Collecting issues 349 to 355, 357 to 359
Writer: Walter Simonson
Artist: Simonson (w/ Buscema)
Publisher: Marvel
This is the big Thor storyline you've heard about but maybe never read - volume one collected the first eleven issues of Simonson's run, effectively part one of the storyline concluded in this book, ending when the Fire Demon God, Surtur, had broken free of millenia-old imprisonment, having forged his powerful sword, Twilight. This chap and this sword are the subject of legend, in that should Surtur immerse the sword in the Eternal Flame held in Asgard, the universe would be destroyed.
You will get the idea as to how big a deal this is when I tell you it happens as the cliffhanger to chapter four of this ten-chapter book...and it's one of the most effective and powerful endings ever seen in comics. How Surtur is foiled, and what happens after the somewhat Lord of the Rings inspired finale (it only needed **** to shout "fly, you fools" to be complete) I'll leave for you to enjoy.
It's true that subsequent chapters feel a little flat after this extended world-shattering story, but these chapters form a necessarily slow-paced set of vignettes in advance of the next couple of storylines, which see Thor descend to Hel, the arrival of Kurse, the death of Balder, and the ascent of.... All of which will appear in volume three - which I hope appears a lot faster than this one did. The book loses a mark from being very much the second volume in a series - it's not really a standalone book - but those who say it's Simonson's finest hour aren't wrong; it's the absolute best Thor has ever been.
One final word for a key part of this book - the painstaking lettering by supremely talented John Workman Jr. To my eyes, Starkings and Comicraft owe everything to the experimentally radical lettering (for the time) of Workman; even today it still stands as some of the best in the business.
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