Finished Jurgens Omni 1 today - My Thoughts

[u/Key-Engineering3134]

This omni contained issues 1-35, annuals 1999 and 2000 along with select issues of Iron Man, Peter Parker: Spider-Man and one-shots like the Thor/Silver Surfer annual and Juggernaut.

I think it was ok. The writing, that is. The art was spectacular all around. Artists like Jerry Ordway, Stuart Immonen, Big Johm Buscema, Andy Kubert, Dan Jurgens, Erik Larsen and of course John Romita Jr really gave the book a shot in the arm, and Romita Jr especially gave off this Kirby-feel that brings the character back to his roots.

So the writing. I can tell Jurgens has a great respect for Thor as a character and for his previous stories, however, there are only a select few arcs I’d say I loved, while others were a bit of a slog.

For instance, issues 21-25 comprise what I will call the ‘Tears’ arc where Thor faces off against Thanos and Mangog. I think that it’s a really cool arc that tests Thor’s mettle and shows just how far he will go to save innocents. However, this arc also made me facepalm with how Odin was done. So prior to this he was held prisoner and tortured by The Dark Gods, and his assistant was a double agent for Thanos and was poisoning him to make sure he couldn’t interfere with his plans. Odin mind you is The All-Father. He is touted as this all powerful god who can make planets go silent with a whisper. What the hel was in that poison that made Odin ‘too weak’?

Furthermore, Ulik calls Odin out for being a coward (rightfully) and Odin slaps him around the face and decides that the best course of action is to get Baldur to go get this blacksmith guy to make some armaments for Thor to battle Thanos with. The blacksmith in return wants Odin to enchant whatever is in the bag he’s dragging around. Odin, who seems to be going through Asgardian senility, doesn’t even question what the hell is in the bag. He just enchants it and sends the guy on his way. That item is then revealed to be THE CASKET OF ANCIENT WINTERS which is then stolen by Malekith.

Jurgens makes Odin into the easiest to hate guy ever. That old coot spends his time posing, sleeping and leaving his son to do his dirty work. I don’t have that issue with Odin in a run like Simonson, per-se, because Odin there is selfless. He cares about his people, he cares about Asgard, he cares about his son. In this run he’s a giant dick.

Anyway, what else? Well Thor takes on the mortal form of Jake Olson, and I really hate how this is done. In issue 4, Thor, despite agreeing to live out Jake’s life, decides about an hour into it that he doesn’t like it and wants to go back to his usual antics. He’s sent to go get his fiancé’s kid Amanda from school, and he’s distracted by a villain. He then goes home to said fiancé, runs away the moment she asks what’s wrong and then goes to drink away his sorrows in a bar. Unless this is supposed to be interpreted as Thor feeling guilty over Jake’s death and not feeling worthy to take his place in life, it reads like he’s blowing Jake’s life off because he’s too chicken to do what he’s told.

And anyway, Jake is revealed to have been a pretty shit person in life. Apparently Jake before he died was actually a thief, who charmed his way into his EMT job and had used Hannah (fiancé) to get access to the hospital. Do you know how much this sours the run? The first issue of the run shows us that Jake is this selfless guy to dies saving a life, and for the entire first arc we find out how much good he’d done and what he’d sacrificed for it, and now you’re telling me he was evil the whole time?!

That’s like if Superman poached his identity from a deceased Daily Planet worker and it turns out Clark Kent was actually a murderer. It ruins the emotional weight of the arc and reduces Jake Olson to an obstacle.

What I did like though was the more elaborate dialogue. It was always fun to flip the page to see a hearty “I SAY THEE NAY”, and the warriors three are always fun. No notes on them really; Volstagg is voluminous, Hogun is grim, Fandral is dashing. Baldur sadly doesn’t get much to do except fetch things and act as Odin’s right-hand man. Sif temporarily takes the throne as Odin falls into the Odin-sleep, but she has a pretty terrible reign all things considered.

The Dark Gods were meh, Absorbing Man was meh. Wrecking Crew meh. Thanos and Mangog were great. Loki was underwhelming, I was wondering where he was during the dark gods debacle and then when he finally arrived his cockamamie scheme just felt like he didn’t plan ahead.

So yeah, I hope this gets better in the second half, and I hope that marvel actually reprint the second volume at some point. Y’all’s thoughts on this run are welcome.

[u/CyramusJackson]

The second half of rhe run is better imho. Issue 44 is one of my favorite comics ever qnd really helped deal with the death of my dad.

[u/CyramusJackson]

The second half of rhe run is better imho. Issue 44 is one of my favorite comics ever qnd really helped deal with the death of my dad.