Classic Review: Marvel Masterworks- The Mighty Thor Vol. 18

Quick Summary

Pros: The piece of the “Eternals Saga” contained here is wonderful and is packed with positive features. The arc also kicks off a saga that already has a lot of promise. The majority of the collection’s artwork looks great.

Cons: Some of the opening and closing stories are generic and fail to stand out. Some of these stories also focus more on delivering information than telling entertaining stories.

Overall: This volume contains the first half of a fantastic Thor saga but also contains a lot of mediocre material alongside it. The portions of the book covering the “Eternals Saga” are great and detail a compelling story. However, this volume also contains other chapters that are not nearly as successful. Readers interested in the “Eternals Saga” should read this collection, with the knowledge that they might want to skip the portions not related to the main event.

Story

Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 18, mostly written by Roy Thomas, contains a tremendous mountain of success that is, unfortunately, surrounded by a valley of mediocrity. The big draw here is the “Eternals Saga”, a narrative packed with impressive concepts, awesome characters, and great action. The vast majority of this arc is wonderfully entertaining and marks its place as a memorable piece of Thor’s history. The only downside within this collection is that the opening and closing stories are not nearly as good. In the end, this collection is worth it for the “Eternals Saga” but not so much for everything else.

(spoilers start here)

The Mighty Thor Vol. 18 starts out strong. It introduces Thor (and newer readers) to the complex war between the Deviants and Eternals. It also explains the role of the Celestials and the potentially world-ending threat they represent.

Then, things get a bit strange as this threat fades into the background for a while. Thor fights generic enemies in conflicts that feel uninspired. The Space Phantom story arc is interesting at times but feels more like a way to introduce lengthy exposition about Immortus than an attempt at an entertaining story. In general, these chapters are lackluster and distract from the rest of the book.

When the Celestials story arc starts back up again, it also takes a bit to get entertaining. The first chapter or two are mostly spent rehashing elements from Jack Kirby’s Eternals series. For readers familiar with this series, these chapters will be boring and repetitive. For those unfamiliar, it will be interesting, but it will also be heavy on exposition and light on entertainment.

Luckily, once the core concepts have been explained, the Celestials story arc dramatically improves. This is an amazing war between an awesome cast of characters. Karkas is delightfully paradoxical, the Hero is a compelling mystery, and Sersi is consistently fun to see. Alongside all of this, Thor’s bravery and determination have plenty of opportunities to shine.

This story arc also heavily sets up future stories for the Thor series. Mimir has schemes in the works, Karnilla is clearly working on something, and Odin appears to have a plan for dealing with the Celestials, even if it hasn’t been explained yet. Meanwhile, the ultimate judgement of the Celestials is an ever-present threat. The work done over the course of this book got me extremely excited to see where the Thor series will go next.

Though the second half of The Mighty Thor Vol. 18 is mostly positive, there are two notable exceptions. Thor’s adventure in Hollywood is weird and feels like a distraction from the main event. In addition, Thor Annual #8 feels more like a history lesson than an entertaining story.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The Mighty Thor Vol. 18 contains a lot of good-looking artwork. The bulk of this collection is drawn by John Buscema, who brings the “Eternals Saga” to life. His work is as bold and exciting as ever, adding additional excitement to an already engaging narrative. After Buscema’s departure from the title, Keith Pollard steps in and, mostly, continues the same level of quality. Both artists produce work that energetically depicts the action of this story and is able to capture the feeling that Jack Kirby used to bring to both Thor and the Eternals. Evoking Jack Kirby in this way is essential in a comic that heavily utilizes characters and concepts the “King” originally created.

Continuity

Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 18 continues the story from Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 17 (Review).

The story here continues in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 19.

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• Thor Annual #7 and Thor #283-290 heavily relies on and references concepts and events from Jack Kirby’s Eternals series. The entirety of this series is collected in Eternals by Jack Kirby Vol. 1 (Review) and Eternals by Jack Kirby Vol. 2 (Review).
• Jane’s trial in Asgard occurred in Thor #136, collected in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 5 (Review). 
• Jane and Sif’s spirits were combined in Thor #236, collected in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 14 (Review).  
• Thor visited Hell before, back in Thor #130, collected in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 5 (Review). 
• Thor fought Pluto back in Thor #164, collected in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 8 (Review).
• Thor fought Ulik many times, starting with their battle in Thor #137, collected in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 5 (Review). 
• In the past, Thor encountered two different versions of Hyperion. These include:
  • An “evil” version in Avengers #69, collected in Marvel Masterworks: Avengers Vol. 8 (Review).
  • A “good” version in Avengers #147-148, collected in Marvel Masterworks: Avengers Vol. 15 (Review). 
• Thor #281 makes a number of references to the history of the Space Phantom. These include:
  • His first appearance and battle against the Avengers in Avengers #2, collected in Marvel Masterworks: Avengers Vol. 1 (Review). For more info about this event see ComicBookWire’s exploration into it.
  • His second battle against the Avengers in Avengers #108, collected in Marvel Masterworks: Avengers Vol. 11 (Review).
• Thor #281 makes a number of references to the history of Immortus/Kang the Conquer. These include:
  • His first encounter with the Avengers, from Avengers #10, collected in Marvel Masterworks: Avengers Vol. 1 (Review).
  • His involvement in the “Celestial Madonna” affair from Avengers #129-135, collected in Marvel Masterworks: Avengers Vol. 14 (Review).
  • His “death” in Avengers #143, collected in Marvel Masterworks: Avengers Vol. 15 (Review). 
  • His claim to be connected to Kang from Giant-Size Avengers #3, collected in Marvel Masterworks: Avengers Vol. 14 (Review).
• Thor #281 references a defeat from Giant-Size Fantastic Four #2, collected in Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Vol. 14.  
• The Avenger’s time-travel, from Avengers #175, is mentioned. This issue is collected in Marvel Masterworks: Avengers Vol. 17 (Review). 
• Thor’s connection to Donald Blake was explained back in Thor #159, collected in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 7 (Review).
• Thor #287 references a fight with Fafnir from Thor #136, collected in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 5 (Review). 
• Meetings between Norse and Greek gods took place in Thor Annual #1, collected in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 3 (Review), and Thor Annual #5, collected in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 15 (Review).