Thor Annual 2023 is epic, with high stakes and a brand-new villain. Paired with a backup that hints at what we're in store for with future Thor stories, this book is an easy pickup for casual, lapsed, and dedicated fans alike. Read Full Review

This year’s THOR ANNUAL #1 is out today by the writing duo of Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing and with art by Ibraim Roberson. Taking away nothing from their work on the main story, perhaps the most interesting part of this year’s annual is the sneak preview of August’s IMMORTAL THOR #1, a new ongoing series written by Al Ewing and with art by Martin Coccolo, that appears at the end of the book. I’ll get to that in a bit, but let’s get back to the main story.

The entirety of the story is focused on an epic battle between Thor, the new All-Father, and M.Y.T.H.O.S. (Master of Yggdrasil, the Tyrant of Humanity, the Omnipotent Savior), a version of M.O.D.O.K. after he fused himself with the Bifrost to create an immensely powerful new being. I would have loved to see this story fleshed out over a few issues, but as an annual, it gets wrapped up in this self-contained story. We witness Thor fail in his attempt to defeat M.Y.T.H.O.S. multiple times, but true to form, refuses to give up as me measures himself against what his father would have done — definitely big on daddy issues that Thor is. The conclusion of the battle does feature a nice reflection from Thor that he can rule as the All-Father differently from his father and those differences can be a net positive.

Kelly and Lanzing’s writing is primarily focused on Thor’s internal dialogue, which could be tough for an over-sized issue. However, the two give Thor a lot to chew on in his own mind and his inner conflict is palpable. Thor has matured over the years and this annual felt like another growth moment to set the stage for what will occur in IMMORTAL THOR.

Roberson’s artwork is stunning, especially paired with the colors by Dan Brown. It’s hard to make the rainbow bridge looks bad, but these two artists beautifully depicted M.Y.T.H.O.S., the rainbow bridge, and the accompanying scenery. The slight, almost sketch-like line-work of the mind-wiped civilians was a triumph and aided in the world building of the reality M.Y.T.H.O.S. created.

If I had to nitpick one complaint with the issue, it would be Joe Sabino’s lettering for the M.Y.T.H.O.S. text bubbles. It was a jarring font to read at times and was my lone criticism. The rest of the lettering throughout the book, especially the sound effects during the major battle scenes were superbly done.

The IMMORTAL THOR preview looks awesome. I loved the colors, the character designs, and the story seems to be in perfect hands with Ewing. I have been an infrequent Thor reader of late but I am very much looking forward to this new series based on the few pages we’ve seen.

Rating: 8/10 more

It's a fun main story with great visuals. It's not anything super groundbreaking , but it was worth the read. The back up story looked good, but just felt like a corny way to set up the new status quo. I know it will be good, it just was such a boring way to make the changes needed.

Out of the two "post-Cates" annuals, this is the one I enjoyed more. The art here from Roberson was great and I think it really fit with the story. Speaking of which, Kelly & Lanzing's story was enjoyable. It wasn't my absolute favorite from them, but I was still entertained by Thor fighting M.Y.T.H.O.S. and I also enjoyed his interaction with Peter. I'm still not sure how I feel about Immortal Thor after reading the preview/prologue at the end of the book, but I'm interested enough to check it out. If anything, I really like Coccolo's art.

There's a solid premise in there, and the authors wring about three good scenes out of it. But that doesn't fill the entire page count, and the clumsy way they set up the playing field at the start gets everything off on the wrong foot. The art's pretty outstanding throughout, though.

The teaser strip for the upcoming volume is rough for me. I love Al Ewing, but this fills me with the opposite of confidence.