Thor is back, tell a friend...

[drice6900]

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TALKING THOR WITH JMS

by Chris Arrant

 

His return has been hinted at for months, a bastardized version of him played a supporting role in Civil War, and his fans have been patiently drumming their fingers through it all, waiting and waiting for the real Thor to return to the Marvel Universe.

 

This summer, the waiting stops, when Marvel launches a new Thor series by J. Michael Straczynski and Olivier Coipel. (By the way, if you missed the news earlier this month, JMS' screenplay, The Changeling will be produced by Ron Howard's Imagine Entertainment and Clint Eastwood's Malpaso company, with Eastwood directing, and Angelina Jolie set to star.)

 

We've spoken with the writer previously, but as the launch gets closer, we're able to get some new information out of him - as well as score some preview pages form the first issue.

 

Newsarama: The character of Thor has been off the Marvel playing field for several years now, only hinted at with an appearance of his hammer in your Fantastic Four run and with the android Clor in Civil War. But now that your new series is announced, we can say he's back - but how does he come back to Earth?

 

J. Michael Straczynski: The first issue finds Thor in what is essentially a kind of limbo, between life and death and something greater and more profound. He is offered both an opportunity, and a challenge, a chance to fight his way back to finish the work he began. We also use the same process to re-introduce Donald Blake, who raises the question: "Is it for the gods to say when men die, or for men to say when the gods die?" Answering that question is a large part of what propels Thor back into the world of the living.

 

NRAMA: Much has been made of the announced story element that Thor is rebuilding Asgard in the Middle of America - Oklahoma to be specific. Can you tell us why Thor would set up stakes in middle America as opposed to the lands where Norse mythology was worshipped, or say in another dimension as Asgard was done in the past?

 

JMS: A large part of the story involves both rediscovering and reinterpreting his godhood, but also reacquiring his ties to humanity, since it was that love of our species that has kept him here for so long. He needs, wants to bring back Asgard, but wants it closer than before to his loved home Earth, feels that they have lost something by being so removed. So he begins that process, and selects Oklahome for a number of reasons including the fact that it has vast open spaces large enough to accommodate the primary city of Asgard. Any place else would get flattened. And putting it somewhere in Antarctica would defeat the larger point.

 

NRAMA: The last we saw of Thor, he went off into deep space following the foretold end of the Asgardian people with Ragnarok. How are you fitting that in with the new series?

 

JMS: We cover that in the first issue, but I don't want to say too much about it yet, that needs to be seen in the telling.

 

 

 

 

NRAMA: Fair enough. In a previous interview with us, you said that "Way back several retreats ago, Joe Quesada mentioned the goal of eventually bringing Thor back, and I made a suggestion for whoever ended up doing it." This project has been one that's gone through several writers - both Mark Millar and Neil Gaiman were on tap at different points to write the series before it came back to you. Can you tell us what that original suggestion was from you, and how the book ended up back on your table?

 

JMS: I may be wrong, but I think the progression started with Neil, who had some great ideas (as he always does), then when that didn't work out for logistical reasons, it bounced back to the group. I mentioned the image of the hammer falling in Oklahoma, and Mark leapt right for it, but also had to bow out for similar reasons. It then came back to the group, and it came my way again. I'll be honest, I was kinda hoping that would happen because I've always been a big fan of Thor and his mythology, which I really wanted to explore.

 

NRAMA: Thor's alter-ego has been under several names and personalities over time, but most notably that of Dr. Donald Blake. In your Fantastic Four run, someone with the initials "D.B." eventually picked up Thor's hammer discreetly and went off. What can you say about the story of Mjolnir as it crashed into the FF comic?

 

JMS: The crash is dealt with in our first issue, and was established in FF because we were trying to tie the whole thing together, and give the event the proper weight. If he just showed up, it wouldn't have as much impact as setting it up gradually, so people get a sense of what's coming, and then pull the trigger.

 

NRAMA: Virtually throughout his entire history in the Marvel Universe, Thor's been a character out of time and place - what would you say his perspective is on Earth in the new series?

 

JMS: Initially, he's distant, trying to figure out where he fits in again. We're going to really power Thor up, give him all the strength of his heritage, and that can kind of put you apart the very human race you want to rediscover. He doesn't want to get pulled into the other groups, he wants to do his own thing...the question he has to answer is, what is that? And why? To a large extent, what he finds in the people of Oklahoma will help to answer some of those questions.

 

NRAMA: Much has been made of Thor's unique speech pattern in Marvel Comics - he has had, on and off, a Shakespearean way of talking --- but it's something you've said in the past you've had problems with. Can you tell us where you're coming from in writing Thor's dialogue, and perhaps give us an example of how he would say something?

 

JMS: I've just never understood why a Norse god would speak in Medieval English. Never parsed for me, even as a kid. So I'm going for more of a sense of antiquity in the grammar and style rather than tarting it up with "these" and "thous." The closest tonal parallel would be Aragon in Lord of the Rings. The sense of dialog there has the feeling of formality and otherness, but without resorting to tricks.

[piper]

[Real Elijah Snow]

whooooweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Karma23]

about freakin time! I'm not too sure about the whole 'Asgard in Oklahoma' thing but I'm just glad to have ole Goldilocks back!

[otherworldcomics]

I was kinda cheesed off to see the Thor clone in CW. But was glad it was a clone since I felt Thor would have sided with Captain America. Its about time they brought him back. Though I must say I really enjoyed the last series. Especially the end.

[awe4one]

Can't wait for the next JMS retcon such as the never before told tale of the Jane Foster and Warriors Three forbidden gangbang...

 

Would probably produce a child with god-like powers to give Marvel the excuse to release another mini...

 

Jim

[followtheleader]

Wow, JMS is probably the last person I'd want doing this book. Being a big Thor fan, this is a bit of a disappointment. I'll give it a shot for a couple issues.

 

Pat

[drice6900]

Wow, JMS is probably the last person I'd want doing this book. Being a big Thor fan, this is a bit of a disappointment. I'll give it a shot for a couple issues.

 

Pat

 

Look at the bright side, at least he is leaving ASM to do this

[Ivanko]

Can't wait for the next JMS retcon such as the never before told tale of the Jane Foster and Warriors Three forbidden gangbang...

Jim

 

Have you been reading The Boys lately?

[Kramerica]

Personally I can't wait for JMS' take on Thor.

 

Love him or hate him JMS will deliver a fresh, well written take on Thor. His character development and dialogue is always sharp and a JMS tale is never boring.

 

His run is sure to bring out the best in those who consider any break with past continuity to be a travesty of mammoth proportions.

 

When Sif sleeps with a Frost Giant there will be a huge internet shiiiiitttttt storm from those who want it to remain 1971 in comics until the end of time.

 

"Marvel is ruining our cherished childhood memories" they will cry, moan and whine for thousands of hours online to nobody in particular.

 

Meanwhile, sales will be excellent and Thor will be a relevant character again for the first time since 1987 or so and written by one of the best writers in comics.

 

I can't wait.

[blutobc]

Personally I can't wait for JMS' take on Thor.

 

Love him or hate him JMS will deliver a fresh, well written take on Thor. His character development and dialogue is always sharp and a JMS tale is never boring.

 

His run is sure to bring out the best in those who consider any break with past continuity to be a travesty of mammoth proportions.

 

When Sif sleeps with a Frost Giant there will be a huge internet shiiiiitttttt storm from those who want it to remain 1971 in comics until the end of time.

 

"Marvel is ruining our cherished childhood memories" they will cry, moan and whine for thousands of hours online to nobody in particular.

 

Meanwhile, sales will be excellent and Thor will be a relevant character again for the first time since 1987 or so and written by one of the best writers in comics.

 

I can't wait.

 

You will rue the day that Seinfeld gets rewritten by JMS and Jerry, Kramer, and Newman become gay roommates....I'd put George in there too, but that would be almost plausible.

[awe4one]

Love him or hate him JMS will deliver a fresh, well written take on Thor.

 

His run is sure to bring out the best in those who consider any break with past continuity to be a travesty of mammoth proportions.

 

If this is what you want out of comics then you're reading the wrong medium. Comics are "serialized" for a reason. It's one continuing story. Good comics writers expand and embrace what has occurred in the past. Not disregard it for the sake of what he/she believes is a good story. That's called lazy writing and shouldn't be tolerated. And if the lazy writing path is JMS' desire there's always the Ulimate universe to do so.

 

If some hack rewrote the backstory of B5's Sheridan, no matter how small, you can take it to the bank that JMS would raise unholy hell.

 

Jim

[fastballspecial]

They need to bring Jurgens back to the title. For once give him a decent artist that will stick around for more then a few issues and the book should do well. I enjoyed his run 2nd only to Simonson.

[Amazing_Bag_man]

I'm wondering if Thor is going to be involve in the up coming series of the Hulk 'World War Hulk'....

[Griz]

They need to bring Jurgens back to the title. For once give him a decent artist that will stick around for more then a few issues and the book should do well. I enjoyed his run 2nd only to Simonson.

 

I really enjoyed Jurgens' run on the title. I am not a fan of Straczynski and his laborious, tedious style. Page after page of characters droning on and on and on. Issue after issue of navel gazing and pondering the meaning of it all while absolutely nothing happens. He makes Bendis seem concise.

[drice6900]

They need to bring Jurgens back to the title. For once give him a decent artist that will stick around for more then a few issues and the book should do well. I enjoyed his run 2nd only to Simonson.

 

I really enjoyed Jurgens' run on the title. I am not a fan of Straczynski and his laborious, tedious style. Page after page of characters droning on and on and on. Issue after issue of navel gazing and pondering the meaning of it all while absolutely nothing happens. He makes Bendis seem concise.

 

[Jeffro.]

Love him or hate him JMS will deliver a fresh, well written take on Thor.

 

His run is sure to bring out the best in those who consider any break with past continuity to be a travesty of mammoth proportions.

 

If this is what you want out of comics then you're reading the wrong medium. Comics are "serialized" for a reason. It's one continuing story. Good comics writers expand and embrace what has occurred in the past. Not disregard it for the sake of what he/she believes is a good story. That's called lazy writing and shouldn't be tolerated. And if the lazy writing path is JMS' desire there's always the Ulimate universe to do so.

 

If some hack rewrote the backstory of B5's Sheridan, no matter how small, you can take it to the bank that JMS would raise unholy hell.

 

Jim

 

I'm with Jim on this one.

 

Some people fail to realize that you can write interesting compelling stories without ting on what came before.

[Kramerica]

Love him or hate him JMS will deliver a fresh, well written take on Thor.

 

His run is sure to bring out the best in those who consider any break with past continuity to be a travesty of mammoth proportions.

 

If this is what you want out of comics then you're reading the wrong medium. Comics are "serialized" for a reason. It's one continuing story. Good comics writers expand and embrace what has occurred in the past. Not disregard it for the sake of what he/she believes is a good story. That's called lazy writing and shouldn't be tolerated. And if the lazy writing path is JMS' desire there's always the Ulimate universe to do so.

 

If some hack rewrote the backstory of B5's Sheridan, no matter how small, you can take it to the bank that JMS would raise unholy hell.

 

Jim

 

I'm with Jim on this one.

 

Some people fail to realize that you can write interesting compelling stories without ting on what came before.

 

There's been a lot of animosity towards JMS on the boards here and I'm probably the only who actually enjoys his writing here. It's all good.

 

Prior to him taking over ASM. I hadn't picked up a Spidey book since 1992 or so. I kept holding out for things to get better and it never did. When I heard good things about JMS' run I still had my doubts and waited about 10 issues into his run to pick them up. When I finally went back and picked them all up I was blown away. I honestly hadn't read a run that I had enjoyed that much since the mid 80's.

 

Sure, he was doing a lot of things with the character that was out there as far as continuity was concerned but I felt he was really breathing new life into the character and I couldn't be happier. He was taking Spidey into new directions and putting a spin on Peter's powers that nobody had taken, or dared, before.

 

That said, I truly disliked "Sins Past" and felt it was sensationalism at its worst. But looking back I feel that its the only blemish on what has been a stellar run.

 

Anybody who takes a character in a completely different direction is going to have its detractors. And probably no more so than on this forum where the focus is more on the classics of yesteryear rather than the present.

 

With regards to Surfer's comments I disagree and think JMS HAS embraced and expanded on Peter's character while at the same time bringing something new to the table. I wouldn't consider it lazy writing at all. Far from it. While most of this criticism is justifiably directed at the Sins Past storyline I think if throw that one out and take a mulligan you'll find that the rest of his run is exceptional. And no, I'm not in the wrong medium. I've been reading and enjoying comics since 1980 and I'm as much as fan of this medium as the rest of you. It's a passion of mine that I never given up. It just seems that in this case I really enjoy a writer that everyone else hates.

 

I admit to playing Devils Advocate some times when someone gets all worked up on these boards about what JMS (or Peter David and Bendis too for that matter) has written. Maybe I just like to stir the soup but I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't think JMS was an exceptional writer. Peter was so manhandled during the 90's that I couldn't stand it anymore and quit reading anything Spidey. For me at least JMS brought a fresh take to the character and got me jazzed in the title again.

 

Apologies for turning a Thor post into a Spidey/JMS one. I like to think he'll tell some good stories on his Thor run and get me excited about another character that I haven't enjoyed reading since the classic Avengers Masters of Evil storyline in the late 80's.

[followtheleader]

I far from hate JMS. I love some of his work. I just haven't cared for his superhero work as much. I really like his creator-owned and non-superhero based stuff. Midnight Nation is one of my favs. Dream Police was solid. He's definitely a good writer.

 

Pat

[Jeffro.]

Apologies for turning a Thor post into a Spidey/JMS one. I like to think he'll tell some good stories on his Thor run and get me excited about another character that I haven't enjoyed reading since the classic Avengers Masters of Evil storyline in the late 80's.

 

 

At least we agree about classic 80's Avengers. Some truly great stuff. Tom Plamer was born to ink John Buscema.

 

For the record, I haven't bought a modern comic recently but I'm highly motivated to at least check this one out.