In December, Thor goes big. Not just big, but BIG. God-sized big in the Thor God-Sized Special by Matt Fraction, Doug Braithwaite, Dan Brereton and Marko Djurdjevic. The one shot follows Fraction’s Thor: Ages of Thunder, Reign of Blood and Man of War one shots as well as his three issue Secret Invasion: Thor miniseries.
Yeah, there could be something serious going on between Fraction and Marvel’s God of Thunder. Or could there be?
We spoke with the writer about the coming special.
Newsarama: Matt, a while back, you expressed reservations about
writing Thor. December sees what, your fourth Thor book, not counting
the Secret Invasion tie-in miniseries. It's safe to say that you found your groove with the Thunder God. So what makes him click for you?
Matt Fraction: The bigness. Going colossal. Thinking on that
scale while digging into the various mythos that make Thor's DNA-- the
original Norse, the Stan-and-Jack page-one rewrite, Gruenwald and
Macchio, and Walt Simonson's - and just letting whatever Thor-shaped
dreams I've got sprout out of that fertile earth. Get out of the big
guy's way. Scrap most of the thous and dosts. Hit big stuff with the
hammer early and often, etc, etc. Scale. The scale is the thing. Think
god-sized thoughts. Smash god-sized things.
NRAMA: What do you see the function of your Thor stories
compared to what JMS is doing on the main series? Obviously, you're in
different eras for Thor, but what facets of the character are you
exploring in your stories that aren't being shown in JMS' stories?
MF: To, uh, embiggen the myth, basically. People have been
telling stories about Thor for hundreds of years for a reason; it's
stuff like this that explains why. Obviously the main title is on a
mission, the core thrust of Thor is reinstating Asgard after
the latest Ragnarok. I wanted to play around that stuff, in the corners
and on the edges; I wanted to work at enriching the character.
NRAMA: So what was the spark for this particular story? It's
centered on Skurge, which is, kinda Thorgeek, even for you. What led
you to him?
MF: My first thought, when I got the chance to touch the toys on
the Thor shelf, was to do a Skurge story. And then I realized that
doing that would ruin what is, honestly, one of my single favorite
comics of all time. Thor #362 is, for me, the high point of
Walt Simonson's amazing run on the book and it's a comic book I've read
until it's physically fallen apart. And monkeying around with that...
well, ruins it. To in any way think that building on top of what
Simonson did, diminishes what Simonson did, and at worst screws it up
and at best embarrasses me, right?
So then I thought, well, maybe there's a story there, if
that makes sense. And the idea of someone tampering with who and what
the legend of Skurge was, and what that means to the legend of Skurge,
came to me. And away I went.
That sounds a little meta. Trust me, lots of big shit gets hit with a hammer.
NRAMA: Fair enough. So what's Skurge's deal? He had a story -
long-time Thor readers can recall it, but that story...wasn't quite
what happened?
MF: Long story short: Skurge and the Enchantress were the
dysfunctional couple to end all dysfunctional couples. And the very
last time she broke his heart, he joined Thor and a heroic band of
Asgardians that were trying to escort an armada of human souls that
were unjustly trapped in the underworld as an army of the dead gave
chase. As the Asgardians reached the very threshold of Hel, Skurge
suckerpunched Thor and volunteered to hold the bridge across which
Hel's army needed to cross. Singlehandedly, Skurge held the bridge and
ascended into legend.
That's what happened. The problem is, nobody can remember it anymore.
NRAMA: The solicitation mentions Thor and Loki teaming to get to
the root of Skurge's mystery. Given that they're not always on the best
of terms, where does this story fit into the larger Thor timeline?
MF: It's ambiguously set during the current run-- Loki's a
woman, Asgard's in Oklahoma, etc. What brings them together is the
presence of trickery, plain and simple, and Loki, the queen of all
tricksters, despises being tricked more than almost anything else.
NRAMA: So what type of memories to Asgardians have of Skurge?
MF: That's the thing. Thor, Balder, and Loki realize they all
have different memories of who Skurge was and how he died: Balder
recalls a jolly old poet; Thor, a butcher; and Loki, a crazy old crone.
But all of their memories end in Hel, so our unlikely trio descends
downwards to get to the root of the problem and figure out just who
Skurge really was, how he really died, and most importantly, who's
screwing with all their heads...
NRAMA: Any other appearances and/or cameos in the special?
MF: Yes.
NRAMA: What busted this story out from the normal sized into God-Sized?
MF: I dunno-- Warren Simons, editor extraordinaire, came to me with it and it was such a funny title we had to go for it.
NRAMA: So level here - what's your future look like with
Thor? You've essentially been making sure there's a regular Thor fix
while the main book gets back on track...are you
looking to jockey yourself into the regular Thor gig? Would writing Thor monthly even interest you?
MF: I think I'm done. It was great fun and certainly creatively
rewarding to play in these fields, but I feel like I've pretty much
done my thing and should sit down and be happy with what we were able
to accomplish. JMS and Olivier Coipel are doing tremendous work and
their titanic run doesn't need a yappy little mutt like me snapping
around its heels. I'm thankful I got to do what I did.
NRAMA: Finally - one last tease - what gets the ball rolling in this story?
MF: Balder staring off into space. And my absolute adoration of Walt Simonson's amazing run on the book.
