Thor #1

Creators: J. Michael Straczynski, writer; Olivier Coipel and Mark Morales, artists

Marvel, 32 pages, color, $2.99

So? The Thunder God returns in a comicbook that perfectly demonstrates the downside of buying comics in the periodical format. This book is beautifully drawn and proceeds at a moderate (you could even say slow) pace as it takes great pains to show who Thor is, where he’s been since his last series ended, and why he’s just now coming back to the Marvel Universe. Beyond that, very little actually happens in this issue, leaving the experience of reading it a hollow one. Obviously, the eventual collected edition will be a different story, but this as a single issue does little to engender much excitement in Thor’s return or give the reader any idea of what to expect upcoming issues will be like or how this series may differ from the character’s previous outings. Still, it’s an exceedingly pretty comic book and looking at the pictures will suffice for fans too impatient to wait for the collection to make clear what exactly the story is about. Grade: B-