10 Things That Made 80's Comics Awesome: Part Three

6. WALT SIMONSON'S THOR

Before Simonson, all Thor ever was was the Avengers muscle who left The Avengers alot. Under his pen and behind his words, Thor became what he was meant to be: a god. Simonson's Thor embraced its inner Wagner and the heavens cried, the lightning came down and most importantly, Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, struck true: Thor became epic.

Thor's mythology came front and center and all the while, Simonson kept pushing forward with new stories and characters for Thor such as Beta Ray Bill and Kurse.

Under Simonson, the weirdest of things happened. Thor sort of became bigger than The Avengers. Loki became a credible threat. (I'll never forget where after being beheaded, Loki simply laughs it off and PLACES HIS OWN HEAD BACK ONTO HIS SHOULDERS!)

Under Simonson, Thor finally, finally ascended.


5. ART ADAMS

Before Art Adams, most comic artists tended to be good or simply not very good. Sure, you had your good artists like a John Romita, Jr. and you had your not very good artists like...

*ahem*

But, rarely did you ever see an artist the first time you saw your work, grab you by the eyeballs and take possession of them. Art Adams did that to me. When I first saw his art in the pages of Longshot, it was something unlike seeing the impossible made possible. Longshot looked like a rock star. Hell, everyone looked like a rock star! You couldn't do that!

He did.

Adams smashed the rules of comics art. His art was like the superhero cartoons I envisioned in my mind. It was like Jack Kirby meets The Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends meets Star Blazers.

I'd never seen anything like it. It was dynamic, pulling from all over the place to create something new and vital.

From the moment I first saw his work, I had to have it all. Every X-Men Annual. Every New Mutants Special. That random Spider-Man Annual and that one Action Comics Annual. That one Cloak and Dagger issue. I had to have them all. He was that good. To this day, I break these comics out and Adams' art still holds up to this day, To me, Art Adams was and still is a revelation.