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The Mighty Thor

Part of Penguin Classics Marvel Collection

Author Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Larry Lieber

Foreword by Rick Riordan

Introduction by Charles Hatfield

Series edited by Ben Saunders

Paperback

$30.00 US

Penguin Adult HC/TR | Penguin Classics

7"W x 9-7/8"H

On sale Sep 15, 2026 | 464 Pages | 9780143138273

Grades 9-12

FOC Aug 17, 2026

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The Penguin Classics Marvel Collection presents the origin stories, seminal tales, and characters of the Marvel Universe to explore Marvel’s transformative and timeless influence on an entire genre of fantasy

Collects Journey into Mystery #83, 85, and 114-116, and Thor #128-133, 154-157, and 159-161. It is impossible to imagine American popular culture without Marvel Comics. For decades, Marvel has published groundbreaking visual narratives that sustain attention on multiple levels: as metaphors for the experience of difference and otherness; as meditations on the fluid nature of identity; and as high-water marks in the artistic tradition of American cartooning, to name a few.

During the 1960s, under the hands of the inimitable creative team of Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and Larry Lieber, Marvel’s Thor combined the raw material of ancient Norse mythology with the nonstop action of super-heroic adventure comics and the speculative reach of classic science fiction. The result was a heady brew: epic, operatic, melodramatic, even psychedelic. This collection gathers some of the most important story arcs from the foundational years of the series and includes seminal early appearances of such characters as Hercules and Ego, the Living Planet, as well as Thor’s first encounter with Galactus.

A foreword by Rick Riordan and scholarly introductions and apparatus by Charles Hatfield and Ben Saunders offer further insight into the enduring significance of The Mighty Thor and classic Marvel comics.

Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Stan Lee is the co-creator of the most beloved characters in the history of comics, including Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, and many others. He is also the author of Stan Lee's Riftworld: Odyssey, and the editor of The Ultimate Spider-Man, The Ultimate Super-Villains, The Ultimate Silver Surfer, and The Ultimate X-Men, all from Boulevard. View titles by Stan Lee

Jack Kirby (1917–1994) was an American comic book artist and writer best known for cocreating iconic characters such as Captain America, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and the Hulk. He is recognized as one of the industry's greatest innovators and was one of the first people inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame. View titles by Jack Kirby

Larry Lieber’s career as a versatile writer and artist marks him as one of the unheralded talents of the Marvel Age of Comics. Like his older brother Stan Lee, Lieber started his career in comics at an early age working in production on the magazine side of Martin Goodman’s publishing business. By 1951, at age 19, Lieber’s first comics artwork saw print in All True Crime #44. A stint in the Air Force put his comic book work on hold, but by late 1956 he returned on a number of romance stories. In the late ’50s and early ’60s Lieber became a member of the handful of writers and artists contributing to the fantasy and big monster titles of the nascent Marvel line. Pitching in wherever needed, both scripting stories or penciling them—and sometimes both— he would also contribute to several of the Marvel Age’s first forays into super-hero stories. In addition to scripts for Thor in Journey Into Mystery, the Human Torch in Strange Tales and Ant-Man in Tales to Astonish, Lieber also scripted the very first Iron Man story in Tales of Suspense #39. From the mid- to late-’60s, Lieber’s duties were mostly centered around Westerns including Kid Colt Outlaw and Rawhide Kid, but he also did high-profile work on Amazing Spider-Man Annuals #4-5. In 1975, Lieber became editor of the short-lived Atlas/ Seaboard comics line. Since 1986, Lieber has been a mainstay on the Spider-Man syndicated newspaper strip both writing and drawing it at times. In 2008, he was the recipient of the Bill Finger Award. View titles by Larry Lieber

Series Introduction by Ben Saunders
Foreword: The Mighty Thor and Me by Rick Riordan
Volume Introduction by Charles Hatfield

THE MIGHTY THOR
Journey into Mystery #83, August 1962, “The Stone Men from Saturn!”
Journey into Mystery #85, October 1962, “Trapped by Loki, The God of Mischief”

Adrift Between Genres: Thor’s Early Days
Journey into Mystery #114, March 1964, “The Stronger I Am, The Sooner I Die!”
Journey into Mystery #115, April 1964, “The Vengeance of the Thunder God!”
Journey into Mystery #116, May 1965, “The Trial of the Gods!”
Journey into Mystery Annual #1, 1965, “Asgard” (a "bonus feature" pinup)

The Sprawl: Thor Goes Epic
Thor #128, May 1966, “The Power of Pluto!”
Thor #129, June 1966, “The Verdict of Zeus!”
Thor #130, July 1966, “Thunder in the Netherworld!”
Thor #131, August 1966, “They Strike from Space!”
Thor #132, September 1966, “Rigel, Where Gods May Fear to Tread!”
Thor #133, October 1966, “Behold ... the Living Planet!”

The Blockbuster Era
Thor #154, July 1968, “ … To Wake the Mangog!”
Thor #155, August 1968, “Now Ends the Universe!”
Thor #156, September 1968, “The Hammer and the Holocaust!”
Thor #157, October 1968, “Behind Him … Ragnarok!”

Origins Revisited
Thor #159, December 1968, “The Answer at Last!”
Thor #160, January 1969, “And Now … Galactus!”
Thor #161, February 1969, “Shall a God Prevail?”

Appendix: Comic Book Mythography: "Tales of Asgard"
Journey into Mystery #113, February 1965, “The Boyhood of Loki!”
Thor #129, June 1966, “The Hordes of Harokin!”
Thor #130, July 1966, “The Fateful Change!”
Thor #131, August 1966, “The Warlock’s Eye!”
Thor #132, September 1966, “The Dark Horse of Death!”
Thor #133, October 1966, “Valhalla!”

Suggestions for Further Reading
Notes

“A groundbreaking example of comics representation in literature.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Penguin provides introductory essays; superb analyses by the series editor, Ben Saunders; and extensive bibliographies.”
—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

“Stories become classics when generations of readers sort through them, talk about them, imitate them, and recommend them. In this case, baby boomers read them when they débuted, Gen X-ers grew up with their sequels, and millennials encountered them through Marvel movies. Each generation of fans—initially fanboys, increasingly fangirls, and these days nonbinary fans, too—found new ways not just to read the comics but to use them. That’s how canons form. Amateurs and professionals, over decades, come to something like consensus about which books matter and why—or else they love to argue about it, and we get to follow the arguments. Canons rise and fall, gain works and lose others, when one generation of people with the power to publish, teach, and edit diverges from the one before ... A top-flight comic by Kirby—or his successor on “Captain America,” Jim Steranko—barely needed words. You could follow the story just by watching the characters act and react. Thankfully, Penguin volumes do justice to these images. They reproduce sixties comics in bright, flat, colorful inks on thick white paper—unlike the dot-based process used on old newsprint, but perhaps truer to their bold, thrill-chasing spirit.”
—Stephanie Burt, The New Yorker