April is going to see some changes in the Asgardian corner of the Marvel Universe.
First, following the successful formula established by Invincible Iron Man, Marvel has announced The Mighty Thor #1, a new book set to hit one month before the big Thor movie hits screens in May. And just as with Invincible Iron Man, it will be written by Matt Fraction. The artist is some dude who happens to be insanely talented named Olivier Coipel.
The Mighty Thor is designed to be accessible to new Thor readers — just like Invincible Iron Man was designed to be accessible to new Iron Man readers — and Marvel describes the opening story arc thusly:
Thor must defend his homeworld of Asgard from Galactus! When Thor and Sif retrieve an artifact from deep within the World Tree, nobody expected the Silver Surfer to show up. And where the Sentinel of the Spaceways travels, Galactus is sure to follow! It’s the World Eater vs. Asgard in the explosive opening arc that’s great for new readers! No fan can miss this monumental new series that will redefine what it means to be the Odinson! The fate of the golden city of Asgard, the wonder of the nine realms, hangs in the balance and only Thor can ensure the survival of the Asgardians! What does the World Eater seek and what terrible outcome awaits the Mighty Avenger? Discover the answers you seek as Fraction and Coipel pull out all the stops in The Mighty Thor!
Here are two variant covers for The MIghty Thor #1. One is obviously meant ot attract people who are excited about the movie and the other is by Travis Charest.
Between the launch of The Mighty Thor in April and Fear Itself in March, 2011 looks to be Matt Fraction's year at Marvel Comics.
But that's not all in Thor land! Right about now you might be asking yourself, "Hey, self, Matt Fraction is already writing a Thor book. It's called Thor. What's going on with that book?" Thor will return to its original name, Journey Into Mystery, and it will be written by previous Thor scribe Kieron Gillen and drawn by Doug Braithwaite. They start with Journey Into Mystery #622 and this is what Marvel has to say about it:
Loki vs. Fear Itself! This April, the blockbuster Thor creative team of Kieron Gillen and Doug Braithwaite return to Asgard with Journey Into Mystery #622! Prepare for a blood and thunder fueled epic that pits the malevolent mind of Thor’s brother against an evil more twisted and far blacker than his own. Can the eternal trickster and the Mighty Avenger work together to fight back this fearsome foe? And, in the face of Fear Itself, can he be trusted with the lives of those he has betrayed so many times before? Unlock the armory and man the parapets because, this April, the World Tree’s final fate lies in the hands of Marvel’s master manipulator as the Thor ongoing series becomes Journey Into Mystery! Plus, get caught all caught up on Thor since he made his return to the Marvel Universe in J. Michael Straczynski’s epic run and discover the hidden truths of Loki’s reincarnation, only in the oversized Journey Into Mystery #622!
Here is the cover for Journey Into Mystery #622 by Stephanie Hans, and a variant cover by Arthur Adams:
This is what happens when you've got a big blockbuster movie coming out — you get more books. Can a Captain America announcement be far behind?
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wow so freaking excited about this news!
sweet mother of mary!!!
I really couldn’t get into Fraction’s Thor but maybe this book could be worth checking, just to give it another shot. Also I can’t wait what they’ll do when the Captain America movie coming out, hopefully so more awesome books and maybe…I don’t know…Steve Rogers in his own book? Whether as Cap again or the Super Soldier?
YES!!!!! Coipel back on Thor! I’ve been praying to the Allfather for this blessing.
As a huge Thor fan, I’m excited to see all this attention on my favorite Marvel hero and his universe, but when do we reach the saturation point? Astounding Thor, First Thunder, For Asgard, Loki, Ultimate Thor…is there any end in sight?
Terrible. Marvel interrupts JMS’ run on Thor for a forgettable event. Announces Fraction as the new writer, delays his first issue to allow Gillen to tie up loose ends from JMS’ run. WHen Fraction finally took over the series and took the book in a whole new direction it was underwhelming, to say the least, now Marvel is giving Fraction a fresh start and a second chance to do with Thor what he did for Ironman, while letting Gillen do a more JMS take on Thor in another series. I really hate how Marvel handled Thor. JMS’ run was amazing and now I couldn’t care any less about Thor.
But — HOLD!!! There be none in Asgard or Midgard whose marketing knowledge doth surpass that of MARVEL! Nay, even Odin himself hath not thought of such wisdom so as to take back the greatest name in lore — JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY!
Every line of this article made me cheer.
well I’m really excited to hear Coipel will be returning to Thor. that alone makes this a great bit of news.
Glad to have Gillen back! But now its just obvious that Fraction’s current run on Thor is simply design to return us to the status quo.
I can’t understand how anything in this article could be upsetting for a Thor fan — Gillen’s Thor issues were actually quite underrated (besides the siege tie-in issues in which he wasn’t given much to work with, it’ll be great to see Gillen get to work on some of his own ideas for Thor, which he obviously has impressed many at marvel with)
I really want to read more Thor, and this would have been a perfect time to jump on, except that it’s written by Fraction. I’ve given him more than a few chances, but I just can’t get into anything I’ve read of his.
Despite the lack of love I have for Fraction’s current Thor, I will definitely pick up the first issue of the new series because of Copiel. If Fraction can do a kick ass story, I’m definitely down for more Copiel goodness.
@AlanRob I agree, while this idea of what happens when there’s a hole in the 9 worlds an intriguing idea, this whole arc of Thor has seemed very much a let’s bring back what used to be mentality. This is fine, but the whole process has been slow and not entertaining. The only thing that keeps me reading is Ferry’s art. We’ll see how everything turns out before I commit to the mighty Thor, but I will not be reading Journey into Mystery. I’m not a fan of Gillens work, his story telling does not do it for me.
Does Thor look kinda fat in the Arthur Adams variant cover to anyone else or is it just me? :S
As a Thor fan, I now get two great Thor books. Sounds good to me. Also, I have no idea why everyone loves JMS’s run so much. It was mediocre at best. I love Gillen’s run on Thor. So much Simonson influence!
Coipel? Getting that. More Thor from Gillen? Getting that too.
How many Thor titles does that make now? I can’t even keep track.
Hey another Thor #1. We seem to have those every week.
So we don’t buy the Gillen book? 😉
Great news…Gillen’s Thor run was great, and I’m happy to see that he’s getting the chance to continue it.
@Swifty By my count there’s The MIghty Thor, Journey into Mystery, Ultimate Thor and Thunderstrike (Its Thor related)
I’m on board with just about all of this.
When picking up where someone else left off, Fraction digs deep and makes heavy use of arcana, operating underneath and within. When he starts with a number one, regardless of decades of continuity, he seems to use the old stories and details as a foundation rather than a ceiling.
The art looks great, and Gillen’s last run left me wanting more, glad it’s coming our way.
Thanks for posting this, Conor.
I can’t stand Matt Fraction, but this is a great move from a marketing perspective. Good for Marvel, I hope they can capitalize off the movie and bring in some new readers
*spit take*
Kieron Gillen is getting another shot at Thor!? AND it’s being drawn by Doug Braithwaite!? SIGN ME UP!!!
That is a great, fun idea for Fraction’s first arc. I can’t believe it hasn’t been done. I’ll be there.
Man! A brand new Thor book, accessible to new readers? What a great idea. That should go far.
Kinda strange they are changing THOR to JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY. If your a comic fan you get why it’s called that, but casual fans might not understand it’s a Thor comic with that title.
Also, this is about the 2nd or 3rd name change or number change for THOR in a good 2 years.
JMS and Copiel’s Thor is the ONLY Thor I’ve ever read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was interested in Fraction’s THOR but just wasn’t a fan of the Art. Now with Copiel, I will be picking this up. Fraction is writing for 2 of my favorite artists this year. Copiel and Immomen. YAY!!!
Who ever had this idea at Marvel is awesome. Seriously, great idea, the best of both worlds of the current Thor run.
Wow Thor with Matt lasted maybe 6 or 7 issues while 614 until 621?
615-621 oh six issues I shall wait for the trade? Dammit conor I apologize for what I said about trade being a band wagon. Weird I’m confused idk what to do
It’s going to be okay, Rottenjorge. It’s going to be okay.
Wow, Marvel marketing at it’s finest…..
@TNC Maybe they are counting on the casual fans flocking to the the new #1 with the simple “Thor” title, and that long time fans (who might not be reading a Thor book right now) will get a kick out of the return to the classic name and pick up a copy of that.
Also, if I can just say one more thing, I’m always puzzled why a book has to stay with one particular character. Yes Journey Into Mystery brought Thor into the world, but no where is THOR in the title. Same goes for Detective Comics sticking as a Bat-book, and Action Comics as a Sups book. (Although the latter has changed only slightly with it being a Luthor book)
If it’s a generic sounding title why not have more then a single character represent the entire book? These titles did have a lot of other characters and stories mixed into their history.
@TNC – they’ve done stuff ilke that before (most notably Action Comics Weekly back in the 80s), but sales tend to show that readers these days tend to like to follow a series featuring a single character (or group). To have a title like Journey into Mystery become a series of arcs featuring different characters would risk losing readers who care about, say, Thor, but not Dr. Strange (or whoever follows). I think readers also want to invest in someone’s story over a long period of time, which you can’t do if you’re mixing arcs.
It was different back in the Golden Age when pulps and comics magazines were more geared toward that trend. Actually, Wednesday Comics is a good example of making an anthology series work, but I think that had the help of being finite and a special format — that earned a lot of buzz.
I suspect the title of Journey into Mystery is, as others have said, for nostalgic comics readers, but will also have a subtitle that says something like “featuring THOR!” to mark it clearly as a Thor series.
Kieron Gillen?! YES!
You bet your Asgard this is gonna be good!
Thank god, Kieron Gillen is coming back! I loved his Thor issues before Fraction took over and put me to sleep, and now I get to read Thor again!
No matter who is writing Thor all they write about is something attacking Asgard..oh rig a null. Pre-Siege arc was Doom attacking Asgard, Siege Osborn attacking Asgard, post-Siege Galactus attacking Asgard, Ultimate Thor Zemo attacking Asgard.
Bring back Journey Into Mystery in the style of the original where Thor gets out of the house more would be awesome.
@TheNextChampion
my guess is that they don’t want “new readers” to get confused on which books to read. So they feed us Thor fans a classic title that we can’t turn down and the newcomer’s get a pretty new book with a bit “THOR” on the cover. Maybe? yes? no?
TOO MANY THOR BOOKS.