Thor (Marvel Comics)

The Gift

Thor is a fictional superhero who appears in publications published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in Journey into Mystery #83 (Aug. 1962) and was created by editor-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and penciller Jack Kirby.

Debuting in the Silver Age of Comic Books, the character is based on the Thor of Norse mythology. He has starred in several ongoing series and limited series, and has been a perennial member of the superhero team the Avengers, appearing in each of the four volumes. The character has also appeared in associated Marvel merchandise including animated television series; clothing; toys; trading cards and video games.

A self-titled film based on the character and comic is scheduled to be released in May 2011, with Kenneth Branagh as director and Chris Hemsworth starring as Thor. Hemsworth is also contracted to reappear as Thor in the film The Avengers, set to be released in 2012.

Writer-editor Stan Lee described Thor's genesis, following after the creation of the Hulk:

"[H]ow do you make someone stronger than the strongest person? It finally came to me: Don't make him human — make him a god. I decided readers were already pretty familiar with the Greek and Roman gods. It might be fun to delve into the old Norse legends... Besides, I pictured Norse gods looking like Vikings of old, with the flowing beards, horned helmets, and battle clubs.  ...Journey into Mystery needed a shot in the arm, so I picked Thor ... to headline the book. After writing an outline depicting the story and the characters I had in mind, I asked my brother, Larry, to write the script because I didn't have time. ...and it was only natural for me to assign the penciling to Jack Kirby..."

Following Thor's debut in the science fiction/fantasy anthology title Journey into Mystery, the 13-page feature "The Mighty Thor" continued to be plotted by Lee but scripted by Lee's brother Larry Lieber or Robert Bernstein (working under the pseudonym "R. Berns"). Penciling was by various artists, including Jack Kirby; Joe Sinnott; Don Heck and Al Hartley. With Journey into Mystery #101 (Feb. 1964), the series began a long and definitive run by Lee and Kirby that lasted until the by-then-retitled Thor a.k.a. The Mighty Thor #179 (Aug. 1970).

The five-page featurette "Tales of Asgard" was added in Journey into Mystery #97 (Oct. 1963) followed by "The Mighty Thor" becoming the dominant cover logo with issue #104 (May 1964). The feature itself expanded to 18 pages in #105, which eliminated the remaining anthological story from each issue; it was reduced to 16 pages five issues later.

Journey into Mystery was retitled Thor (per the indicia), a.k.a. The Mighty Thor (per most covers) with issue #126 (March 1966). "Tales of Asgard" was replaced by a five-page featurette starring "The Inhumans", from #146–152 (Nov. 1967 – May 1968), after which featurettes were dropped and the Thor stories reverted to Marvel's then-standard 20-page length.

After Kirby left the title, Neal Adams penciled issues #180-181 (Sept.-Oct. 1970) before John Buscema then became the regular artist the following issue. Buscema continued to draw the book almost without interruption until #278 (Dec. 1978). Lee stopped scripting soon after Kirby left, and during Buscema's long stint on the book, the stories were mostly written by Gerry Conway, Len Wein, or Roy Thomas. Thomas continued to write the book after Buscema's departure, working much of the time with the artist Keith Pollard; during this period Thomas integrated many elements of traditional Norse mythology into the title, with specific stories translated into comics form. Following Thomas's tenure, for several years Thor had a changing creative team.

Walt Simonson took over both writing and art as of #337 (Nov. 1983). Simonson's run as writer-artist lasted until #367 (May 1986), although he continued to write – and occasionally draw – the book until issue #382 (Aug. 1987). Simonson was responsible for introducing the character Beta Ray Bill, in what was regarded as a popular and critically acclaimed run.

After Simonson's departure, Marvel's editor-in-chief at the time, Tom DeFalco, became the writer. Working primarily with artist Ron Frenz, DeFalco stayed on the book until #459 (Feb. 1993).

As a consequence of the "Heroes Reborn" crossover event of the 1990s, Thor was removed from mainstream Marvel continuity and with other Marvel characters re-imagined in an alternate universe for one year. The Thor title reverted to Journey into Mystery with issue #503 (Nov. 1996), and ran four different, sequential features ("The Lost Gods"; "Master of Kung Fu"; "Black Widow" and "Hannibal King") before ceasing publication with #521 (June 1998).

When the character was returned to the mainstream Marvel Universe, Thor was relaunched in a second volume, and debuted as Thor vol. 2, #1 (July 1998). As of issue #36, the title used dual numbering in a tribute to the original Thor series, and the caption box for said issue became #36 / #538 (June 2001). The title ran until issue #85/#587, dated December 2004. Dan Jurgens wrote the first 79 issues, with Daniel Berman and Michael Avon Oeming completing the series.

The third volume dedicated to Thor's adventures debuted as Thor #1 (Sept. 2007), initially written by J. Michael Straczynski and penciled by Olivier Coipel. In January 2009, beginning with what would have been issue vol. 3, #13 the third volume reverted to issue #600, reflecting the total number of published issues from all three volumes.^[7][8][9] Kieron Gillen took over from JMS in Thor #604 with artists Billy Tan, Richard Elson and Dougie Braithwaite with his final storyline finishing in issue #614. Afterwards, Matt Fraction took over Thor in issue #615, after having been announced as starting in Thor #610and #611. To coincide with the Thor film, Marvel launched a number of limited series in mid-2010. These include Thor: The Mighty Avenger by Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee, Thor: First Thunder by Bryan J. L. Glass and Tan Eng Huat, and Thor: For Asgard by Robert Rodi and Simone Bianchi, An Iron Man/Thor limited series by writing Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning was announced at the San Diego Comic Con, to begin publication at the end of 2010.

Source:wikipedia