Artists Alley: Walt Simonson draws Ragnarok Thor

With a career that spans nearly five decades, Walt Simonson's resume as an artist and a writer is legendary. Despite the fact that Simonson has worked on almost all of the major characters for Marvel and DC, he's still best known for his three-year run on Thor in the early to mid-'80s. Simonson’s take on the Norse Thunder God was so iconic that its influence is still felt in the MCU movies.

In 2014, Simonson decided to revisit Thor and the rest of the Norse Gods in Ragnarok, a creator owned series published through IDW. And Ragnarok is set to return this summer.

In the latest episode of Artists Alley, Simonson sketched out Ragnarok Thor, a very intriguing incarnation of the classic hero. He also explained how and why Ragnarok is so wildly different from both the source material and his previous Marvel run.

"It's enabled me to go back and revisit Norse myths, and tell a story I have not told before," said Simonson. "I really haven't seen it from anybody else in quite the same way. Hopefully, if you decide you want to read it, it will not feel like Norse stories or stories based on the Norse myths that you've come across before."

Simonson's new version of Thor is noticeably missing his lower jaw in Ragnarok. Although Simonson originally intended to fix Thor's face, he seems to be having too much fun with his new look.

"I did that for fun," admitted Simonson. "I thought it looked cool, I did some drawings, I liked the way it looked, so I drew this guy with no lower jaw. I did not really expect to leave him without a lower jaw. But as I drew him, and drew his adventures, I never got around to having him find his lower jaw. He just looks so cool that way, I left him like that."

Simonson also shared some of the immense backstory behind Ragnarok, but you'll have to watch the full video for that intel!