What is the essential Thor book? If I had to read any specific book, which should it be?
>>81944557
Simonson's run.
>>81944557
Simonson's run
Walt Simonson
Simonson, followed by Gillen's Journey into Mystery followed by Lee/Kirby
>>81944805
>>81944813
>>81944826
>>81944975
How good is the Simonson run? I'm just curious, like do you guys love it?
>>81945071
Walt Simonson basically transformed Thor. Before Simonson, Thor wavered between Norse mythology and a Kirby-esque superscience, leaning towards the super science. Thor spent half his time in space, dealing with cosmic threats like Galactus and the Celestials, accompanied by the hated Recorder.
Simonson junked a lot of that and did a hard shift on the approach. Under his pen, all of the science of Asgard disappeared, returning to a more mythical approach that suited the character better. He focused more on the side-characters, fleshing them out and giving them more personality than they had during the preceding runs, while giving the comic a solid direction that it had lacked since its creation.
See, no one could figure out what the fuck to do with Thor. Some people wanted him as a straight up superhero. Lee and Kirby's first few stories had him as a commie smasher. Others wanted him as a mythical hero, and there were a lot of stories that basically covered what you'd find in a kid's book about Norse myth. And still others wanted him as a straight superhero, Marvel's answer to Superman. Which he was created as. Hell, they used to have Conan-esque flashback stories to Thor fucking around in Viking times or even using Mjolnir to travel back to the time of the Vikings so that he could swing his dick around there.
Simonson took it and gave it a solid direction. The other Asgardians, for years two-dimensional cutouts that existed to coo over Thor's biceps, picked up motives of their own. Asgard was filled out and rules were set down.
With very few exceptions, every Thor comic since Simonson has been built off of what he introduced in his runs. He was that fantastic. The fact that, on fucking /co/ of all places, the first four responses (five, counting mine) are unanimous on Simonson's run, should tell you something.
>>81945442
I looked up the Omnis, fuck me theyre out of print. Fuccccck
>>81945825
Jeez. 140 bucks on Amazon?
Well, it's not like you wouldn't have paid that much for all of his floppies, but still. This may be a case where piracy is regrettably necessary.
>>81946792
>>81945825
Looks like the separate trades are still good, though
>>81945825
Bruh.
Just get the 5 trades of it. Yeah, they're recolors, but so is the omnibus. Also, at least 4 of the 5 are in print and on InStockTrades. I had to get Vol. 1 on Amazon, but it was still something like $11.
I spent a grand total of $60 on Simonson's entire run.
>>81945442
This anon knows his Thor shit.
Also, if you want to read Simonson's sort of "unofficial" sequel/prologue to his Thor run, pick up Ragnarok, currently being published by IDW. It's not really tied into the Marvel Thor stuff, of course, but it features Thor (after a fashion) and is Simonson trying to answer the question "what happens after the Twilight of the Gods?" I imagine it's the story Simonson envisioned as his "The End" story for Thor, but since he hasn't really worked with Marvel for a while, this was his best recourse (and it's all the better for it, really).
>>81948358
ugh, I meant to say "sequel/epilogue"
>>81948358
They called him back for those Hulk issues that had Thor. He probably could've done it, but didn't want to deal with any of the changes that other writers brought in to Thor's status quo.
>>81948673
Totally forgot about that. I even have those comics. His run followed Leinil Yu's run on Indestructible Hulk, right?
>>81948909
I don't remember. I think he only did those two episodes.
Eternals Saga
it's Marvel doesThe Song of the Nibelungs
>>81949582
This. Eternals Saga is amazing.
Also, I like "To Wake the Mangog" which is a Thor epic collection. It's great. Most all of the major Thor collection stories from Lee/Kirby on are great.
