Thor Visionaries - Walter Simonson, Vol. 4 [Paperback]

Walter Simonson (Author), Sal Buscema (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Marvel (September 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785127119
• ISBN-13: 978-0785127116
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 0.5 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #589,106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars With a wave of Marvel's hand, the pages DISAPPEAR!, September 4, 2007

By 

Babytoxie (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thor Visionaries - Walter Simonson, Vol. 4 (Paperback)

No doubt about it - Walt Simonson made a mark on Thor that was second only to Stan & Jack, and it was a close second, at that; however, THOR VISIONARIES: WALTER SIMONSON VOLUME 4 is less than impressive. First off, this is the thinnest Thor Visionaries yet. We've gone from 12 issues with Volume 1 (288 pages), to 10 issues in both Volumes 2 and 3 (~240 pages each), to 8 issues with Volume 4 (190 pages), and the price is always twenty-five bucks! Anyone beginning to feel cheated? Furthermore, the stories collected in this volume are pretty slight - not much happens, and what does happen is fairly inconsequential. It collects the 4-issue miniseries Balder the Brave and only 4 actual comics from the Thor series. In short, Balder learns that Odin is dead and leaves Karnilla, Queen of the Norns, for Asgard; Thor battles a Judge Dredd look-alike from the Time Variance Authority (also featured in Simonson's FF run) who is in search of the Zaniac; and then Thor stumbles into the middle of the Mutant Massacre, Marvel's big multi-title crossover of 1986. The key event in this volume takes up a very small part - a curse on Thor from Hela, whose realm the Asgardians invaded in a previous collection. She holds a grudge and decides to punish Thor for his impudence... and trust me, he'll pay the price. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait until Volume 5 to read that story.

Sal Buscema's art looks great in these stories. I'm normally lukewarm towards his art in general, but with the right inker, it's very sturdy... sketchier than Simonson's pencils, but a worthy successor. In fact, Buscema's art is what saves this overpriced collection from a 2-star rating. The book doesn't do anything for me otherwise.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Simonson's excellent Thor vision, volume 4, May 25, 2008

By 

"extreme_dig_cm" (Chicago, Il USA, Amazon.com Fan!) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thor Visionaries - Walter Simonson, Vol. 4 (Paperback)

Walt Simonson's famous Thor run is currently collected in 5 trade paperbacks; he writes & draws the 1st three, and then mostly just writes the last two. My favorite volumes are the 1st three, but the entire run is really well done.

Highlights here for me...
*Balder's colorful costume- Designed by Simonson himself, it's outfits like this that help make his Thor run as famous as it is.
*Balder the Brave issues 1 to 4- Adds depth to the character, and enhances understanding of Asgard in general.
*Issues 371 to 374- Feature colorful characters like Justice Peace, Zaniac, Hela, the Marauders, and X-Factor.

Starting with this 4th volume, the Thor Visionaries Walter Simonson series gets a newer, cheaper but still decent grade of paper, and the pencils are all by Sal Buscema except most of the artwork on the individual issue covers. Despite what the back cover currently states, Thor issues 371 to 374 are included. This is easily the weakest volume in Simonson's run, and Marvel's list price is a bit too high.

Included in this volume:
*Balder the Brave #1 to #4- Walt Simonson writes; Sal Buscema pencils & inks
*Issues #371 & #372- Walt Simonson writes; Sal Buscema pencils; Blevinson inks
*Issues #373 & #374- Walt Simonson writes; Sal Buscema pencils & inks

P.S. Great news for Thor fans: Thor Visionaries: Walter Simonson Volume 1 TPB (New Printing) is being re-released, with high-quality color reconstruction & better paper. It's set to be released this next year! It'd be nice to see the cover of Thor 337 or 338 as that TPB's cover.

-UPDATE 2011- The newly reconstructed colors here represent the typical cleaning up of the original 80's colors, like Marvel does with all of their 80's paperbacks these days. These colors are *not* the same as the even newer colors in the 2011 Thor Simonson Omnibus. The omnibus colors are a whole different kind of 'new', specially made for that release.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing collection, September 18, 2007

By 

N. Durham "Big Evil" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Thor Visionaries - Walter Simonson, Vol. 4 (Paperback)

Writer/artist Walter Simonson's visionary run on The Mighty Thor is one of the all time great defining depictions of a super hero in all of comic history, but you'd never know it with what you get in this collection. The fourth volume of Thor Visionaries collects the Balder the Brave mini-series as well as four issues from Simonson's run on the main Thor title, but sadly, nothing of either is all that great. There's a few hints at things that would come to pass (the Mutant Massacre for one), but there's nothing here that really displays what made Simonson's run on Thor so good to begin with. Sal Buscema's artwork is still great though, so the collection as a whole isn't a total loss. It should also be worth noting that, as the first reviewer has already mentioned, this fourth collection is the shortest yet in the Thor Visionaries series. Collecting only eight total comics, Marvel's list price still remains the same as it has for the previous collections, which have featured 10 to 12 total comics. All in all, unless your a die hard Thor fan, this collection can be passed up.