Thor: Goddess of Thunder

Thor is no longer worthy to wield Mjolnir, his hammer, and it's stuck on the moon with no one being able to lift it. He desperately tries over and over, but can't due to some comment Nick Fury whispered into his ear. A woman comes to the moon and takes the hammer when Frost Giants invade Earth. The leaders of Asgard act as if it's been stolen and react accordingly, making pacts with dangerous beings. This mysterious woman may be Earth's only hope of survival.

Thor: Goddess of Thunder is quite a controversial comic. Many fanboys didn't even bother to read it and automatically rejected the new character out of principle, citing that Thor can only be male and writers can't just slap the name on another character. Many of them also said that it's somehow disrespectful to the history of the comic and the myth alike. If they had actually read the book, many of these points are addressed except the "disrespect" issue. Only misogynists thinks it's disrespectful to have a female character in a traditionally male role and I don't see them condemning other stories that change ancient mythological characters around. The Mjolnir wielder didn't want the name Thor, but Thor gave it to her. Of course not before blaming her for his own incompetence and fighting her for the hammer. After his initial rage cooled and he saw reason, he stated he was no longer worthy of the name. I especially enjoy how all of these complaints are addressed clearly within the plot.

The new Thor is an admirable character and her identity remains a mystery throughout this book. She has to adapt to the powers quickly in order to address the emergent situation with the Frost Giants. Mistakes are made at critical times, like having the hammer trapped in a vibranium room which will eventually sap her supernatural power on top of revealing her identity. Her wonder and delight at the newfound powers are refreshing to see and her strength and power are formidable. However, she's automatically dismissed and underestimated due to her gender by the Frost Giants who see her as an easy meal and a mockery of the previous Thor. She beats them handily and, as many women do, she simply shows It's nice to see Freya in a place of power as well. Before this story started, Freya became the All-Mother in Odin's absence. When he returned, she refused to cede power to him and came to Midgard's aid when Odin refused to, much too distracted by his son's failure and teaming up with old enemies to care.

Thor: Goddess of Thunder lays out the tone and reasoning of the haters and has Thor smash through them, showing her to be maybe even better than the previous Thor (as he admits himself).So many comic book characters give the mantle to someone else and it makes sense to reflect the current time and culture. Gatekeeping fanboys can whine all they like, but the male Thor still exists as a character as do Peter Parker and Carol Danvers even though Miles Morales and Kamala Khan have their own comics. This is honestly the first time since I was a child that I read a non-Deadpool non-zombified superhero comic and this new trend of much more relevant characters makes me want to read them all.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins