J. Michael Strackzynski vacated the premises of the main "Thor" title with perhaps undue haste, resulting from his dislike of crossovers. He left the Asgardians stranded behind enemy lines in Latveria, and Thor banished from his own people. An unpromising place to begin what was essentially a filler run (new full-time writer Matt Fraction arrives in the autumn), but that is where Kieron Gillen's run picks up. And, to a certian extent against the ods, Gillen's run turns out to be a big success. Collected here are issues 604-606 of the regular title, as well as the "Sif" one-shot, and an extra from the "Thor #600" anniversary issue previously uncollected. Some spoilers follow.
The three issues written by Gillen are the "Latverian Prometheus" story arc which provides the trade with its title, and a finale to the Asgardians' ill-starred sojourn into the nation of card-carrying villain Doctor Doom. JMS' run ended with them realizing that moving into the nation of a despotic supervillain was perhaps not the best idea, while Doom perserveres in his monstrous experiments using Asgardian bodies to acquire the power of the gods. As a biproduct, he has turned them into grotesque supersoldiers to serve his whim, and acquired a weapon of extreme power that will allow him to challenge even Thor. Thor, meanwhile, is drawn to the aid of his people. Gillen's work with the characters in superb; he writes a far more competent Balder than JMS ever presented, and his Thor is effectively powerful. Kelda, JMS' star-crossed lover, is written movingly. Most of all, Gillen writes a superb Doctor Doom; every other line he says is quotable. Billy Tan does a good job on art (his standard big-chested man is especially suited to Asgardians).
The other contents of the collection are, firstly, a brief anniversary story written by Stan Lee, with art by David Aja. It's brief, and rather on the cheesey side, but that's a Stan Lee anniversary story for you. You'd probably be disappointed if it wasn't like that. Aja is an interesting choice to illustrate something by Lee, and you would think that his gritty realism would contrast poorly with Lee's standard over-the-top style, but somehow it works. The main attraction of the extras, though, is the full-issue-length special focussed on Thor's girlfriend Sif, who went through some big changes in JMS' run, but whose return was handled in the space of a few pages, with little in the way of followup. Written by Kelly DeConnick (wife of Matt Fraction, incidentally), with art by Ryan Stegman, it gives her a bit of solo time (well, it's a team-up with her ex-lover Beta Ray Bill and his new girlfriend, Ti Asha Ra). It's a nice story, and welcome focus, given all the character has been through.
Recommended.Get more detail about Thor: Latverian Prometheus.
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