Other awesome helmets include those worn by Orion, Peacemaker, and Galactus.

And Ma Hunkel.

C’mon, it’s a lady grabbing a soup pot to beat the hell out of a bunch of gangsters.

of course, in comparison to Simonson, everyone pales in comparison! It’s really impressive how well Simonson’s run works as one long story, and at the same time is all of these wonderful nuggets that read wonderfully on their own. Simonson managed to portray the grandeur of Thor while still keeping him accessible and interesting. When Walt’s Thor cut loose, you could see why his enemies trembled before him!

If you want a dose of Norse fun, check out
http://www.graphicsmash.com/comics/brathalla.php

fun fun stuff!

we were already into the era of Jim Lee, Erik Larsen, Ron Lim

Ron Frenz is better than all of those guys.

Last Thor thought…Ragnarok was one of the best arcs I’ve read. Really epic stuff. Too bad Andrea Devito’s art was all over the place.

I gave up after the first issue. Didn’t like it very much, myself.

Further reason that whoever is in charge of creating those top five lists around here should do a top five hats.

Other awesome helmets include those worn by Orion, Peacemaker, and Galactus.

I did too, though I didn’t finish it for some reason. Not innovative, exactly, but a nice take on Thor, who is usually a tough character to write (though Jurgens, on the whole, did a great job).

Lee and Kirby is the original one of course. Kirby’s best run at Marvel was his Fantastic Four. But when he went to DC in the late 60′s, the new saga he wanted to tell wasn’t a FF type of book, it was pretty much a sequel to his THOR themes of mythology vs mankind. I think the main thing that makes FF the more remembered book when you think of classic Lee/Kirby was the art. FF was, except for the early issues, inked faithfully and boldly by Joe Sinnott. Thor was inked by Vince Coletta who had a feeble, scratchy kind of brush stroke. Even worse, he often “omitted” some of King Kirby’s details and backgrounds. ONe of the worse inker ever. I really hope he doesn’t get into your short list of inker week!

Walter Simonson’s Thor was also my favorite. Simonson is one of the rare artists who can really do justice to Kirby’s creations. Byrne is another, Mignola, John Romita Jr., Bruce Timm, Darwyn Cooke. Maybe one or two others. I, an ultimate Kirby fan, must admit the unadmittable: I prefer Simonson’s Thor to the Lee/Kirby! Gasp! Choke! Yep. While Lee and Kirby’s mythology wasn’t really Norse. It was a mixt of many elements with strong influences from their jewish background, science fiction, etc. Simonson really got into the Norse mythology with the Midgar serpent, the big Ragnarok build up (remember the repetitive big “DOOM” sound from the very first issue?), the introduction of Malekith the dark elf, etc. While Kirby’s Asgard was more an spacey, alien city, Simonson’s Asgard really looked Norse! Later Thor got a Viking armor and a beard. Simonson also explored more fully the other Asgardian like the Enchantress, the Executionner (who got a noble death), Balder (with his own mini). Thor was so hot during Simonson’s run that Chris Claremont (who always wanted the spotlight and the best for his mutants) couldn’t resist dipping his X-men into Simonson’s universe in a couple of annuals and mini-series.

John Romita Jr. recent run was cool because, well, because it was drawn by John Romita Jr.! Like I wrote when he got his own entry, Romita Jr. can make any character look cool. I don’t even remember the story lines (sorry Dan Jurgens), I know they weren’t bad, but I remember the run mostly because a JRJR Thor looked good.

And here’s the definitive post about Skurge’s last stand…read it and know the power that is Walt Simonson.

http://daveslongbox.blogspot.com/2005/05/mighty-thor-362-marvel-comics-1985.html

Simonson also brought us one of my all-time favorite bad guys, Malekith the Accursed.

And from the high of Simonson, we get the low of Frenz. Frenz’s art just killed that whole run for me. I mean, it looks great for the 1960s, but by the late ’80s and early ’90s, we were already into the era of Jim Lee, Erik Larsen, Ron Lim, etc. And here’s this guy drawing these clunky-looking Kirby faces. Ugh.

Last Thor thought…Ragnarok was one of the best arcs I’ve read. Really epic stuff. Too bad Andrea Devito’s art was all over the place.

I haven’t read a new Thor comic in at least twelve years, but I’ll snap up any Lee/Kirby back issue that I don’t have (when i can afford them).

To me, he was hero number one. Yea, verily.

Sure, the execution’s a little…off; the Ye Olde Generick Heroe-Speake in particular kills me every time. But they tried. Somebody had that much imagination, that much pure joy in the medium, that much understanding of what it could be. As a reason to love comics? Right up there at the top.

I’ll probably get killed for this, but I actually like the whole Jurgens thing where Thor takes over the world. Certainly not great comics, but very entertaining and interesting.