SuperSearnold - Comic Book Reviews

Greetings from your friendly neighborhood Searnold [Shár- Nŭhld].  Welcome to my comic book review blog - where you’ll always get recommendations on what to read but you’ll never get any spoilers.

Secret Invasion Week is almost over (don’t worry though - I’m sure there will be more Secret Invasion entries as the series draws to a close.)  But before the week concludes: Thor.

I just finished re-reading the issue (Secret Invasion - Thor #1) so that it would be fresh in my mind when I wrote this.  And you know what?  I still don’t know what I thought about it.  Or more precisely - I haven’t been able to come to a conclusion as to whether or not I should recommend it.  Let’s talk about why.

My initial reaction to picking it up was, “Sweet!  I’m reading a Thor issue!”  I had forgotten how much I love this character.  I haven’t been reading Straczynski’s run (apparently I’ve been missing out - I’ll probably try to catch up soon - so look for an upcoming entry about Straczynski’s Thor run soon.)  Point being - it was great to see this beloved character in action.  Not knowing what had been going on in Thor’s life since his untimely demise a few years ago, I still didn’t miss a beat in this issue.

But that’s because there was a narrator.  And might I say, a bad narrator.  I tend to love Matt Fraction, but it feels like he phoned this issue in.  He tells you over and over and over again with narration what’s going on.  Why not just write a novel?  The primary rule of any form of entertainment is SHOW don’t TELL.  And he just doesn’t seem to be able to stop telling us what’s happening.  At an accelerated pace I might add.  In a single page, the Asgardians get a seed planted in their mind that one amoung them might be a shapeshifting Skrull, and suddenly form an uproarous mob.  Instead of seeing how the seed of fear developed into a full-fledged mob, Fraction simply tells us, “The people of Asgard were convinced there was a villain amongst them.”

Also, Thor seems to care more about humans than he does about Asgardians.  This has always been a delicate balance that he has had difficulty with… but now (it says so right in the narration of this issue) he is the Asgardian KING.  Yet his actions still seem to show that he cares more for the humans than for the Asgardians (yes - one instance of showing over telling - well done in this instance Mr. Fraction.)  But I picked up this issue because I wanted to see Thor kick some Skrull ass, not because I wanted to see Dr. Donald Blake deliver a baby.  If I wanted the human side of Secret Invasion - well that’s what Front Line is for.

One great thing that I enjoyed about this comic book was the placement of panels.  The artist, Doug Braithwaite, placed his panels in an interesting fashion that was a nice relief from the standard box layout that many comics have.  That said (and I know I try not to comment on art - since it is a matter of artistic taste… but this is relevant to a point I’m about to make, so stick with me) the art looks sketchy.  By which I mean the art looks like a series of sketches.  I know that’s a style, but the effect it gives is that this artist threw these sketches together in an hour and called it a day.  And it feels like Matt Fraction did the same thing.  My point: this issue feels kind of like it was half-assed.

Now that I put all that into words, I’m pretty sure the only reason I enjoyed the issue is because I love Thor.  So if you’re a Thor fan… well you’ve probably already read this issue.  If not, I say stay away.  The issue doesn’t tie in to the main story of Secret Invasion (as Marvel continues to do a great job with) - so you won’t be missing much.  Because I love Thor, I’m hoping the next issue will be better.

That’s all for Secret Invasion - Thor.  As always: thanks for reading - see you next time!
-Searnold

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