What a Sad Sap Thor Makes, And Should We Shed Tears?

For months the writers at Marvel Comics have been hashing around with the idea of a female Thor. Where this gender-bender idea came from is unclear. However, on October 1, 2014, the first issue of Thor as a woman became a reality in Thor (2014-) #1. As a fan of the traditional male persona of Thor, I was not really open to the idea of a woman picking up Thor’s hammer. 

Yet after reading the first issue in the new series, I got hooked because something awful happened on the moon that has left Thor unable to pick up Mjolnir and has nearly left the onetime powerful Norse god in tears. Furthermore, wielding a great axe Thor may have been fatally wounded while attempting to fight an old and familiar evil threatening the universe. 

The only reassurance that Thor’s inability to pick up Mjolnir is not his fault is that no one appears to be able to do the deed, not even his father Odin who is the king of the Norse Gods.  Well, that is until a mysterious woman comes along and picks up the hammer and is transformed into a female version of Thor after murmuring “There must be a god of thunder”. As expected her appearance was brief and that appearance left me looking forward to the next issue. In addition, because she can walk on the moon without a spacesuit its clear she is not from Earth. One can suppose she is another Asgardian woman. However, I do not think she is Sif. Neither is she Freya, regardless on her desire to continue to rule Asgard.

That’s right. During Odin’s long absence Freya ruled over Asgard as the All Mother. She also feminized the floating kingdom by renaming it Asgardia.  With Odin’s return Freya is understandably reluctant to return control of Asgard/Asgardia over to him. It is clear that the war of the genders has come among the Norse gods. 

The second installment of this new adventure of Thor comes out on November 12 2014.