Thor #10 // Review
Odin hits rock bottom in the worst way possible in the heart-shattering tale of Thor #10, written by Jason Aaron, with art by Mike Del Mundo, and colors by Mike Del Mundo and Marco D’Alfonso. Aaron continues his hit parade of one-off prologues to the upcoming The War of the Realms, this time focusing on the All-Father, himself, and it might be his best one yet. Previously, Thor returned to his proper status as the God of Thunder, but was still unable to lift even the smallest piece of the destroyed Mjolnir. Now, armed only with an arsenal of substitute hammers, he must find a way to stop the Dark Elf Malekith from taking over all ten Realms. If only his father, now a mere shadow of his former self, and one of the few remaining residents of Asgard, would step up and help.
Aaron, once again, shows that he does his best work when writing small character pieces that cut right to the heart of of his subjects. This issue, he turned his pen toward Odin, and didn’t disappoint. At the center of this story is the bold idea that Odin is an abusive father, verbally, mentally, and physically--and every bit of that is demonstrated throughout this book. But, it’s not just an illustration of how terrible a father he is. It’s also a peek inside his mind, and the motivations for his constantly tearing Thor down over the years. Before you start thinking that this is a story that seeks to absolve the All-Father of his bad deeds, though, let the record be cleared: it’s not that. Instead, Aaron chooses to show Odin for who he is, warts and all. While he’s not a purely evil god, and often wishes he could be better, he keeps making the same mistakes with his son, over and over again. This is Aaron showing Odin going as low as he can go, and it’s not an easy read.
Aaron puts a lot of emphasis on Odin’s drinking in this issue, as well, drawing a comparison to many human abusive fathers, who can’t stop their pattern of drinking and hurting their children, and all but outright states that the All-Father is an alcoholic. While you could argue that Odin being an abusive father is nothing new to the Thor mythos, he’s definitely never been portrayed as an addict before. Sure, every Asgardian is a hard-drinking lover of battle, but Aaron manages to show the downside, when it goes too far, and how the destructive effects of drinking can reach even the God of Gods.
Del Mundo and D’Alfonso make this story of self destruction even more gut wrenching with their portrayal of Odin in all of his sad, beaten down glory. The All-Father is brought low in this issue, and it wouldn’t have been the same seeing it through the eyes of any other art team. Some of the action gets a bit jumbled, and hard to decipher at points, but Del Mundo lands the emotion of the story perfectly, and that’s where this issue really hits home.
Overall, there’s not a missed note to complain about in this issue. Aaron is setting all of his pieces in place for The War of the Realms, and each chapter in his prologue is important to the upcoming epic. If he manages to pull it all together for the main story, Realms might go down as one of the greatest Thor stories of all time.
