Published today (September 15), here is one of my projects of the last couple of years: The Mighty Thor, an oversized paperback collecting 400-plus pages of 1960s Thor and “Tales of Asgard” comics by Jack Kirby. This is the seventh volume to date in the growing Penguin Classics Marvel Collection. This series is designed for newcomers, especially students, and provides accessible points of entry to the sprawling immensity of Marvel.
I co-curated this volume with series editor Ben Saunders, co-selecting the comics to be included and writing the introduction, interstitial essays, and back matter. It was a pleasure to reread these comics (as well as thousands of pages of comics that didn’t make it into the volume!) and to think and write about them. A most unusual project for me, but I’m pleased that I was able to give a Kirby-centered perspective on this pivotal work.
Deets: The book collects Thor stories from Journey into Mystery #83, 85, and 114-116, and Thor #128-133, 154-157, and 159-161, and five “Tales of Asgard” as well. A heady dose of the Marvel Sixties, and of mythic Kirby! In addition, its bibliography, including suggestions for further reading, provides, I think, a good introduction to Marvel’s Thor in general, from the Sixties to today.
My thanks to Ben Saunders and Penguin Classics for inviting me into this series. I’m glad to be in their company, and that of fellow volume editors Qiana Whitted (who did the Black Panther volume) and Jose Alaniz (who did The Avengers). We’ve worked hard to contextualize these vintage Marvel comics and provide new readers with a welcoming way in. Check out what we’ve done!
Kirby Studies 