1982 - Avengers House Ad

Grabbed from Iron Man Annual #5:

Simonson's Hulk (and Thor too!)

Grabbed from the Walt Simonson Appreciation Society Facebook page:

 

Simonson cover art from his upcoming run on Indestructible Hulk

From the May 2013 solicitations from Marvel Comics.

The Goddesses of Thor by Walt Simonson

From Walt Simonson's Facebook album:

Love the pencilled version as I feel it reflects the true amount of work involved in creating this piece of amazing art!

"The Goddesses of Thor, and Thor. Pencil. 14 x 17. 2012. Still have to erase the pencils, and spot the blacks but I kinda liked this stage. I never actually used the Valkyrie during my time on the book, but it seemed appropriate to include her here. A drawing to help a friend. I'll post about that when I post the finish."

"Thor and the Goddesses of Asgard. Pen and Ink. 14 x 17. 2012. The finished drawing. This drawing was done to help raise a few bucks for the ongoing care for Bill Mantlo. As some of you may know, Bill was the victim of a hit-and-run accident in NYC back in 1992, and suffered very serious head injuries. He's never really recovered. I committed to this drawing during an auction awhile back, and have finally had a chance to complete it, on Bill’s behalf. Hopefully, this drawing will help out a little.

Here's a little backstory and a Paypal button if you'd like to help out."

1986 - Cornerbox for The Mighty Thor

This drawing by Walt Simonson was used as the corner box on the covers of The Mighty Thor.

If you recall, this armour was the one crafted to protect his body as it had been cursed by Hela.

Simonson's cover to Mighty Thor #14

1983 - The Mighty Thor #337

The Might Thor #337

November 1983

“DOOM!”

Writer/Artist: Walt Simonson

The purchase of The Mighty Thor #337 back in November 1983 was purely an impulse buy because of its unforgettable cover. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Thor back then having enjoyed a few issues by Roy Thomas and Keith Pollard. However, that changed the moment I saw that cover with some kind of alien version of Thor smashing through the comic book’s logo.

The Might Thor logo was the only Marvel logo at that time that had never been changed since the mid-1960s. Simonson actually cut up a copy of the logo from the previous issue and broke it up on a transparent overlay that sat neatly overtop of the daunting image of Beta Ray Bill.

With issue #337, Simonson's relative inexperience certainly didn't show. His first issue on this title is perhaps the most effective textbook example of how to tell a great comic book story. Simonson's distinctive art style certainly caught your attention and charged each page with energy, bringing it to life in a strong cinematic fashion that sparked your imagination. The action scenes sprawled beyond the panels, emphasizing its bold, larger-than-life feel. Thor was drawn physically more impressive and also with a certain nobility.

The first three pages set up a subplot that will eventually become a major story line, the Surtur Saga. In this opening sequence, a mysterious figure of cosmic proportions is forging a foreboding weapon. Simonson captures the tension of the moment and over the storyline of the next year, he paced this subplot, moving it ahead slowly, building on this rising tension.

Not only does this issue thoughtfully introduce establish characters, but it features the debut of Beta Ray Bill and the Enchantress’ sister Lorelei who will both be instrumental during Simonson’s run and beyond.

It featured one jaw-dropping twist after another. Not only was Beta Ray Bill as powerful as Thor was, not only was Bill somehow worthy enough to wield Mjolnir, Beta Ray Bill with Thor’s powers was mistakenly summoned to Asgard by Odin. And that final page, with Donald Blake standing atop the wreckage of Bill’s spaceship and crying out to his father Odin, was simply spectacular. That image still sticks with me today whenever I think about an amazing cliffhanger ending.

The worse part of all of this was that my local convenience store never got a copy of Thor #338 or Thor #339. It would be a year later before I discovered a comic book store and found those back issues, finally concluding that story!

I can’t write about this issue without mentioning letterer, John Workman. This issue was his first as the new regular letterer and while the change was a bit more subtle, his style added a distinctive Norse feel to the book. This new lettering style worked well with Simonson's explosive fonts that broke through panel borders leaving a clear ring in your imagination. THRAKKT! BARROOOOM! KRANNG!

1984 - Thor sketches

By Joe Sinnott

By Walt Simonson

1984 - Thor #349 preliminary sketches

Walt Simonson's preliminary sketches for the first four pages of Thor #349.

1983 - Thor #337 original cover

From the Walt Simonson Appreciation Society on Facebook:

"Thor 337 cover. Pen (probably Rapidographs), ink, tracing paper, Scotch magic tape, white out, and masking tape! (I think that's all of it it.) 10 x 15. 1983.

"This is the original production version of the cover for Thor 337. I believe that the original drawing I did of Bill was photostated in order to reduce it slightly in size to clear the logo a bit better. So this is that photostat seen through a layer of tracing paper.The logo here was the original logo for Thor. At the time, it was the only Marvel logo that had never been changed since its introduction back in the mid-60s. I changed it the following issue so this was a way of alerting readers that (hopefully) something new was in the works.I got a stat of the logo, cut it up, moved the pieces around on tracing paper over the figure till I got them where I wanted them, and then taped everything down on the overlay. I did some additional drawing and some whiting out on the tracing paper as well. So even though the figure here of Bill is a stat, this is the original cover, as photographed, that was printed on the comic book.Thought about cleaning it up before posting it, but I think it's kind of cooler seen this way."

Thor's Mjolnir from Skelton Crew Studio

Thor's Mjolnir from Skelton Crew Studio (http://www.skeltoncrewstudio.com/thor.html)

Art Adams' variant cover to JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #622

Not much to say on this other than wow...

And speaking of Simonson's Thor

Tom Brevoort, Marvel's Senior Vice President of Publishing, shared these pictures of the upcoming Thor Simonson Omnibus.

 

Walt Simonson’s The Mighty Thor: Artist’s Edition

From Bleedingcool.com (http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/04/01/walt-simonson-and-the-mighty-thor-to-get-idw-artist-edition/):

In an unprecedented deal with Marvel Comics, IDW will publish the Walt Simonson’s The Mighty Thor: Artist’s Edition, recreating original art boards for the Marvel series. Reproducing pencils under the ink, blue lines, yellow pages, whiteout, essentially what Walt submitted to his editors, at 12″ x 17″ size, 176 pages containing issues 337-340 and 360-362 for $100, published in July.

 

1987 - The Mighty Thor #383

The Mighty Thor #383
Writer: Tom DeFalco
Artists: Ron Frenz/Brett Breeding

While they may have followed Simonson’s memorable run, Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz had the longest run on The Mighty Thor of any creative team spanning from 1987 until 1993.

Hot off their success on Amazing Spider-Man, their fast-paced and entertaining storytelling demonstrated what a serial comic could really accomplish with a sense of energy and momentum. While not as ground-breaking or revolutionary as Simonson’s run, their run was an obvious crowd-pleaser. Their brand of storytelling had a strong retro-1960s feel with Tom DeFalco channeling Stan Lee with snappy dialog and epic storylines and Ron Frenz was paying homage to Jack Kirby and John Buscema.

This issue was the first of two fill-ins they would do before taking on the title full-time with  #386.

In the space of a mere 22 pages, they craft a fine story, an untold tale of the Secret Wars. Yet, this story might carry the banner of the Mighty Thor, it’s really about the Enchantress and the forbidden love she has for Thor. She pines about how she was weak and didn’t seize the chance to stand with Thor when she could have and won his love.

The backgrounds are a bit sparse, but keep in mind that this was a fill-in issue under probably a tight deadline.