Writer: Dan Jurgens
Artists: Ben and Ray Lai
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Plot:
The book opens by introducing us to a trio of people whose lives have been impacted by the arrival of Thor & the gods of Asgard. The first person is a teacher who has become a devoted follower of Thor's religion, and alongside a couple other teachers he's decided to approach the school principal to see about getting Thursdays off, as this is the religion's holy day. However when the principal's response to their demands is to give them their walking papers we see a group of students set the school on fire as a misguided sign of support. The next person is an intern named Ricky Sykes who is upset that a radio talk show host is badmouthing Thor, and his solution is to head to the station with a loaded gun and shoot the host dead. The final person is an investigative reporter who goes undercover in Asgard, as during a tour of the city she slips away with a hidden camera & goes looking for dirty secrets. However, when she stumbles across a beaker labeled Elixir of Wisdom the woman decides to take a swig & boost her intelligence, but when the potion proves toxic to humans, she dies a painful death, and the healers of Asgard are unable to save her. Needless to say these stories are not ringing endorsements of Thor's hands on interaction with humanity.
Comments:
It does look like we're in the final stretch of this Asgard on Earth arc, as pretty much all the focus has shifted to the idea that there are problems arising from Thor’s actions. Now I would've preferred to have seen this material introduced a little earlier in the story, if only to create a debate right from the word go, as in the early going Thor's actions were seen as overwhelmingly positive, while now the only aspects that are getting any play are the negative repercussions. Now I realize why the story was structured this way, as in the early going the material had to convince the reader that Thor's decision was driven by a desire to do good, and now that the story is reaching its conclusion, the book has to start producing reason for why Thor would consider backing off. However, part of me is a bit disappointed that we never really received much in the way of debate, as one can almost draw a clear line right down the middle of the story where on the climb up we were treated to a tour of all the good that Thor had brought to the world, and then there the slide back down, where we only get to look at the damage that is being wrought in Thor's name. I guess my main complaint is that the book has been a little too deliberate in where it wants to lead its readers.
It also doesn't help that the main argument that is being made is that humans aren't enlightened enough to handle the gods gifts. I mean the book could have focused on free will, or that Thor was robbing humanity of its ability to rise to the occasion, but instead we are treated to several scenes that are so utterly simplistic in the presentation of the idea they want to express that they felt downright manipulative. I mean we have a woman reporter who upon seeing a potion jar labeled Elixir of Wisdom immediately decided it would be a smart idea to grab it off the shelf & drink it down. We also have a man who upon deciding he doesn't like the way that Thor's motivation is being questioned by the talk show host on the radio, decides to take a loaded gun to the station & shoot the man dead. We have a group of teachers who get themselves fired when they refused to work on Thursday, and in response one of the students decides that a great way of protesting this would be to burn down the school, while everyone is still inside it. There's a difference between showing there is a downside to Thor's actions, and delivering scenarios that are clearly orchestrated to display this argument, and this issue is very much guilty of the latter.
Ben & Ray Lai arrive on this title in the middle of an arc where there is very little action for them to detail, and while they deliver some fairly impressive visuals, I can't help but feel they could really use a nice done-in-one slugfest issue to show readers what they are capable of. Now as I mentioned above the art delivers some fairly solid pieces of art, as the one page shot of Asgard floating over Manhattan is nicely done, as is the page later in the issue where we see Thor taking some time out to visit with his people in the marketplace. Now the art could make more of an effort to detail the backgrounds, as there are panels where the backgrounds come across as rather simplistic. Still, the art does some pretty solid work when it comes to the figure work & the facial expressions, as the material is always quite easy to follow, and the various reactions & decisions made by the characters in this book are easily understood. The art also employs some interesting perspective shots, as while this issue is a largely talking heads affair the art does move around the room quite nicely, so the eye never gets a chance to grow bored. The cover to this issue is also a nice piece of art, as it offers up a solid visual presentation of the basic theme that drives the story inside its pages.
Final Word:
An interesting companion piece to a similarly structured issue that Dan Jurgens delivered earlier in the Asgard on Earth arc, that offered up three people whose lives were positively impacted by Thor's arrival. This issue however offers up the opposite, but unlike the previous issue the examples that are used to display the negative impact are a bit weak in the logic department. I mean there's behavior that is believable and then there is behavior that is simply used to advance an idea, and this issue is clearly drawing upon the latter. There are some downright stupid character decisions made by people in this book, and the issue doesn't do nearly enough to justify the actions these characters take. I mean are we really supposed to accept that students would see burning down the school as a valid means of protest, or that a woman would grab a potion off the shelf and drink it down based on an idle whim. The shooting is also poorly justified.
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