Interview: Mike Carey on Thor: Wolves of the North

Thor's been around for a while. Thousands of years, in fact, which may not be all that long from the perspective of a near-immortal. In December, Mike Carey and Mike Perkins rewind the clock by more than a few centuries, taking us back to the Dark Ages, a harsh era inhabited by fearsome Viking warriors. It's during this time that an untold tale of  the God of Thunder waging a desperate war against the forces of Hela, Goddess of Death, unfolds in Thor: Wolves of the North. I spoke with Mike Carey to get the skinny on what Thor is up against in this battle for the ages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Matt Adler: How did this project come about?
 
Mike Carey: It was a fortuitous thing, really.  Mike Perkins was between arcs on The Stand, and I had a bit of free time.  Iit's always cool when things work out like that.  Mike said he wanted to draw a Thor story, and it's hard to resist that magical combination.  Mike Perkins, plus Thor.

MA: Does the title, "Wolves of The North", have a particular significance within the story?
 
MC: It's one of the epiphets that Vikings applied to themselves in the Eddas.  We have mostly negative connotations to wolves: they had very positive ones.

MA: What made you settle on the Dark Ages as the setting?
 
MC: It seemed to give us maximum freedom.  We wanted this to be a huge, head-on clash between Thor and Asgard's major enemies, and the best way of doing that seemed to be to take it out of current continuity and set it in a past that's far enough away that it might as well be mythical.  Having Thor fight alongside actual Vikings was an appealing idea, and the epic feel we were going for seemed to fit well with that setting.

MA: What is Thor's relationship with mortals like at this stage in his history? Does he need and/or expect their worship?
 
MC: That doesn't seem to be an issue.  He's here on a very specific mission, and he doesn't allow himself to be deflected from that mission.  Well, maybe a little bit at the end.  But no, his relationships with mortals seem to be more pragmatic.  They have goals in common, and they work together.  The Vikings are awed to have one of their own deities in their midst, but they're also up against imminent death, and there's no time for worship.

MA: You've mentioned that as a result of the conflict in the story, the Rainbow Bridge, which connects Asgard to the other worlds (including Earth) has been shut down, and this has a deleterious effect on Thor. Is this due to his being "of two worlds", having roots on Earth as well as Asgard?
 
MC: No, it's a more general effect – a by-product of Hela's plan.  And it turns out that her plan allows for Thor, or one of the other Aesir, coming down to Earth to challenge her.  She's got all the bases covered.  Essentially, she's using Earth as a staging area, and shutting down the rainbow bridge makes it harder for Odin to mobilise a counter-force.

MA: What is motivating Hela here? It seems she's not satisfied with her role as guardian of the realm of death, correct?
 
MC: Correct.  She's got eyes on the big prize: she wants to take Asgard and rule in Odin's place.  And to this end, she's made a deal with some really formidable allies.

MA: Can you tell us a bit about the method of collaboration you and Mike Perkins used on this project?
 
MC: We worked up the story together, agreeing what some of the key beats would be – then I turned that into an outline, which we sent in to our editorial team.  We tweaked it around a little, all together, and then I went to script.  Mike's a great artist to work with because he's got a really good feel for the big points of articulation in any story – the moments it all pivots on.  It was Mike's idea that Hela should be the big bad, and that we should have a Norse setting.
 
MA: You two have worked together on a number of projects before; what's been your favorite among your past works?
 
MC: Oh man, that's really hard to say.  I think I'd go for Spellbinders.  That was a great miniseries to work on.  We created a whole cast of characters and a rationale for magical combat, and Mike was firing on so many cylinders he had to be continued on the next engine.  His visualisation of the world of the dead was awesome.  I've still got a huge amount of affection for those characters: I'd love to go back and do another Spellbinders story some day.

MA: You've got extensive experience in writing mythological stories, even working in some Norse mythology in your Lucifer run. Does working with Marvel's Thor require an adjustment in approach at all?
 
MC: It's a very different envisioning of those same characters.  I never wrote Thor in Lucifer, of course, but I did write Loki and a different half-brother, Bergelmir.  In both cases – Lucifer and Thor – the characters came with backstories and already defined voices.  I stayed faithful to that.  There's a lot of overlap, of course: the archaic, heroic register is a constant in both.  The violence is certainly different, and so is the tone – but the tone is equally dark, in a lot of ways.

MA: Did working on this story whet your appetite for writing more Thor? And are there any other Marvel characters you're looking to try your hand at?
 
MC: Yeah, I'd do a longer arc on Thor in a heartbeat – especially if Mike came as part of the package, of course.  You always worry, when a character has so much backstory, whether you've got anything new and worthwhile to bring to the table, but the temptation to try would be irresistible.  Other characters?  I always mention Dr. Strange at this point.  And I'd love to have a crack at 616 Fantastic Four.

MA: This is one of a number of projects coming out in anticipation of the upcoming Thor feature film. Have you seen any of the preview material for that, and if so, what do you think of it?
 
MC: I'm going to be first in line.  It looks amazing.

MA: What else is on your plate these days?
 
MC: X-Men Legacy – and as part of that, occupying a lot of my thoughts at the moment, Age of X.  The Unwritten, which is getting close to the end of its second year.  Another Marvel miniseries which I've been working up with editor Nick Lowe.  I'm halfway through a new novel, and on the fifth draft of a movie screenplay which now has a US producer attached.  Add the X-Men Destiny game into the mix, and it comes to a pretty full slate.

 

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Matt Adler wonders if it's better to reign in Hel than to serve in Asgard.