Thor: Ages of Thunder [Hardcover]

Matt Fraction (Author), Patrick Zircher (Illustrator), Clay Mann (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 13, 2009

As the Mighty Thor reclaims his rightful spot in the Marvel Pantheon, we join Matt Fraction and Patrick Zircher as they examine the triumphs and tragedies that have befallen the God of Thunder across the eons. As all the things he holds dearest are threatened by unimaginable forces of evil, Thor must rise up, again and again, to hold the line against terror and chaos as only the God of Thunder can! Plus, for countless millennia, over and again has the mighty, thunderous, impetuous, petulant god Thor raged and rebelled against the leadership of his father and lord, the all-powerful Odin. The capricious tantrums of a selfish titan, spoiled by his own power. But... ODIN HAS HAD ENOUGH! And so as the cycle is repeated in all ages, Thor must ultimately face the fullest wrath of the enraged All-Father! Collects Thor: Ages of Thunder One-Shot, Thor: Reign of Blood One-Shot, and Thor: Man of War One-Shot.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Marvel (May 13, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785135677
• ISBN-13: 978-0785135678
• Product Dimensions: 1 x 1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #361,490 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Before joining Marvel Comics, writer Matt Fraction had already established his reputation as an emerging new talent with his work on Last of the Independents. Fraction's tale of a bank robbery gone wrong earned him a coveted "A" grade from Entertainment Weekly, as well as interest from Marvel. After taking on a short story assignment in the anthology title X-Men Unlimited, Fraction was handpicked to launch two of Marvel's biggest projects for 2006: Punisher War Journal with artist Ariel Olivetti, and Immortal Iron Fist, with co-writer Ed Brubaker and artist David Aja. Both series met with overwhelming critical and fan acclaim, selling out their respective first issues within days of release. This led to two even bigger projects: The launching of Invincible Iron Man, a high-profile first issue premiering the same month as the blockbuster film; and Uncanny X-Men, written in tandem with Immortal Iron Fist partner Brubaker. In addition to his Marvel work, Fraction writes Casanova, an off-beat series illustrated by Gabriel Bá which recently moved to Marvel's Icon imprint. He is also a talented filmmaker and graphic designer, heading up the MK12 firm with a worldwide client base that includes Adidas, MTV and Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. Fraction remains one of Marvel's most popular writers; other credits include The Order and Thor: Ages of Thunder.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfection, May 23, 2009

By 

The Mad Hatter "booktionary.blogspot.com" (NY State, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Thor: Ages of Thunder (Hardcover)

I've long been a fan of Norse mythology so in turn Thor is about the best it can get in graphic novels to me except for maybe Gaiman's work. Thor: Ages of Thunder collects Matt Fraction's attempt at reinterpreting the Norse myths surrounding Thor and his brethren in a nice slightly over sized hardcover. Let me first say that the art is absolutely amazing. Although it is a different style than Alex Ross it is just as impressive in its epic scale. Each frame deserves a place in a museum.

Thor: Ages of Thunder stands apart from the rest of the Thor series' past and present so it can be enjoyed on its own without any prior introduction to past reading. This is a different Thor than depicted most elsewhere. He is tired of being the one who always has to clean up all of the other Gods problems, especially the mischievous Loki. Thor has turned into a vengeful and unforgiving God. In it Thor fights everything from frost and storm giants to zombie hordes and even Odin the all-father, which gives Zircher's art a chance to cut loose on an incredible scale.

I'd almost go as far to say Fraction's take is better than Walter Simonson's legendary long run at Thor, but I'd probably be lynched by comic book I mean graphic novels aficionados. I give Thor: Ages of Thunder 9.5 out of 10 Hats. If you are a fan of the Norse myths or just love a beautifully rendered epic give this one a try.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Must admit, I'm disappointed, September 2, 2009

By 

Owen Sloan (North America) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Thor: Ages of Thunder (Hardcover)

I just finished reading Straczynski's Thor, volumes 1 & 2 and was absolutely impressed and the two collections alone made me a bigger fan of Thor than ever before. Feeling the need for more, I found this graphic novel Thor: Ages of Thunder and couldn't wait to dive into more of the wondrous realm of the god of thunder.

The dust cover art work is really cool and the reprinted covers inside are masterfully done in such a way that you can imagine them hanging in a gallery of nerd-tastic art pieces. As for the story, well if you enjoy short stories that don't really effect the way things unravel in the next section, then you will enjoy how Fraction has written this. In my opinion, it is almost as if Joseph Campbell sat down with Fraction and collectively came up with these tales based on the old Norse myths.

Now this is just my personal taste so please take it lightly. The artwork within this graphic novel causes some mixed feelings for me. I can somewhat dig the gritty, bloody, look of certain parts but and again this just how I am, I get thrown out of the story every time the art changes and within this collection it changes every issue or so. I understand that was their intent, to bring together different artists to get a flavor that these tales span across eons of time yet to me, the change in costumes and style really kept me from truly engaging the story. Also in Part Two of Thor: Reign of Blood, Thor becomes infused with a "Blood Colossus" and during the large 2 page spread of this behemoth rising, the spread looks blurry. Perhaps that was intended but to me it made the fantastically busy and detailed artwork in the panels look toned down and kind of ruined the moment. Furthermore, the artwork in the God-Sized Special really was not my cup of tea. Now I don't mind Braithwaite's or D'Armata's work (granted they are not my favorite either) but to me, the rest of the work in that issue looks like a third rate cartoon. I get that certain parts were meant as throwbacks to older versions of Thor from the old days but I couldn't help but think that some parts looked like a parody cartoon you'd see on SNL. Finally, I didn't really dig the style it is written. Most of the time, Fraction tells the story not through characters or dialogue but simply by writing it. This keeps the feel of an old myth being told around the campfire. I didn't like it but again, if you do like short stories/quick myths, this aspect will be enjoyable.

Thor: Ages of Thunder collects many stories from the realm of Norse mythology. Keep in mind this is not the Thor we like. This Thor sleeps with many women, hordes the apples from Yggdrasil and acts like a teenage boy who doesn't care or want to agree with his father. Granted, that is who Thor is meant to be written as which causes Odin to punish him, etc. but as fair warning, don't read this expecting the noble, wise Thor as in Straczynski's work (this Thor is way before that time), read this as Thor from actual myth. I REALLY want to like this book because the idea of having these Thor myths in graphic novel form seems really cool but to me, this collection loses my enthusiasm with poorly written dialogue, narrator taking all the control and the jumpy and at times sketchy artwork. Granted I'm a reader who likes single story novels if you will, where actions proceed in the next part, etc. so as badly as I've written this review, in all honesty, if short stories appeal to you, you enjoy Thor and Norse myths and simply have time and $20 to blow, by all means check this thing out.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Heavy Metal Thor, August 14, 2011

By 

Relytia (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Thor: Ages of Thunder (Paperback)

This is probably the most epic, metal version of Thor I have seen yet. It's a clever collection of single issue story arcs under the Thor: Ages of Thunder name. There are two artists that are present here, each one doing a half of each issue. At times, this shift in artist can be a little jarring, but it's mostly consistent. The final giant-sized issue is more jarring in the art, as there are four artists with shockingly different art styles to speak of, but that's a part of its story, and it is actually really cool. Overall, Ages of Thunder is a pretty consistent collection of fairly high quality Thor stories.

Each story is a "mature graphic novel" re-imagining of classic Norse fairy tales that you may have even grown up hearing before going to bed as a child. That said, it is worth noting that this isn't your typical Marvel Thor, who is very heroic and noble. No, this is NORSE mythology Thor, who was an arrogant, selfish jerk who caused much collateral damage and suffering without remorse while "saving the day." You may not like that, but I didn't mind at all. Since Marvel has established that countless cycles of Ragnarok have occurred, each own with its own version of Asgard and its major players, this is a refreshing way to step outside the established history for Thor and Asgard. This is a nice collection of stories that feel like plausible, cool narratives without intruding on established canon too much, and I like that. The rebuilding of Asgard's wall by a humble human, the golden apple famine from Enchantress being kidnapped, a harsh winter curse from a ice giant avenging her slain father, they're all here, plus a lot more.

Seeing as each issue is a standalone story, I can't find any fault with the storytelling. I may be 21, but when I first got into comic books, I read a lot of the Marvel Masterwork graphic novels that reprinted the Lee/Kirby/Ditko classics, and I really love that single issue format that the silver age comic creative teams implemented so well. There were no convoluted bajillion part series that moves at a snails pace with no pay-off or closure, since these days they are usually abandoned before completion anyway. Matt Fraction is infamous for this problem lately, meandering too much in his ongoing series, introducing really intriguing stories, then drudging along at snail's pace without any real pay-off. Since each story here is contained in one issue, with an underlying theme of Thor's arrogance growing and becoming too much for Odin to bear, this problem doesn't occur. In fact, it's quite the contrary, as each issue is a giant-slaying, blood-colossus-mowing-down-every-dead-person-become-evil-zombie smorgasbord of balls-out Norse god warfare action. It's pretty awesome at times, and many of the scenes that Fraction and the artists conjur up could each be the theme of an entire epic progressive rock/heavy metal band's album. There is one exception in the last, giant-sized special which was a rather poignant, but still action-packed salute to the classic Walter Simonson story about the Executioner's last stand. Its quality matches the rest.

All-in-all, this collection is consistently quite good, but not as exceptional as the Simonson run, the J.M Stracynzki run, the Lee/Kirby days, or Langridge/Samnee's exceptional "Thor The Mighty Avenger" series. I would still highly recommend Ages of Thunder to any fan of Norse fairy tale action, Thor, or epic comic books in general. Buy it, pop in an Opeth album, and enjoy the heavy metal norse action.