The Asgardians 2: Thor

THE ASGARDIANS 1: Thor by George O’Connor

So I’ve lost track of how many of George O’Connor’s graphic novel retelling of myths I’ve reviewed, from his original series OLYMPIANS to the first book of his current ASGARDIANS series, Odin. He’s back with book two, everyone’s favorite Norse god — Thor, and all I can say is what I’ve been saying since the beginning: the story is great, the artwork is great, they’re not just for kids, everyone should buy these, every public and school library should own them and lots of teachers should have them in their classroom. Keep reading for a few more details, but that’s the short version.

As I noted in my review of Odin, this is not the Marvel Comics/MCU version of the Norse gods. O’Connor has gone straight back to the original source material, The Poetic Edda and The Prose Edda. Which makes for good storytelling. Because if you think Marvel’s stories about the blonde-haired Thor zipping around the universe and hanging out with an Iron Man and a green Hulk and a witch are weird, well, they don’t have anything on Norse mythology, which basically says, “You call that weird? Hold my mead!” I mean, you’ve got eight-legged horses and a world-encircling serpent and a chariot pulled by nightly-resurrected goats and another chariot pulled by cats and and and. Sooo weird. So wonderfully weird.

O’Connor opens and closes Thor with a frame story, with a near-naked Thor requesting a ride from a ferryman on the other side of a river. When he claims to be Thor, son of Odin, the ferryman wants some proof: “Tell me something only Thor of the Aesir would know . . . “ Which is the impetus for Thor relating a series of tales with him at the center. As is typical, O’Connor offers up a mix of well-known (well, well-known to people who read myths) stories and lesser known ones. Included are Thor fishing and hooking the Midgard Serpent, how he got Mjollnir, the contest with the giants involving him and Loki where Loki is outeaten by fire and Thor tries to drink the ocean (unaware that’s what he was doing), how the theft of Mjollnir led to Thor dressing up as a bride, and how ended up with a rock embedded in his head. Not all of Thor’s stories are here, partly one assumes due to limited space and also because some will be covered in later issues (one assumes, for instance, there will be a Ragnarok issue). The stories are interesting, funny at times, action-packed at others. And they introduce us to a variety of worlds, beings, and creatures.

The art (color by SJ Miller), as always, is strong throughout, with O’Connor deftly varying palettes, panel sizes, viewpoint angles, and mixing dynamic action with quieter moments and close-ups with panoramic or aerial “shots.” And as is always the case, O’Connor includes several addendums to the main storyline: a general author’s note, a glossary, and some more detailed author notes explaining where specific moments came from source-wise, expanding on some moments, or just wryly commenting. This is the rare O’Connor text without a bibliography, but as he explains, given that the source material is pretty much limited to two titles (which he names), there isn’t much need for one (he does, however, reference a few titles that make use of the myths, such as a Danish series of graphic novels).

Highly recommended, of course.