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The Marvel Visionaries

Thor Visionaries: Mike Deodato Jr.

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"Today, he's best known for his hauntingly powerful interpretation of a certain raging green monster - but he first found fame in the '90s by redefining and reinvigorating a Norse thunder god. To mark his move to AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, Marvel collects the highlights of Mike Deodato Jr.'s epic run on THOR. Along with writers Warren Ellis and William Messner-Loebs, Deodato took the Thunder God to new heights, closing out the series' original run in a manner befitting the mighty Thor himself. "

184 pages, Paperback

First published August 11, 2004

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About the author

Mike Deodato

828 books37 followers
Mike Deodato, sometimes credited as Mike Deodato Jr., is the professional pseudonym of Brazilian comic book artist Deodato Taumaturgo Borges Filho.

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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Profile Image for Shannon Appelcline.
Author 30 books167 followers
November 9, 2013
World Engine (491-494). Ellis’ writing feels surprisingly rough and off-kilter here, but the story fortunately gets beyond that. It’s a fun bit of wackiness, but the true joy of it is the union between Thor and the Enchantress, which promises wonderful things for the future [6/10].

The Other Story (498-500). The final story in this volume is pretty muddled — not helped by the fact that we skip over a couple of issues in between. But there's fantasy Realms and multiple Asgards and robot Loki and it all … almost makes sense, but the storytelling is really uneven. We also don't get the same great connection between Thor and Amora that we saw in the previous arc. Still, it's fun to see Thor in Wagner's Ring [6/10].

I can’t say I’m thrilled by artist Mike Deodato Jr., who Marvel produced this entire volume in honor of. He seems to be yet another clone of the bad artists from the ‘90s who drew unnaturally shaped people (particularly unnaturally shaped women) using lots of pointless lines. Like several of them, Deodato also awkwardly draws the occasional page sideways for no good reason (and apparently because he didn’t have an editor telling him not to). Also, the less said about Deodato’s bare-chested Fabio Thor, the better. The second arc was fortunately slightly better than the first, artwise.
Profile Image for Ian.
1,342 reviews6 followers
September 26, 2023
Showcasing the artwork of Mike Deodato Jr.'s time on Thor in the 90s, this book sees Thor banished from Asgard and dying a mortal death on Earth.

The stories presented here represent something of a relaunch of Thor as a character and, to my surprise, it's actually a pretty good one.
His awful 90s costume (lots of belts and bare midriff) features on the cover here but not in the book itself, in which Thor's redesign simply has him going around shirtless, which honestly feels on-brand. Also gone, along with his shirt, is Thor's terrible psuedo-Shakespearean speech patterns, which I was very glad of. I'm not sure why this ancient Norse god has always spoken like he's something out of Tudor England, but I've always thought it was one of Stan Lee's worst creative decisions (well, of the ones that weren't overruled by the artists doing the work).
So, with normal speech, mortality and cast adrift on Earth, here we see the normally overpowered Thor as something of an underdog.

For me the most interesting aspect of this book was seeing Thor's relationship with Amora the Enchantress. A long-standing villain, here Thor and the Enchantress find a mutual connection through their shared exile from Asgard.
You genuinely believe her need to connect with someone who understands her and her background, but her willingness to change who she is for Thor only goes so far and her darker side still peeks through from time to time. It's a surprisingly nuanced take on the character for the time.

Unfortunately the book has a bit of a break in the middle (missing three issues which, presumably, weren't illustrated by Deodato) and after that it loses a great deal of cohesion.
There's a quest to recover and secure a mysterious magical sword, but its magical properties throw the characters to different worlds with little or no explanation. At one point they're facing Loki on Earth, then they're in Wagner's version of Norse mythology and then Thor's in the Marvel Asgard with Doctor Strange. Perhaps most inexplicable (beyond pandering to the male gaze, of course) is that when they're thrown into Wagner-world, all of the female characters find themselves in metal bikinis all of a sudden. And none of them even comment on it.
There are also a few artwork mistakes, where Deodato clearly didn't read the script properly and, several times, depicts a character in the background of a scene where all of the other characters are discussing the fact that she's just been kidnapped.

So, good relaunch of the God of Thunder to begin with, but falls apart as the book goes on.

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Profile Image for Angela.
2,596 reviews72 followers
October 16, 2013
The artwork is vastly different from previous volumes. Thor has somehow lost his powers and people want him dead. I get the feeling that I'm missing some plot points somewhere, but it is an entertaining read. A good read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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