Thor just stole the Silver Surfer’s job

The beginning of a new decade brings in a fresh beginning for Thor, as writer Jason Aaron wrapped up his legendary run as architect of the God of Thunder’s story. This week’s Thor #1 kicked off a new tale from writer Donny Cates and artist Nic Klein.

Cates is a writer who is deep into the cosmic weird at Marvel, having worked on Absolute Carnage, Silver Surfer: Black, and Cosmic Ghost Rider: Baby Thanos Must Die. It’s no surprise that his Thor would immediately embroil itself in some magical space nonsense, but still, Thor #1 went for it in a big way.

Before he could even get used to being the All-Father of Asgard, Galactus showed up to give him another job. The God of Thunder is the newest Herald of Galactus, with all the abilities of the ruler of Asgard and the Power Cosmic.

What else is happening in the pages of our favorite comics? We’ll tell you. Welcome to Polygon’s weekly list of the books that our comics editor enjoyed this past week. It’s part society pages of superhero lives, part reading recommendations, part “look at this cool art.” There may be some spoilers. There may not be enough context. Let’s start get started!

Thor #1

Image: Donny Cates, Nic Klein/Marvel Comics

Galactus interrupted Thor’s coronation speech by plummeting directly into the capital city of Asgard, warning of a threat called the Great Black Winter. The Worldeater needs help saving the entire universe, so now Thor’s off on a quest to find five rare and unique planets for him to eat that will give him the power to destroy a “star plague.”

Detective Comics #1018

Image: Peter J. Tomasi, Scott Godlewski/DC Comics

Oh no, now that Alfred has died Bruce is going back to the manor in the middle of the night to make sure the dogs get walked oh no oh no

Action Comics #1018

Image: Brian Michael Bendis, John Romita Jr./DC Comics

Melody Moore, a tough firefighter lady that Brian Bendis introduced in his very first Superman issue, is getting a significant administrative level up, as she announced her bid to run for mayor of Metropolis.

Marauders #5

Image: Gerry Duggan, Matteo Lolli, Lucas Werneck/Marvel Comics

Pictured: A very Emma Frost moment in this week’s Marauders. Not pictured: The off-the charts disaster queer energy exuded by this issue. Marauders is great.

Spider-Man & Venom: Double Trouble #3

Image: Mariko Tamaki, Gurihiru/Marvel Comics

Spider-Man and Venom did a body swap in Spider-Man & Venom: Double Trouble, and this issue, their swap got swapped as they wound up in the bodies of a squirrel and a cat. Gurihiru is always doing fantastic and cute art, but ... just LOOK at Cat-Venom and Squirrel-Spidey and Venom-cat and Spidey-squirrel.

X-Men #4

Image: Jonathan Hickman, Leinil Francis Yu/Marvel Comics

This week, the X-Men went to Davos to address diplomats from other nations. It’s an incredible issue with many high points, among them this aside. Apocalypse worked very hard to cause the Late Bronze Age collapse and nobody appreciates him.