Thor: The Death of Odin

Thor (1998) (New Editions) #6

by Dan Jurgens, Stuart Immonen (Illustrator), Joe Bennett (Illustrator)

An ancient enemy walks the world of Midgard, known to us as Earth. Victory comes at a terrible price--one that will alter forever the very hierarchy of the gods and thrust the son of Odin into a new and perilous role.


Thor (1998) #36-43, Annual 2001

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

232 pages, Paperback

First published February 23, 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

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

The medallion used to vanquish Malekith at the end of Across All Worlds ends up being found by Norwegian fishermen who summon Surtur inadvertently and end up consumed by him. Surtur gathers power and starts a war against Asgard, with dire consequences. I'd say it's a spoiler, but it's right there in the title. In Midgard, Tarene has been abducted by Loki to power the Destroyer, Skurge has been resurrected by Hela to take down Thor, and the Enchantress is trying to rekindle her relationship with Thor through Jake Olson.

The best that can be said about this TPB is that it's better than the ones before. It finally ends the nonsense with Olson and Loki, and momentous things happen. Thor loses his father and has to reflect on whether he wants to rule Asgard. Sadly, this literally takes him a single issue, when I think his conflict could have been explored further and it would have been an interesting character study, as well as the power vaccuum being fertile ground for exploring other claimants' tries for the Asgardian throne. How about the Queen of the Norns pushing for Baldur? Or Loki and Hela associating against the status quo? Or even Lady Sif? Again, the MCU is doing this better. On top of this, the battle with Surtur is boring - we're told how hard it is to beat him but we're never shown except for the very last showdown.

One of the interesting outcomes of this is that Thor is now too involved in Asgardian matters to be able to be an Avenger, so he has to send Tarene to protect Midgard. She goes by Thor Girl until a very sensible man points out how silly her name choices are. I always like a bit of meta humour poking fun at the Marvel status quo.

Sadly, I really don't like Jurgen's Thor, so I don't think I'll continue reading this series. Even though it could be fun to see how the 90s treated a woman taking up Thor's mantle, it's too much of a chore reading this.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nienawidzę jak główna atrakcja tytułu i zarazem zwrot akcji jaki nastąpi, podany jest w nazwie... Niech mi tu tylko wyskoczy jakiś spoiler alert to nie ręczę za siebie.

Tak, przetrzyjcie oczy. Odynowi pisana jest śmierć i nic na to nie poradzimy. Pytanie jednak co się wydarzy potem, bo ktoś w końcu będzie musiał przejąć schedę po ojcu. A jest jeszcze Loki, którego żądza władzy dorównuje sprytowi. A to, że Wszech-ojciec tam kiedyś wrócić. Szczegół, w końcu żadna postać Marvela raczej permanentnie nigdy nie umrze. Niemniej zanim to nastąpi to będziemy świadkami serii wydarzeń.

Przede wszystkim powróci Desak, z którym Thor odbędzie serie sparingów. Wraca też żeńska odmiana Thora, czyli Tarene. To co może się z kolei nie podobać to recykling postaci. Ponownie wpada na stronice wpada Destoyer, tak jakby Jurgens nie miał już pomysły na nową zawartość do tej postaci. Szczęśliwie na arenę wraca Surtur, który zagraża istnieniu Ziemi i to z nim czeka nas walne starcie, które zakończy się tragicznie...

Trzeba przyznać, że maniera postaci troszeczkę mnie męczy, ale nadal jest to przyzwoity poziom, który bawi. W tym miejscu jakby mniej, bo cała ta sekcja "żałoby" potrafi być irytująca. A to nie koniec zawodów. Autor zamiast zakończyć definitywnie połączenie Jake'a z Thorem, nadal je reaktywuje jak potrafi, nieco w głupi sposób. Finalnie broni się też kreska, która już wygląda jak standardy rysowników na początku XXI wieku.

Raczej dla oddanych fanów serii, bo czuć tutaj powtarzalność i wypalanie się tematu przez Jurgensa, która nie zaskakuje już tak świeżymi pomysłami, jak z początku serii, a ile można żerować na nostalgii? Właśnie.

[Nicolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

"There is much to be learned by living a mortal's life. Humility, empathy for those less fortunate, lessons which oft elude the gods."

There's a gap between my reading of Thor (1998-2004) #13 and this storyline, but I never thought that the change in character for Thor would be that drastic.

Odin's death turned Thor into a whiny crybaby who's already chafing under a crown that has not yet passed in a formal coronation ceremony.

It's a pity because Odin's death is not uncommon in the Marvel Thor mythos. Walt Simonson handled a grieving Thor much better in his run, and that run has since become my benchmark for other writers who followed subsequently on the title.

I missed the consistency of Romita Jr. and his depiction of Thor in these pages. His art was a major reason I picked up this title post-Heroes Return. In this collection. several artists handled the art chores before it settled down with Immonen. His take on Thor and Asgard had promise based on his first issues and it probably saved the rating for this mess of a collection for having too many artists for any visual harmony.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I had read this by itself I'm not sure I would have liked it as much, but after reading the book proceeding this it makes sense. So maybe my recommendation isn't to act like this is a standalone volume, even though it doesn't have obvious "volume one, volume 2, etc." identification.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess Thor's story really isn't my thing.

[David Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A messy end to Thor’s time as Jake Olson, and a messy end to Odin. Immonen’s art, not yet fully formed.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surtar is causing havoc and Asgard has to stop him. For once, the writer has actually spent a bit of time on character rather than all action. The idea is basic, and there's still a few niggles with him changing established continuity. Like Enchantress being in love with Thor, the last time she appeared she loved Heimdall! A good read.

[Albert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice art from Stuart Immonent - unfortunately he only drew about half the issues in this collection.