Thor: For Asgard by Robert Rodi

Thor: For Asgard Reviews

• 
  Anne

  For Asgard is for fans of Thor in...well, Asgard.
  I'm not one of those fans, so this sucked Big Time for me. I've never really been into Thor's adventures on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge. Running around in animal pelts, and fighting goblins (or whatever) is just not my thing. Yay for you, if that's what you enjoy.
  The art could have been cool, but something was just off about it. It was distracting and weird. Almost like someone had spilled water on the pages, so that everything looked annoyingly blurry. Oh, and in one pannel, Thor had a boob. Yeah. Just one. How do you not notice that when you're drawing it?! Ugh.
  
  
• 
  Sandra

  My very first Thor/Marvel comic.. this was my early Sinterklaas present to myself. I had always said that, despite loving the Marvel movies, I would not buy the comics because there are so many and they are so expensive, but then I found this adorable little comic store in town (Whoops Comics, come on, you love it already just because the name is so perfect) today that I didn't know existed and I ended up taking this little beauty home. It cost me quite a bit of money but I fell in love with the art in this series, so I brought it home with me anyway. If you're interested: the penciler was Simone Bianchi, inks & inkwash were done by Simone Bianchi & Andrea Silvestri and the color assistant was Simone Peruzzi. The art in this series is rather realistic. I especially loved the facial close-ups, which were astonishingly beautiful, and the coloring.. absolutely stunning.
  
  Here's a picture of the comic, courtesy of WeeklyCrisis, so you can all understand what I'm talking about and why I absolutely needed this book:
  
  
  
  The story by Robert Rodi fascinated me too. It had very little Loki, but it showed what could happen, should he succeed in taking over Asgard. Rodi also gives his perspective of what he thinks would happen if Odin left and Thor was forced to take his place. This book very much focuses on God!Thor, not so much human!Thor/Avengers!Thor. I liked it, but I would like to read the other side to the story sometime, too.
  
  But godlike or humanlike, I must say that I loved the characterization in this, I found it fascinating. The end notes make me want to check out Rodi's other works (Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers, Thor: Loki and Astonishing Thor), just to see how it holds up. He mentioned so many interesting things about Loki, who only showed up once in flashback, which I say is cheating. Oh well. Maybe next month. I just wish it was a less expensive hobby.
• 
  A Voracious Reader (a.k.a. Carol)

  *Book source ~ Library
  
  Odin is gone, Thor is in charge, and everything is going to shit.
  
  I’ve never read a Thor comic before. Not one where he’s the main star. I was kinda lost during this. It’s not horribly written, just a bit confusing. And while I like the funky font for the speech bubbles, at times they are hard to read. I had to put on my granny glasses. The artwork is pretty good though.
  
• 
  David

  The art work in this graphic novel is incredible. Italian illustrator Simone Bianchi uses colour and shade to bring the characters of Asgard vividly to life. Coupled with Robert Rodi's unique take on the travails of the Thunder God, as he arrives to assume the mantle of his father, Odin, this is a captivating read. Methinks I must verily look for more in this particular story arc!
• 
  Tuncer Haydarlar

  Konu güzel düşünülmüşse de uygulamada başarısız olmuş. Önünü arkasını okusak belki tatmin edici bir seviyeye erişir ama one-shot olarak tamamlanmış hissettirmiyor. Hikaye örgüsünde herhangi bir devinim yok. Basitçe, nerede başladıysa orada bitiyor. Dolayısıyla olan her şey sonunda anlamsız kalıyor. Hikaye hiçbir şeyi sonlandırmamakla birlikte oraya ulaşana kadar herhangi bir zirve anı da yaşatmıyor. Çizimleri, panel panel değerlendirildiğinde mükemmel olsa da herhangi bir süreklilik hissi yaratmaktan uzak. Yine de Thor ve Asgard mitosunun Marveldaki tasvirleri arasında görsel olarak en tatmin edici tasarımlara burada denk geldiğimi söyleyebilirim.
• 
  Himanshu Karmacharya

  Simone Bianchi is one hell of an artist! The art is out of the nine worlds! However, the writing is not on par with the art. The plot is decent with Odin gone and Thor taking up his place. But Thor not being worthy enough to pick up Mjolnir, that is overdone. A lot. The ending felt anticlimactic as well. Many things are left unanswered and many paths left unvisited. There are a couple of characters explored briefly and given a sort of arc as well. But their execution felt bland.
• 
  Christian Smith

  Plot holes/problems:
  
  1. Why did nobody explain how Heimdal died and why did nobody go look for his killer?
  
  2. How did the Asgardians climb the tree when there weren't many branches where they were climbing?
  
  3. How did Thors crazy plan of using the Yggdrasil actually work? Like the person said the tree goes on for Infiniti so how was he able to make it back to Asgard?
• 
  Colin Moore

  The story was heartbreaking, seeing Thor brought to such a low point.
  The paneling and layouts were breathtaking--the way they all flowed together and were actually part of the art.
  The art...well, it was hit or miss. The shading and rendering was beautiful, but the anatomy got a little strange at time. And then there's Thor's striped cod piece. And the scantily clad warriors in the middle of a four-year winter.
• 
  Paul

  Great art! I don't know who this Simone Bianchi guy is, but damn! he draws good!
  Good story... always nice to see Gods get their asses handed to em.
  And I guess we humans can teach Giants a thing or two... sadly.
• 
  Daryl

  The art here by Simone Bianchi is beautiful: detailed, painted, fantastic, yet realistic. The story, though, takes awhile to get going. Odin is gone missing from Asgard, Thor is regent, Balder is dead, and the other worlds are rebelling. Is Ragnarok coming, or is this earlier in Thor's life? I'd opt for the latter but there's no real info in the book itself. The story picks up some, then drags again, and finally comes to a sudden and unsatisfying end, leaving lots of questions still unanswered.
• 
  A.j. Garner

  I am not a huge Thor fan. I have never thought Norse mythology was too exciting compared to Greek, so maybe I am jaded.
  
  I felt this was confusing and awkward at points. I am still not 100% about the ending. But hey, whatever. I do love Simone Bianchi’s art, as always.
• 
  Boris Kuslitskiy

  Wonderful artistic choices that detract from the story, leaving it scattered beyond its already disjointed plot.
• 
  Jorge Schumacher

  Uma história muito boa, com ação, intrigas palacianas e bastante componentes filosóficos e existencialistas. O único porém fica por conta do final aberto da história. A arte é um espetáculo à parte.
• 
  Graham

  A fine story. The dialogue doesn’t match the art sometimes, and the art is beautiful but a bit repetitive. A lot of negative space and circles. I want to like it more than I do.
• 
  BooksByDano

  I really like Thor and i like reading about him in Asgard but im not sure if this was the right place to start.
• 
  Bryce Hatfield

  It’s so nice to see a Thor comic that actually respects the mythology. Not everything is accurate, of course, but I can tell the people who worked on this did their research. Some parts were a bit slow, and I didn’t like the treatment of Tyr and Hella, but other than that it was a phenomenal story. If you’re a fan of the traditional superhero Thor, this probably isn’t for you. But if you want a gripping tale of mythological scale set entirely in Asgard and the surrounding realms, with amazing visuals and fantastic themes, definitely give this a shot.
• 
  Mark

  This one's been getting rave reviews from the cognoscenti; and I've always loved Thor (from the comics to the Norse myths); and what with the movie coming out, I thought I'd give it a try. Unfortunately, I found FOR ASGARD close to unreadable. Bianchi's artwork is HEAVY METAL lite (and not the glory years of HM-rather, the late '90's when it devolved to third-rate fantasy crap) and slows down the storytelling while offering few pleasure during the traffic jam. Rodi seems to have had a few good ideas here, but they were too slow coming together (issues 1-4) and then rushed to an unsatisfying conclusion with a (literally) deus-ex-machina ending in 6. I wish I had put the $$ toward the Simonson THOR OMNIBUS.
• 
  Russell Mark Olson

  Both the writer and the artist seemed very talented and capable, but there was just too much ot "it." I tend to like art work that is simpler, refined and immaculately formed. Sometimes, excellent draftsmen don't make the best cartoonists, they get too wrapped up in the detail to move the story along. There were quite a few moments where I had to flip back and forth through the book to make sure I knew what was going on. I don't think you should ever have to do this when reading a comic. Characters are simplified for ease of reading...and the same goes for the writing. I like that Asgard gives writer's the chance to be poetic, but sometimes your left with lots of words, but little substance. Can't say I'd pick up the follow on if written and illustrated by the same team.
• 
  Fugo Feedback

  El dibujo es sencillamente espectacular. Aunque, vaya a saber uno por qué, no me gustó tanto como en "Siete Soldados de la Victoria: Caballero Brillante". Supongo que porque, aunque la narrativa de Bianchi sigue siendo de lo más original y brillante, al estar en función del a historia me enganché más con aquella epopeya que con esta, y eso que méritos no le faltan. El guion de Rodi es fuerte y bien armado, aunque tanta "epiceidad" termina desdibujando un poquitín a los personajes. De todos modos es un gran laburo y espero leerme el "Loki" del guionista con Ribic ni bien pueda.
• 
  Clayton

  I wanted to like it, and I've liked other stuff that Simone Bianchi has drawn, but the story lost me pretty quickly, and I ended up skimming the second half of the book. Also, I wasn't terribly impressed by the art - there were several awkward figures (including one where Thor appears to have an exposed female breast), and the colors seemed too fuzzy and without any kind of dynamics or color contrast. So the visuals just didn't work for me on a lot of levels. Ah well, there's better Thor stories out there.
• 
  Maria Rita Accardo

  Fantastico! Una chicca che tutti gli amanti di Thor non possono lasciarsi scappare. Mi riempie di orgoglio aver scoperto fumettisti italiani così capaci come Simone Bianchi, le sue tavole sono incredibili, una più bella dell'altra. Inoltre nell'edizione completa di Thor per Asgard, le ultime pagine sono dedicate a due parti dello Sketchbook in cui possiamo ammirare vari bozzetti che lasciano senza parole. Un fumetto che mi ha stupito e meravigliato sotto diversi punti di vista. Davvero magnifico!
  
• 
  Joe Young

  Robert Rodi - writer
  Simone Bianchi - illustrator
  
  3/5 stars
  
  Pretty cool story about Thor taking over for Odin and having to deal with a bucnh of crises perpetrated by a mysterious, hidden enemy. The art in this volume is really stellar; Ms. Bianchi has an lovely, watercolor-like style that fits the epicness of Thor quite well. Worth a read if you are an old-school Thor fan, or enjoyed the recent movie.
• 
  Viridian5

  The story here is more a sketch of the goings-on than an actual fleshing out. There are parts that should be epic, but we just don't have enough time to show or develop them because now we're off to the next thing. Then the storyline stops instead of concludes, with nothing settled. It felt like such a waste of time.
  
  The art looks cool from a distance but busy and sometimes ugly up close with its mess of lines and sometimes odd angles. People don't even look like people in some cases.
• 
  Angela

  I do like the Thor books but this one was slightly boring. Asgard is in danger, and Thor commits war crimes. He needs redemption to save everybody. the art was interesting but I kept getting distracted by Thor's naked chest, it looked a lot like a woman's at times. Strange indeed.
• 
  Naomi Ruth

  I think I liked this better than the other Thor comic I read by Rodi.
  
  I like Idunn.
  
  Still bothered by Hella. Whaaaat are you not wearing?
  
  Interesting play of politics. I liked the play of the idea of what happens when Thor tries to become his father instead of being himself.
• 
  Mathew Carruthers

  The art was amazing, the story good, but not really typical of the average Thor title. I don't regularly read Thor, so I felt a bit lost trying to put everything into context in the greater Marvel universe. Worth a look for the art alone.
• 
  Anthony

  met artist simone bianchi @ nycc '12; great book hand painted by the artist himself