Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor, Vol. 3 by Stan Lee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects Thor stories from Journey Into Mystery #111-#120 and Annual #1

The Thor stories begin by finishing a story involving Cobra and Mister Hyde from the previous book. Then in Issue #112 we learn of one of Thor's battles against the Hulk in an awkward way as he happens to be flying by and overhear a group of young people talking and explains a private (undocumented battle he had with the Hulk in Avengers #3. It's really cheesy. Issue 113 has him deciding to give up being Thor but then the return of the Grey Gargoyle changes his mind.

The book then enters a very long interconnected storyline running from Issues 114-120 involving he and Loki engaging in, "The Trial of the Gods" and it's aftermath. It really is a very intricate storyline that has one story running through it but a lot of twists and turns along the way including Loki forced to try and save Thor.

Clearly, Lee and Kirby were enjoying playing around with Norse mythology. This is true in the main Thor titles and also in the Tales of Asgard shorts which Marvelizes a lot of Asgardian legends, most of them center around younger versions of Thor and Loki, playing to the popularity of Loki as a villian (although there is one explaining the "true" version of Little Red Riding Hood.)

Journey Into Mystery Annual #1 features a battle between Thor and Hercules when Thor crosses into Olympus. The story is your standard, "two heroes stumble onto each other and fight story," but it helps that it's drawn by Jack Kirby who provides superb art on every page of the book. The Annual also features a map of Asgard with a map pointing to a shopping center. (Yea! Verily.)

My biggest complaint is that the book ends in awkward places with both the Thor stories and Tales of Asgard at a high tension "to be continued" place. But to be fair, it may have been hard to find a good stopping place on this one. As is, this is a very fun and creative book and I look forward to more.




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