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Thor, Vol. 1 (v. 1)
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List Price: $19.99
Our Price: $15.99
Your Save: $ 4.00 ( 20% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 741
EAN: 9780785130116
ISBN: 078513011X
Label: Marvel Comics
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 160
Publication Date: 2008-05-28
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Studio: Marvel Comics
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Editorial Reviews:
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Not a clone! Not a robot! Not an imaginary story! The God of Thunder is officially BACK! You've waited for it, you've demanded it...and we say thee YEA! The Odinson comes roaring to life in this highly anticipated ongoing series by red-hot superstars J. Michael Straczynski (Amazing Spider-Man) and Olivier Coipel (House of M)! But how does a god return from Ragnarok? And what place will he find in a world torn by Civil War?
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: A promising relighting of the Thor series
Comment: Though arguably the most powerful of all the Marvel heroes (he is a god, after all), Thor's initial run ended through his own choices. Instead of allowing the eternal return to occur, he broke the cycle of death and rebirth. His most recent appearance in the Marvel Universe had been as the genetic monstrosity siding with Iron Man in the Civil War event. Taking some of Thor's genetic matter, they constructed a Thor clone, who was very nearly as powerful, but lacked judgment and compassion. Hercules killed him in a battle between Iron Man and his allies and Captain America and his allies, aping Lloyd Bentsen's famous verbal demolition of Dan Quayle by -- as he killed him -- proclaiming that he knew Thor, but that he was no Thor.
In this challenging series, J. Michael Straczynski has to make it believable that Thor could arise from nothingness to not only live again but to bright Asgard back to life. The impetus comes not from Thor himself, but his alter ego, Dr. Don Blake (who in his original incarnation in 1962 was lame and had to have a cane to walk, but who here seems far fleeter of foot). The artwork, penciled by Olivier Coipel, makes all of this far more believable than the actual text. And so, somewhere out in western Oklahoma, Asgard is reborn.
Much of the rest of these issues focuses on Thor's recovering lost Asgardian souls who have become entrapped in human hosts. We also see the return of his nemesis Loki (who was the cause of the original teaming up of the Avengers, when he tricked the Hulk into fighting them -- it will be interesting to see if these two elements will be retained in the forthcoming THOR and AVENGERS movies), bizarrely enough in feminine form, and who while obviously not trustworthy, assures Thor of his (her?) good intentions. We doubt this because we learn that Loki is in contact with Dr. Doom, who appears in a single panel.
One of my complaints with Thor in his original form was that he seemed spectacularly weak at times. I mean, we are talking a god, one of the most powerful Norse gods. All indications are that this is definitely not a nerfed form of Thor. He and Iron Man have a brief and very physical encounter. It lasts a few seconds, with Thor expending only enough energy to bring Iron Man within a inch of death. Their encounter is left with Iron Man agreeing not to forcibly impel Thor to join the Avengers (this all takes place in the Civil War universe), though Tony Stark clearly does not consider the matter closed. Thor indicates that when he has leisure, he intends to call Stark to account for the monstrous clone made with his genetic material. This volume ends with us knowing that both Loki, somehow cooperating with Dr. Doom, and Ton Stark, leader of the federally authorized Avengers, have plans touching upon Thor in the future. But these could be the least of Thor's concerns. His last act, as the final issue reaches its final panel, was to reawaken all of the remaining Asgards. That would, of course, include Odin.
A final aside. If you love Norse mythology, the Marvel take on it has always been a fairly painful affair. Odin was always cast as a bit of a heavy. But, in fact, Odin was perhaps the largest hearted of all the old gods. In contrast to the Greek gods, who saw the humans as their toys, Odin often did great favors for humans. For instance, in the Norse version of the Prometheus myth, the gift of fire is not stolen from the gods, but Odin himself shares the gift with humans. I also love the magnificent image of Odin, sitting at a great banquet table neither eating nor drinking. Instead, his two great ravens go to and fro over the world, returning to whisper what they have to him, all so that he can do his utmost to postpone Ragnarok, the final battle between the Norse gods and the forces of darkness, where their inevitable defeat will lead to the Twilight of the Gods. Yet, so many popular representations of him have him reduced to a petulant, power hungry, mean-spirited tyrant. In Neil Gaiman's marvelous AMERICAN GODS, he is even reduced to a con artist. The second volume in this series is out in January (I have not been buying the individual comics). My fear is that the Odin depicted there will be as inaccurate and as unflattering as most previous portrayals.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Thank Thee Gods for the New Thor
Comment: It's difficult to think about Thor without the Kiss song "God of Thunder" reverberating inside my brain.
"God of thunder and rock and roll
The spell you're under
Will slowly rob you of your virgin soul."
But I digress. As a comic connoisseur in my youth, I never connected with Marvel's comic book version of the Norse God (despite the fact that I'm half Danish). Thor was dull: the stiff in the room (especially when compared to the wisecracking Spiderman and the snarky intensity of Ironman).
Thor spoke like a community theater actor channeling Hamlet. "Thee art my ally! Make peace!" Crap like that.
But I have a new appreciation for the Thunder God thanks to J. Michael Straczynski and Olivier Coipel. Thor - who was retired back in 2004 - is brought back to life in a new series as a rebel God - powerful, but brooding - with an angry, seething intensity that hides a broiling compassion for human beings and their troubles.
Gone, thank All-Mighty Odin - is the ridiculous dialog. Thor is given a new sleekier appearance (complete with blue chainmail armor) and a new attitude - and it works like a charm. Olivier's version of Thor is youthful, but war weary. His illustrations are simply stunning. They may be the best part of the book.
But Straczynski's storyline has Thor's first order of business as rebuilding Asgard - the home of the Norse Gods. He makes the Oklahoma desert his base of operations and scans the world for his fellow Gods (although the highlight of Volume One is a crash-bang battle with Ironman). There's lots of potential to be mined here, although knowledge of the Marvel universe is required as Straczynski does a poor job of providing an adequate back story for those fans reading Thor for the first time. But we'll be back for Volume Two.
Like literate blather about comics? Then get your hammer over to Dark Party Review at [...].
Customer Rating:
Summary: Never been a Thor fan...until now
Comment: Thor has never really struck a chord with me. I always found his appearances to be somewhat stale because I always had trouble with an accented Norse God fitting into the "real" feel of the Marvel Universe, but his awesome power and adventures always intrigued me. It was always aspects of Thor that I found so cool - the fact that only worthy people can lift Mjolnir, and he had some pretty neat villains. I've always found his supporting cast stale as well. Basically, I need some characterization on my Thor. JMS starts us down that path in this volume. He comes up with a phenomenal way to bridge the gap between Civil War's events and a great inspiring way to bring Thor back from his absence since Ragnarok. Because of the way JMS brings Thor back to life, it's a great jumping on point for new readers, like myself. I haven't read anything Thor since the 90s. But anyway, along with a fresh start, we get a mission for Thor, which I think is so essential. I always felt he floundered just being a god on Earth, but here we have a reason for him being here - finding his fellow Asgardians, locked within human beings scattered across the globe. It's really a story about finding your family, which is awesome. I believe that given time JMS will flesh Thor out more and have time for characterization, but the brooding lonely man we find in Volume 1 adds a depth to Thor. You can see amazingly well how much he misses 1) old times with the Avengers and 2) his family. Plus we get to see him face Iron Man for the first time since Civil War! (Will we ever get to see him face Reed Richards? I hope so!) The direction, fresh take, and especially the art of Olivier Coipel, which is absolutely gorgeous, have me clamoring for Volume 2. Coipel can weave the fantastic with the mundane, humor with action, it's great storytelling art. The changes to the costume?! Such a non-issue to me, it's not even worth mentioning. Thor looks great, updated for a post-Civil War Marvel U.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Finally, Thor Hath Returned!
Comment: The best thing about the new Thor isn't his costume redesign--it's writer J. Michael Straczynski's choice to ditch the faux-Shakespearean language that Thor used to speak. For Thor purests, I'm sure it's a travesty. But I've never been a fan of the Thunder God, and can't wait to see what other changes are in store (one of the biggest changes has to do with Loki...wait until you see what's become of him!). The smackdown with Iron Man lives up to the hype, although the ending is predictable and shows Tony Stark for the weasel he's become. The book is also humorous, more so than Straczynski's Spider-Man at least. This is a solid piece of comics writing.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent Thor's return
Comment: This book is really good, J.M's story is very interesting and Oliver Coipel's art is awesome as usual. This book presents the resurrection of the Thunder God, and how he is building his Kingdom (Asgard) on earth, this book it is a must have.
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