I remember reading Norse Mythology when I was a kid. Odin was hanging from the boughs of Yggdrasil and discovered wisdom and runic knowledge. The many adventures of his son Thor, Loki and other gods and goddesses and the final culmination of the saga, Ragnarok.
It was an epic tale that held my interest that stormy afternoon. I remember watching cartoon reruns of Marvel Superheroes like Spiderman and friends, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man and of course Mighty Thor.
Looking back those early shows now look campy but in my eyes at that time it was phenomenal.
The TV shows now look very dated but it had wet my appetite for Marvel Comics. Although I am a Wolverine and Xmen fan I also picked up different titles from time to time.
To be honest I was not a fan of Thor as for me he suffered the same problem I have with Superman that they were too overpowered and far removed from man. Thor was the literal God of Thunder and I remember reading several series where he was given an earthly persona to provide him some humility. Thus we had the likes of Donald Blake, Jason Olsen and Eric Masterson. This was an attempt to humanize and make him more relatable as well as to teach humility and empathy.
To me, it did not work and Thor Odinson is the character that I liked. Also the old cartoons had him talking old English style so that may have been a factor why I initially disliked his character.
All that was about to change.
Thor: God of Thunder, Vol. 1: The God Butcher
Authored by Jason Aaron and illustrated by Esad Ribic this masterpiece was one hell of an arc. It tells the story of three different timelines of Thor as we meet the brash and hotheaded Young Thor Odinson who wields Jarnbjorn.
He meets Gorr, The god Butcher as he follows a trail of dead gods.
We then see the present day Thor, wielding Mjolnir, who is also in the trail of dead gods and also meets Gorr in the present. We learn of Gorr's plan and how he became the god butcher.
He follows him and ends up to the end of time. Meeting the future King Thor who also has his own Mjolnir.
The storyline is about Gorr wanting to kill all the gods of all timelines. A godless universe because they failed him when he was weak and needed their compassion and now all he had was rage and a desire to kill.
Bloodied and pushed to their limits, the three Thors battle with Gorr for the fate of the universe and its many gods.
It was of an epic proportion yet as the God butcher arc ended there was stll one more threat.
Thor god of Thunder last days of Midgard
Thor Vs. Galactus! That is a powerhouse match up!
We come across a barren Earth. Once that has the life snuffed out of it in another story line. We see the old King Thor watching over it and saddened by its state.
Then from the sky we see a majestic figure emerge. Galactus, the devourer of worlds, has come to finally consume a planet that repeatedly repelled him due to Earth's mightiest heroes. Yet they were no more and only King Thor remained grieving for it.
He would not let Galactus consume it even though it was already dead because of the memories he made here as well as still being its protector.
This was an epic battle between a cosmic being and a god! Earth shattering blows from both of them rocked the planet as they battled. One to protect, one to destroy.
More than physical strength and powers it was a battle of will as both did not back down.
This is putting into comics the idea of an unstoppable force versus an immovable object as both did not want to lose.
It is a great story line and well recommended!
The Secret Wars and the Unworthy Thor.
Now this was something that I really enjoyed. We see Thor Odinson brought to his knees and unable to wield his hammer because of a secret that was whispered to him.
It made Mjolnir deem him as unworthy and he lost his powers as god of thunder. He was still durable and had high strength being an Asgardian but he lost the means to travel by flight (which he does by swingging Mjolnir and hurtling himself through the air or space) calling down lightning, magical and physical resistances were also lowered.
In this story we even get a glimpse of Beta Ray and how he offered to give Thor Odinson his hammer, Stormbringer.
It was a masterful story telling on how Thor became unworthy.
Thor: Goddess of Thunder
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I did not see this coming and although it has its share of haters. Some fans did not like that a character who has remained the same for more than 50 years can be changed. Yet to me it was an interesting take of an established superhero and make some changes.
These were some of the memorable arcs I read about Thor and would fully recommend if you want to read up on some of his comic book adventures.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe also helped in boosting Thor's popularity as the third movie Thor Ragnarok showed us a different version of Thor as the previous two he was a bit overbearing and too proud but Thor Ragnarok made him endearing and funny to us which Thor is not but it works!
Do you have any memories of Thor?
Source of information: Thor