Reddit reviews Thor: Tales of Asgard

Thor: Tales of Asgard #1-6 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

The origin of Thor and the origin of Asgard are two very different stories. Let's begin with Asgard first and get that out of the way.

About a year into Thor stories in the pages of Journey into Mystery, Stan and Jack (probably mostly Jack) began giving the Marvelized backstory of the Asgardians in a long-running series of backup stories called "Tales of Asgard" beginning in JiM #97. These continued when the series was retitled Thor until issue #145. In addition to adapting Norse mythology, we see adventures of a young Thor becoming more worthy of Mjolnir, but stops short of the point at which he becomes unworthy. These stories were collected and recolored into a fine collection appropriately called Thor: Tales of Asgard.

Now let's dig deeper into Thor's "origin."

The problem with his first appearance in Journey into Mystery #83 is that it reads more as "everyday guy gets the power of an mythological god," rather than Thor: Reborn! He doesn't speak in his trademark faux-Shakespeare and the notion that this person was the actual demigod from Norse myths would take a while to cement.

To my knowledge, the first cohesive account of Thor's origin didn't arrive until Thor Annual #11. Amongst its six chapters is more Norse myth adaptation, but also Thor's birth, some boyhood scenes, his winning of Mjolnir, his withdrawal from Earth (when he sees Vikings slaughtering Christians), a quick vignette of him getting too big for his britches (just a barfight, originally) and his subsequent banishment and transfiguration into Donald Blake by Odin, which sets the stage for JiM #83. It's a fairly comprehensive summary, but the storytelling is rather limp.

Avengers Origins: Thor is my best recommendation: the storytelling is better, following Thor from boyhood to an "unworthiness event" that hews much closer to what we know from the movies, to the subsequent banishment, transfiguration and rediscovery of Mjolnir by Don Blake. It's all you really need in a fine, concise book that won't break the bank.

Lastly, Thor: Season 1 does pretty much the same thing with more pages, at a higher price, and takes more liberty with established continuity. But a decent orientation for non-comic diehards who don't give a rip about being adhering to strict continuity details.

Happy reading! Write back and let us know which of these books you found to be Worthy.