Thor #12 // Review
If you’ve been dying to see Throg (a man turned into a frog with Thor’s powers) fight Donald Blake (the fake human identity given to Odinson so he could learn humility that later gained sentience of his own), then Thor #12, written by Donny Cates, with art by Nic Klein, and colors by Matt Wilson, was made exactly for you! For everybody else, it’s a fun issue full of awesome stuff you never knew you wanted. Previously, Thor decided to take some time to himself to reflect upon the changes in his life and decided to switch places with his alter ego, Donald Blake, for the first time in years. Little did he know, Blake had become aware of his time in the shallow, “perfect” world Odin had constructed for him to live in when he wasn’t “in use” and went mad. Once they switched places, Blake broke his walking stick (the only known thing that could switch him and Thor back) and set about hunting down everyone that had ever taken on the power of Thor. Having already killed Red Norvell and narrowly sparing Jane Foster, he moved on to Throg but wasn’t expecting him to have a backup in the form of Lockjaw from the Inhumans. Now, Blake faces a major threat for the first time since arriving in Midgard, and from the least likely “Thor” of all. Let this be a lesson to you, kids: never underestimate an angry frog with the power of a god.
Cates is nothing, if not surprising, but his use of a minor animal character like Throg as the star of this issue, and his ability to pull that off, is nothing short of miraculous. Nothing about this scenario should work, given how ridiculous it is. Especially considering the lengths, Cates went to show the readers how extremely dangerous Donald Blake is. It should be out of the question that Throg would be any kind of a threat to Blake at all, even with the help of Lockjaw. Instead of questioning any of that, Cates infuses his scenes with just enough fun to make you suspend disbelief, go along for the ride, and root for the underfrog.
The rest of the issue lacks the title character, as Odinson has been trapped in Blake’s alternate dimension for almost the entire arc. Luckily, following Blake in his stead has been so enthralling that you don’t miss the titular God of Thunder. With two issues left in the story, it’s inevitable that Thor will return to take on Don himself, but in the meantime, Jane Foster, Throg, and Lockjaw have been more than enough to fill his heroic shoes.
Klein’s art grows stronger by the issue, and he and Wilson gel even better together with each passing month. At the risk of this article beginning to sound like the preamble to a “give Throg his own series” petition, it’s worth noting that Klein draws a particularly amazing Frog of Thunder. He and Wilson show more enjoyment than usual with this issue, and it is self-evident on the page. Hopefully, Cates will continue to challenge and stretch their abilities with future scripts because it seems there is nothing they can’t do.
This issue was pure, wacky fun, but still managed to up the threat of Donald Blake. Cates is doing such a great job of building a new villain for Thor that you can’t help but hope this isn’t a one-off story where Blake dies or returns to a normal life of his own in the end. He needs to stick around in some capacity as a nemesis to Odinson, especially with Loki (sometimes) working on the side of the angels these days. Either way, this arc has been spectacular, despite the main character being lost in another dimension, and this issue has been the best of them all so far. Here’s hoping Cates can stick the landing in the last two chapters.
