Recommended Digital Comics: Thor

I was treated to a timely surprise when I worked on the first few issues of the Dan Jurgens/ John Romita Jr. “Thor” that came out on the Marvel Comics application earlier this week. The late 1990’s series, from Marvel’s Heroes Reborn era, is a great contemporary forerunner for two of the books I’ve got on my pull list for the weeks to come: Robert Rodi’s “Thor: For Asgard” and Bryan Glass’s “Thor: The Last Son.”

The Jurgens/Romita Thor story delights with magnetic Kirby-esque art but remains grounded in the twin lives of the almighty Thor and Jake Olson, his modern host. In both this tale and Glass’s (which follows former Thor host, Donald Blake) we see the essential duality any and all Thor books should contain. We have entwined characters, a shared godliness and humanity at once. But don’t be mistaken. The Jurgens book is jam packed with the celestial, too.  It plumbs the cosmic politics of Asgard that we get a taste of in Rodi’s current book and taps into the classic sibling rivalry of Loki and Thor.

If that wasn’t enchanting enough, the first two issues have Thor teaming up with Captain America and Iron Man, giving us a companion to the dynamic John Romita Jr. art we’ve got on the stands right now in “Avengers.” The Jurgens/Romita “Thor” does it all. With Marvel’s Thor movie on the horizon is great to see such strength and variety in Thor books new and old.