When Dr Jane Foster lifts the mystic hammer Mjolnir, she is transformed into the Goddess of Thunder, the Mighty Thor! Her enemies are many, as Asgard descends further into chaos and unrest threatens to spread throughout the Ten Realms. Yet her greatest battle is against a far more personal foe: the cancer that is killing her mortal form. When Loki steps back into Thor’s life, will it ease her troubles or only add to her pain? Jason Aaron continues his startling saga of the mighty Thor!

(Panini Books)

Is there a Marvel book out there which is as consistently brilliant as this title? If there is, then it certainly isn’t on my radar, and even the high standards of Charles Soule’s Inhumans run doesn’t come close to what writer Jason Aaron and artist Russell Dauterman are doing on Thor.

Uncompromising, unrelenting and undeniable quality oozes from this book on a monthly basis, and we are truly blessed to be experiencing such fantastic craftsmanship, which not only builds on the Thor legend established over the past 50 years, but succeeds in taking it in a remarkable new direction.

The Odinson, Prince Thor of Asgard, has relinquished his name after being found unworthy of wielding the mystic hammer Mjolnir, and vanished beyond the galaxy and the Ten Realms.

In his place is a new, female Thor, who carries a dark secret in her heart. She is in reality Dr Jane Foster, once beloved of her predecessor, and now slowly dying from the cancer which riddles her mortal form.

Because although she is undergoing a gruelling chemotherapy programme, whenever she transforms into the goddess of thunder the effects of this treatment are purged from her body, and the cancer spreads just that little bit further when she changes back. So why not relinquish her mortality once and for all? Jane knows that to do so will mean the end of her human identity, and she is convinced that the world still has a role for her to play…

Meanwhile, the Dark Elf Malekith is tearing apart the fragile alliance between the Ten Realms as his forces wreak havoc in Alfheim, defying the ancient treaties that exist between the worlds and slaughtering Light Elves in their thousands. He is joined in his machinations by the human corporate forces of Roxxon, resurrected Ice Giant Laufey, and the latter’s wayward son, the god of mischief Loki... And their efforts could bring about a war between the realms which will leave nothing but ash and bones in its wake.

Fusing Tolkienesque fantasy with real world superheroics, with an emphasis on characterisation and plotting that so many comic books overlook, this is mythology in the making. Unmissable.