Walt Simonson

Simonson takes a bit of a breather with a really light bank heist storyline involving Beta Ray Bill and Sif, that feels mostly like the standard, garden-variety plots that Thor unfortunately saw a lot of before now. Still Simonson imbues it with his own magic with the Bill/Sif relationship subplot.

But then, along comes Thor, riding straight into Hel. And Simonson was firing on all cylinders, art and story-wise.

I truly understand why everyone says this was the best run. For my money, I think show more I'm still leaning toward Jason Aaron's run as the best, but this is a very close second. show less

Access a version of the below that includes illustrations on my blog.

I found vols. 3-4 of Walter Simonson's run on Thor less interesting than vols. 1-2 (Frog Thor story aside, obvs), so I was a little worried going into vol. 5, but Simonson definitely turns it around, bringing things to an excellent and appropriate climax.

Sort of. Some comics creators tell one long story, but Simonson pursues a style of serialization that I prefer, where each story has some small hint or component that sets show more up the next story, so that the whole thing reads continuously, but the story being told at the beginning is not the story being told by the end. Like, way back in vol. 1 the whole thing started with Beta Ray Bill taking Thor's hammer. But in a series of natural progressions we're now reading about a Thor cursed by Hela (the goddess of death, and Thor's niece, not his sister like in Thor: Ragnarok) to experience great weakness but never die. And meanwhile Balder is ruling Asgard, and there are some human orphans from Midgard* being integrated into Volstagg's family.

The opening stories are okay, but things really come to life when Thor forges himself a new suit of armor to deal with his increasingly frail body, leading to a melodramatic showdown with the Frost Giants. I love it when Thor shouts about how awesome he is. No one ever accused him of modesty.

In retribution, the Frost Giants try to send Jormungand, the Midgard Serpent (a giant dragon... also Loki's child???), after Thor, but end up sending comedy dragon Fin Fang Foom after him instead. Before they fight, Thor and Fin Fang Foom have a nice chat in a Brooklyn park. Fin Fang Foom is an erudite, honorable opponent, who ruminates on his relationship with humanity, and even lets Thor fight him in the wilderness so no bystanders will be hurt. It's a great little story featuring a great villain...

...who actually turns to be the Midgard Serpent after all! Simsonson comes back to the penciller's chair one last time during his run, drawing the issue where Thor fights Jormungan, and it is a tour-de-force. I mean, Simonson is always great on art, but here he excels himself: each page is its own panel. Sometimes this can be a cheap move (I wasn't too into it in The Death of Superman), but here it gives the fight weight and grandeur.

And its consquences are great, too: Thor become nothing but a pulp in a suit of armor, but he cannot die! Then the Destroyer turns up and all sorts of shenanigans ensue.

The run does feel slightly curtailed: Thor's supporting cast in New York City don't appear in this volume at all, for example, and there's a subplot about poison in Asgard that goes underexplained. Bu overall Simonson goes out almost as strong as he came in. I loved reading this imagining Chris Hemsworth doing the voices, and I look forward to tracking down more Thor comics.

* Earth. show less

Much improved over the previous volume, because, I think, Simonson had an end goal here. He knew he was telling one last story, and knew where he was ending it.

The thing I enjoy about Simonson's writing, when he's on, is that he's happy to subvert your expectations. I can think of no greater example of this than the pages of dialogue between Thor and Fin Fang Foom. They are simply delightful, and crackle with fun and mischief.

Sal Buscema's art is, as always, adequate. Sal was never going to show more be a Great Marvel Artist. He's the Marvel artist equivalent of a meal at McDonald's: quick, gets the job done, and completely unremarkable and unmemorable.

Still, finally Simonson and Buscema left behind Midgard in this volume, and moved back to the epic storytelling that Simonson excels at. A fitting end to a mostly fantastic run. show less

Simonson's art seems a little more rushed in this run, and I think he may have been struggling with the deadlines, judging from the odd guest inker and, in the case of the last issue, guest penciller.

But his writing remains on point. And he's got a lot of stuff going on here. Simonson doesn't write a simple one and done issue, or even a two or three issue arc. He writes epics that span multiple issues, while also setting up what's to come after this epic ends.

Honestly, his storytelling is show more so refreshing, both from a character standpoint, as well as from his avoidance of the "villain of the issue" plotlines. He sees that the pantheon of characters in this series is a rich vein to be mined. Sif, in particular went from "But Thor! You must let me come on the adventure! I'm a warrior too, remember?" to "Screw you. I'll do my own thing, and show you all what a real warrior looks like."

But he's reinventing all the characters. There's noticeable changes to Odin, to Loki, to Balder, to Volstagg, to Sif, and...yes, to Thor himself.

I only hope the quality of the writing continues. show less