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If there is one thing that can be said of THE ACCURSED, the third volume of THOR: GOD OF THUNDER, it's that it's a change of pace from the previous two volumes, and in more ways than one. Storywise, THE ACCURSED shifts away from the story of Gorr and highlights a villain more classic to the Thor comics (and now movies), Malekith. Tonally, the volume also shifts away from the cosmic scope of the first two volumes and concerns itself much more with the geography of the Nine Realms and Thor's relationship with Earth. Artistically, this one also deviates from the previous volumes as three different artists round out duties over the seven issues collected.

The highlights of the volume are the bookend issues, which explore Thor's relationship with Earth. The first, with art by Nic Klein, sees Thor traveling around after the events of the Gorr saga, reconnecting with some old friends, meeting some new ones. Klein does a fine job in capturing the power of Thor and also his humanity. After everything that happened with Gorr, this issue reasserts the theme that what makes Thor special is his relationship to Earth, with his own humanity. It is what got him through his trials in the future and the issue does a nice job setting up his journey into the future.

The last issue of the volume, with art by Das Pastoras, is similar in that it looks at Thor's relationship with the Earth, but very different in that it is told entirely in the past, with Young Thor. In the story, Young Thor meets and befriends a dragon, a kindred spirit of sorts, only to find out what makes them different. It is a touching and wrenching story, and the art is well-matched, visceral, dirty. It ties much more into the themes and ideas brought up in the previous volumes and sets up a possible return to those ideas in the next volume.

The majority of the volume, though, is the storyline of THE ACCURSED, which sees a reintroduction of the dark elf villain Malekith. If anything this return seemed just a little forced, a little arbitrary, perhaps mandated, given the villain's appearance in the movie Thor: The Dark World. It's not a bad story by any means, but it doesn't fit that well with the rest of the series. In many ways it could have been the first arc of a completely new series, and as such might appeal to new readers, but to fans of the series so far, it is a little disappointing, not least of all because regular artist Esad Ribic is absent and in his place is Ron Garney, who, while not a bad artist, does not capture quite the same scope and feeling of the previous volumes. Gone are the sweeping landscapes and epic battles and instead the backgrounds become more washed out, less distinct.

Part of that can be attributed to the large cast of characters in this volume. On top of Malekith and his henchmen, THE ACCURSED focuses on the idea that Thor must work together with representations from the various Nine Realms in order to bring the dark elf to justice. There are frictions within the group that Thor must eventually smooth over, and there is a lot to enjoy with the character interactions. The entire story, though, seems more foundational than anything, a tool to showcase the various realms and to delve into more archetypal characters. The characters are entertaining, but there is a certain shallowness to them that makes it difficult to be too invested in whether they live or die.

Overall, then, THE ACCURSED is something of a step down from the quality established in the first two volumes of THOR: GOD OF THUNDER, but still a solid installment and still worth a read. Especially for people looking for more of a fantasy-flavored Thor story instead of the more science-fiction-heavy previous volumes, there's a lot to enjoy here.

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