This one-shot issue is yet another retelling of the origin of The Mighty Thor. It details young Thor’s strained relationship with his half-brother Loki and their disastrous love triangle with Sif. We get to see the formation of the hammer Mjolnir and how it came to hold the power of thunder and lightning. Loki, as is his nature, manipulates the story from the start with the end result being Thor’s banishment from his godly home of Asgard. Banished to Earth (or Midgard as the Asgardians call it), Thor becomes a mortal called Donald Blake. Then, in a few brief pages, we see Donald Blake stumble upon Mjolnir and return to his former glory as the God of Thunder.

The origin of Thor is one that nearly any fan of Marvel comics has read in at least one incarnation or another. Heck… even non-comic readers have seen the basic gist of the comic origin in the motion picture adaptation ‘Thor’. I’ll assume that this issue is aimed at those new fans that saw the movie and are looking for a spot to jump into the comics. It’s that kind of basic retelling of an age-old story with little to nothing to entice older comic readers. I was hoping for more of an overview of Thor’s history to bring a reader up to speed with where Thor is with the Avengers in current continuity. That might’ve actually tempted me to pick up the regular ‘Thor’ series.

Writer Kathryn Immonen does an adequate job retelling the story with some expansions here and Al Barrionuevo’s pencils are worthy of a Thor comic. His facial features, especially in young Thor and some of the brief battle scenes, do a wonderful job conveying the epic emotion that makes it a Thor tale. That said, the issue just didn’t hold my interest. Maybe if I were new to the Marvel universe, I’d be more excited but I haven’t been a new comic reader in ages. So it is with a bit of bitter sadness, the final say must be…

Verdict: Burn (or borrow if you’re a newer reader.) Either way, it’s not really an issue you’d probably care to keep in your collection.

AVENGERS ORIGINS: THOR #1
Written by KATHRYN IMMONEN
Art by AL BARRIONUEVO
Cover by GERALD PAREL