A brilliant retelling of the events from Thor’s debut in the pages of Journey into Mystery #83 all the way to #95, Bryan Glass and Tan Eng Huat manage to cohesively weave the narrative in those opening moments in Thor’s re-entry into the mortal plane in a very relatable manner – albeit chaotically drawn in spots.
It reframes the character of Thor and his human form of Donald Blake – his alter ego at the time – focusing more on the problem of identity as well as his relationship with Odin. Here, Loki plays on the fact that arrogance and sense of superiority stemming from masking fractured identity – something the psychoanalyst and Philosopher Jacques Lacan would have a field day analysing – creating an illusion of one which, for a while, serves it’s purpose, but wreaks havoc when the chips are down and the right buttons are pressed.
As Loki is likely to do, therefore, and how the events of Journey into Mystery #95 are retold here is a body horror festival with Loki and Thor unleashed on the planet, making Huat’s artwork here absolutely manic.
In all honesty, after reading this, I think that Thor of all heroes would, as here presented, would be a prime candidate for psychoanalysis, especially how his relationship with this father informs his identity. It also reinvents his first interactions with Sandu and the Radioactive Man in ways that are more believable to modern readers as well as reframing them within the above context, which is always a plus as some of the older books tend to be questionable if not rather silly and not cohesive enough to reflect a continuous and consistent narrative.
It is a very good introduction to the character, albeit not in the vein of the MCU version but more in line with who he is in the comics. Therefore do not expect relentless barrage of humour in this book.
