I’ve got to be honest … those really early Thor stories are kind of silly. The God of Thunder fighting Castro knock-offs in the Caribbean? Battling “commies” and organized crime leaders?

There is a certain charm to the stories, sure. They’re kind of fun to read, but in a goofy sort of way.

When does Thor really come into his/its own as a series? You know, epic God of Thunder stuff? I’ve been told Essential Thor Vol. 2 is where the real meat and potatoes are.

I was never a big Thor fan, reading only briefly during Simonson’s run, so most of this is pretty new to me.

It gets good when the "Tales Of Asgard" back-ups are introduced, which, not coincidentally, is right about the same time as Stan and Jack take over as the regular creative team.

Those are my favourite Thor stories. Then there's about 20 years of made-up Norse-sounding gibberish. Then a few years of Simonson, which is excellent although the art suffers when Simonson switches to writing-only. And then after that there's another 20 years of made-up Norse-sounding gibberish.

The early ones where he’s fighting the communists?

They’re a hoot, to be sure. Fun – just not at all what I was expecting. It’s all that over-the-top Thorspeak I was expecting. And honestly, after reading all the Commie-battlin’ in Ant-Man, I wasn’t hoping for more of it in Thor.

I do love the art, though.

Yeh, I like the down to Earth Thor who loved Jane and fought criminals and Communists and such, that's my favourite version. A big part of Simonson's appeal to me was that his Thor was similarly grounded, he spent a lot of time with normal people and he didn't talk down to them. His speech was more archaic than in the early stories, but his behaviour was the same. He dealt with cops and waitresses and bus drivers and so on, inbetween the grandiose stuff.

Aside from the mythology, that's what I liked about Thor- his interactions with normal folk.

I remember reading a quote from an editor to a writer about Thor, something to the effect of "You can have Thor doing all sorts of cosmic stuff, but every now and then he's got to come back to earth and get a beating from the Absorbing Man."

I love the Absorbing Man...

The Absorbing Man is cool!

I like anything that deals with beating up Commies!!

Don't get me wrong, I like the interaction with ordinary folks. I agree, you've got to ground the character in order for romping around in Asgard to have some awe and wonder. All Asgard all the time is too much.

I did think the issue where he went after a mobster and made him fall off a building under construction was silly, though. It just seemed a rather pedestrian adventure for the GOD OF THUNDER.

Did you get to the one where he spends the whole issue arresting jaywalkers? (I made that up.)

"For sooth, thou hast strayed afar from thine street lines! Woe doth come upon thee who darest walk astray in those realms protected by THOR, the God of THUNDER! By the Power of Odin, I do place you under CITIZEN'S ARREST!"

After it heelths. Try putting thum thalve on it.

I hate Thor so much. I still remember the shame I felt when I bought Garth Ennis' THOR: VIKINGS. He really is a character that's an example of Marvel shoving everything through the super-hero meat grinder and extracting most of the core elements of the character in the process. He's just a big, dumb blond guy in a silly costume.

And he needs a beard for Odin's sake. Looks like Fabio without it, and who's scared of Fabio? No one. Even birds attack Fabio.

Essential Thor 3 has some incredible stories in it. Thor in space dealing with Galactus and Ego, the Living Planet alone is worth the price of admission. The Walt Simonson Thor is excellent, too, and almost all of it (still one trade paperback's worth short, unfortunately) has been reprinted.

I also like the Tom DeFalco/Ron Frenz/Joe Sinnott run of the late 1980s/early 1990s. At its best, the series is almost like "What If...Jack Kirby had his best inker working with him on Thor?" Some people dismiss it as Kirby-lite, but there's a lot of rip-snortin', slam-bang action in the Mighty Marvel Manner to be found in there. Dan Jurgens and John Romita Jr. did some nice work on Thor in the late 1990s, but I haven't followed the character too closely since then.

I liked the Jurgens/Romita Jr Thor issues - loads of fun and, yes, I liked working on them too , big themes and streel-level interaction too.

I loved Thor when he went against the Celestials, and fought the Hulk, when I first started reading. Thor's awesome.





One of my fav issues ever of anything is that last one. I think it is my first Thor comic too.

That sounds great!

Aww hell, I'm adding volume 3 to my Amazon wish list right now. I'm really itching for a good "cosmic" story set in the MU. (I've been setting Annhilation aside, but will not read it until it's done.)

Sigh.

I guess that means you hate America, commie!

Yes, they are.



I read the first Essential Thor volume about four or five years ago. I recall the silly stories in the beginning, but I remember really loving that volume by the time that I finished it. When did it good? Again - it's been a few years since I read it, but I'd look toward the issue with the September 1963 cover date. Why? Because that's the month when Avengers #1 and X-Men #1 both went on sale. Looking back at the Essential volumes, it sure seemed to me that the whole Marvel line underwent a big jump in quality at that point. It's as if that's when they realized that they really had something there! It seems to me that Thor is one of the series where that difference is very most pronounced. Again - my memory could be a little off, but that September 1963 cover date is probably a fairly good guide post, nonetheless.

The down to earth version is my favorite too. I remember one issue with him at a ice cream parlor, having a milk shake, while all the girls were going nuts as he told a tale.

It humanized him.

And I LOVE the Norse gibberish.

I don't know....I thought Sal Buscema did a nice job of carrying on Simonson's art style.....

"Ya, hey dere, fellas, we should choin up and form a group, den. Let's call it da Avenchers. Dat id be a heckuva deal, eh?"