Thor, God of thunder : The God Butcher by Jason Aaron art by Esad Ribic YP FIC AARON

Thor is a brash young god (just a few 100 years old!) in the age of vikings who lives for adventure and conquest, but is not yet ready to wield Mjolnir*, on of the mightiest weapons of all gods.  Thor is the God of Thunder, possessor of Mjolnir, Avenger, protector of Earth.  Thor is king of all of Asgard and the last living God in the universe thousands of years into the future.  In all these times Thor must face an enemy like he has never conceived of: the God Butcher.  A being that is so powerful he searches the cosmos to methodically, slowly, ruthlessly torture and kill entire pantheons of gods.  If he fails in this task then all of creation is threatened.

This comic is absolutely epic.  It tells three unique stories in Thor's youth, maturity, and old age and all three work to build the tension and make the story larger than life.  The three separate arcs all meet up in very interesting ways, so it isn't just pointless flashbacks to convey character. It also harkens back to good ole' Jack Kirby Thor comics that often had back up stories of young Thor.  In this case it makes the story one beyond the limits of time itself, which makes it seem a tale fit for mythology and the gods!  Plotting, dialogue, and character are all top notch, but it's the absolutely gorgeous
painted art that makes it's something really special.  Esad Ribic is a true talent and his full and beautiful images make this seem like an instant classic.  He can convey beauty and grisly horror equally well, and really brings back the awe in reading about gods and monsters. This is easily the best new book in the Marvel Comics line and a great place for new fans to start. So if you are a long time super hero fan or just want to know who the blond dude in The Avengers was, check out Thor, God of Thunder: The God Butcher!


You can find Thor, God of Thunder: The God Butcher in our catalog here.




*Which translates to "That which smashes".  AWESOME!

Runemarks / Joanne Herring

I can't say enough good things about Joanne Harris' first young adult book, Runemarks. All of you Harry Potter, Inkheart, and Tamora Pierce fans out there, you've got to try this one!
The story is set five hundred years after the End of the World in a small country village called Malbrey. Here we are introduced to 14-year old scullery maid Maddy Smith, a whip-smart young woman with a strange mark on her hand that sets her apart from the other kids her age. In Malbrey, folk don't like people who are too smart for their own good -- or who ask too many questions, or dream too much, or have runemarks visible on their person. Maddy would have endured a pretty lonely childhood, had it not been for her mysterious friend, One-Eye.

One-Eye is a travelling journeyman who shows up in Malbrey once a year near Maddy's birthday. He's a strange fellow, with an odd mark on his face similar to the one on Maddy's hand -- and he can do magic. Once he agrees to take Maddy on as a student, her destiny begins to open up before her. She embarks on a quest to retrieve a mysterious object from World Below and finds that while One-Eye can teach her to control her natural gift for magic, Maddy must rely on her wits if she is going to have any chance of re-entering World Above in one piece. Along the way, Maddy encounters goblins, nearly-forgotten (though still bickering!) gods of old, and makes a deal with Hell herself.

Maddy is a plucky heroine whose wry observations of the world around her keep the plot moving fast throughout this engrossing novel. Fans of Norse mythology will recognize many of the gods and goddesses that pop up throughout the novel -- but readers who haven't read up on mythology first won't have trouble following the storyline, either -- although beware, you may get hooked!