One of the best books to make a return to regular print has been Thor by far. Only five issues in and J. Michael Straczynski is still in the middle of a lot of necessary maintenance. After all, not only did Thor ‘die’, but all the gods died with him. It’s kind of hard to write a comic book story when the main character is dead (unless you’re Ed Brubaker). The most critical time for any comics is within its first few issues, it’s a juggling act where there has to be proper set up and action in one issue, Straczynski has done a great job of providing both. We know in the story so far that as Thor was ultimately responsible for the end of the gods, he’s now responsible for their return. Because of that a very important question is asked; should Thor locate villains as well as the heroes, or should he leave them to their fates?

Issue five answers that question for us, and in doing so accomplishes two things. Firstly, it made it clear to the reader that Thor is still in the dark about a lot of things, and if he can be surprised then we can be surprised along with him. Secondly, with one page of info the Thor universe opened up to let a few more non Asgardians play in the proverbial sandbox. By putting Asgard on earth I figured that we would see some unlikely guest spots because of that, and so far so good. What the hell is Dr. Doom doing there in the first place? Oops, did I just type that? I think you guys had better go out and get Thor issue 5 so that we can discuss.

The following message is actually intended for Marvel Comics directly:

There are a great many things I would do to make sure that Olivier Coipel doesn’t leave Thor. As it stands I don’t have his address, so kidnapping threats are useless, but nevertheless I will resort to begging if need be. Olivier Coipel is an amazing artist; words can’t really describe how much I enjoy any and everything he does, so I won’t give any. Oh please, please please please keep Coipel right where he is, even if I have to pay part of his salary myself (which is no biggy since I make a million dollars a day) if need be.

Dante considers grains of sand currency, he has lots of it. Happy 2008 Gang!