THE MIGHTY THOR SPECIALS COVER GALLERY...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

Looking at these covers, it's hard to believe that the earliest comic among them is 55 years old, while the youngest is 49, with some 50 year-olds in between.  Relax, I'm not going to bore you (again) with philosophical speculations on the nature of time, I just thought these images would be of interest to all the THOR fans among you.  I well remember the thrill of seeing the above JOURNEY Into MYSTERY Annual #1 (and only) in various local newsagents around 1973 or '74, and I must've bought around 3 or 4 of them.

I was already familiar with the stories from their re-presentations in FANTASTIC and SPIDER-MAN COMICS WEEKLY, but it was good to re-read them in colour for the first time.  On the cover below, Thor's arm was altered, but if you look at the 2nd-last scan at the foot of this post, you'll see how Jack originally drew it, as taken from an unaltered proof used for a 1994 reprint of the 2nd Thor Special.  That's followed by a scan from Thor MASTERWORKS volume 5 which shows both arms, presumably the patch covering the original having fallen off without being noticed.

Are you a Thor fan?  Which costume do you prefer - JACK KIRBY's original design, or one of the others that he (Thor, not Jack) has worn over the years? 

Posted in: Cartoons