Thor is one of the most veteran Marvel characters, who is experiencing a second youth on account of a cinematographic universe that has brought us back a huge number of superheroes in the last 15 years. But it wasn’t until 2011 that it was the turn of one of the most iconic superheroes who later appeared in several of the best-known franchises, such as The Avengers or Captain America .
Where do we start reading Thor?
If you want to get started in the history of the God of Thunder, you must take into account, above all, the different periods that the character has seen since its creation in the 60s until today. It has been the style of the different cartoonists and scriptwriters who have been chiseling the shape of this hero who has around him a varied cast of characters that are a reference in practically all his adventures. So let’s go with them.
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
They are two of the most illustrious minds of Marvel who give life to one of the most prominent characters in Norse mythology. Jack Kirby made a first version in 1950 for DC and it was not until the 1960s that he helped Stan Lee and Larry Lieber to shape the character, through issues number 83 of Journey Into Mystery of 1962 and the 125 and 126 of 1966. But it will not be until issue 179 of the renamed Thor publication, in 1970, when we begin to see his first problems with Loki, his adoptive brother, and even discover some of the most fearsome threats that lie in wait for Asgard, such as they are Hela, the Destroyer, the Sorceress, Mangog, and even Skurge, the so-called Executioner. In this time, the God of Thunder ventures to learn about the origins of Galactus . By the way, it is said that Jack Kirby never drew Odin the same twice…
Walter Simonson
With the arrival of the one from Knoxville, the hero takes an important leap from number 337 of Thor , in 1983, when our protagonist acquires what some come to define as the character’s cosmic potential . It is here that expeditions to the Asgardian underworld begin and we even get to see a version of the alien God of Thunder. The American took care of the character until number 382 of 1987, although before that, in 1986 within volume 367, he decided to step aside to take care only of the scripts, leaving the artistic aspect in the hands of Sal Bucena.
J. Michael Straczynski and Olivier Coipel
With these two artists, Thor returns in 2007 from a traumatic restart of his adventures , just after several years and an abrupt end in which the Avengers suffer a temporary separation and the dreaded Ragnarok occurs. These two artists had an essential role in how we know the God of Thunder today, since it is here that an update of the most relevant myths of the protagonist takes place, who travels to all corners of the world to awaken his old Asgardian comrades. , reborn and asleep who live their lives as mere mortals. By this time, Asgard has been permanently established on Earth.
The Age of the God of Thunder
It will not be until 2013, with the publication of the first volume of Thor God of Thunder , when the character undergoes a profound transformation in the heat of the success of the films. Artists such as the writer Esad Ribic, Russell Dauterman and many other cartoonists reach its pages. From these comics, a good part of the events narrated in the previous eras will be reviewed, revisiting and modifying both the past, the present and the future events of the already known God of Thunder (including King Thor): the tenth kingdom is discovered Secretly, Jane Foster is named as the new Thor and we will even see Malekith the Dark Elf in War of the Realms in 2019 planning the conquest of our planet.
