The mythical Norse god of thunder, lord of the living lightning, in the modern world...

Thor published by Marvel Comics

Thor, vol. 1 1992 (HC TPB) 144 pages

Written by J. Michael Straczynski. Pencils by Oliver Coipel. Inks by Mark Morales.
Colours: Laura Martin. Letters: Chris Eliopoulos. Editor: Warren Simons, Alejandro Arbona.

Reprinting: Thor (3rd series) #1-6 (2007-2008)

Rating: * * (out of 5)

Number of readings: 1

It seems everytime you turn around these days, comics companies are restarting familiar titles from #1. Still, this time they can justify the renumbering because, apparently, Thor and his entire Asgardian pantheon had been killed off previously.

It's still the same continuity, though, the story simply picking up the pieces. Thor is just hanging about in limbo when he is approached by his mortal alter ego, Dr. Donald Blake, who basically tells him he's only as dead as he wants to be, and can will himself back into existence. So he does. Then he tells him he can will Asgard back into existence. So he does (in the middle of the American Midwest, yet!) And then Thor goes about willing his people back into existence, their souls having sought refuge in human hosts scattered throughout the world.

And that lack of logic is one of the fundamental problems with this new series. Stories dealing with magic can always require a certain amount of suspension of disbelief -- but still: Thor recreating Asgard simply by willing it so? He's the God of Thunder...not The Guy Who Can Will Matter Out of Nothing! Or the Guy Who Can Come Back from the Dead Simply 'Cause He Wants Too!

And this series doesn't really explain much for the newbie. It's not entirely clear how Thor and his fellows died, or when. I doubt a new reader would even realize Don Blake is supposed to whack his stick on the ground to turn into Thor (the visuals often show him holding his stick in the air, leaving the reader to infer that he brings it down on the ground). And the first half dozen issues are partly about just resurrecting all the old Asgardian faces -- which will have no resonance if you aren't already a fan.

Yet in other ways, writer Straczynski seems to cavalierly alter the concept to suit himself. His treatment of Thor/Blake is just odd (admittedly, maybe this was established by earlier writers -- the last time I read a Thor comic, he had long since discarded the Blake identity). But he seems to treat them as two different people -- stranger, there's a scene where Thor's having a battle, and we cut to limbo where Blake and...Thor are dispassionately observing the battle. How many Thors are living under that winged helmet anyway? It's as if Straczynksi feels the fantasy aspect means logic doesn't apply.

But the biggest problem is that it's sloooowwww, with nothing much happening. With little story logic to Thor's re-establishing of Asgard, Straczynski just pads out moments, relying a lot on Oliver Coipel's visuals to carry things along. And, yeah, the art is pretty breathtaking at times, with Coipel (and the colourist) beautifully rendering the flat prairies of the Oklahoma and the medieval ramparts of Asgard, nicely capturing the rustic simplicity of a small town diner or the earth shaking power of a thunderstorm, delivering realism in scenes that require it, and comical exaggeration in the light-hearted scenes (of which there are a few) and the imposing power of the super heroics (though his Thor is a bit boxy and ugly). The effectiveness of the art definitely adds to the atmosphere, making the scenes more appealing.

But they are padded. A scene where Thor is told that he can't build Asgard there leads to a cute-but-obvious joke/punchline...except it takes four pages to get there! Four beautifully rendered pages, sure...but it is just for an obvious joke. Likewise, another scene where a local visits Asgard has some nice images of the character wandering the empty avenues, his shadow splayed dramatically against walls...but it is just a scene of a guy walking. (And Coipel's more realist Asgard lacks that otherworldly Kirby-esque splendour of earlier Thor comics).

The first action scene occurs in #3, as Thor has a showdown with erstwhile buddy Iron Man (this being post-Civil War, when Iron Man had been less than upstanding). But it's basically just to show what a bad ass Thor is as he trounces Iron Man, not really meant to be suspenseful or telling a plot.

The first "plot" issue is probably issue #4, in which Blake goes to a war torn African country as part of Doctors Without Borders. But I use plot only in its loosest possible definition. This also reflects some of the hubris I've noted in other work by Straczynski. Throwing in the idea of Doctors Without Borders is potentially interesting, tackling some real world issues...but it smacks of pedantic smugness, as if just by tossing it in, Straczynski feels he has elevated his readers' consciousness. But Straczynski says very little with it, his characters are there to mouth statistics more than be real people. And though I'm all for super heroes tackling real issues, this feels too much like trivializing rather than tackling the issue. And I'm just not sure all-powerful Thor is the ideal character to use (in the previous issue, Thor visits post-Katrina New Orleans for a similarly awkward juxtaposition of fantasy and reality).

And, again, there's a lack of plausibility. Blake goes to Africa, does next to nothing medical, and is back in Oklahoma by the next issue. Um, I think stints with Doctors Without Borders usually last months.

The fifth issue is the first one where Thor battles a foe worthy of his power...yet still fails to quite create a sense of suspense where we worry whether Thor will triumph. It starts out with Thor investigating a mysterious menace, but again just seems the barest bones of a story. And like all the issues -- including the African sojourn -- is really just part of the resurrecting Asgard theme.

The final issue in this collection once more gets back to almost nothing happening...yet still manages to end on something of a cliffhanger as Thor lies sprawled in the dust in the final page, injured, possibly near death (well, as near death as one can be who can will himself into life).

Now the fact that the plotting is thin, the action minimal, and the logic tenuous, maybe leaves characterization as the point. But Thor is largely stony faced and stoic, Blake is, well, a cypher -- and neither Straczynski nor Coipel seem to remember he was supposed to be lame and the walking stick more than an affectation. There's a scene where Thor expresses an emotional conflict over whether he should try and resurrect his father, Odin. It's a nice idea...but would've been nicer to have portrayed it, perhaps teasing it through a few issues and scenes, to see Thor's inner turmoil -- not simply have him state it impassively in one scene. The supporting Asgardians don't have a lot to do (Volstagg gets a few cute comic relief moments). And though a couple of the town's folk recur enough that you can recognize them, they still haven't progressed much beyond walk ons.

Straczynski gets some cute scenes out of the town's folk trying to adjust to their Asgardian neighbours. On one hand, it's amusing to see these larger-than-life characters from the POV of the man in the street, on the other hand, it depersonalizes the Asgardians, bleeding the "human" out of super human protagonists.

With that being said, the whimsical scenes are often the best, even if sometimes problematic (though an amusing scene, do we really want to know about Asgardian waste disposal?).

Straczynski has characters repeatedly state the cycle of the Norse Gods has now been broken, and their future is theirs to fashion. Basically, it sounds like Straczynski (and his editor) were tired of past Thor writers endlessly recycling Norse myths. At the same time, that's kind of the point of Thor -- it's not just a team of super heroes who happen to be named after gods.

As well, Straczynski seems to fall into the trap of a lot of comics writers, who seems mainly interested in imprinting his own vision of the series -- the way the characters repeatedly say how the old pattern is broken seems as though Straczynski figures as long as he repeats it often enough any writer after him will have to obey his edict. It reminds me a bit of John Byrne (and others). But, of course, it's silly. His "vision" will only last as long as his tenure. Then a new writer, with a greater interest in Norse mythology, will come along, and reintroduce the old legends. Heck, even though the relocating of Asgard to small town America is a cute idea -- it's a pretty limiting one, and I suspect it won't be too long before some later writer relocates Asgard back to its mythical realm.

The only thing permanent in comics...is impermanence.

But Straczynski's writing is full of contradictions. He insists the old cycles (ie: the old comics) won't be repeated...even as he spends the first few issues simply re-introducing the old cast. He implies that he's bringing a new broom of creativity to the comic...and then for six issues, it feels like he's spinning his wheels, hoping for inspiration to strike.

Striking visuals and buoyed by some cute, light-hearted scenes, but this first collection doesn't tell a story, doesn't really flesh out the personalities much, and, perhaps worst of all, doesn't really offer any hint that it's going to get better!

This is a review of the story as it was serialized in Thor comics.

Cover price: ___

Thor: Alone Against the Celestials 1992 (SC TPB) 64 pages

Written by Tom DeFalco. Pencils by Ron Frenz. Inks by Brett Breeding.
Colours: various. Letters: John Workman. Editor: Ralph Macchio.

Reprinting: Thor (1st series) #387-389 (1988) - with covers

Rating: * * * * (out of 5)

Number of readings: 2

Published by Marvel Comics

The mighty Thor -- norse God and super hero -- accidentally crashes on the planet Pangoria -- a pirate planet ruled over by a ruthless despot. But that turns out not to be the problem. Instead Thor discovers the planet has been judged by an enigmatic race of cosmic giants, the Celestials, and, having been found wanting, it is slated for destruction. Thor sets out to save the world, but even his might is nigh useless against a kilometre high being -- a being he can barely get to notice his existence, let alone defeat.

Alone Against the Celestials is an enjoyable enough adventure, benefitting from the very awesomeness of its cosmic adversaries (who had, apparently, already appeared in a Thor story years earlier and subsequently collected as Thor: The Eternals Saga). There's more than a little sense that writer Tom DeFalco is trying to evoke some of the cosmic grandeur, and the ineffability of the universe, that Lee and Kirby did in their classic Coming of Galactus story, decades earlier. The unknowable celestials aren't bad guys in the strictest sense of the term...in fact, as beings, they seem to exist almost wholly outside Thor's ability to comprehend (and he's a demigod!) Various abstract ideas are tossed around, like Thor wondering if the Celestials exist on such a separate level of reality that they can be in more than one place at once. Though there's plenty of action, it manages to seem like more than a simple, run-of-the-mill slugfest, and the sequence where Thor enters a celestial's body is effectively head trippy.

At first blush, having Thor defend a planet whose inhabitants don't entirely seem deserving of his help seems a curious narrative choice (though there are good Pangorians, like a woman who befriends Thor). But that becomes its own interesting character point, as Thor is so committed to his code of honour, and defending the defenseless, that he will risk his very life (knowing the celestials are more powerful than him) to defend even this disreputable world.

The art by Ron Frenz and Brett Breeding is serviceable enough, and part of the appeal when reading an older TPB is an aspect of nostalgia. There are no computer tricks, or computer lettering, and the colour is single tone, but nicely presented on crisp, white paper. It's refreshingly unpretentious art (nicely contrasting with a plot that is a little pretentious). At first glance, Frenz's style is more than a little reminiscent of John Buscema, the old master who used to draw Thor for a spell. Though Frenz isn't quite on Buscema's level. Still, the evocation of other artists (including some decidedly Jack Kirby-esque touches) is enormously appealing.

And just as Frenz is a decent artist, evoking, but falling short of, older artists, so writer DeFalco presents an interesting, ambitious story, but where the dialogue and characterization is more serviceable than exceptional. Even Thor's speech patterns seem oddly half-hearted -- sometimes he speaks in his patented "thee"s and "thou"s, and sometimes he doesn't so much. As well, though DeFalco nicely tries to capture Thor's do or die determination, unflinchingly throwing himself into a fight he doesn't for a minute think he can win, in other ways DeFalco's presentation of the character is kind of vague, lacking the dimension some earlier writers were able to bring to the character. Put another way, if you weren't already a fan, or at least familiar with the character, I'm not sure this would make you rush out and buy more.

Still, all in all, this is an enjoyable enough page turner for its 64 pages, benefitting from the genuine cosmic grandeur of its plot. The original issues have been edited slightly to fit them into the page count, but not so that it noticeably affects this story (I'm guessing the missing pages were probably cutaways to sub-plots unrelated to this story).

Original cover price: $6.95 CDN./ $5.95 USA

Thor: The Dark Gods  2000 (SC TPB) 128 pgs.

Written by Dan Jurgens. Pencils by John Romita, Jr., John Buscema. Inks by Klaus Janson, Jerry Ordway.
Colours: Gregory Wright. Letters: Richard Starkings. Editor: Tom Brevoort.

Reprinting: Thor (2nd series) #9-12 (1998)

Rating: * * (out of 5)

Number of readings: 2

Published by Marvel Comics

Asgard, home of the Norse gods, has fallen to dark gods and Thor must save it, with the help of a couple of allies (like his buddy Hercules) in the climax. The Dark Gods is one of those collected sagas in which the story, through sub-plots, had been around for a few prior issues -- at times you can feel like you're coming in at the climax, rather than getting a full plot. Still, the story trundles along reasonably briskly, there's plenty of hitting and fighting and people exclaiming in "thee"s and "thou"s -- all the stuff you'd expect from a Thor story. But it's all a little...bland.

Jurgens plotting lacks complexity and ideas are only half-heartedly developed. Mijolnir, Thor's hammer, gets broken in one scene (which has happened before, though it's described as unprecedented) causing Thor to revert to his current mortal guise of Jake Olson in mid-battle -- yet later, he just puts it back together as easily as though it were a snap-together toy. The climactic resolution just seems like a lame Deus ex machina ending (though, perhaps appropriate for a story about gods) and things lack verisimilitude. Asgard doesn't seem like a real society (as it has in other Thor stories I've read), you can't believe the Dark Gods could've conquered it or, if they had, that Thor could win it back so easy. Jurgens can't decide if he's depicting a war, or simply a superhero free for all. The Dark Gods themselves are insufficiently defined as individuals, despite potential for motivation. Instead of drawing upon real myths, as have other Thor writers, Jurgens creates his own evil pantheon, but fails to create anything more than a minor goon squad.

The story kicks off with John Buscema penciling the first chapter (with Ordway's inks) and one can be forgiven for feeling a giddy, nostalgic rush. After all, Buscema used to draw Thor back in the '70s, and I had thought he retired a few years ago. Seeing this giant of the biz back in action, his knack for realism, and seeing Thor as he draws Thor, might explain why the early part of the saga seemed somewhat promising.

I also enjoyed seeing Thor back doing the Shazam-thing, having a mortal alter ego, something that had been dropped from Thor when last I read the comics.

Then the more stylized regular art team of John Romita, Jr. and Klaus Janson reclaim the reins for most of the story. Romita-the-younger's current Frank Miller-inspired style worked for me better than I expected -- but it lacks Miller's subtlety and dynamiic composition (at least the subtlety and dynamism Miller had in the 1980s). As well, Romita Jr. never quite creates a believable foundation. Instead of conjuring up a god-like presence among mortals, as Buscema does, Romita Jr.'s Thor looks like a comicbook drawing among other comicbook drawings. And during some of the climactic battles, I had trouble figuring out what was going on in spots.

This is a review of the story as it was serialized in Thor comics.

Cover price: $__ CDN./$15.95 USA.

Thor: The Eternals Saga, vols. 1 & 2 2008 (SC TPB) app. 210 pages each

Written by Roy Thomas, with Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio. Pencils by Keith Pollard, with John Buscema, and Walt Simonson, Arvell Jones. Inks by Chic Stone, with Ernie Chan, Gene Day.
Colours: various. Letters: Joe Rosen. Editor:

Volume One: reprinting: Thor (1st series) #283-291, Thor Annual #7 (1979-1980) - with covers
Rating: * * * * (out of 5)

Volume Two: reprinting: Thor (1st series) #292-301 (1980) - with covers
Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of 5)

Number of readings: 1

This is a massive epic comprising about twenty issues -- and even then makes references to previous Thor adventures (even going back a hundred issues!), as well as being intended as a sequel to Jack Kirby's The Eternals series. Along the way, we get the origin of Thor's Asgardian realm, and a lengthy adaptation of Richard Wagner's operatic Ring cycle. And it represents much of what's good...and, arguably, what's bad about comics. It is deliriously ambitious in concepts...and overly obsessed with comic book minutia and patching over continuity problems. And by its very length (and with chief instigator Roy Thomas bowing out before the end) seems as though the creators themselves had trouble staying on top of their ideas.

And it's spread over two TPBs but, other than a "1" and "2" unobtrusively on the spine, there's nothing that obviously alerts a casual purchaser to that fact (no "volume one" or "volume two" as part of the cover title), so they might be surprised (and miffed) to find the first volume ends on a cliffhanger.

Anyway, each volume has its own focus.

Volume One details Thor's encounters with The Eternals, both a millennium before in a flashback tale (from Annual #7) and in modern times. The Eternals are a race of superhumans created by the star-spanning Celestials, enigmatic giants as far above Thor's god-like race as Thor is above mortals. The Celestials have been guiding earth evolution for hundreds of thousands of years and are now in the process of their final judgment on the result -- a judgment that, if negative, will mean the end of life on earth.

This is all drawn from The Eternals' own cancelled series. Yet it's explained as you go, so you don't really need to know much about it or be familiar with the Eternals.

And the ensuing half score of issues are an entertaining romp.

Super hero comics are the great storytelling stew, mixing genres with delirious abandon, so there's an unapologetic blending of urban cities and otherworldly realms, super hero action, magic, and science fiction. Thor attempts to confront the Celestials, then allies himself with the Eternals, getting drawn into a few conflicts with the Eternals' opposite numbers, the evil Deviants, eventually building to a climactic battle between Thor and his Eternal allies...and his own Asgardian people, led by his sire Odin (as well as the Greek gods) who, incomprehensibly to Thor, seem to have sided with the Celestials.

It's pretty entertaining. Like a lot of comic book epics of yesteryear, it's comprised of smaller arcs within the greater epic, though unlike some, it remains focused on the basic story (there are no unconnected filler issues). And there's even a mad wackiness that evokes Jack Kirby such as an issue involving Mexican masked wrestlers (a real life entertainment) in which an evil Deviant, who works as such a wrestler, breaks off a battle with Thor...because he has a professional match scheduled!

Writer Thomas keeps things bouncing along, capturing Thor's mix of emotive bombast and steely determination in the face of daunting odds. And he threads question to provoke and intrigue as we go, such as why Odin seems opposed to resisting the Celestials.

Admittedly, there can always be a problematic aspect to using one series -- Thor -- to wrap up loose ends from another -- The Eternals (something that is not uncommon in comics where series get cancelled prematurely...but are still meant to be part of the company's continuity). It means that the titular hero has to share space with others...even as those others are ultimately guest stars and can't really be afforded as much space as their fans might like.

The art is handled by Walt Simonson on the Annual (a few years before he would take over the comic as both writer and artist for an acclaimed run), John Buscema for a few issues, and mainly Keith Pollard. Simonson is almost unrecognizable inked by Ernie Chan, one of those inkers who tends to impose his style on the pencils -- but Chan has an attractive style, so the result is decent. Buscema's issues, coming at the end of a long stint as Thor penciller, seem a bit uninspired, but I suspect that has a lot to do with Chic Stone's inks -- Stone also inking Pollard. It isn't that Stone is a bad inker -- he provides clean, efficient lines, but is rather devoid of style or mood, making the art flat and workmanlike. Still, it tells the tale well enough. And with the emphasis on plot and machinations and exposition, it is the writing more than the art that is intended to turn the pages.

And though volume one builds to a cliffhanger, it is resolved quickly at the beginning of the second volume as the story veers off in a wildly different direction (now drawn entirely by Pollard). Though theoretically part of the Eternals/Celestial arc, Thor -- and writer Thomas -- get distracted by a new idea as Thor tracks down Odin's sentient, disembodied eye which relates to him events from the distant past. And what ensues is both Thomas' attempt to reconcile Marvel's Thor with its mythological inspiration (though I think later Thor writers more-or-less ignored Thomas' explanation), and also Thomas' desire to adapt Wagner's operas into comics. It's an audacious thing to do. Nor is Thomas simply inspired by the operas, but faithfully adapts them, and that comprises the bulk of this collection.

But it's problematic on a number of levels. For one, years later Thomas adapted the cycle again, this time with Gil Kane, which I had already read, meaning from my point of view I'm reading a TPB collection of a story I already had. And given how literally Thomas stuck to the source material in Thor, it's unclear why he even wanted to repeat himself (but I suppose he had no way of knowing Marvel would one day republish his Thor issues as a TPB). Strangely, I think I actually enjoyed this version more than the later version. Maybe it's because, as much as Kane might be a more dynamic artist than Pollard...there can also be something a bit cold and aloof about his art. Maybe it's because, though Thomas recycles the same scenes and dialogue, there's just an extra line or two to these originals that humanizes the characters more.

Other ways these run of issues are problematic is because it hues pretty closely to the myth and fantasy aspect of the character, meaning it lacks that narrative stew appeal I earlier applauded. As well, Thor spends a huge run of issues...as a bystander, observing events. And even though, in the convoluted logic of the tale, the protagonists of the story look like Thor...it's not quite the same thing. Furthermore, the Eternals are reduced to a cameo at the beginning and end of the collection, when the plot finally returns to the Celestials story that started it.

Thomas leaves the project shortly before the end, with the writing chores taken over by Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio (Macchio and Gruenwald were credited with plotting assistance earlier so that one can assume their story was, more or less, what Thomas intended). Anyway, when the two take over, there's some quick explanations that kind of clarifies motivation, as if they realized Thomas had let it get a bit too muddled. In fact there's a rather crucial bit relating to astrology and cosmic cycles that isn't really explained until you read an editorial published with one of the comics -- an editorial Marvel thoughtfully reprinted in this collection (albeit, at the end of the volume).

Though if the "why" is explained, a lot of the "how" remains vague...a problem with magic-based stories.

Still, the plot lifted from Wagner's opera(s) is interesting enough -- particularly if you're unfamiliar with it. It's not like there isn't an entertainment aspect to it...but it just doesn't feel wholly like a Thor story.

Once the saga finally comes back to the Celestials in the double-sized 300th issue...it all seems a bit anti-climactic. Thor remains mainly a bystander, and the solution to Odin's long ago capitulation to the Celestials seems like a Shaggy Dog story. There's reams of dialogue harkening back to various Thor comics as if to pretend this was all foreshadowed years earlier. And when the Celestials are finally thwarted...it requires bringing in characters and ideas that basically come out of nowhere.

Still, it does all get completely wrapped up, with the collection including #301 which resolves a dangling plot thread from #300.

I enjoyed the first volume, with its emphasis on Thor and Eternals and Celestials, and the mysterious machinations of Odin, and its eclectic plotting and introduction of the dilemma, more than the second volume which is largely a perfectly decent adaptation of Richard Wagner's operas, book-ended not altogether effectively by the Celestials Saga. Yet one can't divorce the first volume from the second. I mean, you can to an extent. Despite ending on a cliffhanger issue, and with the greater conflict still unresolved, there are enough mini-arcs and issue or two (or three) conflicts that do get resolved, that there's still an enjoyability to it. And the volume two/opera material is entertaining and full of twists and cosmic machinations -- and my ambivalence may stem a lot from simply having read Thomas & Kane's later re-telling of it (which a lot of people picking this up won't have).

But as a massive epic, it ends up a bit unwieldy, possing intriguing questions with anti-climactic solutions, stretching the ideas a bit past their tension point, and trying to graft together two epic arcs that don't fully complement each other. And the art, though serviceable, is a bit flat.

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