REVIEW: A Familiar Face Returns In 'Immortal Thor' #23
- Sarah Angelo-Haight
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for 'Immortal Thor' Issue 23
When last readers saw Thor Odinson, he and his companions Hermod and Skurge had just come face-to-face with the true power behind the nightmarish land of Utgard: a Minotaur taking the title of Utgard-Loki. In Immortal Thor #23, the Minotaur is further revealed to be Kemur, an elder god representing the very concepts of rule and kingship who existed long before even the long-lived Asgardians.
Like the previous issue, and like the Immortal Thor run in general, issue #23 brings more conceptual, cerebral challenges for Thor. While he does physically battle Kemur, it is less interesting than Thor’s inner battle. Kemur represents what Thor is: a powerful ruler. Thor himself has struggled against the yolk of kingship ever since his father Odin passed away in the 2020 run simply titled Thor. Upon gaining the power and responsibility of the All-Father, Thor has felt torn by his obligations to the throne and his own desire to be a warrior-hero.
Kemur, however, is the personification of unchallenged rule. Readers are told, by an as-yet unknown narrator, that Kemur was nearly all-powerful, that he would make “alliances only to break them” and “spoke of peace only to spit on it.” He is the very antithesis of what Thor personifies in his own rule, and thus an interesting foil for the much younger god.
It’s always fascinating when Thor goes up against an elder god, as he did with Toranos earlier in the Immortal Thor run. It’s easy to forget, with all of Thor’s power and experience, that he is almost a child in comparison to these beings that are the representations of ideas, older than the concept of time itself. However, Thor is not one to accept the status quo. He will not bend the knee to Kemur just because that is what has always been done and what is demanded of him.
Thor has been gaining confidence in his own “wit and wile” over the past few issues and it comes to fruition here. Creating the golden ring out of his own belt of power is a level of cleverness Thor may not have been capable of earlier, not without the twists and turns of the path he is currently on helping to bolster his skills and self-confidence. Thor commands respect not through fear, but through love and loyalty. In this, according to the narrator, Thor has ceased being a king or a ruler. He has become a story.
And this line, this mention of being the story, this entreaty to the audience, “Understand ye yet, or what?”, gives a clue of who is ultimately now pulling Thor’s strings - or at the very least, who has been telling his tale. Sure enough, the fatal blow is not struck by Thor, nor Hermod, nor Skurge. From the shadows, “a piece of eternity” flies with precision, cast by a god for whom stories are their entire purview.
While it is never that much of a surprise when Thor’s trickster brother pops back up after being banished, imprisoned, or even killed, his appearance now is unexpected if only because Thor himself had previously banished the god of stories from his sight. Loki’s announcement that he has actually been in Thor’s company the entire time the group has been trapped within Utgard begs the question: why didn’t he step in sooner? Loki’s role in Immortal Thor has been that of a challenger. That is to say, Loki has not necessarily been an adversary, but he has set Thor onto multiple paths of action thus far. What, then, is his endgame? Loki has long since stopped being a villain in Thor’s story, but his actions are still suspicious, and his - presuming the faceless narrator is indeed Loki - narration is even more so, softly apologizing within the narrative structure, but not coming right out and explaining anything that might help prepare Thor for what comes next. One thing seems certain, however: wherever Thor may go from here, Loki will be by his side for better or worse.
Rating: ★★★★☆
About Immortal Thor #23
Release Date: May 14, 2025
Written by: Al Ewing
Art by: Jan Bazaldua
Cover by: Alex Ross
Page Count: 24 Pages
Synopsis: GODWAR! The All-Father had battled to the middle of the endless city - and now he faced the beast at the center of the maze. Kemur, who was bull and hawk and serpent, who was fire and the sword, now faced Thor Odinson...and perhaps neither would survive. This is the story of the IMMORTAL THOR...and the God of Violence.