With the Thor movie coming out Marvel is doing something awesome

Namely, they're collecting what is widely considered by many the greatest run of the Thor comic book under one hard cover, completely recolored by Steve Oliffe at Olyoptics.

That's right.

Walter Simonson's entire run of "The Mighty Thor" plus his 4-issue limited series "Balder the Brave" are now going to be in one very large, convenient tome. You'll get the Saga of Beta Ray Bill, Thor turned into a frog, the Mutant Massacre, Hela's death curse and the potential start of Ragnarok itself as Thor battles Jurmangandr in a fight to the death.

http://www.amazon.com/Thor-Walter-Si...2189471&sr=1-1

Wow, my mouse pointer is hovering over the "Add to Cart" button (well, not literally at this moment as I type this).

This collection has some of the finest comics ever and the Simonson Thor run is what got me back into comics. Whether I buy this right now or not, I have no doubt this will find its way on my bookshelf soon after release.

And you can't see it from the main details on the product page but if you do a search for it on Amazon you'll see the release date is April 27, so it's not far away, folks!

And if it helps convince anybody (I'll try to find the link) one of the comic book news sites (might have been Bleeding Cool) had some sample pages of the recolored work, including one of the big splash pages where he's fighting Jurmangandr. Walt's heavy line work really leaps out with Oliffe's color work. Yeah, I pre-ordered instantly.

EDIT: and here's he link:
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/01/...sthor-omnibus/

Urgh! This is one of those yesnoyesnoyesnoyesno moments.

I already have about half those comics stuck away in a box somewhere And odds are that Amazon will drop the price by at least 20% more sometime in the next few months.

But then again I do prefer TPBs and hard cover collections to the individual issues. And I don't have many of those.

I think I need to go find a coin to flip. Or a dice. Or maybe I'll go find my big hammer and throw it at something and see which end hits.

Thor versus the Midgard Serpent is one of the best fights ever!

(And both of them get pulverized! Mutually assured destruction.)

I've often wondered why comic book companies don't re-color older works. The color separation was so incredibly bad back in the day (and didn't start getting good until the mid-90s) that a ton of older comics would really benefit from modern coloring techniques. The art and story is there, it's just the coloring that holds it back.

If only I had $80 to spare.

At least added it to my wishlist. I have bigger purchases planned out for the year, so this has to wait. Well, if my job search for a better job works out, then I can add it in.

So getting this, along with the Thanos Imperative, on Friday. Hurah for pay day

The only thing they are doing wrong is not releasing the movie on Thursday.

Just got my pre-order today.

This book is over 4 inches thick and could kill a man if dropped on him from a height.

Still on the fence?

There's a terrific forward and afterward written by Walt (he even dumps in the panel that he drew himself and Louise into). There's a great sketchbook in the back that includes house ads (including the Thor is a frog ad), pages of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Walt provided artwork for the various Thor characters), the artwork for the various corner boxes (upper left part of the cover) that Walt drew during his run, pinups that ran in various Marvel publications, covers for TPBs, and covers for the various annuals during his four-year tour of duty.

This is, literally, every piece of Simonson Thor artwork commissioned by Marvel Comics.

The paper they printed it on is not as good as that used for the various DC Absolute Editions, but it's pretty darned nice. It really makes Oliffe's new colors pop nicely.

And all of the covers are here, in place in front of their respective issues, without the titles and bar codes to get in the way of Walt's work.

Yes, I'm a pretty big fan of Walt Simonson, and this is a fitting tome for your bookshelf.

It's well worth the cost, and it's bumped up in line to NEXT on my reading list.

Simonson trivia: he loves dinosaurs so much, he made his signature resemble one.

Broke down and placed an order just now. Should be here tomorrow.

I just pulled the trigger too. I was cheap though and went with free shipping so I've got a few days to wait.

Just picked up my copy off the welcome mat. It's huge!

Gave in to temptation and ordered a copy.

Now eager for it to arrive.

Uploaded some images of this to the product page on Amazon because the thickness has to be seen to be believed.

I finished my other reading project and bumped this thing to the top of the reading pile. It's been years since I'd read the Beta Ray Bill saga, and had kind of forgotten just how awesome it truly is.

I'm probably missing about half the issues in this run (I'd meant to pick them up eventually, but never did) so some of this material will be new to me. I'm giddy.

Never really read any Thor, but I love the Norse and Icelandic sagas... enough so that I'm tempted to look at this. Wonder if I can "order" this to my local B & N and see if I want it after reading through for awhile. Would definitely have to wait until Christmas or the price to drop to buy it, though.

Anything you all can tell me about these stories in particular that makes them good/great?

So after a bit of finagling, I've managed to get enough funds to purchase this wonderful collection. It arrived in the mail today and just by flipping through, it looks stunning. I can't wait to finish my current volume of Conan the Barbarian comics and bump this mjolnir's weight in paper to the top of my reading list.