A war is coming to Asgard, and the god Heimdall will be the first casualty. Confronted by the Gladiator, who is in service of the gods of the Shi’ar, Heimdall fights with our attacking force starting the issue with a bang.
Jane Foster, the representative of Midgard (Earth) to Asgard for the Congress of Worlds, is fighting her own war, cancer. Artist Russell Dauterman shows us a Jane Foster that is bald and dying. You have sympathy for her from the first panel she appears in.
Accosted by the god Cul, Jane is a shell of her former self, but she also has a secret weapon. She can lift Thor’s mighty hammer Mjolnir, enabling her to become the Goddess of Thunder.
The battle at the Bifrost is brought to Cul’s attention and he leaves Jane alone to help defend Asgard. Heimdall, the powerful sentry to the entrance of Asgard cannot hold back the invading force led by Gladiator, which leads to Jane lifting the mighty hammer, transforming into Thor and charging into battle.
My Opinion
I don’t think I have ever read a Thor comic before. I have read comics with Thor, but never one focused around the character or Asgard. I didn’t know what to expect, and though I have never been a huge fan of Thor, this was an enjoyable read.
Of course, this Thor is a new version of the character. I appreciated and enjoyed the parallel life of Jane Foster in this comic. She is a sickly dying human, but she can also wield Mjolnir, and battle cosmic gods.
Comics have always dealt with the parallel lives, of the person and the persona they take on. In many cases the character will put on a fancy suit or use a special talent and they change from their human character to this super hero. In The Mighty Thor #15 you can’t help but feel sympathy for Jane Foster.
Her confrontation with Cul is a perfect illustration of the differences between the reality of everyday life and the knowledge or thoughts of a super being. Jane had been ill for the last few days and Cul was giving her until the end of the week to get rid of her cancer, as if that was possible, or else he would replace her at the Congress of Worlds.
Human beings know that cancer cannot be gotten rid of that easily, and in Jane’s case she doesn’t even bother to try and teach Cul the reality of this impossibility.
She’s ill, and as she forces herself to wield the hammer and the persona of the Goddess of Thunder, you must empathize with her plight. Though she can pick up an item that only the male Thor, the God of Thunder could do, it’s also killing her.
I know this is a comic series and we must have some form of battle between good and evil. I am more interested in Jane Foster than anyone else. Is this a focus on cosmic beings that wish to conquer the worlds, or is the real action on Jane Foster and her battle to survive?
I have never wondered so much about a single character in the Marvel universe, and as I finished the book, I didn’t care about who the Shi’ar were, but what was Jane going to do. Would she continue to be Thor until it killed her? Would she be able to rid herself of this cancer, as Cul so flippantly said to her? Does she even care to protect Asgard when they don’t seem to care about her?
My kudos to writer Jason Aaron. I want to know what Jane Foster will do. For the readers like me who may not have that much experience with Thor comics, the characters are recognizable thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The one character who was probably misused the most in the movie world, finally gets her due in the comic universe.