“And so the children of Odin gathered in their father’s name to search for one of their own. Regal Thor, fierce Angela, brave Balder, swift Hermod, quiet Honir, strong Vidar, cunning Loki, even Laussa the youngest — all were there…and another beside.”
Speaking as Before We Go Blog’s self-appointed Special Thorrespondent, I find myself a little disappointed with The Immortal Thor volume three, The End of All Songs (written by Al Ewing, with artwork by Valentina Pinti and Jan Bazaldua, and cover art by Alex Ross): an already-slim volume split into two storylines, it’s hard to shake the conclusion that some momentum from the first two volumes was lost.
Only briefly touching on the cliffhanger that ended the last collection, first, Thor gathers his similarly-mythic siblings to go in search of their missing brother Tyr, god of war. Despite the powerful beings and surreal cosmic realms they encounter—and the fact that their quarry may not be entirely trustworthy—the whole thing ends up feeling low stakes nonetheless, with the action brief and whole storyline dispensed with rather quickly, leaving us with little opportunity to get to know Thor’s motley crew of siblings, or for the ramifications of the events to be felt. Things liven up in the next storyline, when Greek and Norse myth collide as Thor teams up with Hercules to investigate a divine threat. There’s a great moment in which Thor battles Zeus, his Greek counterpart in thunder-throwing, and it’s fun having Hercules in the mix—let’s hear more from him, Marvel—but it still has some of the same issues as the first arc, in which confrontations with dangerous foes have a somewhat abbreviated feel. Not that there’s no reason to stay invested: at various points, we see Amora the Enchantress is still scheming, an old foe is back for round two, tensions are rising with Loki once again, and Thor makes a momentous decision far too impulsively, setting up consequences down the line.
After the home run Al Ewing hit with the first two volumes, The End of All Songs, unfortunately, suffers in comparison to those epic stories. I hope I haven’t made things sound too dire; The Immortal Thor seems to be biding its time until it kicks into gear again, but I’m still a fan, and still eagerly awaiting the next volume.
