in no order,
Simonson’s Thor
Miller’s Daredevil
Byrne’s FF
Stern’s Avengers
Claremont’s Uncanny X-Men
David’s Incredible Hulk

The “Alone Against the Celestials” story fairly early on his run was very good and wouldn’t be out of place on Simonson’s run. But, yes, most of DeFalco’s run was a throwback to early Lee/Kirby times. Eric Masterson was a great character, though.

I’ve read somewhere that he became Thor’s writer following Simonson because he KNEW that the poor guys that followed that run would take a lot of punishment no matter what and, as EiC, decided to draw the criticism to himself instead of some poor schlub. I’m not sure if that is true, but it does make sense.

DeFalco’s FF is not defensible, on the other hand. It had a terrible start and didn’t improve much for many years (I read it because in Brazil Marvel comics are published on anthologies). It DID get better in the end, but it was too late. Paul Ryan’s art is decent, though.

Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)

I will say that Defalco’s ‘God War’ saga was well done, and though it didn’t have the regular goosebump moments of Simonson’s run, when they finally brought back Odin- that was a helluva double-splash page that did give with the chills, as well as the final defeat of Seth’s army and Surtur capping what Simonson had started.

But I’ve never seen a run on Thor to equal Simonson’s.

I also hated the appearance of all those direct-sales only books. The nearest comic-book store in those days was in Tulsa, about an hour away, and I didn’t even drive. But I don’t know what these people are talking about with the Secret Wars. I bought it at the local grocery store. (Never got the last issue, though. Still don’t have it.) Several of the other limited series of the time were sold at the grocery store, too, but they usually only had one or two issues from each. (That was really annoying.)

But none of them can touch Simonson’s Thor (except for Elektra: Assassin, but that was only 8 issues). The stakes were higher, the action was more thunderous, and the melodrama more gripping than any other ’80s Marvel I’ve read. I wish he’d drawn every issue. Nothing against Buscema, but he’s no Simonson. In fact, I never finished the run because the art took such a dip. Looking objectively, Buscema’s art is fine. It just lacks Simonson’s panache.

In fact, I would argue that, though I’m racking my brain for competition…

And, yes, this Thor run is truly one of the greatest things Marvel ever put out.

Held up to Simonson’s runs, DeFalco and Frenz’s Thor and DeFalco and Ryan’s FF are just awful. It reinforces my theory to never let an editor in chief anywhere near the writer’s chair if he’s not Stan Lee in the sixties.

In the early ‘Eighties, I was still buying my comics from the local newsagent, so references to the Balder mini-series, was incredibly frustrating. It wasn’t just Thor, the X-Men seemed to reference at least half a dozen mini-series: Wolverine & Kitty Pride, X-Men vs the Alpha Flight, Illyanna in Limbo, etc, etc and none of them were available at local retailers. And when they made Secret Wars direct sales only… well, to my adolescent mind that just seemed cruel.

Of course, I was a massive comics fan, so I started to get the train into town and picking up my stash there instead, but how many comic fans didn’t bother? How many fans just stopped reading comics altogether?

Erik goes into the story on his bio page. http://www.savagedragon.com/eriklarsen.htm