A few months ago it was announced that Marvel would be replacing the Thor we've known for so long, with a new version...a new female version. This news caused waves in the fanboy comic loving world. We've seen changes to our favorite comic book characters before (see my story about the new Wally West). This change seemed to have come from nowhere, but it wasn't alone. We also found out that we'd be seeing a new Captain America soon in the form of Falcon taking over for Steve Rogers. Well, the time for change has come as Thor #1 has hit shelves this week.

To sum up the story, Marvel has this brief little synopsis on their website:

“The great hammer MJOLNIR lies on the moon, unable to be lifted by anyone in all the heavens! Even THOR! • Something dark has befallen the God of Thunder, leaving him weakened and for the first time in forever... UNWORTHY! • But when Frost Giants invade the Earth, the hammer will be lifted and an all-new Thor will arise! A Thor unlike any we’ve ever seen before! • Who is this new GODDESS OF THUNDER? Not even Odin knows!”

— Marvel.com

It seems Nick Fury, after being empowered by secrets he stole from the Watcher, whispered something to Thor. Once this happened, Thor was unable to lift the hammer from the moon and has been trying to lift it ever since, never succeeding.

Meanwhile on Earth, Frost Giants have invaded the ocean depths and when Thor goes to help save us all, Malekith the Dark Elf is there to stop him as he's aiding the Frost Giants. Not only is Thor powerless to stop the Frost Giants, he gets his left arm hacked off by Malekith the Accursed and is left to sink into the darkness of the sea.

The final shots in the comic show us Mjolnir alone on the moon.

And finally someone worthy enough to lift it from the moon's surface and become Thor. We're set up for a major invasion on Midgard (Earth) and for a possible changing of the guard in Asgardia (formerly Asgard, but since Thor's mother, Freyja has been ruling, the name has changed as well). Not much at all is known of the new Thor other than she's blonde...and she's a she. The next few issues will give us more to chew on but for now we have this build up. The debut issue wasn't bad. I enjoyed it, and it was great to see Thor, powerless, still doing his best to save his adopted home world, Earth. I liked the artwork a lot in this book and I'm actually looking forward to seeing where they take this story.

While I'm sure the initial thought behind changing Thor into a female character was to push sales and make headlines, I also think it may pay off storyline-wise. It remains to be seen if the cinematic universe follows suit with any or all of these large changes to the Marvel comic book universe, it certainly does give them a lot of interesting options.

Ongoing: Thor #1