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About This Series
Issues
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About This
Series:
Issues:
Marvel should feel
very honored about Thor. Their version of "The God of Thunder" is
far more popular than the god from Norse mythology on which he is
based! The Thor from Norse mythology has been around for
thousands of years. Marvel's Thor has been around since 1962
("Journey Into Mystery" #83). Yet, Stan Lee's version of Thor is
instantly tied to the character.
The series called "Mighty Thor" (Series 1) started out as "Journey Into Mystery". Thor's first appearance in that comic was in issue #83 (August, 1962). He continued to be the spotlight character through issue #125. When issue #126 came around, the series was retitled, "Mighty Thor". It lasted until an impressive issue #502 (September, 1996). Later "Mighty Thor" series have developed since, but this will most likely be the longest-lasting.
A crazy thing, Thor was dropped from his own series! Starting with issue #503, the series title was changed back to "Journey Into Mystery". It ended with issue #521 in 1998.
The series called "Mighty Thor" (Series 1) started out as "Journey Into Mystery". Thor's first appearance in that comic was in issue #83 (August, 1962). He continued to be the spotlight character through issue #125. When issue #126 came around, the series was retitled, "Mighty Thor". It lasted until an impressive issue #502 (September, 1996). Later "Mighty Thor" series have developed since, but this will most likely be the longest-lasting.
A crazy thing, Thor was dropped from his own series! Starting with issue #503, the series title was changed back to "Journey Into Mystery". It ended with issue #521 in 1998.
Issues:
#448: June,
1992. THIS is a good issue. Ranks right up there with the
classic Thor comics of the 1970s and 80s. It even comes from one
of those experimental stages in "Mighty Thor", this stage being the
substitute Thor played by Eric Masterson. In all, THAT
experimental stage worked. It was a cool way to introduce a new
superhero character. As you may know, the Eric Masterson Thor
later became the superhero Thunderstrike.
Eric Masterson's Thor worked for two reasons. One, Thor's basic appearance was not changed that much to indicate any sort of radical change. Two, this version of Thor spoke in an irreverant American manner, without the "thee" and "thoust" and so on, so he was easier to understand and had a snappier personality. I'm surprised to say that I liked the Eric Masterson version of Thor. When he was later spun off as Thunderstrike, the only changes made in his character were in his costume, and minor ones at that. Thunderstrike's long hair was now in a ponytail, and he wore no mask and helmet. The cape was gone, but he had the basic look of the outfit and, of course, a hammer.
This issue is awesome! It starts with a long fight between Thor and Spider-Man. This Thor is more level-headed than Spider-Man and finally makes our favorite web-slinger cool down his misguided attitude. Spider-Man had mistakenly accused this new Thor of being a criminal. All this Thor was trying to do was help the reformed criminal Absorbing Man win back his girl, the still criminal Titania. Unfortunately, Titania's feisty attitude towards Absorbing Man causes destruction and all kinds of trouble.
Spider-Man and Thor team-up but they do NOT like each other. Eric Masterson Thor thinks Spider-Man is just a smart-mouthed wimp, and Spider-Man thinks this new Thor is a loser compared to the original. It takes the additional help of a special police unit that handles super-types, Lt. Stone's Code Blue, to help stop the chaos. At the end Titania and Absorbing Man get back together and everything is fine. Will she be reformed, too?
Great writing and art by the combined efforts of Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz. Al Milgrom did the finished art. This was a pretty good creative team-up and is "true" Marvel. This was "Mighty Thor" in its final throes of goodness.
The backup story to this issue is a "Tales of Asgard" feature that stars the various Norse god characters in their ongoing search for the original Thor. That's kind of interesting, too, but can't compare to the main feature.
#471: February, 1994. This is the conclusion to the well-hyped "Blood & Thunder" storyline. This issue is cool. Thor went crazy. After being rendered unconscious, Odin, king of the Norse gods, is about to kill his own son for the sake of all that's good in the world. Superheroes Doctor Strange and Adam Warlock convince Odin to enter Thor's mind and fight his inner demon.
Odin is the primary hero in this issue. He encounters the beautiful, but evil spirit that Thor's own mind created, called Valkyrie. This is NOT to be confused with Marvel's other Valkyrie character (the sexy blonde in green). Since Valkyrie is the force that now controls Thor, and since it is part of Thor, Odin cannot capture her or kill her without harming Thor himself. It doesn't stop the two from fighting, however.
The fight is just about in Valkyrie's favor when Thor comes out of his stupor and decides to fight the evil being. Thor knew that only HE could beat his own demon and still live. He just had to decide that he didn't want to be evil. Thor kills Valkyrie and returns to normal, in the real world.
Lady Sif, the black-haired beauty in Thor's home of Asgard, is once again the thunder god's love interest. She was always the most appropriate match for that character. I never liked it when they kept changing Thor's girlfriends around. The artwork was pretty good, and so was the story.
#475: June, 1994. The cover's cool...that's about it. Thor was such a great series until around the late 1980s-very early 90s. Then, like with everything else Marvel, it just really lost steam. The reflective cover is a really nice portrait. For a monumental 475th issue, though, you would expect to see some of the popular Thor characters, like Enchantress, Loki, and Sif. The story had a lot of activity, but didn't go anywhere. Thor and Dr. Donald Blake finally became two entities, and Thor changed his costume, but it was really all a gimmicky ruse. No big deal.
#476: July, 1994. At this point, and for quite a while, "Mighty Thor" was just spinning its wheels. Thor has his first great battle in his new armor, introduced last issue, and gets his a** handed to him by The Destroyer. We also see the evil villainess Hela and the ghost of Lorelei, past love interest of Thor. We see Thor and Donald Blake together, again, and Blake has no recollection of anything that happened after the accident that made him Thor. Still, this all seems trite and boring. It's not anywhere near as exciting or monumental as it could have been. I think readers, like myself, just got tired of Marvel messing with the classic Thor character. Like so many of the Marvel titles at this time, they kept dragging out the same story elements without tying up ANY loose ends.
#494: January, 1996. The art saves this issue. I REALLY like the way Enchantress is drawn here. She's drawn really tall, leggy, and bosomy with long, wavy blonde hair. I didn't think it was possible to top the sexiness of her classic green costume, but they certainly did it here. She wears a tight black dress, lowcut and strapless with mini-skirt, and matching elbow-length gloves and hip boots. At this time in the comics, Enchantress and Thor were an item. That was a cool twist, but the Thor saga really suffered in the 1990s. I think Marvel ran out of fresh, interesting ideas for our favorite hammer-slinger. I couldn't get into the story at all, and I never liked how they kept messing with Thor's costume. Here he wears only pants, boots, and his arm bands. Where is the armor and helmet?! Artwork by Mike Deodato, Jr.
Eric Masterson's Thor worked for two reasons. One, Thor's basic appearance was not changed that much to indicate any sort of radical change. Two, this version of Thor spoke in an irreverant American manner, without the "thee" and "thoust" and so on, so he was easier to understand and had a snappier personality. I'm surprised to say that I liked the Eric Masterson version of Thor. When he was later spun off as Thunderstrike, the only changes made in his character were in his costume, and minor ones at that. Thunderstrike's long hair was now in a ponytail, and he wore no mask and helmet. The cape was gone, but he had the basic look of the outfit and, of course, a hammer.
This issue is awesome! It starts with a long fight between Thor and Spider-Man. This Thor is more level-headed than Spider-Man and finally makes our favorite web-slinger cool down his misguided attitude. Spider-Man had mistakenly accused this new Thor of being a criminal. All this Thor was trying to do was help the reformed criminal Absorbing Man win back his girl, the still criminal Titania. Unfortunately, Titania's feisty attitude towards Absorbing Man causes destruction and all kinds of trouble.
Spider-Man and Thor team-up but they do NOT like each other. Eric Masterson Thor thinks Spider-Man is just a smart-mouthed wimp, and Spider-Man thinks this new Thor is a loser compared to the original. It takes the additional help of a special police unit that handles super-types, Lt. Stone's Code Blue, to help stop the chaos. At the end Titania and Absorbing Man get back together and everything is fine. Will she be reformed, too?
Great writing and art by the combined efforts of Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz. Al Milgrom did the finished art. This was a pretty good creative team-up and is "true" Marvel. This was "Mighty Thor" in its final throes of goodness.
The backup story to this issue is a "Tales of Asgard" feature that stars the various Norse god characters in their ongoing search for the original Thor. That's kind of interesting, too, but can't compare to the main feature.
#471: February, 1994. This is the conclusion to the well-hyped "Blood & Thunder" storyline. This issue is cool. Thor went crazy. After being rendered unconscious, Odin, king of the Norse gods, is about to kill his own son for the sake of all that's good in the world. Superheroes Doctor Strange and Adam Warlock convince Odin to enter Thor's mind and fight his inner demon.
Odin is the primary hero in this issue. He encounters the beautiful, but evil spirit that Thor's own mind created, called Valkyrie. This is NOT to be confused with Marvel's other Valkyrie character (the sexy blonde in green). Since Valkyrie is the force that now controls Thor, and since it is part of Thor, Odin cannot capture her or kill her without harming Thor himself. It doesn't stop the two from fighting, however.
The fight is just about in Valkyrie's favor when Thor comes out of his stupor and decides to fight the evil being. Thor knew that only HE could beat his own demon and still live. He just had to decide that he didn't want to be evil. Thor kills Valkyrie and returns to normal, in the real world.
Lady Sif, the black-haired beauty in Thor's home of Asgard, is once again the thunder god's love interest. She was always the most appropriate match for that character. I never liked it when they kept changing Thor's girlfriends around. The artwork was pretty good, and so was the story.
#475: June, 1994. The cover's cool...that's about it. Thor was such a great series until around the late 1980s-very early 90s. Then, like with everything else Marvel, it just really lost steam. The reflective cover is a really nice portrait. For a monumental 475th issue, though, you would expect to see some of the popular Thor characters, like Enchantress, Loki, and Sif. The story had a lot of activity, but didn't go anywhere. Thor and Dr. Donald Blake finally became two entities, and Thor changed his costume, but it was really all a gimmicky ruse. No big deal.
#476: July, 1994. At this point, and for quite a while, "Mighty Thor" was just spinning its wheels. Thor has his first great battle in his new armor, introduced last issue, and gets his a** handed to him by The Destroyer. We also see the evil villainess Hela and the ghost of Lorelei, past love interest of Thor. We see Thor and Donald Blake together, again, and Blake has no recollection of anything that happened after the accident that made him Thor. Still, this all seems trite and boring. It's not anywhere near as exciting or monumental as it could have been. I think readers, like myself, just got tired of Marvel messing with the classic Thor character. Like so many of the Marvel titles at this time, they kept dragging out the same story elements without tying up ANY loose ends.
#494: January, 1996. The art saves this issue. I REALLY like the way Enchantress is drawn here. She's drawn really tall, leggy, and bosomy with long, wavy blonde hair. I didn't think it was possible to top the sexiness of her classic green costume, but they certainly did it here. She wears a tight black dress, lowcut and strapless with mini-skirt, and matching elbow-length gloves and hip boots. At this time in the comics, Enchantress and Thor were an item. That was a cool twist, but the Thor saga really suffered in the 1990s. I think Marvel ran out of fresh, interesting ideas for our favorite hammer-slinger. I couldn't get into the story at all, and I never liked how they kept messing with Thor's costume. Here he wears only pants, boots, and his arm bands. Where is the armor and helmet?! Artwork by Mike Deodato, Jr.