If you're even slightly interested in Thor as a character, I *highly* recommend Simonson's famous series. He writes & draws the 1st three paperbacks, 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...
*Issues 337 & 338- Introducing Beta Ray Bill! Thor meets his match, and we learn the origin of this exciting new character.
*Issues 339 & 340- Introducing Beta Ray Thor? Bill's new identity is solidified, as Thor & Sif help him fight for his people's survival.
*Issues 341 to 343- Thor begins his new life in New York, adopting a new identity with the help of Nick Fury. Taking the name Sigurd Jarlson, Thor finds life in NYC to be a lot like Asgard, as the creature Fafnir appears & fights! Scenes switch between Asgard & New York, and many different Asgardians appear throughout.
As much as I like it, the artwork is a little sketchy here; it gets better in volumes 2 & 3. This new '08-'09 printing is *greatly* improved over the 2001 printing. Here we get newly reconstructed colors, bonus sketches, and the 3 missing panels from issue 341, which were included in a letters page in issue 342.
Included in this volume:
*Issues #339 to #341- Walt Simonson writes, pencils & inks
*Issue #342- Walt Simonson writes & pencils; Terry Austin inks
*Issues #343 to #345- Walt Simonson writes, pencils & inks
*Issue #346- Walt Simonson writes & pencils; Terry Austin inks
*Issue #347- Walt Simonson writes, pencils & inks
*Issue #348- Walt Simonson writes & pencils; Bob Wiacek inks
*sketches from the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition
-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.