Thor by Dan Jurgens & John Romita Jr.—Volume 1

Comic Info

Thor (2) #2

Reprints Thor (2) #1-8 and Peter Parker: Spider-Man (1) #2 (July 1998-February 1999). Thor finds himself defeated by the Destroyer and facing Hela in the afterlife. When a being called Marnot offer Thor a second chance at life, Thor is thrust into the life of a paramedic Jake Olsen who was inadvertently killed in the battle with the Destroyer. Now, Thor must find a way to balance Jake’s life with his own…but in Asgard trouble is brewing in the form of the Dark Gods who have taken the world by force and enslaved Odin.

Written by Dan Jurgens and Howard Mackie, Thor by Dan Jurgens & John Romita Jr.—Volume 1 presents the relaunch of the Thor comic following Onslaught and the Heroes Reborn storyline. The collection features art by John Romita Jr. The comics were also reprinted in Thor: Heroes Return Omnibus—Volume 1.

Thor was always an odd character. He was a powerhouse, and he was difficult to write. It was too hard to find worthy villains. Jurgens brings Thor back to his basics. There is an Asgardian god story and most of Thor’s enemies in the collection are demons and gods…creating a balance of power. This is combined with a story of Thor having to become one of the mortals he has sworn to protect.

Reading the Dan Jurgens run, you can quickly see that Dan Jurgens has a plan to restore Thor to greatness. A lot of the last part of Thor’s initial run was rather limp and caught up in the 1990s flare of chains and belts…it just wasn’t Thor. Thor here has the grit needed that takes it away from the Thor of classic times, but it also seems to hold stories that feel more traditional in Thor earlier runs at Marvel.

Thor (2) #7

The volume also brings in some decent crossovers. It has Namor, Hercules (a personal favorite), and Spider-Man. Thor works great in Avengers, but it is always interesting to see him have some solo interaction, and with the new status quo created in the volume, I think the series would have even benefitted with Thor facing off against some non-powerhouses with his humanity being tested.

The story is combined with great art by John Romita Jr. While I sometimes now have some issues with Romita Jr.’s work, this was peak Romita Jr. He gives Thor that grandiose nature that a god must have and tries to liven up the Thor with some new villains (though I don’t know that I really love the villain designs now years later).

Thor by Dan Jurgens and John Romita Jr.—Volume 1 represents one of the first time I felt a connection to Thor. The “thee & thou” type dialogue was still there, but it seems to have a bit more heart than earlier attempts to make someone with the power of a god a compelling lead in a world where he should technically win almost every battle…it is the start of a journey and it is a good journey to take…from here to Ragnarok. Thor by Dan Jurgens and John Romita Jr.—Volume 1 is followed by Thor by Dan Jurgens and John Romita Jr.—Volume 2.

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Thor by Dan Jurgens & John Romita Jr.—Volume 2

Thor by Dan Jurgens & John Romita Jr.—Volume 3