Dan Jurgens' Thor run.

[Winghead]

I only found out it existed today. How is it?

[gurkle]

I enjoy it. The interesting thing about it is that because Jurgens was on it for a long time, you get to see it reflecting the big changes that took place in Marvel in that time (1998 to 2004).

The first couple of years, mostly with art by John Romita Jr., were very much in the nostalgic back-to-basics style of other Marvel runs at that time, like the Busiek Avengers. Thor has a mortal alter-ego again, he and the other Asgardians talk in "thee" and "thou" language, and there are lots of fun slugfests and team-ups.

But as Marvel's management changes and the writing style at Marvel begins to modernize, you see changes in the run. Slowly it becomes more morally ambiguous and serious, with more stories about what it means to consider yourself a god; there are still fun issues, like the one guest-starring Spider-Man, but the overall tone is much darker. The color becomes more muted and realistic, the thought balloons and captions are phased out, and eventually the Asgardians start talking normal again (which they still do to this day).

The later half of the run seems to have a better reputation than the first half, but it makes more of an impact reading from beginning to end because you get to see how the approach to Marvel comics changed, even with the same writer and editor through the whole thing.

[nnelg]

I only found out it existed today. How is it?

Fantastic........

[Username taken]

IMO it started off strong but ended up weird.

I didn't like the Reigning at all but that's just my opinion.

The high part was Thor taking down Mangog and then a Thanos clone.

[davew128]

IMO it started off strong but ended up weird.

I didn't like the Reigning at all but that's just my opinion.

Oddly enough I enjoyed it. That said, the whole Disassembled Ragnarok arc to end the series came out of nowhere story wise and seemed....weird for lack of a better term. All of a sudden it was going on with no foreshadowing or buildup after Reigning's end. I also never could figure out what happened to Jake Olsen. Was he real or dead?

[Username taken]

Oddly enough I enjoyed it. That said, the whole Disassembled Ragnarok arc to end the series came out of nowhere story wise and seemed....weird for lack of a better term. All of a sudden it was going on with no foreshadowing or buildup after Reigning's end. I also never could figure out what happened to Jake Olsen. Was he real or dead?

I also still don't know what happened with Jake Olsen.

Marvel kind of wrote themselves into a corner with that one and the odd thing is there's been no reference to him ever since. There was a lot of weird stuff with Thor secret identities over the years that's still unexplained.

Seriously, I still can't remember the whole thing with Donald Blake either. Last time I checked he was a disembodied head separate from Thor but was he a real person or a construct or what exactly was the deal there?

Regarding Ragnarok, Thor Disassembled seemed to ignore a whole lot of the tail end of Jurgens run to simply bring the book to an end. It was as if Thor was suddenly restored to his previous status and stuff suddenly happened and then....the end.

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

It's among his better work. I thought it was decent overall.

I do have a question for anyone that might remember the run better than I do.

When Roy Thomas was writing Thor, he brought back Jane Foster, and almost did away with her marriage to Keith Kincaid entirely. Jane said they had separated, and were unlikely to get back together. Their son, who's only prior appearance was as a baby, was then shown as a kid.

When Jurgen's volume began, Jane and Kieth were back together and I don't believe their was mentioned. Am I remembering that wrong? Was there an explanation as to how they got back together, and was there a reference to their son?

[juan678]

interview Dan Jurgens in 2004
http://www.comicboards.com/jurgens-rc.php


http://www.comicboards.com/jurgens2-rc.php

[juan678]

https://toddmatthy.com/2012/10/01/ta...n-dan-jurgens/

How did you come to write Thor? Why did you decide to give Thor a new civilian identity rather than Donald Blake?

Thor editor Tom Brevoort gave me a call to ask if I was interested and we started talking over ideas. Marvel had offered me Thor once before, but I turned it down. However, even after I had done so, I started thinking about story possibilities.

As for the Jake Olson character, I wanted Thor to have a human identity of some kind, because it helps to humanize him. He’s a god, of course, but the human identity helps to put him in touch with mankind.

We talked about using Don Blake, but felt much of that character was played out. So we then went the idea of something new, and came up with Jake Olson.



Were you building to the Reigning story from the beginning or did it develop gradually?

We were actually going to do it as a stand-alone graphic novel. However, that situation changed as Marvel was stepping back from original GNs and we decided to move the storyline into the main title. That was a great advantage as it gave us far more room to play with the idea.

Where did the inspiration for Thor taking over the world come from?

From the start, I wanted to focus on the idea of Thor being a god. If you stop to consider what that might mean, the ultimate direction “The Reigning” had to go was clear.

[juan678]

How did you come up with Thor Girl? Do you like how she’s currently being used?

I wanted to give the book a younger character with a lighter persona, so Thor Girl was the result. As for how she’s currently being used, I think they could do far more with her.

The Reigning had a deus ex machina sort of ending. Was that always the plan or was it the most logical way to undo all the changes you made?

Oh, we always knew we’d have to find a way to end the story. We knew we were building a bit of a trap for ourselves.

Unfortunately, I always thought I’d get to write the next chapter of the story, which was “Atonement”. Sadly, that didn’t happen. It would have brought things to a close while also turning the page to a new direction in natural fashion.

What was going to happen with the “Atonement” arc? How were you going to redeem Thor? Would “The Reigning” have had a different ending?

I don’t like to get into the particulars of a story that didn’t appear, but “The Reigning” was constructed with a very different end in mind. In addition, as I said, we were certainly at a point where Thor had gone over the line and needed to be rehabilitated. He also needed to be brought back into the Marvel mainstream hero communityHow did you come up with Thor Girl? Do you like how she’s currently being used?

I wanted to give the book a younger character with a lighter persona, so Thor Girl was the result. As for how she’s currently being used, I think they could do far more with her.

The Reigning had a deus ex machina sort of ending. Was that always the plan or was it the most logical way to undo all the changes you made?

Oh, we always knew we’d have to find a way to end the story. We knew we were building a bit of a trap for ourselves.

Unfortunately, I always thought I’d get to write the next chapter of the story, which was “Atonement”. Sadly, that didn’t happen. It would have brought things to a close while also turning the page to a new direction in natural fashion.

What was going to happen with the “Atonement” arc? How were you going to redeem Thor? Would “The Reigning” have had a different ending?

I don’t like to get into the particulars of a story that didn’t appear, but “The Reigning” was constructed with a very different end in mind. In addition, as I said, we were certainly at a point where Thor had gone over the line and needed to be rehabilitated. He also needed to be brought back into the Marvel mainstream hero community

[Zero Hunter]

I only found out it existed today. How is it?

I consider it one of the top 5 Thor runs of all time. To me when it really starts getting great is about issue 29 but thing kick into full on high gear with issue 36 which is the start of the Death of Odin storyline. After that it is just nonstop full gear right up to the end of the run. The whole run is great but to me the real meat of the series is 36-79.

Just look at some of these covers.

[K7P5V]

I consider it one of the top 5 Thor runs of all time. To me when it really starts getting great is about issue 29 but thing kick into full on high gear with issue 36 which is the start of the Death of Odin storyline. After that it is just nonstop full gear right up to the end of the run. The whole run is great but to me the real meat of the series is 36-79.

Just look at some of these covers.

Really? I thought it was great since the beginning. But I did enjoy Jurgen's entire run, and I especially loved the artwork of JRJR.

My only complaint is that JRJR seemed to have difficulty drawing Thanos' iconic headgear. But I guess it doesn't matter, since it was just a Thanos clone.

[gurkle]

It was kind of a graceless move on Marvel's part, when they decided to retire Thor for a few years, to take Jurgens off the book and bring Michael Avon Oeming in to write the last six-issue arc ("Disassembled"). I don't think that arc was bad, but after Jurgens had been on the book for so many years and so many changes, he should have been allowed to end it.

I don't have the interview here but Jurgens said his own idea for that last arc (the "Atonement" story mentioned above) would have had Don Blake come back, and was accidentally a bit similar to what Straczynski wound up doing when he brought Thor back a few years later.

It reminds me that the idea of Thor needing a human side, which was the #1 theme of Jurgens' run, sort of fell away after the movie version decided to drop that, though Aaron sort of brought it back when he turned Jane Foster into Thor. I wonder who will be the next writer to bring back Don Blake or create an original alter ego like Jake or Eric?

[Zero Hunter]

Really? I thought it was great since the beginning. But I did enjoy Jurgen's entire run, and I especially loved the artwork of JRJR.

My only complaint is that JRJR seemed to have difficulty drawing Thanos' iconic headgear. But I guess it doesn't matter, since it was just a Thanos clone.

I think my main problem with the first 2 years is the JRJr art. I have not liked his art in a long time since he changed to his current style. It just looks so rushed and sloppy to me compared to his style when he was doing things like X-Men back in the day. It is like he traded line work for speed which is why Marvel loves him because he can crank out books so fast with his modern style. I usually avoid books he is doing these days.

[Lee Stone]

The Jurgens run was really good. And the Oeming finish was excellent.

I also didn't care for the JRJR art and avoided the book until I saw reviews on King Thor and Spiral stories.

And then, almost as quickly as I got into the book and caught up... it was over.

Then after waiting for what seemed like forever, the book was relaunched and again I didn't care for it.