Collecting Thor (1998) #9-13, written by Dan Jurgens and illustrated by John Romita Jr. (#10-13) and John Buscema (#9).

In Thor #9, after defeating the robot Replicus (last seen way back in Thor #141), Thor arrives late as Jake Olson for a football game with his fiancee Hannah. After the game he travels to the realm of the Rock Trolls in an attempt to find out what has happened to Asgard, but finds little help. He does however encounter a being named Marnot, who tells Thor the story of the Dark Gods. When Thor was a child, Odin sent out scouts to the universe to bring back knowledge of their discoveries. One scout returned with news of a dire threat. He had discovered a planet with Gods similar to the Asgardians. The Dark Gods fought a fierce war against Asgard, but were eventually defeated and sealed away by Odin. More recently, Thor's actions inadvertently led to the Dark Gods being released, which then led to them taking over Asgard.

In Thor #10, Marnot tries to convince Thor that attacking the Dark Gods is foolish. Then the image of the Dark God Perrikus appears and demands that Thor shows himself or the Dark Gods will start killing the Asgardians. Thor travels to Asgard and finds it in ruins, with the dead littering the streets. Perrikus challanges Thor to a fight to the death.

In Thor #11, Perrikus has seemingly destroyed Mjolnir and Thor has changed back into Jake Olson. Jake flees to the sewers of Asgard in an attempt to save himself. Jake eventually finds an emaciated Volstagg, but the Dark God Tokkots is hot on their heels. Jake is captured and returned to Perrikus and manages to pick up the pieces of Mjolnir and transforms into Thor again. Thor makes his escape and ends up on an alien planet, seeking help from the Destroyer.

In Thor #12, Thor convinces the Destroyer to help against the Dark Gods by promising to return the man who presently resides inside the armour, Preston Case, that he can return him to his body. Thor returns to Earth and picks up Hercules as well. The three then begin their attack on the Dark Gods and try to free the captured Asgardians.

In Thor #13, the Asgardians celebrate their victory over the Dark Gods. Marnot then appears to Thor and reveals himself to be Odin's raven Hescamar. Hescamar was to be a failsafe plan against the arrival of the Dark Gods. When they attacked, a spell was cast to give Hescamar a godly form, whose task was to hide the Asgardians from the sight of the Dark Gods. Odin then fulfils Thor's promise to Preston Case and returns his soul to his body. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Detective O'Neil finds stolen pharmacy drugs in Jake Olson's apartment and issues a warrant for his arrest.

I guess I was wrong in my last Thor review (Thor Epic Collection: The Wrath of Odin). Replicus did appear again. It's clear why Slugger Sykes didn't make another appearance, because he died at the end of the issue he and Replicus appeared in. This time the robot is being controlled by Sykes' nephew. I would have thought Dan Jurgens was above rehashing corny old ideas from the Stan Lee days. I had a quick look at some of the other Thor issues that Jurgens wrote and he even brought back the Enchanters! Plus, he will do another story with Malekith and the Casket of Ancient Winters in a later trade. I'm not sure how I feel about him rehashing Walter Simonson stories either. At least the Dark Gods were original creations, even if I didn't particularly care for them.

As disappointed as I am to see Jurgens rehash old story ideas, the final battle with the Dark Gods was suitably epic and it is always good to see Thor fighting side by side with Hercules. I can't bring myself to dislike this collection of stories. I have Thor #1-8 in a physical trade, so it probably would have been sensible to read that before I started to read this collection to refresh my memory of why Thor is bonded to this Jake Olson guy and why there is somebody new stuck in the Destroyer armour. Then again, I have never been one to do the sensible thing.

My rating: 3 stars.