Recently in Thor Category

Thor is riding high now, thanks to the new series and the movie coming out next year.  But in the 1990s, the Thunder God needed a reboot, and got one under the Heroes Return banner.  Dan Jurgens and John Romita Jr were the creative team and the first 24 issues or so featured Romita channeling Kirby's spirit.

This promo poster by John Romita Jr and Tim Townsend was a tease at the upcoming run.  I think this must have been drawn before Jurgens came up with the story for issue one.  The man slamming the cane down to summon Thor looks like Don Blake.  Thor's mortal host in the new Jurgens series was Jake Olson, who wasn't crippled in any way.

The Jurgens/Romita run is still in my collection and I re-read them last year.  Still a great run and holds up among the best Thor runs.  Nuff Said!

Link: Thor by Dan Jurgens & John Romita Jr. - Volume 1 (Marvel Comics Heroes Return)

Here's a classic Jack Kirby poster from the 1960s for the fan club Marvelmania.

See the link below for more Kirby cover scans.  Nuff Said!

Link: The Mighty Thor - Volume 1 Omnibus by Stan Lee, Don Heck, Jack Kirby

Link: Thor Omnibus by J. Michael Straczynski and Olivier Coipel

Link: Tod Seisser's Gallery at ComicArtFans.

You've probably seen these mega giant-sized wall posters that Marvel Comics has been producing over the past couple of years.  Olivier Coipel's Thor poster was one of these grand behemoths, a 10 foot long panorama of all things Asgardian. 

The poster originally appeared on the covers to the Tales of Asgard mini-series from 2009.  Here is the finished cover to Tales of Asgard #1, with inks by Mark Morales.  Note that this is classic Thor, in his old Jack Kirby designed costume.

Here are Coipel's original pencils to the cover.  I am amazed at the detail and the shading,  You can see Coipel even drew Thor's kneecaps, even though he knew they would be obscured by the boot cuffs after the inking.

tales of asgard 1 cover by *MarkMorales on deviantART

Mark Morales provided the finished inked version on his deviantART site.  Please click on it to see a larger version.  Morales has lots of great artwork and commissions on deviantART to look at.

Even more artwork after the break...

Perhaps you are like me and didn’t go to San Diego but followed the news closely this weekend?  Or perhaps you were there for all the Marvel Film announcements but didn’t have a good seat?  These videos will interest you, yes indeedy, courtesy of Hall H Coverage.

The press has widely reported on The Avengers film cast getting together, along with new Hulk Mark Rufalo and director Joss Whedon.  This video of the event gives you a front row seat on all the action.  The energy in that Hall was like a Nerdgasm of epic proportions.  Seeing those actors up there was like having the Beatles in front of you.

Going backward in panel time a bit, here is Kenneth Branagh on the Thor panel discussing his love for the Thunder God.  Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Natalie Portman (Jane Foster) and Tom Hiddleston (Loki) walk out on stage.  Natalie looks petite and Hiddleston is much taller than Hemsworth.

More videos after the break…

Here's a nice illustration of Thor by Mike Deodato.  Back in 1995, Deodato and Warren Ellis worked on an interesting 4-issue Thor story titled WorldEngine.  I always thought Deodato had a great take on this character, perhaps he will get the chance again soon.  Nuff Said!

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Marvel's plan to create a black and white magazine for the Thunder God (see Thor Thursday: The Thunder God's Magazine).  I believe Marvel commissioned a few stories for this format--and one of them was the story that appeared in Thor Annual #5, 1976.

Surely the greatest thing about this annual was the cover by Jack Kirby.  It was worth the 50 cents just to celebrate the King's return to Marvel, after his stint at DC Comics.  While not one of Kirby's most classic covers, it just felt good to see him drawing Thor again--and he was fighting Hercules!

That logo and masthead really cut down on the space available for the cover image, didn't it?

The interiors were done by John Buscema and Tony DeZuniga.  Something about the art makes me think that it was designed for a larger, magazine-sized format.  There is also the fact that DeZuniga did a lot of inking for Marvel's magazine line (he also inked Buscema's Conan and Jim Starlin's Thor story in Marvel Preview #10).  Buscema laid out the story with plenty of grand splash pages.

This pic of Hela making a grand entrance is one example.  The story by Steve Englehart is designed to introduce a new audience to the world of Thor--Asgard, Odin, etc., are all explained before the action starts.  I do remember reading somewhere that this story was intended to be the first issue of a Thor black and white magazine, while the Marvel Preview #10 story by Wein and Starlin was going to be in the second issue.

You see, fellow True Believers, all of this Marvel Minutia occupies my mind on a daily basis.  I should be thinking about how to become a millionaire or how to create a great software product.  Instead, I wonder what made the 1970s Marvel editorial staff abort magazine projects before they started!  As Hercules might say, Are Ye Mad or Merely Daft? Nuff Said!

A couple of Silver Age Thor covers today, from The Comic Reader…

Here’s a 1975 cover (Comic Reader 115) that showcases not only why Joe Sinnott was a great inker—he was a damn good artist as well!  Sinnott inked many issues of Thor, though ironically, he never inked Kirby on this title.  What would have happened if all those Vinnie Colletta issues were done by Sinnott instead?

Uh-oh, I’ve just made myself a target for the Colletta Club. 

Rich Buckler did this 1972 cover for The Comic Reader 1972.  Buckler during this period was the perfect second-generation Marvel artist, combining the best of Kirby and Buscema in his work.  Thor must be fighting one of the High Evolutionary’s creatures in this pic…perhaps the Man-Beast? 

Have a great Thor Thursday and skip the trip to Valhalla.  Nuff Said!

More on Rich Buckler:

Thing Tuesdays: Rich Buckler's Foom Thing

Giant-Size Superstars #1 and the wildest Thing vs Hulk match ever!

More on Joe Sinnott:

Marvel Swimsuits: Avengers in the Savage Land

Thing Tuesdays: Jim Starlin's Hulk and Thing, Funnier than Lewis and Martin!

When Conan became such a blazing success in Marvel’s magazine line, the editors asked themselves, how else can we capitalize on this trend?  The answer was: give Thor his own black and white magazine and sell it to the barbarian loving hordes. 

I believe that Marvel was at one point primed to publish a bi-monthly THOR magazine, as I can trace about 3 full length stories commissioned in this format.  This decision must have been reversed and the material appeared in places such as Marvel Preview #10.

Ken Barr’s 1977 cover tries to evoke Conan and Frazetta rather than Jack Kirby, doesn’t it?  I think there was a miscalculation here, that Conan fans would also be interested in Thor.  If you bought this issue expecting to see Thor skewering enemies on a battlefield, there would have been massive disappointment.

The interior story by Len Wein opens with an Asgardian bar fight with the Thunder God backed up by the Warriors Three.  Jim Starlin provided the layouts, with finishes by Tony DeZuniga.  The usual hijinks with Loki ensues after a while—the most tired plot of all comicdom.

Marvel had to differentiate this series.  The Thor stories in this format took place before Thor had been merged with Dr. Don Blake—and before he learned any kind of humility.  Perhaps a more interesting series would be called Teen Thor?  Nuff Said!