Dario Agger - a businessman so villainous he should by rights have a black top hat and cape and be twirling a pencil-thin moustache whenever he speaks - has been exploiting resources in the other realms for his company only. The other evil corporate bigwigs aren’t happy and decide to make an example of him by crashing his floating headquarters into Manhattan – Thor to the rescue! Meanwhile, two persistent SHIELD agents try to prove that Jane Foster is Thor and Mjolnir’s secret origin is revealed.
The Mighty Thor, Volume 2: Lords of Midgard is a decent Thor book but not among Jason Aaron’s better efforts. The first two issues follow young Thor, before he became worthy of the hammer, battling a Hulked-out Viking called Bodolf the Black. It felt overlong and unnecessary (pretty sure everyone reading this book already knows Loki is duplicitous), there for fans who miss classic Thor. Still, it’s an ok tale and Rafa Garres’ painted art is an interesting change of pace.
The main story of Dario Agger getting his just desserts wasn’t bad. Silver Samurai and Oubliette Midas are such enthusiastically over-the-top bad guys that they’re a delight whenever they turn up and the twist with Mjolnir was surprising. But the story just feels unmemorable. Thor does Thor stuff, baddies do baddie stuff, Russell Dauterman’s art is again good and the SHIELD agent subplot was pointless. It’s a readable but largely unimpressive story. I feel like at this point Dario Agger is played out as an antagonist and I’d like to see Thor go up against someone else going forward.
It was especially disappointing as I was hoping this book was going to be about the War of Realms which now looks to be the next volume. It was briefly teased here with the enjoyable cameo of a new character, Sir Ivory Honeyshot (fantastic name!), who’s leading a one-man resistance in some realm – I’m looking forward to reading his story.
The volume closes out with Mjolnir’s origin drawn by Frazer Irving who lends a neo-gothic veneer to the tale. Again, a solid, competently-made comic but nothing too exciting and easy to put down.
Lords of Meh-gard isn’t a bad read but definitely not a gripping one either – a serviceable, standard Thor comic that’s only ever ok.
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