ON THE SPINNER RACKS Nov/Dec 1969

Thor's 139th appearance.

Cover by Jack Kirby and Bill Everett. 

Nurse Foster's only 1969 appearance. Her 51st of all time

Loki's 3rd 1969 appearance (a 1 panel cameo). His 47th of all time. 

Thor's penultimate 1969 appearance. His 139th of all time.

A letters page response revealed that Vince Colletta didn't embellish this issue because he was busy drawing women for DC

A rare self-contained story with intriguing glimpses of the scope and potential of this epic series.

ON THE SPINNER RACKS Nov/Dec 1968

Thor's 119th appearance.

Sif's 23rd

 Galactus makes his first non-FANTASTIC FOUR appearance!

But wait there's more!

 Ego makes his fourth appearance.

Cover and 20 pages of art by Jack Kirby and Vince Colletta.

ON THE SPINNER RACKS Nov/Dec 1967

Thor's 103rd appearance.

Sif's 12th.     Loki's 31st.

Debut & origin of the Wrecker. 

Sif appears on a cover for the 3rd time.

Cover by Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott 

The 16 page Lee/Kirby Thor story is embellished by Colletta.

There is also a 5 page non-Thor back-up by Lee/Kirby/Sinnott.

ON THE SPINNER RACKS Nov/Dec 1966

Thor's 13th appearance of 1966 was his 87th of all time.

Not only is the impressive cover rendered by Jack Kirby and Vince Colletta, so is the 16 page self-contained story of Nurse Foster attempting to prove herself worthy of godhood. Her 10th appearance of 1966 was her 49th of all time.

Plus Kirby and Colletta provide a 5 page TALES OF ASGARD backup that features Thor fighting a dragon.

ON THE SPINNER RACKS Nov/Dec 1965

   The Marvel Age of Comparative Mythology continued with the second appearance of  Hercules (and Zeus). Both debuted in JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY ANNUAL #1 five months earlier.

Cover and 21 pages of story art by the worthy Jack Kirby and Vince Colletta.

   It was Thor's 73rd appearance. His 16th for 1965.

ON THE SPINNER RACKS Nov/Dec 1964

Cover by Jack Kirby and Chic Stone. They also collaborated on 12 pages of Thor battling the Hulk and 4 pages of Thor chatting with teenage fans.

The issue ends with a 5 page Tales of Asgard spotlighting young Loki drawn by Jack Kirby and Vince Colletta. 

ON THE SPINNER RACKS Nov/Dec 1963

For the third time in Comics History two comics with Thor on the cover shipped the same month.

Both covers were by Kirby, of course! One was embellished by George Roussos, the other by Paul Reinman.

Nurse Foster and Doctor Blake appear in both comics.

IN YOUR LCS 48 YEARS AGO TODAY

Thor's 374th appearance. His 27th one for 1978.

What the Joe Sinnott cover promises the 17 page self-contained story by Don and Maggie Thompson, Roy Thomas, Wayne Boring and Tom Palmer more than delivers. Thor doesn't encounter just one Hyperion. He has to deal with two!!

IN YOUR LCS 2 YEARS AGO TODAY

 

ALIENS VS AVENGERS #2 (OF 4) $7.99

(W) Jonathan Hickman (A/CA) Esad Ribic

EARTH SURRENDERS?!

Overwhelmed by Xenomorphs, survivors abandon their home planet!

But so many are dead. So many wounded. And a terrifying few CHANGED.

The Avengers must avenge.

     MATEUS MANHANINI VARIANT

ULTIMATES #6 $4.99

    PHIL NOTO VARIANT

    LEINIL YU WRAPAROUND VARIANT

IN YOUR LCS 12 YEARS AGO TODAY

AVENGERS AND X-MEN AXIS #4 $3.99 

(W) Rick Remender (A) Leinil Francis Yu (CA) Jim Cheung

   The fate of the Red Skull decided. An Avenger quits. KLUH, the strongest one there is, is born. Doom tears down Latveria. The X-Men join their greatest foe. Thor appears on 6 pages.

DEADPOOLS ART OF WAR #2 $3.99

(W) Peter David (A/CA) Scott Koblish

    Deadpool's war is well under way and out of his control!  Loki has the conquest of Earth in his sights and the 'Pool in his dungeon! Plenty of Thor and other Asgardians.

IN YOUR LCS 11 YEARS AGO TODAY

AVENGERS VS INFINITY #1 $5.99 

(W) Joe Caramagna (A) Ron Lim, Wellington Alves (CA) Kalman Andrasofszky
     Not only is Thor unconscious on the cover, he also appears in two of the four stories.

Ron Lim variant cover

SHIELD #12 $3.99

(W) Mark Waid (A) Joe Bennett (CA) Julian Totino Tedesco
    Thanks to an all-out battle between gods and Earthlings, our planet has been wiped clean by the Scarlet Centurion! Coulson and his team have one chance to leap back in time and save the world--but to do so, they'll have to wage war on Asgard! Lady Thor’s corpse has a one panel cameo. Thor Odinson’s corpse also has a one panel appearance.

IN YOUR LCS 5 YEARS AGO TODAY

 DEATH OF DOCTOR STRANGE AVENGERS #1 $4.99 

(W) Alex Paknadel (A) Ryan Bodenheim (CA) Steve Skroce
  With Doctor Strange gone, the Avengers are the only ones who
can stop a rampaging Juggernaut-like monster from wrecking all
of Manhattan!  But what does this mystical creature want?  And how does the magic-skeptical Iron Man hold the answer?

IN YOUR LCS 4 YEARS AGO TODAY

 
DAMAGE CONTROL #3 (OF 5) $3.99

(W) Adam F. Goldberg, Hans Rodionoff (A) Will Robson, Nathan Stockman (CA) Patrick Zircher
After two disastrous days of office mayhem, Head Intern Bart Rozum decides that he has to find Gus a job outside of the Flatiron Building - so he assigns Gus to the Search and Rescue unit. Bart thinks, if Gus is mostly responding to the scenes of superhuman battles after the fact, how much trouble could he really get in to? Unfortunately, on Gus' first day with Search and Rescue, the unit is summoned to New Jersey to deal with a giant mutated catfish monster who calls himself Trentonn the Terrible. A tale of Catfish Kaiju, Insurance Fraud and Terrigenesis with special appearances from the Black Tarantula, Hammerhead and the God of Thunder himself!

FLEECS VARIANT

IN YOUR LCS 9 YEARS AGO TODAY

AVENGERS #673 $3.99

(W) Mark Waid (A) Javier Pina, Paco Diaz (CA) Alex Ross
     The High Evolutionary has put into motion an event that will destroy not one but two Earths - and neither the Avengers nor the Champions has the power to stop it. Not only is Goddess Thor on the cover, she is inside too!

IN YOUR LCS 14 YEARS AGO TODAY

MIGHTY THOR #22

(W) Jason Aaron (A) Russell Dauterman, Valerio Schiti (CA) Russell Dauterman

EVERYTHING BURNS!  Thor and the Ultimate Thor go face-to-flame with the Queen of Cinders!  But even the fire of Muspelheim pales beside the fury of the Ultimate Thor... And with his thunder comes his vengeance.

Joyce Chin variant

Pasqual Ferry variant

collage variant

IN YOUR LCS 13 YEARS AGO TODAY

 THOR CROWN OF FOOLS #1 $3.99

(W) Bryan J. L. Glass (A/CA) Andrea Di Vito

Thor, Sif, the Warriors Three and even Loki - on an all-new, all-Asgardian adventure! What deep-buried secrets will the Crown of Fools reveal about Thor's allies-and can the god of thunder resist his own temptations to free his friends?

 Plus: reprints the first appearance of Malekith the Accursed!

IN YOUR LCS 23 YEARS AGO TODAY

Do you think that this cover enticed anyone to purchase their first Thor comic?
Art by Glenn Fabry

Thor appears on 10 of the 22 Fabry story pages.
Thor appears on 1 of the 3 splash pages.
The only double-page spread is Thorless.
Doctor Strange guest stars.

IN YOUR LCS 11 YEARS AGO TODAY

WHAT IF INFINITY DARK REIGN #1 $3.99

(W) Joshua Williamson (A) Goran Sudzuka (CA) James Flames
   What if NORMAN OSBORN had the INFINITY GAUNTLET?! DARK REIGN returns as the GREEN GOBLIN gets his hands on the most dangerous item in the Marvel Universe! No one is safe, not even Thor! 
NOTE: Thor does not appear on the cover

IN YOUR LCS 39 YEARS AGO TODAY

Thor's 601st appearance was his only new appearance for October 1987. It was his 24th of the year. 

What the cover promises the 22 page story delivers. Thor battling a Celestial, drawn dynamically by Ron Frenz and Brett Breeding. This is the second chapter of a Celestials trilogy.

ON THE SPINNER RACKS Oct/Nov/Dec 1971

It is not unusual for a THOR cover to deliver what it promises but having Thor and the Warriors Three fighting trolls is not setting the bar high.

But then to have writer Gerry Conway and cover artist John Buscema deliver this...

 

Neal Adams and Tom Palmer collaborate on the cover AND the 21 interior pages. Back then the white privilege hero versus hated-because-of-being-different hero plot was still fresh. Roy Thomas was the writer keepin' it real.

IN YOUR LCS 3 YEARS AGO TODAY

 

IMMORTAL THOR #3 $4.99

(W) Al Ewing (A) Martin Coccolo (CA) Alex Ross

THOR IN THE WILDERNESS!

As Toranos hunted him across the stars, the Odinson found himself trapped - marooned in a puzzle the size of a planet. In this place, the All-Father's crown - and even his own godly strength - availed him nothing. What power, then, would save him? This is the story of THE IMMORTAL THOR...and the time of the Trickster's Test.

CAMUNCOLI MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS VARIANT

JRJR AND JRSR VARIANT

TONI INFANTE NEW CHAMPIONS VARIANT

IN YOUR LCS 8 YEARS AGO TODAY

WHAT IF? THOR #1 $3.99

(W) Sacks, Ethan (A) Michele Bandini (CA) Marco Checchetto
   When young THOR'S father falls to the King of Giants, his life is forever changed. He's ripped from Asgard to be raised in a world of persistent winter, learning the brutal way of life in Jotenheim. But what happens when the runt of the giants, LOKI, is under the shadow of his new step-brother?

Christopher action figure variant

SENTRY #5 $3.99 

(W) Jeff Lemire (A) Joshua Cassara (CA) Aaron Kim Jacinto
   Bob Reynolds and the Sentry are both dead...so it's time for something new to rise in their place! Thor and the Avengers appear.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #8 $3.99 

(W) Nick Spencer (A/CA) Humberto Ramos
   The heist of the century is ON!   Who are the Thieves Guild of New York?  Spidey might dying trying to find out. Thor makes a brief embarrassing appearance

ON THE SPINNER RACKS Oct/Nov 1965

My grandfather gave me a quarter at the drugstore. Guess what I purchased off the spinner rack?

This?

 
or this?

Instead I bought these.   

It would be a couple more years before I would outgrow Curt Swan. I would not mature sufficiently to make me appreciate a Kirby THOR cover enough to buy an issue for another 20 months.