Essential Thor volume 4

By Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Neal Adams, John Buscema & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-3076-5

Whilst the constantly expanding Marvel Universe grew ever more interconnected as it matured, with characters literally tripping over each other in New York City, the Asgardian heritage of Thor and the soaring imagination of Jack Kirby had long been drawing the Thunder God away from mortal realms into stunning new landscapes.

With this fourth Essential black and white compendium however, an unthinkable Changing of the Guard occurred as the increasingly discontented King of Comics jumped ship from the House of (His) Ideas for arch-rival DC where he crafted the unfinished magnum Opus of the Fourth World series as well as a number of other game-changing comics classicsâ€¦

An era ended at Marvel when the King abdicated his seemingly divinely-ordained position. Left to soldier on were Stan Lee and a couple of budding talents named Adams and Buscemaâ€¦

In case you came in late: disabled doctor Donald Blake took a vacation in Norway only to stumble into an alien invasion. Trapped in a cave, he found an old walking stick which, when struck against the ground, turned him into the Norse God of Thunder! Within moments he was defending the weak and smiting the wicked. Months swiftly passed with the Lord of Storms tackling rapacious extraterrestrials, Commie dictators, costumed crazies and cheap thugs, but these soon gave way to a vast kaleidoscope of fantastic worlds and incredible, mythic menaces.

This iconic transitional compendium encapsulates the absolute zenith of the fantastic feature, reprinting Mighty Thor #167-195, spanning August 1969 to July 1972 with the mighty Thunder God going both forward and back.

At the close of the previous volume Thor had fallen to a berserker rage whilst retrieving his beloved Lady Sif from the naive artificial superman Him: now as this chronicle opens with ‘This World Renounced!’ (by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & Vince Colletta and a cover by John Romita: the first ever not drawn by Kirby) almighty Odin punishes his son for succumbing to Warrior Madness by exiling him to deep space, where he must atone by locating the enigmatic world-devourer Galactus.

Just before departure however, Thor got to clear up some outstanding old business, including one last confrontation with Loki, Prince of Evilâ€¦

The superb George Klein came aboard as inker for ‘Galactus Found!‘ which saw Balder and the Warriors Three safeguarding Earth as Thor roamed the heavens on his lonely mission. As a new threat emerged in Red China, Galactus came to Thor and revealed ‘The Awesome Answer!’ to his origins – pure Kirby Kosmology of truly staggering proportions, whilst back home the terrifying Thermal Man was making things too hot for both his Chinese creators and the Lands of the Freeâ€¦

In issue #170 ‘The Thunder God and the Thermal Man’ (inked by Bill Everett) found Thor, with mission accomplished, returned to New York only to tumble straight into cataclysmic combat beside his Asgardian comrades against the unstoppable Atomic menace unleashed by the duplicitous Reds. At the height of the struggle Balder, Hogun, Fandral and Volstagg were abducted by Loki and the Norn Queen but nevertheless the Thunder God triumphedâ€¦

Alone on Earth Thor faced in short order ‘The Wrath of The Wrecker!’, the body-swapping plot of billionaire Kronin Krask in ‘The Immortal and the Mind-Slave!’ and the earthbound fury of ‘Ulik Unleashed!’ (with the Circus of Crime thrown in for good measure) as well as ‘The Carnage of the Crypto-Man!’ before the last great epic of the Kirby-era began.

Behind a Marie Severin cover ‘The Fall of Asgard!’ saw Balder and Co. escape to confront the assemble hordes of Giants and Trolls marching on the Home of the Gods. With Odin incapacitated by his annual Great Sleep, Loki had seized the throne and Sif called Thor back for perhaps the Last Battleâ€¦

‘Inferno!’ (inked by Colletta) saw the folly of the usurper as the terrifying Fire-demon Surtur broke free of his Odinian prison and began its ordained task of burning down the universe. As everything appeared ‘To End in Flames!’ Loki fled to Earth, having first hidden Odin’s sleeping form in the Sea of Eternal Night. Thor led a heroic last stand as Balder invaded the Dimension of Death to rescue the All-Father just as Surtur fired up for the final forayâ€¦

Thor #178 is a landmark: the first issue created without Jack Kirby. An obvious fill-in, ‘Death is a Stranger’ by Lee, John Buscema & Colletta, found the Thunderer snatched away from Asgard by the nefarious Abomination to battle the Stranger – an extra-galactic powerhouse who collects unique beingsâ€¦

The interrupted epic resumed in #179 with ‘No More the Thunder God!’ as Thor, Sif and Balder were dispatched to Earth to arrest Loki. This story was Kirby’s last: he left the entire vast unfolding new mythology on a cliffhanger as the Thunder God was ambushed by his wicked step-brother.

By switching bodies, the Lord of Evil gained safety and the power of the Storm whilst Thor was doomed to endure whatever punishment Odin decreedâ€¦

More than any other Marvel strip The Mighty Thor was the feature where Kirby’s creative brilliance matched his questing exploration of an Infinite Imaginative Cosmos: dreaming, extrapolating and honing a dazzling new kind of storytelling graphics with soul-searching, mind-boggling concepts of Man’s place in the universe. Although what followed contained the trappings and even spirit of that incredible marriage, the heart, soul and soaring, unfettered wonder just were not there any longer: nor would they be until 1983 Walt Simonson assumed creative control with #337 (see Mighty Thor: the Ballad of Beta Ray Bill).

‘When Gods Go Mad!’ introduced the totally different style of Neal Adams to the mix, inked by the comfortably familiar Joe Sinnott, as the true Thunder God was sent to Hell and the tender mercies of Mephisto, whilst on Earth Loki used his brother’s body to terrorise the UN Assembly and declare himself Master of the Worldâ€¦

In #181 ‘One God Must Fall’ Sif led the Warriors Three on a rescue mission to the Infernal Realm as Balder struggled to combat the combined power of Thor and malice of Loki until Mephisto was thwarted and a cataclysmic battle of brothers set the world to rights.

The new era truly began with Thor #182 as John Buscema assumed the artistic reins for ‘The Prisonerâ€¦ The Powerâ€¦ andâ€¦ Dr. Doom!’ as the Thunder God became entangled in Earthly politics when a young girl entreated him to rescue her missile-designer father from the deadly Iron Monarch. The decidedly down-to-Earth and mismatched melodrama concluded with Don Blake ‘Trapped in Doomsland!’ until Thor could retrieve his mislaid malletâ€¦

Lee & Buscema began their own cosmic saga in #184 and ‘The World Beyond!‘ as a sinister force began devouring the outer galaxies and psychic reverberations began to unravel life on Earth and in Asgard. Sam Grainger inked ‘In the Grip of Infinity!’ as the cosmic calamity intensified whilst ‘Worlds at War!’ revealed the true architect of the conflagration, leading to a desperate last-ditch ploy in ‘The World is Lost!’ and a final clash which led to ‘The End of Infinity!’ (inked by Jim Mooney).

Although vast in scope and quite clever this tale suffers from excessive padding and a plodding, repetitive pace which isn’t helped by a ponderous epilogue in #189 as the Goddess Hela came calling, demanding Thor feel ‘The Icy Touch of Death!’ to pay for all the souls she didn’t getâ€¦

After a big chase she was finally dissuaded in ‘â€¦And So To Die!’ but the distraction had once more allowed Loki to seize the Throne and unleash ‘A Time of Evil!’ which he manifested in the form of an unstoppable artificial hunter/killer dubbed Durok the Demolisher. Unleashing his merciless engine of destruction on Earth, Loki gloated at the ‘Conflagration!’ (inked by Grainger) he had instigatedâ€¦

Gerry Conway came aboard as writer with ‘What Power Unleashed?’ (Sal Buscema inking brother John) to conclude the tale as Balder and Sif enlisted the Silver Surfer to aid the embattled Thunder God as Asgard tottered on the brink of total destruction until Thor could intercede, culminating in ‘This Fatal Fury!’ where the All-Father finally resumed his rightful place.

This pivotal collection concludes unsatisfactorily ‘In the Shadow of Mangog!’ (inked by Colletta) with the first part on another extended odyssey as Thor and friends are dispatched to the ends of the Universe. In his righteous rage Odin had banished Loki to that fantastic world, momentarily forgetting that once there the Prince of Evil might awaken the most vicious, unbeatable monster in the Asgardian universe â€¦

To be continuedâ€¦

The Kirby Thor will always be a high-point in graphic fantasy, all the more impressive for the sheer imagination and timeless readability of the tales. With his departure the series foundered for the longest time before finding a new identity, yet even so the remaining stories in this volume are still packed with intrigue and action and magnificently rendered by artists who whilst not possessing Kirby’s vaulting visionary passion were every inch his equal in craft and dedication.Â This book is still an absolute must for all fans of the medium.

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