Thor: Lord of Asgard

Thor (1998) (New Editions) #7

by Dan Jurgens, Tom Raney (Illustrator), Joe Bennett (Illustrator)

Thor is called upon to fulfill his father's legacy as lord and master of the Eternal Realm--leaving Earth' protection in the hands of the untested Tarene! But an old foe of the Thunder God has embarked on a quest for immortality, one that may spell the end of both Midgard's fledgling guardian and Thor's new reign! And then it's Thor, Lord of Asgard vs. Desak, Destroyer of Pantheons!

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Mythology, Fantasy, Superheroes, Adventure, Graphic Novels

208 pages, Paperback

First published May 25, 2011

About the author

Dan Jurgens is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for his work on the DC comic book storyline "The Death of Superman" and for creating characters such as Doomsday, Hank Henshaw, and Booster Gold. Jurgens had a lengthy run on the Superman comic books including The Adventures of Superman, Superman vol. 2 and Action Comics. At Marvel, Jurgens worked on series such as Captain America, The Sensational Spider-Man and was the writer on Thor for six years. He also had a brief run as writer and artist on Solar for Valiant Comics in 1995.

Reviews

[Nicolo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve read once this trade paperback of Walter Simonson’s run on Thor and I’ve often wondered how Thor would have fared had he claimed his birthright and succeeded his father on the throne of Asgard. Dan Jurgens probably had that question in mind and that was the premise on this paperback that collects seven issues (44-50) of his own well-regarded run on Thor.

Lord Thor was not doing so well as the new ruler of Asgard. As Odin had been its only king since its founding, the subjects question the wisdom of their new king. Perhaps rightly so, Thor abhorred the trivialities of ruling and instead craved for battle and often found himself on the frontlines defending his realm against opportunistic enemies wanting to take advantage of Asgrad’s weakness in the aftermath of its battle with Surtur. This Thor was without empathy and arrogantly insufferable. One could say that Jurgens was losing his touch on the character he helped re-launched, despite the spot-on characterization he had on the scion of Asgard in his early issues. But the ongoing narrative hinted that ever since a new Jake Olson persona was sundered from Thor, this new thunder god seemed to have lost whatever humanity he gained from his exile in a frail human form. It might have been what Odin and Jurgens intended, as king, Thor need not bow to anyone anymore.

Taken at face value and as a whole, the art in this collected edition was a mixed bag, but individually, the three artists credited gave a standout job. Especially Stuart Immonen, whose “Nuff Said” issue was probably the only one that worked in this trade paperback. It was a standalone story and served well as an introduction to this collected story. Since it was also a silent issue, Immonen’s visuals were a lot stronger and he had to render a lot of background detail since there would be no word balloons or captions.

Tom Raney was the designated regular artist on this title but because of a double-sized fiftieth issue done in full bleed splash pages, it necessitated a second penciller, Joe Bennet to work on a couple of issues while Raney did work on issue 50. It resulted in a jarring visual flow as their individual styles were too different to work together.

I thought I would enjoy this story from Jurgens, I did but not as much as I thought I would. To be fair, everything pales in comparison with Simonson’s Thor. This barely missed three stars and gets a two instead.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Odin is dead and Thor is now king of Asgard with all the powers it entails. Meanwhile, Thor girl is struggling on Earth. Thor makes mistakes and proves he never should have been king. In fact, even Loki pretending to be Odin was a better king. Still not sure of this storyline but at least the artwork is a lot better than previous editions. A good read.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thor is becoming an ass, which is not my problem with the story. I think that’s a cool arc and makes sense. The Jake Olsen stuff I’m done and over with. And Tarene as the designate - they already made it sound like her powers were sucked out and irreplaceable after Sartur or whatever that demons name is.

[David Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The Reigning” begins, Thor Girl still a real dumb dumb, but Raney and Bennett are bringing it on art.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Desak is essentially Gorr a decade early.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great illustration and engaging Thor storyline.