The Mighty Thor Vol.1 (1983/2017)

Walter Simonson

By the bristling beard of Odin! An incredible series which revels in being every ounce a timeless tale of epic Norse scale: gods, demons, giants, dragons, swords, sorcery, and humanity. The panels flow with incredible movement thanks to Simonson's inks, and his language grows ever mightier the more he finds his momentum. I love love love the gigantic onomatopoeia of collisions and thundering—THRAAKKT, BARROOOOM, FFSHHAMMM—all as iconic as Wolverine's SNIKT, and as much a part of the action as the characters are. It manages to be laugh out loud funny despite the high drama, a cameo by a famed DC character being the highlight. In the intro Simonson writes that the key thing he learnt from the classic Stan Lee and Jack Kirby books was that "if you kept a straight face, you could do anything" and he holds that line here brilliantly. The only criticism comes with the depiction of the Norse women, most all of whom are stuck in the 1980s Marvel gaze.