Dan Jurgens' Thor Run (1998)

[Colonel Mortimer]

It seems like I never hear too much about this run, compared to Stan & Jack's, Walt Simonson's (My favorite run ever), Straczynski's and even Aaron's current run, so I just wondering how it compares. Is it essential Thor reading?

[DigiCom]

Not to me. While it was a return to a more traditional Thor, I found the "Dark Gods" to be irritating, and there were a lot of plot points that came across as "Simonson redux".

[Zero Hunter]

I loved it and consider it one of the top 5 Thor runs ever. To me issues 36-79 (from the Death of Odin story to the ending of the Lord of Earth) is one of the best periods Thor ever had. You can see even now how many elements guys like Arron or redoing that Jurgens did first.

[juan678]

Magni Return in Secret Wars 2015

[Pat Thomas]

I read the first 20 or so issues for the first time within the last year, and I liked what I read. I've gotten so far behind in reading that I haven't been able to get back
to it lately, but I would recommend it to you.

[victorxd1999]

I personally place the Jurgens/JRJR rum in the 5th place on my list of best Thor runs.

[gurkle]

I enjoy it, especially as a guide to the big changes in Marvel that took place in that era (1998-2004). Jurgens was one of the few Marvel writers of that era who kept writing the same book for as long as he did, and you can see how the style of the book changes from the very festive, traditional style of the late '90s to the darker and more "decompressed" (sorry to use that word) style of the end of the run. There are things and themes that connect the whole run together, but by the end of the run, Jurgens has ditched the thought balloons, dropped the thee's and thou's, and like many writers is trying to explore the ambiguity of traditional heroism in a scary post-9/11 world. And the style of storytelling changes from old-school Marvel soap opera, where you have short stories shot through with little subplots that will pay off later, to stories that take more issues to tell but are also a bit more self-contained.

I think I enjoy the first two years of the run, with the Romita art, the most, if only because I have a nostalgic love of the Heroes Return era. It's not one of the very greatest Thor runs, but as a traditionalist Thor run it's much preferable to the DeFalco/Frenz, which is just too imitative of Lee and Kirby. Jurgens and Romita and Tom Brevoort did a better job of returning Thor to his traditional style while adding some new elements and not feeling like a pastiche. The later, darker stuff - issues 36-79, as mentioned above - is probably more mature, though, and it's interesting to see Jurgens, who had a reputation as kind of an old-fashioned writer, learning to adjust his style to a new era.

[Xi'an Chi Xan]

I have the entire volume and I think it's fantastic. I rank it right after Simonson's. Definitely worth your time if your a Thor fan.

[Spireite]

I'm a huge fan of Jurgen's run on Thor. It pretty much cemented the character as a favourite for me. I like the fact he was given so long on one book as it meant that all those little plot threads and clues he dropped in during the earlier issues actually came to fruition and it is also one of the few runs in comics generally that managed to get a proper ending, as the writer intended it to be. There were some 'iffy' issues but that is to be expected on a run this long. The good far, far outweighed the bad and any writer who can use the Grey Gargoyle and have him not seem like a massive joke is bordering on genius. I also think the Warriors Three were at their very best here (Volstagg discovering a hot dog cart shines particularly) and I always appreciate Thor when he gets to go on adventures without grumpy arse Odin getting all up in his business all the time. It's nice to see the character be his own man and even when Odin was about earlier in the run, he didn't seem like the massive crutch that he is now and seemed to show Thor a bit of respect, which was nice.

[Babylon23]

I'd rank Jurgen's as the third best Thor run I've read, behind Lee/Kirby and Simonson and ahead of De Falco/Frenz.

I didn't like Straczynski's or Aaron's runs so I'd rank it well ahead of those.

[FanboyStranger]

It's a mixed bag. I found the first three years to be disappointing, but the last few years were excellent.

[Kuwagaton]

I thought a lot of the early run was awesome, the middle stuff was a little spotty, and then the last years were some of the best Thor comics. Overall I think Jurgens deserves a lot of props for his work.

[Tien Long]

I'll say it right now, Jurgens' run made me a huge fan of Thor. Young, teenage me loved Jurgens' first 3 years on the series, when he had guys like JRJr and Adam Kubert working on the title. During that time, Thor was engaged in knocked down, old school, epic brawls against the Dark Gods, Juggernaut, Thanos, and Gladiator. For those issues, I believe that Jurgens was trying to utilize aspects of Thor writers from eras before, like Lee/Kirby and Walt Simonson.

As for Jurgens' King Thor storyline that went on for a couple of years, well, at the time, it didn't appeal to me. I respected the questions that Jurgens was asking through that storyline, like how would and should a god interfere in the lives of mortals. But at the time, it seemed a little too heavy and a stark contrast to the slam bam action of earlier issues. Furthermore, that storyline was running around the same time as the Kang Dynasty over in Avengers and what was going on in both titles really seemed incongruous to me. Still, looking back on it now, that particular part of Jurgens run does go and ask raise issues that are fairly thought-provoking. All in all, Jurgens was highly underrated with Thor.

[themortalfist]

Loved this run; at times I got a little tired of the King Thor run -- it seemed like a slog to get through the last 10 issues or so. But the first 25 issues are fantastic, just classic Thor. The stuff right after is very good, through the death of Odin. It's an interesting run: the first half draws a lot on Lee/Kirby and on Simonson -- it's like he's doing this amazing homage -- and then he just opens up with his own thing. And you know almost from the earliest of issues that religion is going to play a big role in Jurgens' thinking. He seeds this early and then it comes alive after he's done paying tribute to the great Thor writers before him.

I'd rank him third, after Simonson and JMS.

And what's interesting is seeing Aaron sort of walk over this same terrain. Aaron is almost this generation's Jurgens.

[Expletive Deleted]

It's a mixed bag. I found the first three years to be disappointing, but the last few years were excellent.

That tracks with what I remember. The first few years looked great, but the stories were thin and there were a lot of unnecessary back-to-basics moves. Then Jurgens got more ambitious, and things ticked noticeably upwards.