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General InformationTitle: Essential Thor Vol. 1Credited To: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Friends Original Publication Date: 2001 reprint of material first published in 1962-1965, 1987 ISBN: 0-7851-0761-4 Cover Price: $14.95 US, $21.95 Can Buy from: Amazon.com or Amazon.ca PremiseDr. Don Blake obtains the ability to transform himself into the Mighty Thor. The IssuesThis collects the "Thor" and "Tales of Asgard" segments from "Tales to Astonish" issues 83-112. I'll list the stories in each section separately. Thor portions: Tales of Asgard Portions: High PointLoki. He's a great villain, who is more concerned with the end of Thor than with who actually ends him. Low PointIn the early issues, a number of people see Don Blake disappear in a flash of light, only to find Thor standing there seconds later, and yet none of them figure out that Thor has a secret identity. That's incredibly unlikely. The ScoresThe hero was fairly original, as is the villain Loki. However, the other villains in this could just as easily been pulled from the first few issues of the Fantastic Four. I give it 4 out of 6. The artwork in a lot of these issues suffers due to poor reproduction. The inks are faded on many pages, making things hard to read and follow. Other issues just look like they were rushed to the press, and have sparse or missing backgrounds. I give it 3 out of 6. The stories were often repetitive. Thor is so powerful that most of the battles come down to some villain getting between him and his hammer, forcing him to worry about the sixty second time limit before he turns back into Don Blake. Still, anything with Loki usually came out very well. I give it 4 out of 6. The characterization was very good. We really understand Loki, and we see that Thor, while noble, is prone to the anger and vengeance that Norse myth assigned him. Thor was created so that Marvel would have a character as powerful as DC's Superman, but I don't think Superman would have done nothing and watched a man die, even if he had threatened Lois Lane, yet that's exactly what Thor did in one of these issues. This is one of the more interesting heroes of this era. I give it 5 out of 6. The emotional response this produced varied greatly with the issues. Some of them, such as the first one, almost made me groan out loud. Others, such as the one I mentioned above, held my attention completely. On average, I'd have to give it a 4 out of 6. The flow is as flawed in Stan Lee's issues as it is in the issues written by his brother Larry Lieber. People talk far too much in battle, but not as much as Spider-Man. I give it 3 out of 6. Overall, this is an enjoyable collection, and it features one of the more distinct heroes of this time in Marvel comics. I'd certainly like to see a second volume of this essential. I give it 4 out of 6. In total, Essential Thor Vol. 1 receives 27 out of 42. Additional Notes and CommentsIt's been a while since we recapped the existing Essential volumes, so here's a list, complete with links to the ones that have been reviewed. (We've now reviewed 16 of the 32 volumes.)
Essential Ant-Man Vol. 1
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