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Tor
Tor
Legendary writer/artist Joe Kubert returns to the gritty, primal world of Tor in this hardcover featuring the new six-issue miniseries adventure! Don't miss Tor's struggle for survival and his quest deep into a mysterious mountain where he will encounter strange tribes, primitive animals, destructive monsters and death at every turn.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
2 people are currently reading
40 people want to read
About the author
Joe Kubert
715 books57 followersJoe Kubert was a Jewish-American comic book artist who went on to found the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art. He is best known for his work on the DC Comics characters Sgt. Rock and Hawkman. His sons, Andy Kubert and Adam Kubert, have themselves become successful comic-book artists.
Kubert's other creations include the comic books Tor, Son of Sinbad, and Viking Prince, and, with writer Robin Moore, the comic strip Tales of the Green Beret.
Kubert was inducted into the Harvey Awards' Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1997, and Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1998.
Kubert's other creations include the comic books Tor, Son of Sinbad, and Viking Prince, and, with writer Robin Moore, the comic strip Tales of the Green Beret.
Kubert was inducted into the Harvey Awards' Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1997, and Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1998.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
January 9, 2022
Banished by his tribe, Tor roams the world of one million years ago...
Joe Kubert has been a relatively recent favorite of mine and I scored this for cheap a few months ago.
Tor hit all the right buttons for me. Told using only captions, Joe Kubert treats us to a world of hominids, dinosaurs, a giant, and even a tentacled horror. Tor forms a makeshift family with other outcasts, only to see it torn asunder as they fight for survival.
Despite being in his twilight years, Kubert draws the shit out of every fight, every mountainous vista, and every hairy ape man. Hell, every hominid species Kubert draws is distinctive from the rest, from the hairy near humans to the subterreans to the rest. He doesn't skimp on details for the prehistoric animals, either. The sabre tooth tiger gets as much effort as the velociraptor.
Is Tor the last masterpiece of one of comic's master artists? Possibly. Five out of five stars.
Joe Kubert has been a relatively recent favorite of mine and I scored this for cheap a few months ago.
Tor hit all the right buttons for me. Told using only captions, Joe Kubert treats us to a world of hominids, dinosaurs, a giant, and even a tentacled horror. Tor forms a makeshift family with other outcasts, only to see it torn asunder as they fight for survival.
Despite being in his twilight years, Kubert draws the shit out of every fight, every mountainous vista, and every hairy ape man. Hell, every hominid species Kubert draws is distinctive from the rest, from the hairy near humans to the subterreans to the rest. He doesn't skimp on details for the prehistoric animals, either. The sabre tooth tiger gets as much effort as the velociraptor.
Is Tor the last masterpiece of one of comic's master artists? Possibly. Five out of five stars.
August 10, 2024
Fun prehistoric adventure romp put in perspective by an introduction from Roy Thomas.
January 19, 2018
BCDER: 29
Joe Kubert is a deservedly celebrated legend and I really like his art style... Howerver, this comic was tedious to read giving the overly simple narration style and plot. I really wish I would have enjoyed my first reading experience with Tor. The story is predictable except for a surprise in the last issue that still seems to be awkwardly and unnecessarily attached.
Joe Kubert is a deservedly celebrated legend and I really like his art style... Howerver, this comic was tedious to read giving the overly simple narration style and plot. I really wish I would have enjoyed my first reading experience with Tor. The story is predictable except for a surprise in the last issue that still seems to be awkwardly and unnecessarily attached.
June 16, 2018
And today we will be looking at the Tor: a Prehistoric Odyssey by a very very old Joe Kubert. Honestly, flipping a bit too quickly through the rather worshipful introduction I did get kind of confused as to when exactly this book came out. There was even a short period where I was really impressed at the modern art style, but then I looked inside the front cover at the publication date which turned out to be 2009. Not terribly recent but not ancient history yet either. I certainly didn't immediately hate the art style then, but it certainly explained the fact that it didn't look dated.
So, just to clarify, the writer and artist Joe Kubert was born in 1926 and died in 2012. He worked in the industry from 1942 until basically his death in 2012, founded the Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Arts, and has had several children and grandchildren who have followed in his footsteps. He contributed a lot to the birth and growth of the comic book and graphic novel industry, and this is probably a big part of the reason that I ended up not totally hating this book. Don't get me wrong, Tor: A Prehistoric Odyssey is not my cup of tea at all but it was also pretty tame in comparison to the work of much more hateful people.
For one thing, this book is incredibly American style libertarianism and as an anarchist, there is not much I hate more in life then libertarianism. That said, since one of the points towards Tor's internal amazing sauce is the fact that he gives himself a mullet for (to paraphrase) increased vision in the front and more protection in the back, I can't help but laugh - which is something I needed so bonus points? There is literally no character arch though, because learning things is not something libertarians do apparently, and instead the entire volume is Kubert slowly revealing Tor's innate abilities and how much more awesome they are then everything else on earth.
Moving on to the artwork, I was rather surprised to find the shirtless female character to be one of the least offensive parts of the comic (well her shirtlessness in and of itself anyway). Knowing what I know now about Kubert's life I guess this was perhaps just a habit of an older gentleman who perhaps can't get it up anymore but isn't particularly angry about it. His wife had apparently died just the year before. I had wondered if Kubert was perhaps bi or gay or something but who knows. Even if Tor's shirtlessness is much more socially acceptable, his primitive buckskins do hang suggestively from time to time over his well-muscled ass.
While it's not super obvious and in-my-face, like most flights of western fantasy, it does tend to come across as pretty supremacist, exotifying everything but our pale-skinned caveman hero. It certainly doesn't take a huge stretch of the imagination to see the hairy ape creatures as people of color, even if that makes no actual evolutionary sense. And the totally limp hair of the ebony skinned fuck interest reveals a pretty limited imagination at the very least. Flipping through to the final third of the story I did hold out some hope that the plotline would at least take the side of the not conventionally attractive underdog but, not to worry, all ugly things not Tor end up dead and/or evil by the end.
What this book is singularly a good example of is just how pro-white cishet straight dude everything really was not too long ago. I can only wish that I had been imbued with this much self-confidence once upon the time! This was perhaps the closest I have ever felt to being more than a little sorry for pore persecuted men folk, considering how shitty the real world actually is, but there's very little point to one set of people getting all the fun hile everyone else suffers so no thank you!
So, just to clarify, the writer and artist Joe Kubert was born in 1926 and died in 2012. He worked in the industry from 1942 until basically his death in 2012, founded the Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Arts, and has had several children and grandchildren who have followed in his footsteps. He contributed a lot to the birth and growth of the comic book and graphic novel industry, and this is probably a big part of the reason that I ended up not totally hating this book. Don't get me wrong, Tor: A Prehistoric Odyssey is not my cup of tea at all but it was also pretty tame in comparison to the work of much more hateful people.
For one thing, this book is incredibly American style libertarianism and as an anarchist, there is not much I hate more in life then libertarianism. That said, since one of the points towards Tor's internal amazing sauce is the fact that he gives himself a mullet for (to paraphrase) increased vision in the front and more protection in the back, I can't help but laugh - which is something I needed so bonus points? There is literally no character arch though, because learning things is not something libertarians do apparently, and instead the entire volume is Kubert slowly revealing Tor's innate abilities and how much more awesome they are then everything else on earth.
Moving on to the artwork, I was rather surprised to find the shirtless female character to be one of the least offensive parts of the comic (well her shirtlessness in and of itself anyway). Knowing what I know now about Kubert's life I guess this was perhaps just a habit of an older gentleman who perhaps can't get it up anymore but isn't particularly angry about it. His wife had apparently died just the year before. I had wondered if Kubert was perhaps bi or gay or something but who knows. Even if Tor's shirtlessness is much more socially acceptable, his primitive buckskins do hang suggestively from time to time over his well-muscled ass.
While it's not super obvious and in-my-face, like most flights of western fantasy, it does tend to come across as pretty supremacist, exotifying everything but our pale-skinned caveman hero. It certainly doesn't take a huge stretch of the imagination to see the hairy ape creatures as people of color, even if that makes no actual evolutionary sense. And the totally limp hair of the ebony skinned fuck interest reveals a pretty limited imagination at the very least. Flipping through to the final third of the story I did hold out some hope that the plotline would at least take the side of the not conventionally attractive underdog but, not to worry, all ugly things not Tor end up dead and/or evil by the end.
What this book is singularly a good example of is just how pro-white cishet straight dude everything really was not too long ago. I can only wish that I had been imbued with this much self-confidence once upon the time! This was perhaps the closest I have ever felt to being more than a little sorry for pore persecuted men folk, considering how shitty the real world actually is, but there's very little point to one set of people getting all the fun hile everyone else suffers so no thank you!
March 18, 2018
Ehhhhhh... There was some nice artwork and I'm trying to think fairly about this book, but a lot of it just rubbed me the wrong way. It was sort of anti-indigenous religions/cultures, bringing a pro-atheist bias to the tale that, while not surprising, will always bother me because media is over-saturated with that bias. Also, was it necessary for the woman to not have a name and to always be referred to as Tor's woman? I guess the boy didn't have a name either, but then why does Tor have a name? The world and the monsters/creatures within were well done and kept my interest. I did like the twist Kubert had with what happened with the monster with multiple arms. I don't know. Just overall I felt dissatisfied with the story as a whole.
March 26, 2025
Buen dibujo de Joe Kubert. Mención especial al #2 donde Tor rememora su pasado, sus pensamientos fluyen a través de las páginas atrapándote.
El guion es sencillo y tiene algunas cosas que parece pueden pintar interesantes pero no van a ningún lado, además de un exceso de texto que termina cansando.
No recomendado. Solo para coleccionistas, amantes del personaje o del género, pero no es para mi. 3/10
Edición: Rústica de tapas gruesas y duras, buenas a la vista y tacto. Tamaño reducido y manejable (15.4x23.5) con buen papel (cosido y encolado). Muy buena. Apunte negativo es que tiene letras negras en fondos muy oscuros (casi ilegibles) en varias viñetas (3 o 4).
Un saludo.
Guion-1 Dibujo-4 Edicion-7
El guion es sencillo y tiene algunas cosas que parece pueden pintar interesantes pero no van a ningún lado, además de un exceso de texto que termina cansando.
No recomendado. Solo para coleccionistas, amantes del personaje o del género, pero no es para mi. 3/10
Edición: Rústica de tapas gruesas y duras, buenas a la vista y tacto. Tamaño reducido y manejable (15.4x23.5) con buen papel (cosido y encolado). Muy buena. Apunte negativo es que tiene letras negras en fondos muy oscuros (casi ilegibles) en varias viñetas (3 o 4).
Un saludo.
Guion-1 Dibujo-4 Edicion-7
September 4, 2014
I love caveman comics and Joe Kubert's art so this was a no-brainer for me. There is really not much of plot here, just caveman Tor & his cohorts surviving one monster or menace after the other and coming out mostly intact. There are some harrowing battles and a good degree of pathos here, masterfully portrayed by Kubert's terrific art. Very old-school but I enjoyed this immensely.
May 11, 2009
story's just okay, but Kubert makes nice lines.
April 4, 2014
Gorgeous and touching. Not what you expect from a comic about a cave man and creatures from the world before ours. Brutal, but reminds you of real life in a weird way.
June 30, 2018
Reprints Tor (Limited Series) #1-6 (July 2008-December 2008). Tor is different than his people and finds himself rejected as a result. Alone and wandering the land, Tor finds himself with a new family of outcasts that he must protect. However, the land is dangerous and death lurks at every turn…Tor must fight for survival in a savage world!
Written and illustrated by Joe Kubert, Tor: A Prehistoric Odyssey collects Kubert’s miniseries collection from 2008. The series represented a return to the character Kubert and Norman Mauerer created in 1953.
Tor was going to be Kubert’s big plan. He and Carmine Infantino tried to get a Tor comic strip in the late fifties and early sixties, but it was never picked up. Despite that Tor became highly associated with him due to multiple comics through multiple publishers (finally landing at DC and even Marvel). Tor: A Prehistoric Odyssey is Kubert’s goodbye to the character.
The story is as you expect. Caveman (aka nonverbal characters) are often tough to write and their dangers are all very similar. Tor was a nice combination of the concepts of Tarzan with something like Turok, Son of Stone. This poses a problem in regards to a story. It is not what some readers might expect or want in comparison to modern serialized comic books.
The plot advances event to event and is mostly episodic. It never really turns into one solid story (nor did I expect it to). Tor wanders, battles monsters, meets a woman, heads home…it isn’t like Tor learns to speak or develops civilization. It feels true to the roots of the character, but some readers might struggle with it.
What really sells Tor is Kubert’s art for the series. Kubert was a solid artist but Tor feels more personal. It always feels like Kubert’s art was in a battle between minimalistic and high end…leading to oddly realistic looking illustrations. He really gets the anguish of the character and gives him emotion despite kind of being an emotionless character.
Tor: A Prehistoric Odyssey isn’t the type of comic that everyone will fall in love with. Despite this, the comic should be looked through and enjoyed for the art if nothing else. It is a kind of love song for a character that was with Kubert for over fifty years. Kubert died in 2012, but it is nice to read this collection and revisit his writing and style.
Written and illustrated by Joe Kubert, Tor: A Prehistoric Odyssey collects Kubert’s miniseries collection from 2008. The series represented a return to the character Kubert and Norman Mauerer created in 1953.
Tor was going to be Kubert’s big plan. He and Carmine Infantino tried to get a Tor comic strip in the late fifties and early sixties, but it was never picked up. Despite that Tor became highly associated with him due to multiple comics through multiple publishers (finally landing at DC and even Marvel). Tor: A Prehistoric Odyssey is Kubert’s goodbye to the character.
The story is as you expect. Caveman (aka nonverbal characters) are often tough to write and their dangers are all very similar. Tor was a nice combination of the concepts of Tarzan with something like Turok, Son of Stone. This poses a problem in regards to a story. It is not what some readers might expect or want in comparison to modern serialized comic books.
The plot advances event to event and is mostly episodic. It never really turns into one solid story (nor did I expect it to). Tor wanders, battles monsters, meets a woman, heads home…it isn’t like Tor learns to speak or develops civilization. It feels true to the roots of the character, but some readers might struggle with it.
What really sells Tor is Kubert’s art for the series. Kubert was a solid artist but Tor feels more personal. It always feels like Kubert’s art was in a battle between minimalistic and high end…leading to oddly realistic looking illustrations. He really gets the anguish of the character and gives him emotion despite kind of being an emotionless character.
Tor: A Prehistoric Odyssey isn’t the type of comic that everyone will fall in love with. Despite this, the comic should be looked through and enjoyed for the art if nothing else. It is a kind of love song for a character that was with Kubert for over fifty years. Kubert died in 2012, but it is nice to read this collection and revisit his writing and style.
June 27, 2022
Tor was unique back in the day. Not that were any shortage of jungle men in loincloths swing about, but most of them came from civilized background and went native, or started as feral and was eventually housetrained by some roving explorers. Tor was the only caveman who remained a caveman and whose whole world remained prehistoric. No dialogue is offered here, only panel text, which further sets it apart from any counterparts and give Tor a unique flavor. I devoured the entire book in a day.
As for the art. Well... It's Joe Kubert. Anyone who knows comics well, can spot his style a mile away, and it seems to only get better with age. . There's no need to go into any details. Let's just say Kubert is one of the greats who propelled the medium into a higher playing field.
As for the art. Well... It's Joe Kubert. Anyone who knows comics well, can spot his style a mile away, and it seems to only get better with age. . There's no need to go into any details. Let's just say Kubert is one of the greats who propelled the medium into a higher playing field.
January 21, 2018
I love Joe Kubert's art, and he's really at the height of his powers here. And he's playing to his strengths here too: cavemen, dinosaurs, and other weird creatures! Really, this is beautiful to look at.
The storytelling is great too. It's completely free of dialog, using just the art and some narration to get you through the story. I think a more "modern" writer/artist would have used less (or no) narration, but I didn't feel like the narration was heavy-handed at any point.
The storytelling is great too. It's completely free of dialog, using just the art and some narration to get you through the story. I think a more "modern" writer/artist would have used less (or no) narration, but I didn't feel like the narration was heavy-handed at any point.
January 10, 2026
This was a 21st century return by Joe Kubert to a character that he first worked on back in the 1950s and it includes cavemen running around with dinosaurs, but it's still a fun read.
Great art by Kubert that that is so clear with its storytelling that some of written narrative appears unnecessary.
Great art by Kubert that that is so clear with its storytelling that some of written narrative appears unnecessary.
April 3, 2018
Great art. Thin, but decently fun story. I wouldn't buy it for the story, but I would for Joe's artwork. Man, his stuff is so ludicrously good. Reading Al Williamson and Joe Kubert back to back is ruining all other art for me.
January 2, 2020
It’s thinkers book to me, I feel it’s about curiosity. If you looking for dinosaurs fighting each other then this isn’t for you
June 9, 2020
Tor tells a simple story but there's something incredible about the art. It's impressive without being overpowering and the way the text blends with the action suits the tone of the story perfectly.
December 11, 2020
First off amazing art. The story is a very trippy caveman adventure. A lot is going on in this and I was left scratching my head.
April 17, 2021
Kubert may be great at art, but he writes like the title character.
May 9, 2022
Love Joe Kubert's work. Tor is the stone-age Tarzan.
January 14, 2024
I really thought something by Kubert would have nice art and a story... any story.
May 1, 2012
This book was so painful to read that it's the closest that I have ever come to simply not finishing a book.
May 22, 2016
Especial Géneros DC dedicado al Tor de Joe Kubert.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews