Thor By Donny Cates Vol. 2: Prey

Ordered as a Christmas present. Arrived very quickly and was in excellent condition. I am assured by the recipient that it was a good read! Many thanks.

Thor Vol. 2 Prey collects Thor (2020) #7-14 with the creative team of Donny Cates (writer), Aaron Kuder (artist #7-8), Nic Klein (Artist #9-14) Matthew Wilson (colour artist) and VC's Joe Sabino (letterer). I managed to pick this up from my local comic shop a few weeks before its release on Amazon, I believe this is to support local comic shops and urge anyone to support them where possible.I think the page count that Amazon had listed is way off, going from Comixologys page count per issue the total is 179 and not the listed 112. This is a chunky volume containing 8 issues and for Amazon's listed price it's a steal compared to what I paid for my copy. The volume is titled Prey but the Prey arc doesn't start until #9, the prior issues are to set up the arc and address some of the previous events for example Thor destroying Storm breaker, Beta Ray Bill's weapon crafted for him by Odin. There's currently an ongoing mini series titled Beta Ray Bill by Daniel Warren Johnson focusing on Bill after the loss of Stormbreaker I'm currently following it and thought I'd mention it for fans of the character. I'll go ahead and say that this is an awesome volume and anyone who loved Vol. 1 should pick up Vol. 2, its quality.Briefly the story is that Thor is unsettled, for various reasons, the first being the stress of the job of being King, another being the vision Thor saw in Vol. 1 of Thanos (with what I hope will be next summer's big event), and lastly the very concerning fact Thor is finding Mjolnir heavier and heavier yet others are able to lift it (This was hinted at with Loki in Vol. 1).With this in mind Thor desperately wants an escape, if only for a day or two just get away from it all and wind down. Thor remembers of Donald Blake and sees the opportunity to disappear and get the break he wants, upon doing so he is brought to a terrorised land drenched in blood and death but who is responsible and has Thor unleashed that horror to the world?Unsurprisingly, it's great...Donny Cates is a talented and incredible writer I don't think I've read anything of his I didn't like. Doctor Strange:Damnation, Cosmic Ghost Rider, Silver Surfer Black, Venom, Absolute Carnage, King in Black and Thor, he's just a gem and were lucky to have someone who is so fun and creative so of course this is good. For fans of Donny Cates he has announced that he and Immortal Hulk writer Al Ewing are swapping characters, so Donny Cates it's taking over Hulk and Al Ewing with the help of Ram V are taking over Venom later this year.There were some funny moments in the comic as well, in particular I quite enjoyed Thor's revenge on Tony Stark for writing on his hammer in Vol. 1. I can't really think of anything I didn't like about this volume, the artwork was great, the writing was great and the colours were great even though there were different artist and colourist for a couple issues. There were a few pages that had bubbles on them from the manufacturing process, it was slightly annoying but didn't take away from the story, I'm only mentioning it because it might show up in the pictures I upload of it. The only other downside is that there are no extras in the back, it would've been nice to have a variant cover gallery or and interview or some sketches but sadly are absent. For this price you can't go wrong, so go ahead and buy it so you don't miss out!Hopefully you found this review helpful and happy reading.

“Thor – Prey” collects issues #7-14 of Donny Cates’ (2020) series.This is another ‘big’ volume, a 2-part introductory story, followed by a 6-part epic.I have rated this as a four-star story to begin with, though it is definitely a 4 ½, and I might convince myself to go for 5 stars by the end of the review (it happens a lot). Thor stories should be this ‘big’ as a matter of course – this is a big character we are dealing with, not a friendly neighbourhood one, who needs the occasional small story to remind everyone why he is so popular.Similarly, Thor requires ‘big’ stories to remind everyone just who he is, though there are different ways of portraying ‘big’.Here we actually start with a friendly neighbourhood story – “Hammerfall”, as Mjolnir falls to Earth outside Broxton, Oklahoma (“Not again.”).This story develops the ongoing problem with Mjolnir, who is no longer as picky as he used to be about who is worthy – or else he’s warning us that there are an awful lot of worthy people out there, not just Norse gods.The second story, the ‘big’ one, asks the question of “whatever happened to Doctor Donald Blake MD?”, and answers it (Loki: “Do you want me to lie to you?”).Anyway, this is a big story, with guest appearances galore, from Ratatoskr and Odin to Beta Ray Bill and Frog Thor, not to mention Doctors Stephen Strange and Jane Foster.So, no spoilers here, but Loki is starting to find himself a new path, and some worthiness, and I think we’re definitely at that 5-star rating now, considering all the plot-threads that are opened up here, like a very big can of worms…So, you really can have a friendly neighbourhood story, even with a Norse god.I read my local library's copy.