Thor and how I came to grips with a comic book!

A lot of stream of consciousness in this one.

A few weeks ago I reflected on going to see Thor in the the theater with my dad.  Since that post I have thought a lot about the way I have perceived things over the years, and how those perceptions have changed since I have grown up.

In the that post I said that while I was growing up I didn't care for Thor.  Thor, Captain America, heck all of the avengers seemed like a much more mature line.  Not in terms of content, but they all seemed like comics that adults understood(especially Captain America.)  As a little kid looking in on it I wanted fantastical adventures, with fantastical villains, not war heroes.  Of course, I realize now the folly of my thoughts with Thor, but for some reason the concept board me.  Like most kids I liked Wolverine and the X-men.  I suspect I liked them for the variety of powers.

It's actually strange how my ideals have changed.  As a kid, I liked the novelty of comic books.  It was cool to collect them.  I was never really interested in reading them, other than to just look through them, and then I would put them in their bag, board them and stick them in a box (they are all still there.)  I have since gotten back into comics as a reader (mainly because of trades).  I have come full circle in some ways.

It was Actually an 80s toy line that brought me back to Thor.  I have expressed my love for the Super Powers collection on several occasions on this blog.  The toy line is great and was fun as a kid.  As I was doing research into the toy line I found that Jack Kirby did several of the designs for the line.  He redesigned Brainiac, Lex Luther, and even some of his own character such as Orion and Kalibak.  He also did a comic book for the same line.

This got me interested in Jack Kirby as an artist and his career.  I tracked down a copy of the new gods and loved it!  I was most intrigued by the first page of the first issue, where Jack, sort of said goodbye to Marvel, and the world he had created with Thor.  Because of my Dad I was always familiar with the elements of  Thor so it was interesting to see.  I read through most of the forth world stuff and was still intrigued, so I found my way back to Thor.  And now I find him the most interesting of the Marvel Heroes.

The first page of New Gods #1

It's an odd Journey I have taken to see my tastes evolve.  I realized it the most this last weekend when I was at a toy show.  I saw something that intrigued me.  What looked to be a copy of Journey into Mystery 83 in decent shape for MUCH less than that book should go for.  I asked about it and found out it was a silver age reprint that was done in 1966 called the Golden Record Reprint.  It came with a record originally.  They made many of these reprints for several of the Marvel number 1s.  They even have a bit of value themselves.
 
I was intrigued and I wanted to get this for my dad.  This comic was one thing my Dad has always wanted, and this is the closest he will ever get to having it.  I decided to spring and get it.  It is such a great cover, and this is one of the greatest pieces of Kirby art there is.

            
The only difference in this comic and the actual one is that it does not have the "12 cents" in the upper left hand of the book.

This was quite a find for, and I am glad it could help me complete my journey in finally discovering a love for Kirby and Thor.