Comic Vine Review

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Thor: God of Thunder #6 - What the Gods Have Wrought

4

The story behind the 'God Butcher' is revealed in the latest issue.

The Good

I often think it is important to have a back story for a character to really understand the motivations behind their actions and thoughts, and that is the central focus of this series. The issue opens with a look at the 'God Butcher,' who he is, and why he had set out so long ago to torture and murder the Gods, but what it doesn't do is explain where the character obtained his powers from in the first place. We see how he gets them, but it's not clear what the character who had them in the first place was doing with them.

The art is good, I think it really sets the tone for the story being told in this issue. You get the sense through the colors and the backgrounds illustrated by Butch Guice that the region where the character lives is completely desolate. The tribe he belongs to is starving, and has been starving for a long time. I think both the artist and Jason Aaron capture the sheer bitterness and sadness of the situation, and you get to see the thought process of the character and see him evolve. Bitterness, loss, and sadness influence him and we see that sort of blossom.

I think its important to have an issue like this because it gives us a more well rounded perspective of the antagonist in this series, who he is, what his motivations are, and why he does what he does. All of this becomes clear and more important and overall I think it is executed really well.

The Bad

If you are looking for Thor (which would make sense since this is his series), then you will be disappointed as the character does not make an appearance in this issue. The issue instead focuses on The God Butcher and deals with the character's back story. This is all very interesting, but there is no real break in the story for the reader to take in and digest the character -- it feels like everything is explained all at once and sort of thrown at you from the beginning. I think the story would have been more interesting if it was broken up a bit and it wasn't a complete flashback.

Another problem I had with the issue is the fact that it is unclear at what point in time this story is being told. This is something vital to the story and something that should be clear, but isn't. The result makes reading the story slightly confusing.

The Verdict

I enjoyed the art a lot in this issue, I think it was one of the highlights of the book. Guice really does a solid job setting the tone for the story, and I think it's important. You can really sense the desperation of the character in so many scenes in this issue, and I thought that was important to the story being told. I think it would have been good if the issue was broken up a bit more and we got to see what Thor was doing, but we don't really get that here. This is also not an issue you want to start off reading as it doesn't give you an idea of what has been going on in the series overall, even if it does a good job giving us a backstory. The story itself was interesting, I really liked the fact that we get a deeper look at the character in general and what drives him to kill these Gods. It was a necessary issue and was, overall, really well done.

19 Comments

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KennyQuick

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Edited By KennyQuick

I love Butch Guice's work in Winter Soldier but I thought it did not look good here. Could be the colors, but just wasnt as fun without Ribic.

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dondave

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Edited By dondave

Another good issue even without Ribic

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cincyducksfan35

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Edited By cincyducksfan35

Loved it, five stars for me. This run has been amazing! I love that we are getting a new villain, it's sad that it seems to happen so rarely anymore

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rondoudou

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Edited By rondoudou

i loved it 4.5/5 for me , hmmm it seems volstagg had gone on a diet in this issue

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DonFelipe

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Edited By DonFelipe

Didn't read the issue yet but I may still pick it up and continue reading Thor for a while - not such a big fan of Thor but I liked Gorr the God Butcher.

The cover is brilliant - another reason!

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nappystr8

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Edited By nappystr8

The idea of breaking up this story to give an origin issue to Gorr held little interest to me. I thought I'd gotten enough of his backstory already in the last issue. I also didn't look at the cover before reading this, so I didn't realize Ribic was taking an issue off, add to that I've never been a fan of Butch Guice's art, I was very skeptical when I first started reading this. Jason Aaron managed to overcome all of that initial bad will from me and make me absolutely love this issue. Gorr is one of the best new comic antagonists in years, and this issue went a long way to proving that. It becomes more clear with every Jason Aaron book I read that the man is a genius.

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Cavemold

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Edited By Cavemold

Really liked this issue gave 4/5

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skyjumpermike

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Edited By skyjumpermike

I'm guessing that the reason his people had been suffering for so long was due to the black god that the gold god was fighting.

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longbowhunter

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Edited By longbowhunter

Damn Gorr's life sucked. I wonder if Volstagg was fit prior to this and because of being starved he decided to become a glutton? Or was he always overweight but dropped some pounds slaving for Gorr?

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nerdork

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Edited By nerdork

@longbowhunter said:

Damn Gorr's life sucked. I wonder if Volstagg was fit prior to this and because of being starved he decided to become a glutton? Or was he always overweight but dropped some pounds slaving for Gorr?

If you read the story Warrior's Three: Dog Day Afternoon, it gives a background into why Volstagg eats so much, Why Fandral drinks so much and why Hogun is always brooding...not to mention how they became the Warrior's Three. It is a really well written story.

Great review. Cant wait to grab the issue this Saturday.

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Lvenger

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Edited By Lvenger

Gorr's origin was a bit generic as was his power acquisition but it was a very emotive issue with a powerful ending that sets up Aaron's next part of the story. You could read into the themes Aaron played up quite well too. Great review Babs!

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JMLG

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Edited By JMLG

this actually made me like Gorr - go get them lazy gods! ha

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lorex

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Edited By lorex

I liked this issue, it was a good way to give some background info on the god butcher character while at the same time advancing the plot alone. Even without the main character.

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feargalr

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Edited By feargalr

I'm absolutely loving this series, but like Babs, I'm very confused about when and where some things are happening

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Teerack

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Edited By Teerack

First thing first. This f**king plot needs to end and the book needs to go on to something else.

It's incredibly obvious that this story will end with Thor going back in time and making it rain for the god killer so his wife never dies and fixes everything.

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evilvegeta74

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Edited By evilvegeta74

@Teerack said:

First thing first. This f**king plot needs to end and the book needs to go on to something else.

It's incredibly obvious that this story will end with Thor going back in time and making it rain for the god killer so his wife never dies and fixes everything.

You don't like Thor do you?

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Teerack

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Edited By Teerack

@evilvegeta74: I like Thor but I can't express to you how boring I find this god slayer stuff.

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evilvegeta74

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Edited By evilvegeta74

@Teerack said:

@evilvegeta74: I like Thor but I can't express to you how boring I find this god slayer stuff.

I understand!

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Teerack

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Edited By Teerack

@evilvegeta74 said:

@Teerack said:

@evilvegeta74: I like Thor but I can't express to you how boring I find this god slayer stuff.

I understand!

I'm debating dropping the book all together now, because I'm starting to think this story my be the whole comic. D: