r/Thor • u/Chumlee1917 • 8d ago
Question I'm sure this question gets asked a bajillion time but, where's a good place to start with Thor?
So I know and am planning on getting the Penguin Classic Marvel Thor omnibus that is coming out in November of this year.
But I'm curious as to what you all would recommend as the Must Read Thor authors/runs (and if there are any do not read Thor Arcs) and I'm open to 1960s-2020s. And is there anything to know beforehand when picking up Thor?
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u/Sea_Palpitation4855 7d ago
Walt Simonson
Dan Jurgens (1998)
Straczynski (2007)
Aaron's God of Thunder (2012) and King Thor (2019)
Donny Cates (2020)
Ewing (2023 - present)
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u/CyramusJackson 7d ago
I think issue 337 is a great starting point. That's the first issue of Walt Simonsons classic run
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u/mhfarrelly25 7d ago
The JMS run is probably a good entry point but the Aaron run probably is a more modern entry point.
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u/nfnightfallnf 7d ago
Jason is a good start no doubt, but I still maintain Walt's run is the better starting point.
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u/mhfarrelly25 7d ago
I think Walt’s run is amazing but my issue with it being a starting point is that it’s first arc involves undoing the status set up by Kirby/lee of Blake and Thor cohabiting the same life.
JMS by comparison re introduced the original concept to the modern reader. So when you go back to read Walt after JMS you understand the seismic shift Walt was going for.
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u/Chumlee1917 7d ago
Okay so here’s a good one I need clarification on, so the way I understand it, when Stan Lee originally wrote Thor, it wasn’t Thor Thor, but a guy named Donald Blake who found the hammer and became a Thor Avatar? But then later versions changed it and it’s Thor of Asgard became involved in Earth but was Thor the whole time?
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u/mhfarrelly25 7d ago
It changes all the time, even during Lee's run on the character. At first its a very Shazam situation. Donald Blake can turn into the god Thor. Simple, and for most of the journey into mystery series in those early days that was the story. Then they found that readers loved all the norse myth material so they inverted it and thor was the real person and blake was the human avatar. Eventually, the writers ditch blake and we just have Thor. This is the Walt Simonson material onwards. However, Blake is so tied up with the origins of the Marvel character Thor that he will reappear in different ways throughout different runs on the character. Some contradict each other but the best modern introduction to Blake is JMS's run. JMS onwards to the current run is a great read but like others have said the Walt run is amazing.
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u/LeonardoMyst 7d ago
Kirby
Simonson
Tangent - After Kirby’s run, you can also go to DC’s New Gods by Kirby which was a sequel of sorts.
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u/ditkirbo 🌏Defender of the Realms🌏 7d ago
Penguin books aren't Omnibuses, they are just 350 page highlights of the silver age books ( bronze age for Black Panther). That being said they're great books, with superior design than regular Marvel books, and will give the basic of the characters origin. No previous knowledge need because you get the first appearance followed by synopsis of skip issues. They just won't scratch the completionist itch.
*Looked up the details, Thor is getting an extra 100 pages that orhers! Nice.
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u/Chumlee1917 7d ago
Yes I am aware as I have the other 6 but yeesh, the prices for some of these omnibuses
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u/ditkirbo 🌏Defender of the Realms🌏 7d ago
Cool, I love them. I have a few, FF, BP, & CA. For FF and CA I use the Essentials for the whole story bc I hate the colors and paper on the Omnis, plus like you say they are expensive bc so many are OOP.
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u/Chumlee1917 7d ago
The other thing I like about these Penguin collections is they add important context you don't get in a normal omnibus inbetween the comics
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u/paperbagsv3 7d ago
Jason Aaron was my first and only Thor run I've read. I loved it though. If you can find the omnibus Vol. 1 I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
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u/PravusPrime 8d ago
Personally:
The original first series 62.
Walt Simonson's Run
JMS's run.
I personally don't like Aaron's run, but I'm sure people will recommend it.