Some of my friends have made a bet with me. We all know that I am a huge fan of JMS and his run on Thor. Now with him leaving the title, I was adamant that I was going to drop the book. No matter who took over as writer I just couldn’t see this title staying as one of the best Marvel books to be released. With Kieron Gillen taking over, I thought that this was the last nail in the coffin to drop the series. But again, my friends wanted me to give this a try because there could be a chance Gillen will still make this a great series. So, stubbornly I might add, I picked up the issue. My thoughts?

This was an amazing comic featuring Dr. Doom. If there is one thing that Gillen knows who to write, apparently it’s Doom. He’s pretty much the main focus of the book and anything that comes out of his mouth is pure gold. Eloquent with his words but you can still find him absolutely terrifying. Dr. Doom fits quite well with the Asgardians and I don’t think I remember a time where he fought them. Of course JMS started this fight, but Gillen is doing a nice job adding the tension and the fight that starts in this will be interesting to see for the next issue.

Now I say this is a Dr. Doom comic because Thor is practically no where to be found. We see Donald Blake for a page and Thor….well for the sake of spoilers I won’t say where he shows up in this. Either way, that’s my only real problem with this and it does make me worried about the future. Again there is no denying that Gillen did a great job with Doom, Balder, and even Loki in this issue. But with very little room for Blake/Thor in this, I have no idea how he’s going to write him. Blake just seems like a regular guy and not a man who doubles as a Norse God. JMS did a great job making him unique and adding more depth in his personality. It’s only one issue, but with no real focus on the character, I have no idea how Gillen will treat the character. It also worries me about how this series is going to read because of Seige. With that Cabal one shot and this, clearly the event is starting with these two titles. Thor is going to become a tie-in series and it felt more obvious when reading this. It doesn’t ruin my enjoyment of this particular issue, but it still is not a good sign when the title character is no where to be seen.

2009 seems to be the year for the Tan family. Yes we can argue about Philip Tan for ages, but I felt that he has improved himself this year. Same goes for Billy Tan and on this title, which certainly looks good. The characters look great and his take on Doom is quite menacing. He always seems to have his arms crossed, which feels right and I can’t explain why. I love the little touches in the panels like with fire constantly burning, or how a dimensional monster is attacking the Baxtar Building. He also does a great job with water in this mainly with the rain. Best take of rain in a comic for me, cause you can see the water dripping on the characters and it just feels real. There are a few little hiccups here and there, mainly in the beginning with Kelda (looked a bit off to me). Still it’s a great looking comic and somehow I am becoming a fan of Billy Tan.

So yes, my friends (PraxJarvin and DrakeDangers specifically) have won this little bet. But I say we all have won this, in a way that we are all going to enjoy this title. If I can say, I am going to miss JMS/Coipel/Djurdivic because they did one of the best runs for Marvel period. But this is a great start for Gillien and Tan in that I am confident that this series will continue to be good. Maybe not as amazing as it once was, but it seems like it’s going to be in the right hands. Worried about how this series is going to be when Seige offically starts, but I’ll worry about it more when we get to that juncture.