Review: The Mighty Thor, Vol. 3 by Walter Simonson

Up now: the first of three weeks of THE MIGHTY THOR! But before that, here are two recent reviews I've written for USF, both of Doctor Who releases with two stories in one: Vortex Ice / Cortex Fire and Shadow Planet / World Apart.

Comic trade paperback, 260 pages
Published 2013 (contents: 1985-86)
Acquired December 2015
Read January 2017

The Mighty Thor, Vol. 3

Writer & Artist: Walter Simonson
Artist: Sal Buscema
Remastered Coloring: Steve Oliff
Letterer: John Workman

This volume of The Mighty Thor feels a bit transitional, between the epic battles of vol. 2 (including the death of Odin) and whatever is to come in vol. 4. A lot of the book deals with the repercussions of the big battle in vol. 2: the army of Asgard is still trapped on Midgard* in Central Park (though when this is resolved, it's surprisingly easy), the city of Asgard is being rebuilt, and the question of who will rule Asgard is beginning to be considered. Loki of course wants it to be Loki, and uses Lorelei (who began pursuing Thor romantically in vol. 2) to make Thor agree. This results in a pretty great Thor/Loki fight where Thor throws his hammer and then grabs Loki's neck so that when the hammer returns it will take off Loki's head:

Between when I wrote this review and made this scan, this scene was directly ported into Thor: Ragnarok. Simonson actually got a credit in the film, which was nice.
from Thor vol. 1 #359 (art by Walter Simonson)

Also Thor has maybe the best "next issue" boxes:

NOTHING I CAN SAY CAN OUTDO THIS!
from Thor vol. 1 #357 (art by Walter Simonson)

There are also some hijinks on Earth with Beta Ray Bill, and Thor decides to deal with the death of his father by invading Hel-- as you do. He doesn't get his father's soul back, but he does liberate trapped human souls.

There are also four issues of a Balder the Brave miniseries collected here, which are decent. I've liked Balder's appearances in this series but don't know that I was clamoring for a spotlight for him. They are decently fun, though.

Walter Simonson knows his stuff, of course, but I felt like this volume didn't contain much meat. Hopefully vol. 4 gets back to the core of what made vols. 1-2 such a success.

How could I not be hyped for vol. 4, actually?
from Thor vol. 1 #363 (art by Walter Simonson)

* Earth.