Marvel has deemed Matt Fraction worthy — and now he shall lift Mjolnir, as the next writer of the Thor ongoing!
As we hinted at last week, the Los Angeles Times confirmed with Fraction that he would be working on the book, following the success of his Ages of Thunder series. Here’s a highlight of their conversation:
GB: There are so many great supporting characters in Thor’s mythology. Without giving away too much, can you mention some of the things you’re excited about pursuing with those supporting characters?
MF: I’m most excited about getting off of Earth. There are nine worlds in the Norse cosmology, sort of, and lately the book has been spending a lot of time here in Midgard sweet Midgard. I want to take these amazing people, these characters that are so known and loved (at least amongst the pages of THOR), and take ‘em up and down the world tree. And beyond! Hell, why stop at just our world tree? I’ve said too much.
There’s no word yet on who’s going to be the artist — but we do know that John Romita Jr. will be drawing Iron Man and Thor for Marvel’s Free Comic Book Day offering. Considering Fraction is also in charge of Old Shellhead, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re teaming up for this particular issue. That said, there’s no word when Fraction will be beginning his run, nor who the artist for the ongoing might be. Who do you want to see draw Thor? Sound off, ‘Rama readers!
December 15th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
I like John Romita drawings. I’m looking forward to this book.
December 15th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Art chores?
Definitely Romita Jr!
December 15th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Good choice. I think he has alot of promise. His Ages of Thunder 3 part mini was great.
December 15th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
I’ll give him a chance as I wasn’t all that impressed with Gillen’s first issue.
It was good, but not great.
As with any creative team, Faction has 3 issues to wow me.
December 15th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
I think he’d be better for a solo book over the team book he’s been on recently. Not sure if Thor is it though, his DD was good. His take on X-Men has been a little too sarcastic and metrosexual for my taste, like he took all of his cues from Whedon – who is NOT God’s gift to the genre. One good opening story arc on Astonishing, followed by 19 lackluster issues does not make it an incredible run.
December 15th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Not surprising but very welcomed news. I hope Patrick Zircher will come along with Fraction as I think they really set the tone in their Ages of Thunder one shots. If not Zircher I wouldn’t mind seeing Doug Braithewaith (sp?), Daniel Acuna or Ariel Olivetti take on the art reigns.
December 15th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
I was not a fan of Fraction’s initial few arcs on Uncanny, (including the Dark X-men crossover, which I thought was awful) but I’m enjoying the current arc, and like him for Thor. I do hope someone other than JRJR is the artist for the run on Thor though… I think his art is okay, but not a good fit for Thor, which has had very good art since its relaunch.
December 15th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
@Inward Jim, Fractions Uncanny is NOTHING like Whedon’s Astonishing, its fair to not like Whedon but there is no similarities in the writing, Whedons book had a tight focus with strong character development, Fractions book has no focus, no character development, and a cast including many non mutants as X-men. No comparison, they are completely different animals.
December 15th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
All I have to say is the first time in my 20 years of collecting and reading comics, I will be picking up an issue of Thor monthly.
December 15th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Couldn’t be happier with this announcement. Ages of Thunder was fantastic. If JRJR is the artist, great. If not, then I hope they give the book to Patrick Zircher.
December 15th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Woo-hoo! Brubaker & Fraction on Marvel’s Big 3 (Avengers)!
I was hoping he’d be on the book after reading Ages of Thunder. I hope he stays on Iron Man, but kinda hope he gives up X-Men to someone else. Not that I necessarily dislike his writing, but I’d hate if he gets overextended, causing all the books to suffer.
December 15th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Also… I vote for Simone Bianchi for art!
December 15th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Romita is the only reason I would buy this… so I’m glad I’ll be getting his issue for free. If they want to put him on the ongoing, though, I’d love to see his take on some of the Kirbyist space stuff Thor traffics in.
December 15th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
oh HELL yes
December 15th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Please not JRJR!! How about Alan Davis? Djurdjevic? Hell, bring Walt Simonson back!! If anyone is intent on bringing JRJR on-board, bring in Bob Layton (of Iron Man fame), to redraw and ink JRJR’s stuff like he use to! Now that would be great!!
December 15th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
Sweet! That’s the greatest news!
I’d love to see Salvador LaRocca on ‘Thor’. Fraction and LaRocca worked so well together on Iron Man. Why not do Thor together also?
December 15th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
I was thinking abotu dropping “Thor” after the departure of JMS, but I might change my mind with Fraction taking over..
December 15th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
arrrg, can someone please tell JRJr that Tony is not ALWAYS wearing Hulkbuster armor.
December 16th, 2009 at 1:03 am
Ed McGuinness! Ed McGuinness! Ed McGuinness!
December 16th, 2009 at 3:12 am
I say bring Olivier Coipel back. There’s no one better.
December 16th, 2009 at 9:31 am
I would love to see Ed McGuinness have a run on Thor. His work is so contemporary and yet he fuses it with Kirbyness. I want to see a Thor vs Surtur battle royale from him. Fraction is the right fit for writer on this book and he and McGuinness would tear it up!!! Hulk seemed like a great idea at the time for Ed but for some reason his work seems to be losing its spark since he got into his run on it. Give ED THOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 16th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Well, I’m glad I stopped reading Thor after JMS left. No offense to Fraction, but I don’t care for his writing.
December 16th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Really happy about this. I loved his Ages of Thunder series. He really knows the mythology well.
December 16th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
OH NO!!!! I was really stoked to hear that Fraction would be working on Thor but JRJR just killed it for me. There’s no way i’ll be picking this up now. Maybe not even reading it. Because comics are visual medium, I can’t read a comic I can’t stand to look at.
December 16th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Id like to see STEVE MCNIVEN do the art duties on this.
December 17th, 2009 at 2:05 am
I’d love to see Joe Mad. come back and do Thor inked by Art Thibert. But I know that won’t happen!
December 17th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
It seems to jive with publishing a crappy solo comic (Dork Wolverine for Wolverine Origins) during a hero major solo spotlight motion picture. So Marvel’s going back to heroes in the spotlight but they keep the same crappy writers (Fraction, Remender, Gage, Yost, Kyle, etc) that they’ve hired since Dork Reign started. Nothing will ever get fixed until the big head topples, Mr. Q. Sadly, DC won’t be competitive in 2010 with the lack of events. Marvel snoozed for a year and now they’re wide awake again. DC pulls out “Search for Bruce Wayne” with a 1000 batmen variants. Will that statement piss off someone at DC Direct who reads this? I sure hope so!
December 27th, 2009 at 8:30 am
I know it’s impossible but I’d love to see Ivan Reis on Thor.
December 27th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
I’m shocked at the accumulation of JRJr dislike here. Fraction and JRJr would get me to read the book for awhile.