Matt Fraction on ‘Thor: Ages of Thunder’ and ‘The Order’
Newsarama has posted an interview with Matt Fraction about Thor: Ages of Thunder, his upcoming peek at the war-torn history of Marvel’s Norse Gods.
Newsarama: Matt, what’s Ages of Thunder about, and how does it tie into the Thor mythos?
Matt Fraction: It’s a Thor graphic novel, told in parts, that plugs the pure Stan-and-Jack interpretation of Thor and the Asgardians into the Norse myth cycle. It sort of exists outside of any current incarnation of Thor – one of my favorite things about the Norse myths is that it’s cyclical; that Ragnarok has survivors and the stories begin again.
So we’re using that as a motivation to look at Thor and his pantheon throughout various different eras of Ragnanroks, with various different visual interpretations. Each time they’re living through these insane and colossal stories that build on top of one another, each chapter presenting us with another way of seeing Asgard as it rages towards its inevitable destruction and rebirth.
Ultimately, these stories present to us with the reasons why Odin saw fit to curse Thor with the humanity of Donald Blake, and who he becomes because of it. That’s the uniting thread that, no matter what apocalypse he’s skyrocketing towards, Thor had this flaw, and this ultimate redemption because of it, told in giant, divine terms. It was danced around back in Thor#159, if you want to get all continuity-guy on it; Ages of Thunder is a kind of explicit play-by-play, where Thor’s lack of humility triggers all of these wonderful, horrible things.
Along with making a passing comparison of Thor to Wu Tang Clan, Fraction shows off a few pieces of art from the series and also weighs in on the "real" reasons his series The Order is coming to an end with issue #10.
Thor: Ages of Thunder hits shelves April 30, 2008.