best described as intersteller religious zealots. If their gods say it, the Shi’ar do it. Jason Aaron colors the dialogue of all the Shi’ar aliens with this religious fervor. The Asgardians are their normal Viking selves.

Read all the dialogue very closely. There are phrases — seeds — that hint at things to come. Once we’ve read the entire series of The Mighty Thor and watched Thor Love and Thunder, we’ll need to revisit just to find all the nuggets we missed on this first read.

Showing Versus Telling

For those unfamiliar with the Shi’ar, this race of aliens is best described as intersteller religious zealots. If their gods say it, the Shi’ar do it. Jason Aaron colors the dialogue of all the Shi’ar aliens with this religious fervor. The Asgardians are their normal Viking selves.

Read all the dialogue very closely. There are phrases — seeds — that hint at things to come. Once we’ve read the entire series of The Mighty Thor and watched Thor Love and Thunder, we’ll need to revisit just to find all the nuggets we missed on this first read.

The Vibe

The Mighty Thor #15 is pure comic book fun. It wouldn’t work in any other medium. There are so many connections to previous stories and characters. Only comic geeks can handle this level of in-world connections.

Comic Art Review

One of the many reasons The Mighty Thor #15 is a worthy successor of the original X-men stories is it uses the bug designs for the Shi’ar space ships. Russell pulls from comic art master Dave Cockrum’s original designs. If you had Cockrum’s source material, why wouldn’t you grab the good stuff. There are so many characters in this issue. Russell draws thunder guard, the Warriors Three, Sif, Lady Thor, the Imperial Guard, Shi’ar soldiers and more all in action sequences.

On the Cover

Marvel pulled out all the stop with issue 15 of The Mighty Thor. We have five covers, and they are fantastic.

The primary cover is by Russell Dauterman and it’s one of his best covers for this series. Lady Thor, Prince Odinson and many story elements all combine into a visual feast.

The second cover by Christian Ward perfectly captures all of the story so far in this series. Odin, Exterminatrix, and Jane all arranged in a heavily graphic presentation. Fantastic.

Superstar artist Mike Deodato Jr created a cover with Lady Thor looking absolutely heroic.

The cover by Andrea Sorrentino is just wow. Gladiator floating infront of Lady Thor reflected on her helmet is an inspired design. Normally Gladiator looks heroic. On this cover, Lady Thor’s death has arrived in the form of Gladiator.

The final cover by Ryan Sook shows us Lady Thor in all her glory flying through the cosmos.

World Building

Locations

The story starts on Asgardia where we are shown buildings and pavilions as the Shi’ar conquer the citadel. At the end of the issue, the Imperial Guard drop Lady Thor in the lair of their gods, the M’kraan Palace.

Who's Who

- Heimdall
- Gladiator
- Cul Borson
- Thunder Guard
- Kid Gladiator
- Manta
- Warstar
- Neutron
- Smasher
- Starbolt
- Sif
- Hildegarde
- Warriors Three

Big Question

Why are the Shi'ar gods after Lady Thor?

What sort of enemy has dared to try and face the immovable Heimdall?

The unstoppable kind.

Cul Borson and Heimdall speaking of Gladiator

Who Will Like

The question should be ‘who wouldn’t like Mighty Thor #15’. There’s something for everyone in this issue. The Shi’ar are a cosmic level power making them good opponents for Asgardia. The Imperial Guard are good opponents for the warriors of Asgard. They are unbelievably strong and resilient fighters.

I Need More Content like

If you’ve never read the original appearances of the Shi’ar and Imperial Guard, start your adventure with X-men #107 or Classic X-men #14. It’s a classic for a reason. Continue with The Dark Phoenix saga. It’s less about the Imperial Guard and Shi’ar but still important (and one of the best comic book stories ever told).

Should You Buy This Comic Book?

I see three stories in a trilogy of Shi'ar-based tales that capture the original magic of this alien race. The first is the original X-men #107 that introduced the Imperial Guard. Jean Grey as the Phoenix saves the universe. The second story is the Dark Phoenix Saga where Phoenix is captured by the Imperial Guard. This issue of the Mighty Thor would be the start of the third part of the trilogy. Anything between Dark Phoenix Saga and this story doesn't meet the bar. Hold on to you hammer, this is going to be a wild and wonderful tale. Buy it.

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