The Kieron Gillen era, and subsequently the JMS era too, has finally ended in Thor. What started as an incredible comic for Marvel has now ended as a fun romp in the Thor verse in a few years. That’s not a slight towards Gillen mind you, it’s just that it really is hard to imagine that using JMS story threads to do your own run is ballsy. There have been some incredible highs (Dr. Doom vs Thor), some lows (the first issue of this final arc), and mostly inbetweens (a flawed, but entertaining Seige tie-in). Does this issue end off in some type of bang for Gillen and get us ready for the Matt Fraction era?

No……and definitely no.

Now I think there are some really good moments in this issue. The two that stands out are the revelations with Kelda and Loki. I certainly didn’t see that twist coming at the very end and it all ties nicely to Gillen’s run, and also explains a bit of Bendis’s ‘heroic’ ending for Loki in Seige. Like Thor, I find it very hard to believe Loki did for a depressing purpose, but it would be a nice twist for the predictable villian. Gillen’s take on Mephisto is still really good and I like the Hollywood/Shakespearian take on him. Finally, the art (although rocky at points) are pretty good by Braithwaite. There are some panels were it’s easy to tell he had to rush a bit, but overall a good effort by him.

The thing that bugged me the most of this, and it closes me out for the review, is the end of this issue. There is nothing here that indicates that this is the final issue by Gillen. I don’t know if that was his decision or Marvel’s, but I find it unbelievable that: A) He didn’t do some sort of Epliogue to wrap things up or B) Say some sort of goodbye on a final page. JMS left in a huff so capping his run will never happen but for Gillen he stayed as the ‘yes’ man for Marvel. Even when his ideas got cancelled quickly (SWORD) he quickly got on Thor and was able to continue to make this series a fun read. He’s no JMS, but he did a damn fine job filling in for his shoes. I guess I just wanted to see some type of recognition for what he did for the majority of the year on this title. Fraction will probably get huge publicity for his first issue, why not let Gillen has his spotlight for his end?