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Post by Shiryu on May 22, 2009 9:55:14 GMT -5
Let's talk a bit about our Thunder God!
What's your favorite saga? Do you prefer him in Asgard, on Earth or in space? (he's not been there too much recently, but he did have some great adventures against the likes of Galactus, Ego the Living Planet and so on)
Let's discuss
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Post by dlw66 on May 22, 2009 10:52:40 GMT -5
Saga -- will need to deliberate on that one for awhile.
Single story, though -- that's easy!
Thor Annual #5 -- Kirby cover, John Buscema interiors. Story of the creation of the world and a war between Asgard and Olympus. A triumph! As a kid I read that until the covers came off -- not sure if it's ever been reprinted, but obtaining even a reader copy would be highly recommended!
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Post by humanbelly on May 22, 2009 11:19:11 GMT -5
Honestly & truly-- I found the entire Mighty Thunder Frog saga delightful, gripping, and surprisingly moving. Thor's always been on & off for me, and I've always easily dropped him when I found the storytelling tedious. I'll tell you, though, that whole last year of the book's previous incarnation- where it was sort of an alternate reality, with Thor's son becoming the protagonist- was a very engrossing arc, and quite well-written, I thought. By the time it ended, I had a feeling I was the only person left reading, but that I had held onto a gem of a story.
HB
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Post by spiderwasp on May 22, 2009 21:33:02 GMT -5
Honestly & truly-- I found the entire Mighty Thunder Frog saga delightful, gripping, and surprisingly moving. Thor's always been on & off for me, and I've always easily dropped him when I found the storytelling tedious. I'll tell you, though, that whole last year of the book's previous incarnation- where it was sort of an alternate reality, with Thor's son becoming the protagonist- was a very engrossing arc, and quite well-written, I thought. By the time it ended, I had a feeling I was the only person left reading, but that I had held onto a gem of a story. HB I agree. I've only bought Thor sporatically through the years but and even when I've bought it, it has been toward the bottom of my list, always just teetering on stopping again. This era was the one era when I Thor was actually toward the top of my list and was one of the first books I read when I got home from the store. |
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Post by Tana Nile on May 28, 2009 15:45:20 GMT -5
Wow, there are so many different stories I could bring up. I definitely prefer to see Thor in either mythological situations or in space. This probably stems from the feeling that Thor the character is not especially interesting, but the stories you can put him in are.
You can't go wrong with some of the early stuff. Thor fighting in Hercules' place in the Netherworld (Thor 128-130), or the first meeting with Ego (131-132), the encounters with Galactus (around 160-169). But I also have warm memories of some bronze age tales. The introduction of Firelord, return of Hercules, and battle between Thor leading the American army against Loki and the hordes of giants (around 221-234) were pretty rousing stories. Of course the later Celestial saga was also very entertaining.
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Post by humanbelly on Jun 3, 2009 14:36:24 GMT -5
Hey, y'know, one I forgot about was the one that may have been the first go-round with Crusher Creel. Probably from Journey Into Mystery? It was reprinted in a Thor Annual sometime later-- starts off with Thor getting his hammer repaired (!!) at a steel forge in Pittsburgh. But a great silver age melodrama, all told. Terrific art by Jack Kirby, and a prolonged festival of anxiety, wondering "How the heck is Thor going to beat him??"
HB
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Post by betaraybill on Jun 6, 2009 11:28:03 GMT -5
I love the Simonson run from 330's to 380's. "the Ballad of Beta Ray Bill" to Odin's death in 353 against Surtur to the previously mention Thunder Frog to Hela's curse to the resurrection of Kurse to the splash page battle with Fin Fan Foom.
That's the prime for me as a fan, although I like the new direction/creative team a ton!
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Post by Marvel Boy on Sept 5, 2012 0:36:53 GMT -5
Being a huge Thor fan, this is a hard question.  Lee/Kirby's run was epic, easily one of their greatest collaborative efforts at Marvel, reading those issues makes me want to fight for Asgard! When Heroes Reborn started, Dan Jurgens and Romita Jr created a superb new title for Thor, complete with new secret identity. The Dark Gods saga was very good as was the follow-up confrontation with Thanos (which featured Thor getting serious by dragging out his Belt of Strength) My personal favorite though is the Surtur Saga by Simonson, from #338-353. Introducing new characters, concepts from the actual myths, one of the best story titles ever in "Ragnarok and Roll", wrapped up in Simonson's terrific art, loved every bit of it. |
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Post by Crimson Cowl on Sept 5, 2012 2:22:46 GMT -5
I haven't read the recent stuff, which sounds interesting but from what I do know my choice would quite comfortably be Simonson's run. As Marvel Boy mentioned the return to focus on the myths was a big plus (one of the best ever debunkings of bad ideas was when Thor questions his father's tale of his early life and Odin responds by asking whether he believes his own father or a floating eyeball).
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Post by humanbelly on Sept 5, 2012 18:43:57 GMT -5
Gosh, I'd forgotten that I'd even chimed in on this thread a-way back when. I almost responded again with, well, the exact same answer-! Sadly, that's one of the last times our beloved Tana Nile posted (a terrific lady. . . just busy else-blog these days). *sigh*
And good ol' betaraybill-- haven't heard much from him lately, either.
One arc that we didn't mention, although it may have been contained in some of the broader ones above, was the point where Thor couldn't die-- but his bones had become brittle. He was quite armored up and ultimately sort of liquefied by the Destroyer in an ultimate battle. It was very memorable largely because it defined him as being Heroic on a much more humanly-relatable level. Fighting through incredible pain in a hopeless situation, having limitations that he refused to buckle to, looking an assumed oblivion square in the eye, and choosing to fight on. . . and completely alone. It was much, much more moving than the usual hyperbolic "The bards shall sing songs praising our glorious battle here for a thousand millenia to come, razza-razza-razza" blather that has never impressed me one bit, no matter who the source of it is. We rarely get to see Thor the heroic Man- as opposed to God- and he was certainly a fellow who measured up in that story.
As I look at this thread's brief history, I see that Shiryu (our resident Thor-guy-!) never chimed back in with his preference. Shir-? You gotta second?
Marvel Boy, what if we also turned the question around? Thor is a title that has endured some particularly wild directional shifts over the years (*cough*THUNDERSTRIKE*cough*)-- are there particular arcs that you dreaded/hated/prayed-to-have-come-to-an-end?
HB
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Post by Doctor Bong Crosby on Sept 6, 2012 2:34:00 GMT -5
I haven't read the recent stuff, which sounds interesting but from what I do know my choice would quite comfortably be Simonson's run. As Marvel Boy mentioned the return to focus on the myths was a big plus (one of the best ever debunkings of bad ideas was when Thor questions his father's tale of his early life and Odin responds by asking whether he believes his own father or a floating eyeball). At first I didn't care for Simonson's art, but it grew on me, and how...! I agree, a wonderful run. |
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Post by Marvel Boy on Sept 6, 2012 16:04:16 GMT -5
One arc that we didn't mention, although it may have been contained in some of the broader ones above, was the point where Thor couldn't die-- but his bones had become brittle. Marvel Boy, what if we also turned the question around? Thor is a title that has endured some particularly wild directional shifts over the years (*cough*THUNDERSTRIKE*cough*)-- are there particular arcs that you dreaded/hated/prayed-to-have-come-to-an-end? HB Armored Thor was definitely fun and interesting, a result if memory serves, of Hela cursing him. This led to my all-time favorite issue of Thor, #380 in which he fights the Midgard Serpent. Every page is a full page spread, minimal dialogue, featuring actual quotes from the Elder Edda throughout, wrapped up in stunning action. Another excellent run worth mentioning is DeFalco/Frenz, who picked up soon after Simonson left. I enjoyed their run for the most part, especially their Set saga which culminated in #400. They came the closest to re-capturing that classic epic feel of Lee/Kirby. As for flipping the question around, my first answer would be the current arc. When I read the Thor: Ages of Thunder mini, I thought Matt Fraction did a good job with the character, had the right feel for the mythos. But when he took over the title itself, he came up lacking in my view. I consider Fraction to be Marvel's answer to Grant Morrison; he has some excellent ideas but sometimes the execution of those ideas is lacking. His characterization of Thor was off to me and his stories didn't seem as full developed as they might have been otherwise. Coipel's art was the saving grace, he produced some terrific page layouts. Then toss in Fear Itself and Thor dies again, so I was ready to call it quits. I was waiting for Fraction to leave the book so all the news I've read concerning the NOW! re-launch has me ready to join the hordes of Asgard again. |
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Post by humanbelly on Sept 7, 2012 18:03:01 GMT -5
One arc that we didn't mention, although it may have been contained in some of the broader ones above, was the point where Thor couldn't die-- but his bones had become brittle. Marvel Boy, what if we also turned the question around? Thor is a title that has endured some particularly wild directional shifts over the years (*cough*THUNDERSTRIKE*cough*)-- are there particular arcs that you dreaded/hated/prayed-to-have-come-to-an-end? HB Armored Thor was definitely fun and interesting, a result if memory serves, of Hela cursing him. This led to my all-time favorite issue of Thor, #380 in which he fights the Midgard Serpent. Every page is a full page spread, minimal dialogue, featuring actual quotes from the Elder Edda throughout, wrapped up in stunning action. Another excellent run worth mentioning is DeFalco/Frenz, who picked up soon after Simonson left. I enjoyed their run for the most part, especially their Set saga which culminated in #400. They came the closest to re-capturing that classic epic feel of Lee/Kirby. As for flipping the question around, my first answer would be the current arc. When I read the Thor: Ages of Thunder mini, I thought Matt Fraction did a good job with the character, had the right feel for the mythos. But when he took over the title itself, he came up lacking in my view. I consider Fraction to be Marvel's answer to Grant Morrison; he has some excellent ideas but sometimes the execution of those ideas is lacking. His characterization of Thor was off to me and his stories didn't seem as full developed as they might have been otherwise. Coipel's art was the saving grace, he produced some terrific page layouts. Then toss in Fear Itself and Thor dies again, so I was ready to call it quits. I was waiting for Fraction to leave the book so all the news I've read concerning the NOW! re-launch has me ready to join the hordes of Asgard again. I couldn't believe my eyes when you said Thor had recently been killed again. I went so far as to check Wikipedia, and quickly discovered that (SPOILERALERT-SPOILERALERT-SPOI***-- oh come on, like this'll be a surprise-?) he was resurrected in issue number, uh, 12. Basically, the entirety of the Marvel Universe has somehow unknowingly contracted a virus or something from Wildcat (from the JSA, over at DC), and can now use being "killed" as a strategic solution--- or at least as a way to get a few days off. I let go of the title not too long ago, myself. Well, several months, I suppose. It was when Thor referred to Odin as a "stupid, useless old man", or something similar. Not sure which writer that was-- but it was so COMPLETELY out of whack with the well-established emotional history of the relationship that I pulled the plug right then, and didn't renew. While there's a TON of familial baggage between the two of them, it would never, NEVER manifest itself in that sort of contemptuous, dismissive snark from the Thunder God. It truly diminished him as a character in a very ugly way. I must say, I do envy you your opportunity to jump back into buying the titles again. And yet, I'm not actually regretting letting it all go a few months ago. I was being made perpetually unhappy by what I was reading. . .and I'm easily at peace with not spending $4 per issue! HB |
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Post by Marvel Boy on Sept 9, 2012 1:24:34 GMT -5
I must say, I do envy you your opportunity to jump back into buying the titles again. And yet, I'm not actually regretting letting it all go a few months ago. I was being made perpetually unhappy by what I was reading. . .and I'm easily at peace with not spending $4 per issue! HB Completely understand and agree with that sentiment. I'm not the type to continue buying the same title simply because I've been doing so for X number of years. Any issues I may have with the current artist, I can usually overlook if the story is good, but the story has to be good and engaging or else I stop buying it. Fraction's dialogue is part of the issue, having Thor saying various things, like you mentioned, that are ill-suited to his base character. What made that comment worse, was that during JMS' run (which was terrific) Thor confronted the issue head-on over whether to respect Odin's wishes or resurrect him as he did the other Asgardians. It was a logical progression of their ongoing relationship, father-son as well as Lord-Prince. JMS handled it beautifully, Fraction cheapened it. |
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