The word “icon” is thrown around an awful lot in the comics industry, and to be sure, there are a handful of creators who actually deserve the title. There are just as many who, no matter how hard they try, just won’t ever measure up to what others have done better.

However, I think it can be agreed by everyone that when you look up “icon” in the dictionary, there should be a picture of writer/artist Walter Simonson next to it.

Simonson has been creating some of the best comics in the medium for over 30 years, working on everything from Orion to Manhunter to the Fantastic Four. But it’s his acclaimed (and some say definitive) run on The Mighty Thor for Marvel that most comic book fans remember and associate with him. The stories told in those issues are still being referenced today, and are used as the measuring stick to judge those that have come after him.

Now Simonson is working on the God of Thunder again, just not the Thor you probably have in mind. Ragnarök is a new, creator-owned series being published by IDW that sees Simonson telling the story of what happens to the world after the Twilight of the Gods. The fourth issue just hit comic shops, and I was able to speak with Simonson via email about the new series and what it is about Thor that keeps bringing him back.

Bam Smack Pow: So tell us about your recently launched creator-owned series for IDW Ragnarök.

Simonson: Some years ago, my friend, Scott Dunbier, who was then the editor-in-chief at Wildstorm in its pre-DC days, asked me if I would be interested in doing a creator-owned comic based on the Norse myths. I thought it sounded great, but I had a lot of work at the time, so it took me quite a while to get back to Scott with an idea for a series of stories based on the myths. About 15 years, I think. By then, Scott was at IDW, and it all worked out.

BSP: What is it about Norse Mythology that keeps drawing you back?

Simnonson: I just love the entire collection of stories around the mythos. I discovered the Norse myths when I was 9 or 10. My parents had an old book that told the stories of the myths in great detail, including quotes from the Elder Edda and other primary source documents. I loved the stories immediately, and read and reread them. I think the stories tell tales about wonderful characters in a fascinating world that will eventually be destroyed in a cataclysmic battle between the gods and their enemies. How could anybody not love such stuff!? And maybe the fact that I have a set of grandparents who came from Norway helps.

BSP: Is this the Thor story you always wanted to do, but couldn’t when working at Marvel?

Simonson: Not really. I loved Marvel’s Thor when I discovered the title in college. When I worked on Thor at Marvel, I was creating stories within an established framework. I worked to expand the framework, but my stories were really based pretty solidly on the earlier work of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and on the Marvel Universe in general. I brought a certain amount of mythological interest into the book, but it was always a Marvel Comic.

Ragnarök really began with the myths and expanded outward from there. So the foundation of the book is quite different from the Marvel comic. As a result, the stories have already gone in their own directions, far from the Marvel comic. I expect those differences to become greater as I explore more of the mythology over time. But these are not stories I would have told during my time on the Marvel book.

BSP: Do you consider Ragnarök your magnum opus?

Simonson: Beats me. I’m mostly just trying to tell some interesting stories and draw them well. I’ll let somebody else make those judgment calls.

BSP: Do you see yourself working on Ragnarök for the foreseeable future?

Simonson: Yep. I have a number of stories I’d like to do, and the longer I work on the book, the more stories I seem to find.

Ragnarok #3 Cover

BSP: You’re working once again with John Workman as your letterer. Your styles mesh so perfectly, could you ever picture yourself doing a book without him?

Simonson: I have done so occasionally in the past for one reason or another, but I work with John whenever possible. I do think our work compliments each other’s very effectively, and I hope to keep that partnership together for as long as possible.

BSP: Does your association with Marvel’s version of Thor ever get tiresome? Do you ever want to scream, “I did work on other books ,people!”

Simonson: Nope. I loved writing and drawing Thor for Marvel. Believe it or not, I do sometimes bump into fans who know some of the other work I’ve done. But really, it’s a delight to find that work I did that long ago is still well regarded and still has fans.

BSP: When you turned Thor into a frog during your run did you ever think that you would see him become a regular part of the Marvel Universe, much less get the name Throg, wielder of Frogjolnir?

Simonson: Not at all. I just thought it would be a fun story to do. The original tale was in part a parody of heroic fantasy in general and my own work in particular. But the notion that this was going to be a character that would inspire future stories never entered my mind.

BSP: Finally, give people the elevator pitch as to why they should read Ragnarök.

Simonson: The God of Thunder has gone missing. And the time of Ragnarök, the Twilight of the Gods, has come. The gods and their enemies meet on the field of battle, but without Thor beside them, the gods are doomed, and the Great Enemies not only destroy them, but survive. The Nine Worlds collapse, forming the vast Dusk Land, ruled by the Great Enemies and their servants.

Hundreds of years pass.

Then one day, Thor returns, to find his universe irrevocably changed. And after he has buried his dead and shed his tears, he picks up his hammer, Mjolnir, and goes out into the Dusk Land, seeking the enemies of the dead Aesir of Asgard.

The Vikings’ greatest warrior god will take the final battle of Ragnarök into the very jaws of Hel against the gods’ greatest enemies.

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As I said before, the fourth issue of Ragnarök is out now, and it really shouldn’t be missed. It’s classic Simonson doing what he does best: widescreen, mythological, kick-ass action. You can get updates on Ragnarök and all things Walter Simonson on his Facebook page as well as on Twitter.