Essential Thor Vol. 1

Ordinary men in extraordinary circumstances. It was the hallmark of the Marvel styles of storytelling in the 1960s when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were grinding out brand new super heroes like clockwork. So when frail physician Don Blake take refuge in a hidden cave in Scandanavia, it seemed like the origin of many of Marvel's new breed of humanistic heroes. But rather than being given strange powers himself, Dr. Blake instead released another being entirely, a being with whom he would thereafter be forced to share his existence with. For whenever Don Blake strikes his wooden cane to the ground, his weakened frame is replaced by that of Thor, God of Thunder!

Leaping forth from the pages of Journey into Mystery, the adventures of Thor were unlike anything the comic book fan of the 1960s had come to expect. Here was a longhaired, hammer-wielding god who spoke in archaic Shakespearean dialect. And when he wasn't fighting evil, Thor was gone entirely, banished to we-know-not-where so that Dr. Don Blake could resume his human life.

Collected here are the first two years worth of classic Thor stories. Loki, the Asgardian trickster god and Thor's half brother, provides the Thunderer with many of his adventures. But the Thunder God also faces off against a host of villains that typified the over-the-top sensationalism of the comic books of that day, such as the Carbon Copy Man, Sandu, Master of the Supernatural and the Tomorrow Man. Bonus back-up features include Tales of Asgard, where Lee and Kirby retold the Asgardian myths in their own inimitable style. Bound together in a volume that exceeds 500 pages, this affordable collection will take you on your very own Journey into Mystery!