When Dr. Jane Foster lifts the mystic hammer Mjolnir, she is transformed into the Goddess of Thunder, The Mighty Thor! Her enemies are many, as Asgard descends further into chaos and war threatens to spread throughout the Ten Realms. Yet her greatest battle will be against a far more personal foe: the cancer that is killing her mortal form.

The Mighty Thor #1 does some interesting things as a first issue. Not only does it continue much of what came before Marvel‘s relaunch, but it also is pretty damn new reader friendly.

Writer Jason Aaron creates a first issue that reintroduces us to Jane Foster as Thor and introduces individuals to her situation as far as cancer, treatment, and also continues the plot from his previous volume (and makes it new reader friendly), and gives us Asgard’s status-quo in the new Marvel Universe. And what he sets up is a story on a grand scale.

What’s really impressive to me is Aaron’s focus on Foster the woman, who just so happens to be Thor. He really looks into her as someone dealing with cancer. While I can’t speak to that experience, to me Foster’s struggle with her trying to get treatment and her trying to be a hero. This looks to be a focus on the series, and will make the series really stand out from others out there.

Helping Aaron is Russell Dauterman on art. There’s some small issues that I had at times, but what I really like about Dauterman’s work is not just his balance between awe inspiring views, but his quieter moments and the angles he chooses. Of particular is a scene of Jane getting chemo and another of her walking down a hallway. The choice of angles and framing of those scenes just really caught my mind, and shows why Dauterman’s a solid artist.

This first issue truly has a lot for fans who have been reading Aaron’s previous Thor run, and those checking it out for the first time. This is a comic that mixes both superheroics and human heart.

Story: Jason Aaron Art: Russell Dauterman
Story: 8.25 Art: 8.1 Overall: 8.2 Recommendation: Buy

Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review