Thor: God of Thunder 6, Avenging Spider-Man 18

Thor: God of Thunder 6
Aaron (w) and Guice and Palmer (a) and Svorcina (c)

As I've already stated (and will continue to likely state because it will never stop amusing me), this issue of Thor was less about Thor and more about Gorr and, more specifically, his origin. His...Gorrigin. I didn't create that and I've spent every day since I heard it depressed because I didn't create that. We already know the Thorigin and it's old hat so that terms doesn't mean as much, even if I had coined it (which I can't imagine I have) but the Gorrigin was right there for the taking. And I blew it.

Anyway, this was a solid issue, as is typical of this book, with some good backstory and some nice reveals and great guest art by Butch Guice (formerly on Captain America, among many other things). It's a good origin for Gorr, if a little expected, because it holds weight and drives us to understand his side of the story. As I said, it's a little expected, largely because there are few reasons to be mad at gods that don't involve being ignored by or stepped on by gods, so it was pretty much one of two. In this case, Gorr has been ignored by the gods of his people (who are a very religious sort) and watched his father, mother, wife, and children die while they begged the gods to help them. The book, it turns out, is told as Gorr's memories to a starving Volstagg, who has stolen bread from Gorr after centuries spent in mines working on some project Gorr has enslaved gods to finish. We find out that the weapon that Gorr uses, along with his black armor, were stolen from gods that actually did arrive to Gorr's homeworld, locked in battle with one another and pleading for help from Gorr, who quickly uses the new weapon to kill them. Volstagg, upon hearing this story, questions the weapon before politely pointing out to Gorr that he himself seems to have become a god (having lived thousands of years, razed and built worlds, enslaved gods, murdered, etc.), for which he is promptly crucified. Then we find out Gorr has a child.

There's a lot going on in this book and a lot to be curious about as we move forward. What is Gorr making? What is he planning? How does this newfound child fit into his plans? Are these the shadows of things that Will be, or are they shadows of the things that May be, only? Where will Thor fit into all this, when he returns next issue? PLENTY TO ASK, my friends, plenty of things to deal with going forward.

Avenging Spider-Man 18
Yost (w) and Checchetto (a) and Rosenberg (c)

When I started reading Avenging Spider-Man, it was a fun book that I appreciated if only because it's always nice to watch Spidey interact with other heroes in the universe, particularly ones he doesn't interact with one-on-one very often. Still, it was always kind of a filler book in my eyes (rightly or wrongly) which gave some kind of plot issue-to-issue but never went particularly deep or beyond maybe a two issue arc now or then. Maybe part of that was that Spider-Man is so established in this universe that we don't need to spend as much time in an offshoot book understanding his motivations and laying pipe for what could happen next. That could all happen in Amazing Spider-Man and the Avengers and everything else he appeared in. Suddenly, several issues in to Doc Ock's run as Spider-Man, this sister book is building to something that we're not quite aware of yet. It's still keeping the old formula (pick a hero, team up with a hero) but it's leading to interesting places.

After last Avenging Spider-Man, wherein Spidey babysat for the Future Foundation and stole Sandman out of the Baxter Building, Spidey has found himself teamed up with Thor against an even more powered-up Electro who is reasonably angry at Thor for shooting him into space the last time they met. It's a nice team-up because we see the seemingly unbridled power and weaker intellect of Thor teamed with the seemingly unbridled intellect and weaker power of Superior Spider-Man. Doc Ock learns a few things about respect and responsibility (par for the course) while helping Thor defeat Electro. Thor recognizes something different about Spidey (also par for the course) but can't explain why it's different. We learn, at the end of the issue, that Electro wasn't simply dispersed, as Spidey told Thor, but rather captured by Spider-Man to join Sandman in his weird collection of the Sinister Six. The last page finds Doc Ock fretting a bit and forcing us to ask what is happening in this book. I don't have any idea the end game, but it's neat to see something happening. Again, I didn't have a problem with Avenging Spider-Man coming without a full plot, but I find it pretty cool that it suddenly seems to be doing something worth paying attention to for a longer term than one issue.