Thor: Gods on Earth

Thor (1998) (Single Issues) #51-58

by Dan Jurgens, Tom Raney, Alan Davis

Following Odin's death, Thor inherits the rulership of Asgard and leaves behind his human life as a member of the Avengers, but his concern for the well-being of Earth prompts Thor to transport Asgard above New York City.

Genres: Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics, Graphic Novels

248 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2003

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

[William Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dan Jurgens gets ZERO stars for these god-awful issue of Thor, but Avengers #64 and Iron Man #64 are contained in this volume and deserve all the credit for rounding out such a sappy and unimaginative story arc. Thanks to Mike Grell and Geoff Johns for those two very worthwhile issues. If I had my way, Jurgens would have never been given this book. He should have stuck to Superman, where the readers expect sappy crap.

[Joshua Bertram · Rating 4 out of 5]

The thematic depth of this trade ranks it among the best in the Jurgens run thus far. Fed up with the squabbling of humanity, Thor asserts himself as a God ... by transporting Asgard to the skies above New York City (as we saw at the end of the last volume)! What follows is an exploration of the tension between "God" as benevolent and all-powerful. Is it possible to be both? Witness Loki's glee as he considers this move by Thor to be one of reducing humans to mere sheep, and the Asgardians' shaking faith in Thor's leadership.
It gets really interesting towards the end in its foreign policy metaphor. A three-part crossover story finds Thor taking an active role in human affairs, spawning a cult of followers and essentially becoming a tyrant by removing one from power. The clashing ideologies of Thor and Iron man threaten to tear apart the Avengers forever, while Dr. Doom attempts to orchestrate World War III behind the scenes.
There are great guest appearances from Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Captain America. My only complaint about this book is that with all the buildup towards the end, the conclusion is a bit premature and anticlimactic, given what's at stake. Still, the character interactions during the Avengers crossover portion alone make this book well worth checking out.

[Will Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5, but it's a situation where Thor is helping Earth and Earthlings are like, "No, wahhh. WE want to keep power." And Thor doesn't require anything from anyone, so I'm on his side? I wouldn't worship him like a lot of people do in this book, but I don't think he's wrong. Maybe he could give the opportunity for Earth to improve themselves instead of just giving them things on a silver platter, but Earth hasn't lived up to that? So I think it's a bunk argument that Thor is making Earth weaker.

[Meghan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yeesh. I'm guessing from the publication dates that this storyline is partly some kind of response to the so-called war on terror, but it's an offensively sophomoric one. Not even a good old-fashioned three-way fight among Thor, Iron Man and Cap at the end can salvage this sorry trade.