Thor: Blood and Thunder

Comic Info

Thor (1) #470

Reprints Thor (1) #468-471, Warlock and the Infinity Watch #23-25, The Warlock Chronicles #6-8, and Silver Surfer (3) #86-88 (November 1993-February 1994).  Thor is plagued with visions of a Valkyrie, and a trip into the cosmos has not cured him.  Sif and Beta Ray Bill worry that Thor is suffering from Warrior’s Madness, and Warrior’s Madness has no cure and only can result in banishment.  Warlock and the Infinity Watch learn of Thor’s plight and find themselves allied with Dr. Strange and Silver Surfer in a desperate attempt to save the Norse god before it is too late!

Written by Ron Marz and Jim Starlin, Thor:  Blood and Thunder is a Marvel Comics crossover series from the 1990s.  The series follows the events of The Infinity Crusade and The Infinity Watch—Volume 1 and features the art of Tom Grindberg, Angel Medina, Tom Raney, Kris Renkewitz, Andy Smith, M.C. Wyman, and Bruce Zick.  The Warlock Chronicles #6 was also included in The Infinity Watch—Volume 2.

The 1990s comic book world is pretty divisive, and this period of comics is a good example of why.  The story is boisterous and overblown along with the art, and a thirteen part crossover is hard to choke down today when entire series rarely last thirteen issues.  Thor:  Blood and Thunder has some good but that is also tied into the negative.

For the most part, the story works.  You have Thor driven mad and almost a side character in his own series.  This leads to the problem of how to stop a mad god.  This is compounded by the issue that the person who can most help Thor (aka Odin) cannot learn of his condition.  The series plays around with this but the story is extended so long with so many juts that you lose interest while reading it.

Warlock and the Infinity Watch #25

As a Warlock and the Infinity Watch story it is a bit better.  The Infinity Watch is cold and standoffish during most of its run, but here, you get to see them working as a team to extinguish a problem.  I always enjoy Warlock teaming up with Silver Surfer as kind of “frenemies”, and in this volume you add the extra “frenemy” of Thanos (and a pretty good knockdown fight with Odin).

The series has a number of artists and the styles jump all over the place.  I do like when series aren’t interrupted by event series, but when reading a collection like this, I kind of like some flow.  You have something like Tom Grindberg’s art that looks like it borrows from Mike Mignola and its contrast with something like Andy Smith which feels underdone at points and over-inked at other points.  It makes reading segments of the collection more difficult and “skimworthy”.

Overall, Thor:  Blood and Thunder is average or slightly better.  It isn’t as mind-numbing and is more developed than some of the other collections from the period (including much of the Infinity War and Infinity Crusade), but it still feels bloated and unnecessary at points.  In contrast to today’s comics, the series is much wordier and a nice throwback to simple superhero smash-em-up titles.  The exploits of Warlock and the Infinity Watch continued in The Infinity Watch—Volume 2.

Related Links:

The Infinity Watch—Volume 1