Reading the Essential Thor vol. 1, and...

[chrisco37]

The early Spidey's are probably the best as far as being good early. As many of us have said across multiple threads, the mid-late run of Kirby/Lee FF's are really where they hit the highpoint. I think the Romita/Lee Spidey's are really good too. That 1966-68 timeframe was really good.

 

See if your library can get the Masterworks trades instead. Much better in color.

[slym2none]

Thanks for the advice!

 

(thumbs u

 

 

 

-slym

[sassemble]

 

I read the entire first Thor essential last year. I agree the stories aren't very good, and the art, even Kirby, isn't the best. However, it does get a lot better in the second essential. The trial of the gods, the Absorbing Man and Hercules all ramp it up. And Kirby's art is awesome!

[sassemble]

 

I forgot the Destroyer! I'm getting old!

[Unca Ben]

Believe it or not, this kind of makes me more interested to read these older stories. Not to see how "bad" they are, but more to see how our outlooks changed over time, both as writers and readers. I might have to tell my library to get more Essentials!

 

(thumbs u

 

 

 

-slym

 

You have to consider the times in which these stories were written.

The Cold War and Nuclear Armageddon was on everyone's mind.

America was teetering on massive social change in all fronts - the Civil Rights movement, Women's Lib, the Youth Counterculture from the Beat generation to the Hippie movement - the White Male status quo was about to be stood on its head.

 

Heroes with feet of clay, angst, neurotic behavior and self-doubt was reflective of the social progression and revolution that was to come. Lee's dialogue spoke to all of this; besides kids like myself, Lee wrote for teenagers and college kids. Paired with the creative genius of Kirby and Ditko, It Worked.

 

These stories were equally popular on college campuses and with soldiers overseas. It was a great time to be introduced to the comic book world, and as a kid I ate it up. You really "had to be there" to get how different the Marvel line was from what came before in the super hero genre.

 

 

[slym2none]

Yeah, all the talk about "Reds" makes me smile, and to see them testing weapons on Thor (a "cobalt bomb") and then when Thor sent the Radioactive Man back, not to China, but "Red China" where he blew up like an atom bomb, is really great.

 

I was born in '71, so I only got to know the tail-end of the Cold War. I was never in the thick of it, so I imagine it would captivate kids of that era a little more than kids of mine.

 

Like I said, I am learning a lot about the times just by reading comic books!

 

 

 

 

-slym

[mob_medina7]

I hear ya Ive been reading a lot of SA Daredevil Books and they are just silly how they explain matts powers back then for instance theres more than one issue where daredvil flys a plane I think how the hell did he do that and not crash

[stroszek]

Yeah, all the talk about "Reds" makes me smile, and to see them testing weapons on Thor (a "cobalt bomb") and then when Thor sent the Radioactive Man back, not to China, but "Red China" where he blew up like an atom bomb, is really great.

 

I was born in '71, so I only got to know the tail-end of the Cold War. I was never in the thick of it, so I imagine it would captivate kids of that era a little more than kids of mine.

 

Like I said, I am learning a lot about the times just by reading comic books!

 

 

-slym

 

Aside from enjoying the art and esp the beauty of four color inks on newsprint, this is also why I read many older comic books. I don't expect great literature although there are some nifty ideas from time to time. It's just interesting to get an idea of how the popular imagination was constructed at any particular point in time. Romance books are particularly fascinating on that front even if they rarely provide examples of great writing.

 

And there's always Riverdale, the collective imaginary space of a hundred million teenage boners. Sanitized edition, of course.

 

 

 

 

[shadroch]

Yeah, all the talk about "Reds" makes me smile, and to see them testing weapons on Thor (a "cobalt bomb") and then when Thor sent the Radioactive Man back, not to China, but "Red China" where he blew up like an atom bomb, is really great.

 

I was born in '71, so I only got to know the tail-end of the Cold War. I was never in the thick of it, so I imagine it would captivate kids of that era a little more than kids of mine.

 

Like I said, I am learning a lot about the times just by reading comic books!

 

 

 

 

-slym

There were two China's at the time. The "evil" Red China and the

''good" Nationalist China, which really was just a government in exile on the island of Formosa, but the UN recognized it as the "real" China.

[Marvel Zombie]

The Rainbow Bridge and Asgard just don't pop in black and white.

Like most Kirby/Lee books, JIM took a while to get its legs.The first year or two, the stories are silly.

 

Took a while to get its legs?

All the characters and their basic 'issues' had only existed in nordic mythology a couple of thousand years when Lee got started on the comic version

[Erndog]

I hear ya Ive been reading a lot of SA Daredevil Books and they are just silly how they explain matts powers back then for instance theres more than one issue where daredvil flys a plane I think how the hell did he do that and not crash

 

[mob_medina7]

^My thoughts exactly!!for instance http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/jann8.jpg and by the way noicce Rivera Sketch cover

[AJD]

Hang in there - I don't like Vol 1 of Thor much at all, but volumes 2 and 3 are great, once it becomes more space opera than 60s superhero. (And the tales of Asgard backup stories are excellent too.)

[originalisbest]

the science is totally horrible. I guess it is growing up with modern comics, but some of the stuff in those early tales in the "Journey Into Mystery" title is so bad... I am having trouble reading it and staying focused from either disbelief or laughter.

 

I guess I am not for reading the early SA tales... but I will get through this volume at least.

 

:shrug:

 

 

 

-slym

 

science-schmience. It's a freakin' comic book with long-underwear characters zipping about. And was far better at what it did, vs. the cheeseball pseudoscience/craptacularness offered up in more modern times.

[slym2none]

the science is totally horrible. I guess it is growing up with modern comics, but some of the stuff in those early tales in the "Journey Into Mystery" title is so bad... I am having trouble reading it and staying focused from either disbelief or laughter.

 

I guess I am not for reading the early SA tales... but I will get through this volume at least.

 

:shrug:

 

science-schmience. It's a freakin' comic book with long-underwear characters zipping about. And was far better at what it did, vs. the cheeseball pseudoscience/craptacularness offered up in more modern times.

 

Please read the rest of the thread.

 

 

 

 

-slym

[slym2none]

Hang in there - I don't like Vol 1 of Thor much at all, but volumes 2 and 3 are great, once it becomes more space opera than 60s superhero. (And the tales of Asgard backup stories are excellent too.)

 

That was one thing I was missing, but I can see how it got pushed back for wanting to get Thor established in the MU. I am now into where these are featured in each issue and they are pretty cool.

 

(thumbs u

 

 

 

-slym

[makeminemego]

The early JIM's are a weird juxtaposition. A really rewarding, tough run to put together that just doesn't read very well.

 

I've always thought that the book hit its stride sometime after 100. Maybe around 103 or so.

[Dutch74]

The early JIM's are a weird juxtaposition. A really rewarding, tough run to put together that just doesn't read very well.

 

I've always thought that the book hit its stride sometime after 100. Maybe around 103 or so.

 

Exactly, but then again, I have the same feeling about most other books. For example, ASM1wasn't an easy read for me.

[slym2none]

I am at #106 now, and it does seem to be "hitting its stride" now.

 

 

 

 

-slym

[Unca Ben]

I am at #106 now, and it does seem to be "hitting its stride" now.

 

 

 

 

-slym

 

I'm gonna take it that you've never read these before. If so, you're in for a treat, in my opinion.

 

So many great concepts await you, starting with the first Absorbing Man story continuing into "The Trial of the Gods" and then the Destroyer storylines, things keep getting better and better.

Loki, Hercules, Pluto, the Rigellians, the Recorder, Ego, the High Evolutionary, Ulik, and on and on...

Man, I'm envious of you. Thor was probably Marvel's number 3 title at that time, only behind the big two (and you know who those are), and with good reason.