Thor: The Warriors Three Unleashed

Thor (1966) #Annual #2

by Stan Lee, Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz

Sometimes even the God of Thunder needs a little help from his friends! When Thor is off on Midgard, and Balder is fraternizing with the Queen of the Norns, who's left to protect Asgard? The Warriors Three! Collecting: Thor Annual #2, #17; Thor (1966) #400, #410, #415-416; Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #66; Marvel Super-Heroes (1990) #15; Journey Into Mystery #-1

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Marvel

120 pages, Hardcover

First published April 20, 2011

About the author

Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber) was an American writer, editor, creator of comic book superheroes, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.

With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.

Reviews

[Nicolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marvel dug pretty deep into its archives to give the world a second collected edition of Warriors Three tales. Majority of these stories have never been reprinted before, like the back-ups in the Thor title from Tom DeFalco’s run, some pages from Marvel’s quarterly anthologies and other stories that would look terribly out of place in other Thor-centric collections. Actually, it was to Thor hardcovers as pink slime is to beef. It was a mishmash of tales by different writers and artists that feature heavily the bosom buddies of the thunder god but clash horribly because of the different art styles involved.

That was not to say there weren’t any gems here, like a Lee and Kirby classic Thor, a Walter Simonson story and two short stories featuring Herb Trimpe’s pencils. The rest though felt like try-out pages by pencillers who just turned in their first and only professional work. The first Warriors Three collection was vastly superior, as it featured John Buscema and Charles Vess on art.

I admit I enjoyed it, since Asgard tales to me are a guilty comic book pleasure. It still receives 3 stars from me and would only recommend this to premiere hardcover completists.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lot of fun. A collection of short stories featuring the Warriors Three from a lot of different eras. There's some really good stories here, especially those featuring Volstagg and his family. I also liked the one where they help a troll find her husband. A very good read.