10 Most Awesome Moments in Simonson's Thor

With the Simonson Thor omnibus officially out (and discussed in another thread), this article details the highlights of that epic storyline.

For Midgard!

Clicked the link for Frog of Thunder. Leaving satisfied.

I own a lot of the original run, but this is still a great piece of art, and easily the best run on Thor ever.

And the final passage from the final comic goes thusly, spoken by Thor on a splash page:

Look out, you giants and trolls! Beware, you denizens of the depths and dwellers in the fortresses of evil! Gird up thy loins, you harbingers of death and destruction!

Let those in direst need lift up their voices that I may hear them!

The God of Thunder is loose and woe to those who would harry the innocent and the weak! For they shall have a champion!

So be it!

And gleaming in the sunlight, the MIGHTY THOR soars across the sky like bright star.

May his hammer ever strike in the cause of justice.

SO SAY WE ALL.


One of the greatest runs in all of comicdom bar none.


S.

You know.... keep going with these threads and I'm gonna have to come up with some cash to buy that thing...

I kinda want to buy it but I'm always a little wary of purchasing these silver age volumes because I'm used to the storytelling practices of today's creators. I enjoyed some of the classic Spider-Man and X-Men stuff like Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut and the Dark Phoenix Saga, but like I said I'm always wary.

The fact that the article highlights how Simonson inserts some light-hearted stuff makes it more appealing, though.

Back in the day, I had the available cash to get two of each comic I wanted; one pair being the Simonson run with Thor. One set is secured in plastic, untouched; the other set, bent and damaged due to the dozens upon dozens of times I pulled them out and reread the series. I could not get enough of Simonson's Thor.

When my two boys were old enough for me to read comics to them, one of the sets I pulled out to read to them was Simonson's Thor.

To this day, they remember that Thor Storyline over any and all other comics (and regular books) I read to them. They would pay rapt attention to the Surtur story; wring their hands after the rainbow bridge was destroyed; laughed when Thor became the Frog of Thunder, and were entranced over Thor's journey into Hel, even so much as being sad for the Executioner and his fate.

To this day, I still have that bent and damaged set setting beside my computer desk, and STILL take them out and read them, because the stories were THAT good.

Simonson's Thor run = one of the best series Marvel ever allowed.

I think I now know one of the things to get my boys for Christmas.

EDIT: Just remembered a few year ago, when I'd told one of my boys jokingly that if they didn't get the yardwork done, I'd chain em to the lawn mower til it was done (again, jokingly said); my boy's response, "You think to collar Balder the Brave? I think not!" (A line by Balder when Karnilla was trying to manipulate Balder into being her slave for her help in aiding Asgard from Surtur). Thought that was worth mentioning.

I liked how Simonson shook up the THOR character by bringing in Beta Ray Bill and showing that there was indeed another person that could indeed be deemed worthy of Mjolnir. ODIN's solution of trial by combat for the hammer was mainly to teach THOR humility at long last then employ the correct solution by having a new hammer forged for Beta Ray Bill. It also was then used to strip THOR of the Don Blake identity and remove that ludicrous 60 second time limit THOR suffered from if he was separated from the hammer.

Future writers would bring in others such as the future Thor known as Dargo, and Eric Masterson, though Eric had to be merged with THOR and later slowly prove his worthiness of the hammer's power.

However it made total sense to me back in ish 390 of THOR when Steve Rogers was able to lift the hammer. If the original Captain America cannot pickup THOR's hammer, something is indeed wrong.

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

Definitely getting this on Friday

#7 is one of my favourite comic panels of all time.

Somewhere in a box I possess Simonson's entire Thor run. One day, I must hunt them all out and re-read them. But from that entire run - filled with magificently awesome moments that it was - there is still one panel that sends shivers down my spine and causes me to pause to reflect on heroism.

"He stood alone at Gjallerbru. And that is enough."

Even now, not having seen that panel for years, it still gave me that shiver. That is real writing power.

I have to again echo everyone's comments; I'll probably get this collected as well because it's one of those rare special beasts in comics that stands untouched by the passage of time. I felt enormously disappointed the next issue after Simonson left and they went back to ludicrous stuff that devalued a lot of went before.

Walt really needs to write more. Maybe one day he'll come back to Thor and make it truly great again.


S.

I remember reading some of the issues during this run, particularly when Beta Ray came along. Sadly I don't have any of those old issues and now don't have the funds to buy the omnibus.