Well now, it's been quite some time since I updated this guy. I didn't forget about this, i've just been slacking like a championship procrastinator. Either way, on the creative side I haven't gotten a whole lot done, so this blog has been neglected, unfortunately. I've been busy giving my brain a vacation watching all kinds of goofy stuff on Netflix. However, i've gotten a bit of reading done, and with the school semester starting, i'll be back in full-on soldier mode. Anyways, on to the review.
I'm a sucker for a good tale based in Asgard. Let me just get that out there.
Walter Simonson is a greatly talented creator. Ask any comics fan familiar with his work, and they will tell you that much. The guy is a fantastic artist and his writing ain't so bad, either. His work on Thor is widely known as the definitive run on the character, and for good reason. I first bought the first volume of his run about 3 years ago and I loved it. His handle on Thor and his supporting cast is awesome. You can tell he loves these characters, and he sets them up for amazing things in his run. Also, Simonson has a deep knowledge of Norse mythology, and he incorporates it into this run to great effect. So, there are a lot of elements that went into his run that made it great. Of course, he created Beta Ray Bill, who's incredibly popular and still appears in comics to this day. That's a testament to how awesome a creator Simonson was. But what else made this run great? (And mind you, i'm only two volumes into his five volume run, and it's already stunning.) Well, his plotting and use of the characters and extended cast of Thor is my argument. He sets up many pieces and subplots into the overall epic so that there is literally no downtime in the series, it's pacing is spot on, in my humble opinion. Also, for a guy who would like to write these characters someday, i'm envious at all the tools in his toolbox. He uses everyone, even the minor characters like the children of Asgard and Odin's wife, Frigga. It's his attention to the details that makes this run great, and I could gush about it all day. However since, i'm not even finished with the run, I suppose I should hold off my thoughts until I do. I'll revise this once I finish the next three volumes, but as it is so far, i'm only expecting it to be, dare i say, magical? If I can be excused for an incredibly cheesy and admittedly bad line, Walter Simonson is a comic creator who is destined to be honored in the literary Valhalla. Yeah, that sounds worse now that I typed it.
That's it for now.
EDIT: Just remembered, after reading this and comparing it to the current Thor series, which i'm quite fond of, there is something much more rich in Simonson's Thor.I can't quite put my finger on it, but i'll have to think about it a little bit more in depth. I've been reading Thor since JMS took over in 2007, and that was a great run, which many people called the best run since Walter Simonson. It was good, I loved it and it was in my Top 3 books for..most of the past 5 years. With Matt Fraction's current run being really good in my opinion, how does it stand up to Simonson's? I think everyone who writes Thor will inevitably be compared to Simonson, and the current title is an honorable attempt.I'd say it's really good, in general, but there is a different feeling when reading Simonson's run. Hmmmmm....It's kind of like the current books are like cheesecake. Cheesecake is always generally good. However Simonson's Thor is like the greatest cheesecake you ever tasted, and the taste lingers with you for days. It's the work of a remarkable chef.
