Thor Epic Collection Vol. 19: The Thor War

Thor Epic Collection Vol. 19: The Thor War by Tom DeFalco
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Thor Epic Collection Vol. 19: The Thor War collects martial from Thor #437-450 and Thor Annual 16-17

The Fantastic Four was my favorite Marvel comic as a kid but I have a fair amount of Thor comics from the same time period. When this came up, it was the image of three Thors teaming up on the cover that sold me.

Legend has it that Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz wanted Daredevil after coming off their Spider-Man run but wound up on Thor instead when Daredevil wasn't available. However you slice it, the team knows its way around an Uru hammer.

This volume takes place when the "real" Thor is banished and Eric Masterson wields the hammer in his stead. Thor battles the Tomorrow Man, the Absorbing Man, Korvac, The Grinch, and really dangerous foes like his self doubt and his ex-wife's husband. With Odin asleep, Eric is pretty much learning as he goes. Captain America could have shat on him a little less, though.

The style of DeFalco and Frenz seems antiquated now but it was cutting edge for a pre-Image, non X book. Frenz isn't flashy but he's damn reliable and his art had a retro feel even in the early 1990s. DeFalco was a little heavy on the quips for my tastes but he could spin a yarn. Patrick Olliffe, the artist on the Tales of Asgard segments, had a style I found preferable to Frenz's. Aside from a stint on Untold Tales of Spider-Man, you don't hear much about him.

By far, my favorite part of the book was the Thor War, the team-up between three Hammer-slingers: Beta Ray Bill, Eric Masterson, and Dargo Ktor, the painfully 1990s Thor from the 26th century. It reminded me of when Michael Moorcock would have Elric team up with other aspects of the Eternal Champion.

Nostalgia-wise, this is a fun collection. I do have a gripe, though. The Thor chapters of various multi-title crossovers were included so I was in the dark as to what was happening with Operation Galactic Storm, The Korvac Quest, and Citizen Kang. I understand why they were included because of the way the epic collections are structured but it's a pain in the ass.

Thor Epic Collection Vol. 19: The Thor War is 450 pages of hammer-swinging fun. 3.5 out of 5 Uru hammers.

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