Thor in the 2000s: Myths Made More Accurate

There isn’t really much I have to say about Thor in the 2000s that I haven’t already said about the Avengers books. After decades of fits and starts of some good, mostly bad, Thor started finally getting in his own. I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that Marvel dumped the Comics Code Authority. Once the Code was dumped, there seemed to be a shift in the type of stories that were being told. Thor shifted away from this Kirby-esque science and sorcery and leaning more into presenting Norse mythology a little more accurately. I’m not just speaking about the violence and blood and gore. Those things did become more common in posot Code Thor tales. I am talking about the look and feel, and the types of Norse myths that were now being referenced. Most of you out there usually equate the Code with violence and gore, because you have a myopic view of what comic book censorship was. Yes, there were measurable things like violence, swearing, and nudity. However, it also subject matter. They couldn’t tell Norse mythology accurately because they had all sorts of censorship hoops to jump through. This changed when the code was dropped.

I think the other thing that change was access to information. Internet use was spiking and the available information ballooned. The ability to research and understand Norse mythology became easier for writers to access and learn. You didn’t have to be a hard core history buff with access to text books to get at that information anymore.

There is a moment during Dan Jurgen’s run where he was just going through the motions of doing the usual type of Thor stories and suddenly pivoted to something new.. It was around the time that he started gearing up for the story line referred to as The Reigning. It is a fantastic storyline about what would happen if the Asgardians became the stewards of Earth, taking an active role in their lives. Providing food and shelter, curing disease, and more. As most utopian ideals, it doesn’t take long (as Asgardian’s measure it) before this becomes a twisted dictatorship where Thor is the bad guy. The only downside to this story is that it kind of ends in the way most utopian stories tend to go in comics. The utopia turns into a nightmare, the hero uses some McGuffin to hit the reset button and things go back to the flawed status quo. Then everyone kind of conveniently forgets about it.

Still, Dan Jurgens spins a wonderful tale and the many, many artists that followed him on his journey did a bang up job. There is not a single issue that I thought was bad. The writing gets a little repetitive here and there but it is solid over all.

After Jurgens run, Brian Michael Bendis was beginning his big plan for the next few years at Marvel, starting with Avengers Disassembled. Since Thor was always the lesser of all Avengers titles, it was going to be given the axe for the second time in so many years. Michael Avon Oeming, Daniel Berman, and Andrea DeVito were the hatchet men. However, rather than just canceling Thor because it wasn’t selling — like last time — the title being canned served a greater purpose. Bendis needed a world with Thor and the Asgardians for the coming events: Civil War, Secret Invasion, and Dark Reign to work.

So Oeming and Co decided to do one more Ragnarok storyline. While this was something done before, this was the first time it was done without the Comics Code restrictions. Not only that, but it brought back the idea of Ragnarok cycles that Roy Thomas introduced to the book in the late 70s and early 80s .It explained why these cycles happened and put a final end to them. At least for the time being. It seemed that for a time whenever a writer couldn’t figure out what to do with Thor, they’d just do a Ragnarok level threat. This version of Ragnarok stands as the most authentic put to page in a Marvel Comic.

Then it was radio silence for Thor until 2008. That’s when J. Michael Straczynski was given helm of reviving Thor. At the time he had done celebrated and controversial runs on both Amazing Spider-Man and Fantastic Four. My only complaint about this run was the JMS did a story where the Asgardians survived Ragnarok by being sent to Earth in human form. Which was a plot thread that was already done before in the 1990s. More over, this was also a plot device from Neil Gaiman’s revival of the Eternals two years earlier. I’m willing to overlook the derivative material since it is done away so quickly to focus on the main story.

This is where JMS shines, creating a world where the Asgardians are now living on Earth and trying to find their place in it again. It is the opposite of the Reigning, as the Asgardians aren’t imposing their will on the world. Rather, the Asgardians are trying to exist in a world different from their own. It’s a very interesting read.

That’s about all I really want to say about this decade of books. Honestly, after a rough start in the 2000s, things get really good and remain consistently good for the rest of the decade. It’s worth your time to pick up every Thor comic from this era and read it. If you weren’t a fan of Thor before, you’ll be after.