Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Thor God Of Thunder #16Thor: God of Thunder #16
Marvel Comics
Aaron, Garney, Lupacchino & Svorcina

Thor continues his hunt for the Dark Elf, Malekith, as the League of Realms meets its first casualty. This comic book is a good read as Jason Aaron takes the group of allies and breaks them apart from within. The arc launches into the final chapter with a great, but odd, cliffhanger at the end of this issue. This is a comic book worth picking up.

Malekith aligns with the Frost Giants. This creates an interesting dilemma for Thor and friends. Despite the death of their own giant at the hands of Malekith they are unable to fight with Malekith because of his alliance with the Frost Giants. Thor is ready to charge into battle but is held back by the remaining members of the League of Realms because they fear inciting a war with the Frost Giants that will bring more death to their own realms. It's sort of a code of battle that they don't feel they have the backing to fight a Frost Giant ally on the Frost Giant's turf. It creates a rift.

The League of Realms is beginning to fear that one of them is a traitor that is alerting Malekith of their next steps. The confrontation with the Frost Giants feeds this paranoia as Thor begins to question those that held him back when he could have killed Malekith then and there and ended the threat. The results of this infighting drive the comic to excellent conclusion and one I didn't see coming.

The comic book works well because it goes from the drama of good guys and against bad guys in a standoff to an internal set of distrust that erodes into fighting very quickly. The comic is a dense read but the pace is swift thanks to the arguing and the whodunit nature of the story.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsThe artwork is good but it is not great. The images are glossy and project a bit of a flat look at the same time. The drama is carried well in some spots but in other, some very pivotal moments, the artwork gives the characters reactions that don't quite line up with the story. This is not the best artwork this series has seen but it provides enough to round out the issue into the territory of seek out and pick up.

Thor continues to be a good read each time out. Aaron has followed up his first round of epic stories with another arc that is building into something special. With the finale coming in the next issue we will see if Aaron can stick the landing as he did at the end of the Godbomb arc. This is a good comic book and one I recommend.

4 out of 5 Geek Goggles