Thor (comics)

AUTHOR: Simonson, Walt

ARTIST: Walt Simonson (illustrator); Sal Buscema (illustrator); Bret Blevins (penciller); Terry Austin (inker); Bob Wiacek (inker); Paul Becton (colorist); George Roussos (colorist); Christie Scheele (colorist); Evelyn Stein (colorist); Bob Pinaha (letterer); John Workman (letterer)

PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION: 1983-1987

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 2007

Publication History

Marvel Comics introduced its interpretation of Norse mythology in 1962’s Journey into Mystery, issue 83. The gods and denizens of Asgard often interfered with Midgard’s (Earth) affairs, such as when Thor’s adopted brother Loki instigates events that lead to the formation of the Avengers. Thor remained the lead feature in Journey into Mystery, and the comic was renamed Thor with issue 126. By the 1980’s, the series was moribund, and editor Mark Gruenwald offered the title to writer and artist Walt Simonson, who had an idea from his childhood that he managed to adapt to contemporary comics.

During his tenure, Simonson not only brought a fresh visual approach to Asgard and Thor but also littered the series with new friends and foes, such as the alien Beta Ray Bill. To signal that something new was happening, Simonson had Beta Ray Bill wielding the hammer Mjolnir on his first cover and, soon after, transformed Thor into the “Frog of Thunder” for three issues, an incarnation that became a fan favorite. Simonson not only explored both Earth and space through his stories but also expanded the supporting cast, spinning off the god Balder into his first miniseries, Balder the Brave. Simonson’s run on Thor, which lasted from 1983 to 1987, was collected in five volumes and published from 2007 to 2009. In 2011, the entire run, including the Balder miniseries, was recolored and collected in a single omnibus edition.

Plot

S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury has Thor study a space vessel, wherein Thor finds the dispossessed alien Beta Ray Bill. After a brief battle, Bill hefts Mjolnir, proving himself worthy enough to hold Thor’s uru hammer. When his plight is explained at Odin’s throne, Odin, also known as the All-Father, grants Bill a similarly powered mace. Thor returns to Midgard, bereft of his mortal guise and takes to living at Avengers Mansion, adopting a new civilian identity as construction worker Sigurd Jarlson.

The narrative reveals that Thor, Beta Ray Bill, and the other Asgardian warriors are pawns of Surtur, a fire elemental. Surtur’s sword of doom, “Twilight,” is taken by Odin and becomes known as the Odinsword, but it is shattered. Surtur forges a new blade, intending to destroy the universe.

Before he can uncover this perfidy, Thor has to dispatch the threat of Malekith, the dark elf who unsealed the Casket of Ancient Winters, which threatened to doom Earth in Surtur’s favor. Surtur is finally revealed as the architect of disaster. After a titanic struggle, Surtur and Odin tumble to their apparent deaths, forestalling Ragnarok (the ultimate destruction of the gods and universe). Instead, Thor is left to rule a devastated Asgard by first fending off Hela, ruler of the underworld.

Thor continues to watch over his beloved Earth and, with Beta Ray Bill’s help, defeats the dark elf Kurse. Loki uses the distraction to briefly turn Thor into a frog, denying Thor the throne. In the meantime, Balder the Brave is in Nornheim, trapped by the Norn queen, Karnilla. He adopts light-generating powers and prepares to join Thor for his journey to Hel, but first he has to rescue Karnilla from the Frost Giants, freeing her from Utgard-Loki’s castle.

Back at the Nornkeep, Balder finds a note from fellow Asgardian warrior Hogun, summoning him to Asgard. Loki briefly takes control of Odin’s throne before he is thrown out in favor of Balder, who builds a new throne for his use, preserving Odin’s in tribute.

Soon after, an unlikely alliance arrives in Hel to challenge Hela for the human souls she stole. Skurge the Execution, once Thor’s sworn foe, sacrifices his axe to destroy Hela’s giant battleship Naglfar. Soon after, he dies a glorious death while guarding Thor’s escape from Hel. Hela takes her revenge, ravaging Thor’s immortal body and trapping him in the mechanical behemoth known as the Destroyer. As Thor seeks freedom, Balder and the Norse gods gird themselves for an attack by the Frost Giants, who think Asgard easy prey in the absence of the All-Father. Kurse, the massive warrior Volstagg, and the Asgardian children battle the Giants but are overwhelmed.

Thor tricks Hela into restoring his body, of which he quickly takes possession, leaving the mindless machine encased in a giant unbreakable crystal. Restored to his vigorous self, Thor returns to Asgard in time to dispatch the Frost Giants.

An impressed Hela grants Skurge passage to Valhalla as Thor visits Loki to discuss what will follow. To remind the trickster that actions have consequences, Thor breaks Loki’s arm.

Volumes

•Thor Visionaries: Walter Simonson, Volume 1 (2008). Collects Thor, issues 337-348. Beta Ray Bill is introduced, and Thor lives incognito in New York.

•Thor Visionaries: Walter Simonson, Volume Two (2009). Collects Thor, issues 349-355 and 357-359. Introduces the primary story line of the Simonson run, in which Thor, Beta Ray Bill, Odin, and the Asgardians battle Surtur.

•Thor Visionaries: Walter Simonson, Volume Three (2009). Collects Thor, issues 360-369. Thor is turned into a frog and attempts to claim his rightful throne in Asgard.

•Thor Visionaries: Walter Simonson, Volume Four (2007). Collects Thor, issues 371-374, and Balder the Brave, issues 1-4. Issue 1 of Balder the Brave takes place after Thor, issue 354, and before Thor, issue 360. Issues 2-4 of Balder the Brave take place after Thor, issue 362. Hela curses Thor. Balder discovers Odin is dead.

•Thor Visionaries: Walter Simonson, Volume Five (2008). Collects Thor, issues 375-382. Thor receives a golden arm. The series concludes as numerous characters step in.

Characters

•Thor, a.k.a. Dr. Donald Blake and Sigurd Jarlson, is the son of Odin and Gaea, the Earth goddess. He is the perfect blend of power and passion, groomed by Odin to be his finest warrior and successor to the throne. The youth grows cocky with his successes, prompting Odin to rob him of his memory and send his essence into the mortal Dr. Donald Blake. In time, Blake finds a wooden staff, which he taps on the ground, transforming him into Thor, the god of thunder. Subsequently, Thor splits his time between defending his mother’s world and battling on behalf of Asgard.

•Balder is the noblest and bravest of Asgard’s inhabitants and Thor’s steadfast best friend. Odin, aware that Balder’s death presaged the coming of Ragnarok, asked his wife Frigga to make the warrior invulnerable while journeying through the nine worlds. Balder reluctantly assumed the throne after the mission ended.

•Beta Ray Bill is a member of the Korbinite race, whose planet was demolished when Surtur destroyed his home galaxy while forging the Twilight sword. Bill won a grueling challenge to become a cybernetic fighter dubbed Beta Ray Bill. While seeking a new world to populate, the Korbinite’s lead ship was attacked by Surtur’s demons, sending it near Earth. Thor investigated and found Bill. When Odin had Bill and Thor battle, Bill won.

•Hela is believed to be the daughter of Loki and Frost Giant Angrboða. When she grew to adulthood, she was tasked by Odin to be goddess of death, ruling the dead in Hel and Niffleheim. Seeking to expand her influence, she is often in conflict with Thor and the Asgardians. For denying her rule, she cursed Thor with eternal life but made his bones brittle so he was vulnerable to attack.

•Loki is the son of Laufey, a king among the Frost Giants of Jotunheim. He came under Odin’s care after Odin slew Laufey in battle. He was brought to Asgard and was made Thor’s brother. Growing up, he and Thor were frequent companions, but Loki’s trickster nature emerged, putting them at odds. He was jealous of Odin and Frigga’s love for Thor. As a result, he sought to sabotage Thor at every turn. He seeks the throne for himself, turning Thor into a frog to prevent him from claiming the role. He ultimately restored Thor and wound up imprisoned.

•Malekith, a.k.a. Lord of the Dark Elves, frequently opposes Odin and the Asgardians, earning the name “the Accursed.” In time, he is banished to a “black limbo,” where he dwells in darkness. Surtur frees him, sending him to Earth to unseal the Casket of Ancient Winters. Later, Odin banishes him to the Dungeon of No Escape. Nevertheless, he escapes and takes Balder prisoner. Eventually, however, another dark elf, Kurse, breaks his neck.

•Odin, a.k.a. All-Father, is a being of unknown origins. He built Asgard. Although he married Frigga, he mates with the Earth goddess Gaea to sire Thor. He rules for countless eons. On more than one occasion, he has withstood the coming of Ragnarok. While proud of his son’s accomplishments, the two have warred over Thor’s affection for his mother’s people, Mankind. As a result, each time Odin seems to die, Thor sits restlessly on his throne, invariably ceding it to Balder the Brave.

•Surtur is the gigantic fiery demon who destroys whole galaxies to forge his Twilight sword, which he intended to use to conquer all life. Instead, it is taken by Odin, who renames it the Odinsword and keeps it. Odin then banishes Surtur to Earth’s molten core.

Artistic Style

Until Simonson took over Thor in the 1980’s, the look and feel of the series and its characters owed their allegiance to the original designs of co-creator Jack Kirby. Even Simonson did his Kirby version during an earlier run on the book with writer Len Wein.

By controlling the story and artwork, Simonson refreshed the franchise for the first time, to great critical and commercial success. He was one of the first artists to fully integrate lettering with his artwork, making each page weighty. John Workman had become Simonson’s personal letterer and used his own design training to complement the layouts, as seen when the Twilight Sword is forged. Simonson put Beta Ray Bill on his first cover, signaling a shift in the series, and replaced the traditional Thor logo with Alex Jay’s Norse-themed one. Simonson also reworked Asgard stylistically, using early Norwegian architecture as the basis for the new look. And though Simonson’s vision of Thor is similar to Kirby’s, the story takes on a completely different feel.

Because of the strict monthly publication schedule, Simonson periodically needed help. Sal Buscema, a longtime Marvel artist, imitated Simonson’s style, taking over for the final stretch of Simonson’s run and illustrating the Balder the Brave miniseries. It is some of the most visually interesting work in Buscema’s career.

Themes

Simonson grew up loving the Marvel age of comics and, as a young reader in 1967, conceived of his own saga. When offered Thor in 1983, he believed the time had come to use the story he had created, which played with Norse mythology in the real world, adapting it within the context of the Marvel Universe. To Simonson, taking over a long-running title meant honoring the past but finding fresh approaches. Because Ragnarok and its elements played such a significant role in the Norse myths, Ragnarok was a motif he wanted to explore across a grand canvas.

He carefully researched the series and modified his own plans, linking the Odinsword, which had shattered three years earlier, to the Twilight Sword, which Surtur forged anew as the story line opened. His sprawling plot stretched from Asgard to Earth to the stars. Simonson set out to provide a history for Odinsword, linking it to Surtur as the sword that would “set fire to everything at the end of time.” Simonson compared the sword to the ring in J. R. R. Tolkien’s epic trilogy Lord of the Rings (1955). As a key plot point, he gave Odin the primary role of delaying the destruction of the universe.

Structurally, Simonson intended to tell short arcs, running roughly four issues long, which would set up his players and slowly reveal Surtur’s role in everything that had come before. The entire battle for the sword runs from Thor, issues 337 to 353, comprising the longest story arc in the character’s history.

Simonson also explores the implications of being able to lift Mjolnir, which led to the creation of Beta Ray Bill. Readers’ reactions to the introduction of this character encouraged Simonson to continue using Beta Ray Bill during the remainder of his tenure on Thor.

Impact

The Marvel Comics releases in the early 1980’s were generally variations on a theme, as editor in chief Jim Shooter promoted a cautionary approach to introducing new characters. Therefore, Simonson’s radical interpretation of Thor caught readers’ attentions. The series stopped looking like Kirby-inspired sameness, and the arrival of the alien Beta Ray Bill quickly announced it was no longer business as usual.

Not only was Beta Ray Bill quickly accepted by fickle readers, but also Simonson’s change in tone, with a humorous three-issue interlude in which Thor transformed into a frog, was welcomed. A tip of the hat to Disney comics artist Carl Barks, the technique was also true to Norse myth, which saw many gods make similar transformations. The “Frog of Thunder” has appeared often ever since.

This celebrated run of Thor has remained with readers and is often cited as a successful way of reinvigorating a series. It has become a series with enduring popularity. It also inspired later Thor-themed comic books, animations, and live-action films.

Films

Thor. Directed by Kenneth Branagh. Paramount Pictures/Marvel Entertainment, 2011. Starring Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, and Anthony Hopkins as Odin, this film is loosely based on the comic book and includes a plot in which Thor is banished to Earth because of his arrogance.

Thor: The Dark World. Directed by Alan Taylor. Walt Disney Pictures/Marvel Entertainment, 2013. Starring Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Anthony Hopkins as Odin, and Christopher Eccleston as Malekith, this film features a plot in which Thor must protect Asgard against the advances of Malekith and his primordial forces.

Thor: Ragnarok. Directed by Taika Waititi. Walt Disney Pictures/Marvel Entertainment, 2017. Starring Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Anthony Hopkins as Odin, and Cate Blanchett as Hela, this film presents a plot in which Thor must escape the Grandmaster of a faraway world in order to stop his half sister Hela from unleashing Ragnarok.

Thor: Love and Thunder. Directed by Taika Waititi. Walt Disney Pictures/Marvel Entertainment, 2022. Starring Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, and Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, this film focuses on Thor's efforts to defeat Gorr, a supernatural being that is on a mission to kill all gods after his own had forsaken his family and people.

Further Reading

Lee, Stan, and Jack Kirby. Tales of Asgard (2011).

Moorcock, Michael, and Walter Simonson. Elric: The Making of a Sorcerer (2007).

Straczynski, J. Michael, and Olivier Coipel. Thor: Rebirth (2007).

Bibliography

Belk, Patrick Scott. "Thor." Comics through Time: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas, edited by M. Keith Booker, ABC-CLIO, 2014, pp. 1795–96.

Buxton, Marc. "Thor Comics Reading Order: Ragnarok for Beginners." Den of Geek!, 5 Apr. 2018, www.denofgeek.com/us/books-comics/thor-ragnarok/268701/thor-comics-reading-order-ragnarok-beginners-guide. Accessed 22 May 2018.

Jones, Gerard, and Will Jacobs. The Comic Book Heroes. Rocklin, Calif.: Prima, 1997.

Nolen-Weathington, Eric, and Roger Ash. Modern Masters, Volume 8: Walter Simonson. Raleigh, N.C.: TwoMorrows, 2006.

Sanderson, Peter. Marvel Universe. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1996.