My thoughts on Tom Defalco's Thor run

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

I have to admit, Linkara's review on Thunderstrike reminded me that i used to have some fondness for Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz's run on the Mighty Thor series when i was a kid. I say it is as good as Simonson's even, but for very different reasons. I had a few random issues from earlier, but I picked up #400 when it came out (back when giant-sized anniversary issues contained actually worthwhile bonus goodies; and the same time as Cap 350 and Avengers 300- what an intro pack period!). Eventually I had everything DeFalco and Frenz Thor-related, annuals and all. I've said before Wally West and Kyle Rayner under certain creators were DC's Peter Parker, but Defalco run of Thor felt like Marvel's Superman. And I know DeFalco isn't for everyone, even back then, he aped the stories of Lee and Kirby to the point of having a cheesy dramatic narration, but I liked how in his reign as Ed in Cheese the FF and Thor were off limits, because they were his.


DeFalco lost me when he brought in Thunderstrike, but everything before that I loved. The Celestials story, the big Seth storyline with that issue 400 already mentioned, the Black Galaxy story with Stellaris and the High Evolutionary, Code: Blue, the drama with Eric's family, all the stuff with bonding Thor to Eric a la classic Don Blake stuff, and especially the last few issues pre-Eric fully taking over ("Requiem for a Wrecker" and the huge Thor vs. Loki double-sized "death" issue") were great fun comics.

[GodThor]

it was OK to me.

he is a God compared to Aaron.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

I enjoyed the hell out of it. Hooked me with #386 -- shaved the beard but one last hurrah in the battle armor.
Adjusted my allowance by issue #394 and followed thru till the end of their run (although I kept with it with the Bruce Zick artwork afterwards).
I remember camping in the summer of `88 and reading issues #394-397 and listening to the ending credits from a Marvel Comics Video Library cassette. There was a snippet of the `66 cartoon and it hooked me for more....

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

I enjoyed the hell out of it. Hooked me with #386 -- shaved the beard but one last hurrah in the battle armor.
Adjusted my allowance by issue #394 and followed thru till the end of their run (although I kept with it with the Bruce Zick artwork afterwards).
I remember camping in the summer of `88 and reading issues #394-397 and listening to the ending credits from a Marvel Comics Video Library cassette. There was a snippet of the `66 cartoon and it hooked me for more....

The Battle Armor needs to make a comeback, along with the God Blast.

[K7P5V]

"Alone Against the Celestials" and "War of Gods" were neoclassic-Kirby in its epicness, however my personal favorite will always be the two-part "Annihilus Saga". Annihilus is a great villain and all, but I really enjoyed DeFalco's story because of Thor's interactions with his peers on Asgard (one of the best being Thor's good-natured ribbing towards an introspective Balder).

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

"Alone Against the Celestials" and "War of Gods" were neoclassic-Kirby in its epicness, however my personal favorite will always be the two-part "Annihilus Saga". Annihilus is a great villain and all, but I really enjoyed DeFalco's story because of Thor's interactions with his peers on Asgard (one of the best being Thor's good-natured ribbing towards an introspective Balder).

Defalco was obviously aiming at making a spiritual successor to Lee and Kirby stories, kinda like when he tried to regress the Fantastic Four by retconning the marriage between Johnny and Alicia.

[K7P5V]

Defalco was obviously aiming at making a spiritual successor to Lee and Kirby stories, kinda like when he tried to regress the Fantastic Four by retconning the marriage between Johnny and Alicia.

I remember DeFalco's Fantastic Four. I really didn't like what happened to Sharon, but I understood why it had to be done.

[gurkle]

I enjoy it but I think DeFalco tried too hard to imitate classic comics. He even ended every sentence with an exclamation point! because that's the way Stan did it - except that he only did it that way because of printing issues (most older comic writers were taught not to use periods because they didn't always show up in print).

It was kind of charming that in the middle of the most EDGY EXTREME period of comics, you had the editor-in-chief turning out this retro comic that was meant to look and read as if Stan and Jack never left the book. The guest stars were fun and I've always liked DeFalco's take on the Enchantress, who really seems to be one of his favorite characters.