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Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor #7
Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor, Vol. 7
Collects The Mighty Thor #153-162
224 pages, Hardcover
First published May 21, 2008
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82 people want to read
About the author
Stan Lee
7,560 books2,347 followersStan 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 1, 2025
This is the period where Kirby is beginning to lean out of Marvel... which means he's still better than anything else out at the time. The plotting is looser and full of even more deus ex machinas and abrupt left turns, the Mangog issues feel drawn out like a Dragonball Z fight. It is all still fun. But Kirby doesn't have quite the same vivacity which will be restored when he begins his Fourth World project at DC. (Or perhaps I am wearing out)
I had not perused the first bunch of issues of this volume for nigh fifteen years, so it was fun to revisit. The Galactus bit I had read in a recent FF read-through.
Perhaps the most important bit here is their trying to finally land on an origin for the Donald Blake identity. The Letter Column had been exploding with ideas and confusion on how Thor and Donny co-existed. It previously had a post-modern feel of incomprehensible confusion and metanarrative. The resolution they present is probably the easiest way forward. It would have been intriguing to never answer the question though. Imagine it being a sixty year mystery...
First Appearances:
Mangog (Kirby does communicate unstoppable power and danger well, though he's done this bit a few times)
The Donald Blake Origin
The other major bit is the battle between Galactus and Ego along with the first pass at Galactus's origin.
I had not perused the first bunch of issues of this volume for nigh fifteen years, so it was fun to revisit. The Galactus bit I had read in a recent FF read-through.
Perhaps the most important bit here is their trying to finally land on an origin for the Donald Blake identity. The Letter Column had been exploding with ideas and confusion on how Thor and Donny co-existed. It previously had a post-modern feel of incomprehensible confusion and metanarrative. The resolution they present is probably the easiest way forward. It would have been intriguing to never answer the question though. Imagine it being a sixty year mystery...
First Appearances:
Mangog (Kirby does communicate unstoppable power and danger well, though he's done this bit a few times)
The Donald Blake Origin
The other major bit is the battle between Galactus and Ego along with the first pass at Galactus's origin.
January 1, 2018
More greatness!
Marvel has rarely reached the pinnacle it hit in the 60s, as it does here. Kirby was born to draw Thor and Asgard. In this volume not only do we get Thorls origin, but Galactus!
Marvel has rarely reached the pinnacle it hit in the 60s, as it does here. Kirby was born to draw Thor and Asgard. In this volume not only do we get Thorls origin, but Galactus!
April 30, 2021
Forget about the plots, this one is all about Kirby's art. We get a lots of full page scenes and a few of his incredible collages. We also get a small retcon of the first story (necessary due to the increasing importance of Asgard) and a "no-explanation" on Galactus origin.
December 22, 2022
In this collection Thor spends very little time on Earth so he can work his way through Jack Kirby's fever dream artwork. The Recorder (not to be confused with Human Tape Recorders, which are toddlers) gets featured quite a bit but really, does he do anything?
October 31, 2017
As Arlen Schumer points out in his introduction, Thor has come a long way since the early stories. The early volumes of Thor I've found rather disappointing in content, as though totally aping Silver Age DC (love interest prefers the superhero to the civilian identity (usually the reverse in Silver Age Marvel), criminals with minor or no super powers, albeit often manipulated by Loki, and a rather corny tone suggesting they were written to amuse particularly young children), but improve tremendously as Asgard becomes a greater part of the stories, which delve surprisingly into science fiction themes quite a bit (as previously noted,
The Green Lantern Archives vol. 4
and
The Hawkman Archives vol. 2
seem to do just the reverse, sloughing most of their science fiction origins for adventures battling relatively ordinary menaces). This volume continues the trend.
They should have put the first issue in this volume, in which Thor gets his hammer back from Loki, in the previous volume, because there's no cliffhanger (most of these hardcovers don't do cliffhangers unless it leads into a large story arc), unlike in the previous issue. There are three major arcs in this volume, the first is Ulik's release of Mangog from a prison created by Odin. It's a four-part story with implications of Ragnarok (suspicion that the events might indeed be Ragnarok is common, even when Ragnarok is sometimes misspelled) that would probably be very suspenseful if Schumer's introduction wasn't full of unannounced spoilers.
Next there is a two-parter on the origin of Thor, reprinting the original 1962 story in a new frame of Don Blake wondering who he really is. Apparently this frame is written by Larry Lieber, although our only indication of this is at the front of the volume, not in the story credits as they originally appeared. The second part is new content establishing that Don Blake had no past prior to entering medical school because he was Thor sent by Odin to learn humility. I understand this origin was later revised yet again making Donald Blake a distinct person separate from Thor, but this is what we have now. The first part, as I implied, pales in comparison to the later work, especially in Lee's writing (Kirby's art is excellent, but Thor himself looks much younger and more carefree), but is surprisingly solid, and reminds us that Thor's adventures were destined to always be cosmic, having fought the Stone Men of Saturn in his first appearance.
We then have a two-parter in which Galactus is attempting to consume either Ego or Rigel, whichever he can get. There is some nice Kirby collage work, although the first panel of Ego seems to be the same one we saw in volume 5 (I could not compare them side by side, not having access to volume 5 at this time--these have all be interlibrary loans except for volume 3, which Queens Library happened to own). It all seems to end two abruptly, especially since the covers imply a Galactus three-parter. The third part is actually just Odin et al. examining the origin of Galactus, although the origin itself takes up only a few pages. This is really anti-climactic, but may have worked better in single issue format, although one would think learning the character's origin would automatically work better as part of the build rather than an afterthought for later stories, since it's immediately clear that Thor's defeat of Galactus (by putting Mjolnir on a stand built from spaceship debris) is only temporary. Issue #162 is particularly collectible today for presenting the first telling of origin of Galactus, which really only depicts Galactus's initial release from his containment and the destruction of his first world (the explanation that he is the survivor of a previous universe that is familiar to today's Marvelite's does not come into play here). While Lee takes pains to state repeatedly that Galactus is beyond good and evil, he doesn't come across as such based on his actions, which seem self-centered beyond his need to consume. Thor is aided by The Wanderers, the survivors of the first planet Galactus consumed, who are hairy beasts not much different than the surviving Taurean with the bizarre gas mask who initially fights Thor and apparently dies, claiming temporary insanity after the death of his entire race.
Karnilla's romantic interest in an unwilling Balder is a thread throughout the volume that the last page implies will be picked up heavily in future issues.
Although this volume somewhat of a letdown for the above-stated reasons, the Ragnarok story is an epic mini-masterpiece (Schumer's analysis in the introduction, spoiler though it is, is probably correct), and the revised Thor origin and the partial origin of Galactus are major milestones that anyone interested in Marvel comics will want to read.
They should have put the first issue in this volume, in which Thor gets his hammer back from Loki, in the previous volume, because there's no cliffhanger (most of these hardcovers don't do cliffhangers unless it leads into a large story arc), unlike in the previous issue. There are three major arcs in this volume, the first is Ulik's release of Mangog from a prison created by Odin. It's a four-part story with implications of Ragnarok (suspicion that the events might indeed be Ragnarok is common, even when Ragnarok is sometimes misspelled) that would probably be very suspenseful if Schumer's introduction wasn't full of unannounced spoilers.
Next there is a two-parter on the origin of Thor, reprinting the original 1962 story in a new frame of Don Blake wondering who he really is. Apparently this frame is written by Larry Lieber, although our only indication of this is at the front of the volume, not in the story credits as they originally appeared. The second part is new content establishing that Don Blake had no past prior to entering medical school because he was Thor sent by Odin to learn humility. I understand this origin was later revised yet again making Donald Blake a distinct person separate from Thor, but this is what we have now. The first part, as I implied, pales in comparison to the later work, especially in Lee's writing (Kirby's art is excellent, but Thor himself looks much younger and more carefree), but is surprisingly solid, and reminds us that Thor's adventures were destined to always be cosmic, having fought the Stone Men of Saturn in his first appearance.
We then have a two-parter in which Galactus is attempting to consume either Ego or Rigel, whichever he can get. There is some nice Kirby collage work, although the first panel of Ego seems to be the same one we saw in volume 5 (I could not compare them side by side, not having access to volume 5 at this time--these have all be interlibrary loans except for volume 3, which Queens Library happened to own). It all seems to end two abruptly, especially since the covers imply a Galactus three-parter. The third part is actually just Odin et al. examining the origin of Galactus, although the origin itself takes up only a few pages. This is really anti-climactic, but may have worked better in single issue format, although one would think learning the character's origin would automatically work better as part of the build rather than an afterthought for later stories, since it's immediately clear that Thor's defeat of Galactus (by putting Mjolnir on a stand built from spaceship debris) is only temporary. Issue #162 is particularly collectible today for presenting the first telling of origin of Galactus, which really only depicts Galactus's initial release from his containment and the destruction of his first world (the explanation that he is the survivor of a previous universe that is familiar to today's Marvelite's does not come into play here). While Lee takes pains to state repeatedly that Galactus is beyond good and evil, he doesn't come across as such based on his actions, which seem self-centered beyond his need to consume. Thor is aided by The Wanderers, the survivors of the first planet Galactus consumed, who are hairy beasts not much different than the surviving Taurean with the bizarre gas mask who initially fights Thor and apparently dies, claiming temporary insanity after the death of his entire race.
Karnilla's romantic interest in an unwilling Balder is a thread throughout the volume that the last page implies will be picked up heavily in future issues.
Although this volume somewhat of a letdown for the above-stated reasons, the Ragnarok story is an epic mini-masterpiece (Schumer's analysis in the introduction, spoiler though it is, is probably correct), and the revised Thor origin and the partial origin of Galactus are major milestones that anyone interested in Marvel comics will want to read.
October 6, 2017
A cosmic battle against Galactus, and the Mangog almost destroying Asgard. 'Nuff said.
October 23, 2018
Wow! Love THOR!!!!! Loki is scum! Love the artwork! Love !arvel!
Wow l Love THOR! Loki is scum! Marvel is seasasonal artwo r k! Stan Lee is awsome! Love stories! Marvel is great!
Wow l Love THOR! Loki is scum! Marvel is seasasonal artwo r k! Stan Lee is awsome! Love stories! Marvel is great!
July 18, 2021
I'd give this more stars if I could.
April 16, 2013
Lots happen in this book, Ragnorak, Galactus and the real story behind Donald Blake. They are bit story lines, and the series is getting more recognisable. The Blake explanation solves a problem thats been bugging me since reading the early Thor. Galactus vs Ego is fun and feels like it came from one of those what if conversations. A good read.
February 5, 2016
The Marvel Masterworks volumes are fantastic reprints of the early years of Marvel comics. A fantastic resource to allow these hard to find issues to be read by everyone. Very recommended to everyone and Highly recommended to any comic fan.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews