Classic Review: Thor by Walt Simonson Vol. 4

Quick Summary

Pros: The collection’s focus on lower-stakes battles works well after the high-stakes battles of previous collections. The Frog Thor story is fantastic. The look at Asgardian politics and individual character development is interesting. The artwork is consistently positive.

Cons: Many of the volume’s action-focused story arcs are just alright.

Overall: This collection dials back the intensity of the series for a bit but does so in a way that is still satisfying to see. This volume details one incredible story arc and has a ton of great moments from other story arcs, all backed up by some beautiful artwork. However, many of the conflicts from this volume are lackluster and fail to stand out. In general, this collection works well as a part of this series but may not be the volume newer readers want to jump in on.

Story

Thor by Walt Simonson Vol. 4 is more relaxed and not quite as thrilling as its predecessors but still manages to be an enjoyable book. The volume opens with a delightfully off-beat story about Frog Thor and goes on to deal with some interesting matters of Asgardian politics. There are some mediocre stories and quick adventures thrown in here and there but no part of the volume is actually bad. Instead, the collection ranges from good to average and makes for a nice break from the high-stakes chaos of the previous collections.

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Thor by Walt Simonson Vol. 4 opens with its best story, the story of Frog Thor. In this tale, Thor is turned into a frog by Loki, who is trying to usurp the Asgardian throne, and ends up helping a group of local frogs in their fight against a horde of evil rats. The story is highly creative, consistently fun, and even gets genuinely exciting at a few points. It also works as a way to show off the depth of Thor’s character, as he cares about the lives of these frogs nearly as much as he would care about any life on Earth. Though this story is bizarre, it is easily the most enjoyable arc in this volume and may be one of the better arcs from this era of this series.

The other highlight in Thor by Walt Simonson Vol. 4 comes from the volume’s dive into Asgardian politics. Over the course of this collection, Loki makes an attempt at the throne, Thor abdicates the throne, and, eventually, Balder ascends to the throne. Meanwhile, individual citizens of Asgard deal with personal issues ranging from Sif attempting to reconcile her feelings toward Thor and Bill or Volstagg offering to raise two, newly orphaned children. This look at Asgard and its people proves worthwhile and is generally interesting to see.

The downside to this collection is that many of its action-focused stories are just alright. Thor and Balder’s fight against trolls is not that impressive, Thor’s pursuit after the Zaniac does not go on long enough to feel like it is presenting a real threat, and Thor’s dealings with the X-Men feel like a forced tie-in to a crossover that does not belong here. These quick adventures still have moments of fun and excitement but are generally not as compelling as earlier stories from this series.

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Art

The artwork in Thor by Walt Simonson Vol. 4 is every bit as good as it has been this entire series. The volume starts out with Walter Simonson’s traditionally high-quality work. In these chapters, Simonson’s visuals play a massive role in bringing Frog Thor to life and making his adventures as compelling as they should be. Later on, Sal Buscema, who previously worked on the Balder the Brave chapters, takes over to provide some equally positive visuals. Buscema’s work looks nice and is laid out in a way that assists the flow of the story and helps highlight intense or important moments. In general, the artwork in this volume holds up to the high standards established by the rest of the series.

Continuity

Thor by Walt Simonson Vol. 4 continues the story from Thor by Walt Simonson Vol. 3 (Review).

The story here continues in Thor by Walt Simonson Vol. 5 (Review).

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

• Thor previously fought Thatcher back in Journey into Mystery #89, collected in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 1 (Review).  
• Thor previously fought the Zaniac back in Thor #319, collected in Thor Epic Collection: A Kingdom Lost (Review).
• Mj’s power to travel through time was removed after the events of Thor #281-282, collected in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 18 (Review).
• Thor and the Avengers teamed up with the X-Men against Lucifer way back in X-Men #9, collected in Marvel Masterworks: X-Men Vol. 1. 
• Thor #373-374, the final issue in this collection, is a part of the Mutant Massacre crossover event. They follow New Mutants #46 and Uncanny X-Men #212 respectively.