Walt Simonson // Sal Buscema
August 1987
****
Coincidentally, Simonson ends his run at Thor’s 300th issue (subtract Journey into Mystery‘s first 82 Thor-less issues). It’s that rarity, a satisfying climax. Tho’ Simonson’s pace feels rushed, Sal B keeps up w/ his ’60s style. Temporarily residing in enchanted Kirby armor, Thor storms the underworld to lift Hel’s curse upon his brittle bones & then rushes home to save Asgard from frost giants.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #381]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #383]
Archive for the ‘Gods of Asgard’ Category
The Mighty Thor #382
May 3, 2011The Mighty Thor #381
May 2, 2011
Walt Simonson // Sal Buscema
July 1987
****
Having faced the World Serpent & a Satan analog, but cursed w/ immortality, Thor’s a pulverized mess. Simonson finds a brilliant solution: syphon Thor’s soul into the enchanted armor that he’s fought so often! It plays to Buscema’s Kirby-esque strengths as Thor battles the armor on the astral plane.
[continued from Mephisto vs. #4 of 4]
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #380]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #382]
The Mighty Thor #379
April 26, 2011
Walt Simonson // Sal Buscema
May 1987
****
If only Walt S provided art, this would be a superlative issue! As it is, he delivers an A+ script, leaving his pal Sal to do classical three-tier layouts. Thor converses civilly with a wily dragon who’s disguised as the Kirby monster Fin Fang Foom. But it’s the Midgard Serpent, fated to slay Thor!
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #378]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #380]
The Mighty Thor #378
April 25, 2011
Walt Simonson // Sal Buscema
April 1987
***
At four issues & counting, this ongoing plot wouldn’t be out of place in Lee/Kirby’s ’60s run, but it hints at an epic turn. Clad in mystic armor, Thor rescues Loki & an X-Man from a posse of supercharged frost giants. Meanwhile, the gods of Asgard are seizing up, stricken by a mysterious malady.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #377]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #379]
The Mighty Thor #377
April 24, 2011
Walt Simonson // Sal Buscema
March 1987
***
Simonson’s Thor has run low on vision since adopting Buscema for its, art, tho’ the action remains fun. Elves batter & nearly best our hero as he forges new armor in a Pittsburgh factory. Lucky for Thor, Loki kidnaps him as well as X-veteran Iceman in a plan to restore the strength of frost giants.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #376]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #378]
The Mighty Thor #376
April 23, 2011
Walt Simonson // Sal Buscema
February 1987
***
The Kirby style of Sal B. puts Walt S. into a retro mood. His drama of superhero neurosis & shame comes right out of Stan Lee’s playbook: a NYC crowd cheers & reporters jeer as the Thunder God retreats under the blows of the ol’ Absorbing Man. Tho’ Thor carries the day, he’s broken & unconscious!
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #375]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #377]
The Mighty Thor #375
April 22, 2011
Walt Simonson // Sal Buscema
January 1987
***
#375 is that rarity in Simonson’s run: a conventional Thor ish set mostly on Midgard. Loki’s learned of Thor’s curse (tho’ he’s immortal, his bones are breakable), so he pits his step-brother against replicas of bruising foes. Of course, he’s also perking plots in Asgard & parlaying with giants.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #374]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #376]
The Mighty Thor #374
April 21, 2011
Walt Simonson // Sal Buscema
December 1986
****
Thor crosses paths w/ The Mutant Massacre, perhaps the strongest X-over of all time & certainly the tightest. In a noble climax, he builds a funeral pyre for the sewer-dwelling Morlocks. And in augury of a big Simonson event, Thor faces the Death Goddess & learns he’s neither invulnerable nor mortal!
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #373]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #375]
The Mighty Thor #373
April 20, 2011
Walt Simonson // Sal Buscema
November 1986
****
Quiet issues like this one make you miss Walt’s art, esp. now that he’s creating X-Factor w/ his wife. Not coincidentally, #373 picks up when Thor rescues a crucified Angel in NYC sewers, part of the Mutant Massacre. But first, his mournful mood is lifted by a family of BK Italians.
[continued from X-Factor #10]
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #372]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #374]
The Mighty Thor #372
April 19, 2011
Walt Simonson // Sal Buscema
October 1986
***
Where #371 was a British pastiche, #372 owes something to the whimsy of Thor’s Journey into Mystery era. Jane Foster cameos as an unknowing damsel-in-distress whose murder prompts a quick timeloop! The tone’s at odds w/ Simonson’s mythic adventure, as Thor helps a sci-fi timecop to kill a demon.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #371]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #373]
The Mighty Thor #371
April 18, 2011
Walt Simonson // Sal Buscema
September 1986
***
After all the epic fun, this ish is quite a comedown. Balder fills the throne of Asgard (empty since #353), which leaves Thor to resume superheroics on Midgard. His first foe is an homage to the British fascist future cop, Judge Dredd; his second is a slasher demon who’d fit in Moore’s Swamp Thing.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #370]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #372]
The Mighty Thor #369
April 17, 2011
Walt Simonson // Sal Buscema
July 1986
****
It’s the minor arcs of Simonson’s run that show how coherent his vision is. This two-part tale adds medieval motifs to his usual Norse myth. Evil enchantresses & their troll mother (Uglitha—what a name!) lure questing knights into their floating castle. Buscema’s art is almost a Hal Foster homage.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #368]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #370]
The Mighty Thor #368
April 13, 2011
Walt Simonson // Sal Buscema
June 1986
****
Balder has been seduced by sirens on the road to his coronation, while his role is nearly usurped by the elf king from earlier in Simonson’s run. How will Thor (now bearded) rescue him? Sal Buscema, having proved an able partner to Simonson during the Balder mini, now provides his stolid pencils.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #367]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #369]
The Mighty Thor #367
April 12, 2011
Walt Simonson
May 1986
****
Amid much pomp, a new monarch is crowned over Asgard—a nice turn has Thor abdicate to Balder the Brave. The new arc has intrigues aplenty, both romantic & Machiavellian, but the best twist is the worry that royal responsibilities will throw the fraternal bond btw the two men into conflict.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #366]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #368]
Balder the Brave #4 of 4
April 11, 2011
Walt Simonson // Sal Buscema
May 1986
***
Simonson closes the supplement to his superlative run on Thor with satisfying follow-through. He focuses as much on the anti-villain Karnilla as on Balder, now a sort of Sun God, who teaches her of mercy, love, & the burdens of rule. Props to Sal for his clear storytelling & dynamic layouts.
[continued in The Mighty Thor #367]
[last issue: Balder the Brave #3 of 4]
The Mighty Thor #366
April 10, 2011
Walt Simonson
April 1986
****
The climax to the “Frog of Thunder” arc unfolds nicely. Thor arrives in Asgard in time to scotch Loki’s election to the throne, just as a pal lifts the spell that’s turned him into a god-sized toad. In a fun 3-issue tale, Simonson taps the surreal potential of comics that often goes underexploited.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #365]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #367]
The Mighty Thor #365
April 9, 2011
Walt Simonson
March 1986
*****
Thor, trapped in the form of a bullfrog (!), helps a colony of batrachians fend off scuzzy NYC rats with allies like alligators & a sewer mutant. Then he hefts his hammer & transforms… into a 6′ frog in Kirby armor! Simonson’s audacity makes this whimsy as fun as the Norse epic, just 3 months ago.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #364]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #366]
Balder the Brave #3 of 4
April 8, 2011
Walt Simonson // Sal Buscema
March 1986
**
The Brave God randomly gets a power-up, his newfound heat proving as deadly a weapon against Frost Giants as the magic sword he wins in an arena fight. The art of Our Pal Sal hasn’t advanced past Kirby’s ’60s innovations: it’s fine for this trad fantasy quest, but it lacks an emotional core.
[last issue: Balder the Brave #2 of 4]
[next issue: Balder the Brave #4 of 4]
The Mighty Thor #364
April 7, 2011
Walt Simonson
February 1986
*****
This is Loki’s greatest act of mischief: he’s transformed Thor into a large frog! It’s part of his plan to take the throne of Asgard. Now the hero’s stranded in Central Park, helping a tribe of croakers war against local rats. Brilliant! More like Watership Down than either Lee/Kirby or Norse myth.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #363]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #365]
The Mighty Thor #363
April 6, 2011
Walt Simonson
January 1986
***
Secret Wars II arrives at Thor’s doorstep, having roped Beta Ray Bill into its mini. The Beyonder supercharges a thug to wallop Thor. But w/ assistance from the Power kids, Thor teaches the omnipotent naïf about family & ironic motives. The last, a surprise, shows Simonson’s confidence w/ his mag.
[continued from Power Pack #18]
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #362]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #364]
Balder the Brave #2 of 4
April 5, 2011
Walt Simonson // Sal Buscema
January 1986
***
High adventure in a Tolkein vein. Balder returns to his lady’s castle to find her abducted by storm giants. A quest! Simonson’s dialogue is esp. good: a cod-Elizabethan that demos better grammar than Stan Lee ever did. Sal B does his usual journeyman’s job, providing a clear story & muscled action.
[continued from The Mighty Thor #362]
[last issue: Balder the Brave #1 of 4]
[next issue: Balder the Brave #3 of 4]
The Mighty Thor #362
April 4, 2011
Walt Simonson
December 1985
*****
Thor & the Valhallans learn that exiting the underworld is harder than entering. So the Executioner, a minor heavy from the Lee/Kirby era, stands alone at the Bridget to Hel. An exemplar of Simonson’s approach to Thor, this one-man Thermopylae is a truly epic moment that honors a warrior’s sacrifice.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #361]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #363]
The Mighty Thor #361
April 2, 2011
Walt Simonson
November 1985
****
This journey into Hel is nearer to pagan Homer than a Christian harrowing, as the warriors of Valhalla face their belated loved ones—but in comics, the spirits tempt a path to death. The mag’s Death Goddess wrestles w/ Thor for the souls of cursed mortals, disfiguring our hero before her surrender!
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #360]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #362]
Balder the Brave #1 of 4
March 30, 2011
Walt Simonson // Sal Buscema
November 1985
***
Interleaved btw the pages of Thor 360, this mini’s first ish is an expansion of Simonson’s epic run. Balder leaves the side of his lady, the anti-villain Norn Queen, to harrow Hel with his brethren. Buscema does a more-than-passable imitation of WS’s blocky style, turning out some of his best work.
[continued from The Mighty Thor #360]
[continued in The Mighty Thor #360]
[next issue: Balder the Brave #2 of 4]
The Mighty Thor #360
March 29, 2011
Walt Simonson
October 1985
****
After a parlay w/ a ghost witch, Thor marches upon the underworld, where he, Balder & the warriors of Valhalla will rescue mortals cursed by the faerie king. But is Thor really hoping to find his father’s spirit there? This issue is rich w/ emotional subtext, to a level rare for mainstream comics.
[continued in Balder the Brave #1]
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #359]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #361]
The Mighty Thor #359
March 28, 2011
Walt Simonson
September 1985
****
Loki dances a pas de trois with Thor & the siren of Asgard, aiming to ascend to the kingdom’s throne. Despite all the women involved (Sif appears too), the dialogue doesn’t exactly pass the Bechdel Test. But the arc has its romantic pleasures, esp. when a bewitched Thor catches the couple in bed!
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #358]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #360]
The Mighty Thor #358
March 27, 2011
Walt Simonson
August 1985
***
In the ruins of Asgard, a sorceress bewitches Thor but gives her heart to Loki. On Earth, Bill faces a cadre of robot-armored thieves. Thor hasn’t offered conventional NYC superheroics in a while, but this plot—involving Vietnam vets & a Soviet foe of Iron Man—reminds us why we haven’t missed ’em!
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #357]
next issue: The Mighty Thor #359]
The Mighty Thor #357
March 25, 2011
Walt Simonson
July 1985
****
Simonson’s recharged after his break from art duties: his lines seem zippier & more confident. He’s brewing a Shakespearean struggle for the throne of Asgard, now that Odin’s dead. A warm subplot dips into soap opera, as Beta Ray Bill romances Sif while tracking high-tech armored bank robbers.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #356]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #358]
The Mighty Thor #355
March 24, 2011
Walt Simonson // Sal Buscema
May 1985
***
Sal Buscema takes the art duties, bringing his old-fashioned Kirby-lite style to a schmaltzy tale. A retired god, nine feet tall, imparts a few words of sentimental wisdom to a mopey Thor. Still, the ish has a confident tone & a few deeper strokes, like the ice maidens who perish in a day.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #354]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #356]
The Mighty Thor #354
March 23, 2011
Walt Simonson
April 1985
****
An epilogue to the Surtur Saga lends gravity to Odin’s sacrifice. When the Death Goddess claims the All-Father’s soul, Thor’s reaction is rage, an obvious displacement of his filial grief. But then, an immortal would rarely confront death. This note & others touch on the gap btw divinity & humanity.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #353]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #355]
The Mighty Thor #353
March 21, 2011
Walt Simonson
March 1985
****
Loki takes the role of rescuing cavalry, a fun heel/face turn. Then Odin plummets with the Fire Demon off into the void, but it feels like a sensational twist rather than an earned sacrifice. W/ Asgard in flames, the Saga of Surtur closes. The art & plot conjoin in a Thor story for the ages.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #352]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #354]
The Mighty Thor #352
March 20, 2011
Walt Simonson
February 1985
*****
A sublime arc is traced at a gallop: #352 begins & ends w/ heroes on the defensive, but in btw. they’re roused by victories. Beta Ray Bill & Mr. Fantastic turn the demons’ line in NYC, but in Asgard the Demon Lord fells Odin & preps the apocalypse! Note how Thor is MIA all ish, anteing the stakes.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #351]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #353]
The Mighty Thor #351
March 18, 2011
Walt Simonson
January 1985
*****
In NYC, Bill leads gods, heroes, & US Marines in a grand battle v. fire demons; in Asgard, Surtur the Demon Lord shatters the rainbow bridge then bests Thor! Nearly every page features all-caps SFX (a Simonson hallmark), & note how panels shift from large to small depending on the moment. Epic!
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #350]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #352]
The Mighty Thor #350
March 17, 2011
Walt Simonson
December 1984
*****
This grand arc aspires to (& reaches!) a Tolkein-like tone, a/w/a the reckless momentum of old Lee/Kirby glories. The armies of Asgard are marshaled, w/ allies like Bill & the Avengers and foes like the Enchantress among them! They array themselves against the fire demons in a wintery NYC melee.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #349]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #351]
The Mighty Thor #349
March 15, 2011
Walt Simonson
November 1984
****
Each issue of Simonson’s first year has upped the ante on his epic. Now he breaks to offer a Tale of Asgard, laying down exposition to raise the stakes. Long ago, Odin battled Surtur (the approaching fire demon) & left his bros behind in a hell dimension to delay the apocalypse—till now!
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #348]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #350]
The Mighty Thor #348
March 14, 2011
Walt Simonson
October 1984
*****
Thor & a mortal ally capture the elf king but not before he opens a Norse artifact, plunging Midgard into endless winter! Next ish: the big bad fire demon & his star-sword! Good stuff, but the meat is Balder’s mystical vision, upon plunging into the tapestry of the Fates, of a holistic universe.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #347]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #349]
The Mighty Thor #347
March 13, 2011
Walt Simonson
September 1984
****
Odin, foreseeing trouble, appoints the Warriors Three to conscript an army, cuz his two great champions are off noodling. Balder fights past giant sandworms to face the Fates themselves! And Thor, bewitched by a sorceress, gets kayoed in a faerie kingdom allied w/ the Big Bad.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #346]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #348]
The Mighty Thor #346
March 12, 2011
Walt Simonson
August 1984
****
Another mythos of northern Europe, that of faeries, clashes w/ Asgard upon the 59th St. Bridge for a mystical casket. Thor’s foe: an elf king w/ a lurid black-&-red ’80s costume. Simonson’s got an individual style that ranks beside Chaykin, Miller, & other grand masters of this golden era of comics.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #345]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #347]
The Mighty Thor #345
March 11, 2011
Walt Simonson
July 1984
****
Food & sex are vehicles for dark magic in this strange arc. Thor unknowingly slips a seductress’ trap to join the citywide hunt for an ancient artifact. His opponent: the elf king from last issue, whose minions turn to dust w/ a bite of food. All this links somehow to the sword from beyond creation.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #344]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #346]
The Mighty Thor #344
March 9, 2011
Walt Simonson
June 1984
****
Thor barely figures into #344. Instead it follows the doughy Balder, a pacifist since his resurrection, who’s tricked into facing an elf king & fruitlessly beheading Loki. But was the devious plot Loki’s or Odin’s? It’s an odd shuffling of the knight’s status that’ll pay off later, presumably.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #343]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #345]
The Mighty Thor #343
March 8, 2011
Walt Simonson
May 1984
****
Knit from the past pair of issues, #343 hosts an epic battle amongst the South Bronx tenements. The last Viking in Midgard earns his seat in Valhalla by helping Thor defeat a raging dragon. Simonson has obviously done his homework: what could be a standard comic rumble is shored up by Norse ritual.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #342]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #344]
The Mighty Thor #342
March 7, 2011
Walt Simonson
April 1984
****
Half a year in, Simonson’s already got five or six plots aboil! The most ominous involves a sword forged from starstuff beyond the demonic gates of #340. Loki, on the other hand, doesn’t even rate a mention this ish. Thor himself faces a Viking, the last member of a lost colony in the Savage Land.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #341]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #343]
The Mighty Thor #341
March 6, 2011
Walt Simonson
March 1984
****
Now that Thor no longer has an alter ego, he dons a pair of glasses (the perfect disguise!) & gets a job in construction. That leads to a rumble w/ a Kirby monster, a dragon from wayyy back in “Tales of Asgard”. Speaking of the King, Simonson shares his sense of dynamism & weight of objects.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #340]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #342]
The Mighty Thor #340
March 4, 2011
Walt Simonson
February 1984
*****
The climax to Simonson’s first arc fuses space epic & Norse myth like no once since Lee & Kirby—and maybe not even them! The melancholy Bill partners up w/ Thor to save his race, a fleet of galactic refugees, & his valor earns a reward from Odin: ironically, it’s Thor’s “cursed” life as a mortal!
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #339]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #341]
The Mighty Thor #339
March 3, 2011
Walt Simonson
January 1984
*****
Simonson packs #339 with event, setting up multiple conflicts concurrently (in standard ’80s style) but w/ a tone of grandeur & portent. Sif battles a giant dwarf (huh?) & pines for the bionic alien Bill. A setpiece unlike any prior shows the epic forging of an enchanted warhammer to match Mjolnir.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #338]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #340]
The Mighty Thor #338
March 2, 2011
Walt Simonson
December 1983
****
Simonson’s burly style synthesizes Kirby w/ Adams yet has its own fully formed aesthetic. After providing a sci-fi backstory for his noble alien, Simonson pits the horse-faced warriors against Thor in a grand duel in a field of lava. But he also finds space for a couple of scenes among Asgardians.
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #337]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #339]
The Mighty Thor #337
February 28, 2011
Walt Simonson
November 1983
*****
In his inaugural issue, Simonson nails the mag’s epic grandeur—& pulls a brilliant surprise too! An oncoming starship contains an alien menace (quirkily named Beta Ray Bill) who proves worthy of wielding Mjolnir. He (it?) gets shanghaied off to Asgard, leaving Don Blake stranded & mortal in Midgard!
[last issue: The Mighty Thor #336]
[next issue: The Mighty Thor #338]
The Fantastic Four #262
January 17, 2011
John Byrne
January 1984
*****
The trial of Mr Fantastic is actually an allegory on entropy. The most powerful beings in the Lee/Kirby/Ditko universe—the Watcher, Galactus, Odin, Eternity—justify Big G’s necessity. It’s science fiction as primitive philosophy, justifying not through reasoning but an act of creative cosmology.
[last issue: The Fantastic Four #261]
[next issue: The Fantastic Four #263]
Index Indigo 