The Ten Most Awesome Moments In Walter Simonson’s Thor

 

 

While Grant Morrison’s Batman might end up giving it a run for its money when it’s all said and done, Walter Simonson’s amazing five-year tenure on Thor is unquestionably my favorite comic book run of all time — and considering that there’s no Batman and not a single Jimmy Olsen involved, that’s saying something. This week, the whole thing is collected in a truly massive hardcover that’s pretty tempting despite the fact that I don’t really care for the gigantic omnibus format, so to celebrate, I’ve written up my picks for the ten best moments of the series!

A word of advice, though: If you haven’t read the comics, skip the article. It’s obviously full of spoilers fro some of the best parts of the run, and while reading a top ten list doesn’t compare to the feeling of reading the actual stories, that’s a book that deserves to be experienced firsthand.

If you have read ’em, though, enjoy the trip down memory lane! And just between you and me, it’s not on the list, but how awesome is that time when Thor hits a guy so hard that it breaks every bone in his own body? Super-awesome.

7 thoughts on “The Ten Most Awesome Moments In Walter Simonson’s Thor

  1. I’m too lazy to scroll back a page to find the relevant post, so I’m just smacking it here. I could barely make it through the first chapter of Write More Good, I was laughing so goddamn hard. I had to put myself to bed before I hurt something or wet myself or terrified my dog into having a seizure. I was doing ok until I got to the definition for propaganda, and then it was over. I couldn’t even open my eyes all the way from laughing.

  2. Here here! This is the comic run I stumbled into when I started collecting comics (with no knowledge of writers or artists…I was the GM in the TSR Marvel game and Thor was too powerful for anyone to play, so I figured I’d read his books)
    With that kind of start, how could I stop?
    After all these years I’d still put it at #1 or #2.

    Great list of high points of a run that was all high points.

  3. Always good to see Simonson THOR get some love. Awesome stuff, indeed. I was lucky enough to start collecting comics while this run was going on, and I went back and bought up all the back issues I’d missed out on. But getting to read the fight with the Midgard Serpent, and then having Thor possess the Destroyer and go after Hela blew my young mind on a monthly basis. You could just feel the history being made.

  4. In the same vein as the ‘Clark Kent Meets Thor’ easter eggs, my favorite moment in the career of the Thunder Frog was the buildup to that big splash panel you showed. For two or three pages, I will go to my grave swearing that Simonson was knocking off Amazing Spider-Man #33 and the machinery lifting scene.

  5. Tim C,

    Simonson wrote in the letters page a few issues later that he was paying homage to the Spidey scene from Amazing Spider-Man #33 with the Frog of Thunder hefting Mjolnir.

  6. Brilliant article! I grew up with Thor and especially Simonson’s run. It’s still the best arc I’ve ever read! Going to hop onto amazon and see if I can get the full collection in the UK. Loved the last viking too, my fave story. Phil.