It’s the most wonderful time of the year for Marvel Omnibus fans – time for the Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 13th Annual Secret Ballot! This post explains every Asgard & Thor omnibus that does NOT exist – all of which will appear as options on the 2025 poll.
For the next two weeks, I’ll be covering Marvel’s entire publishing history by mapping missing omnibus volumes to fill in every gap in your Marvel oversize shelf! That’s all leading to the kickoff of the Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 13th Annual Secret Ballot on Near Mint Condition on April 28, 2025.
We’re getting a major Thor omnibus later this year – The Mighty Thor Vol. 5 from his classic line! That brings us just two volumes away from a continuous oversize shelf that reaches Walt Simonson’s material. Meanwhile, 2024 brought us two modern Thor omnibuses in Thor by Straczynski & Gillen and Thor by Cates & Klein – which mean we now also have continuous coverage of Thor from 1998 to 2023!
That makes Thor perhaps Marvel’s most well-collected major character out of all of its Silver Age heavyweights. What’s left to collect? A handful of classic volumes we can safely map, the 90s, and many Asgardian supporting characters… but not Loki, who has now been covered quite comprehensively in oversize format!
If you’re not sure of what to vote for, stick around for a list of books vetted by a gang of the biggest mapping nerds on the internet with explanations from yours truly – keeper of the most-definitive guides to Marvel’s collected editions on the planet.
Or, if you don’t care about omnibuses, just use this post to learn about Marvel’s history and find some great comics to read!
This post covers the following speculated omnibus volumes:
- Bronze Age Thor
- Thor: Mighty Thor Vol. 6 (1978 – 1980) [MMW 17-19, AKA Eternals Saga]
- Thor: Mighty Thor Vol. 7 (1980 – 1983) [MMW 20-22, fits before Simonson]
- Thor by Walt Simonson – Original Colors Edition (1983 – 1987) [AKA Mighty Thor Vol. 8, no skipped issues]
- Thor by DeFalco & Frenz Vol. 1 (1987 & on) [AKA Mighty Thor Vol. 9]
- Asgard: Warriors Three, Valkyrie, Angela
- Thor & The Warriors Three (1965 & on) [key stories]
- Valkyrie, Fearless Defender of Asgard by Cullen Bunn (1994 – 2019) [Fearless, Fearless Defenders, Asgardians of the Galaxy]
- Angela, Asgard’s Daughter (2013 & on) [includes Strikeforce]
- Earth: Beta Ray Bill, Thunderstrike, Jane Foster – Valkyrie
- Thor: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill (1983 – 2021) [debut through DWJ]
- Thunderstrike by DeFalco (1991 – 1995 & 2011) [could include Blackwulf]
- Valkyrie: Jane Foster (2019 & on) [by Aaron, Ewing, & Grønbekk]
Remember: These titles and mappings are a suggestion of how Marvel could assemble these books. They are meant to help you decide on your votes on the Tigereyes poll. Your vote on the poll is a vote in favor of Marvel creating a book with that title or covering that period, NOT an endorsement of a specific map. Maps are presented as a proof of concept and to help you build your personal reading list.
Want to check out all of the other voting options for the 2025 Tigereyes Poll? Check out my 2025 Tigereyes poll options overview page that explains the poll, how to vote, and every title that will appear – including links to all of the posts in this series.
Over-the-top comics posts like this one are made possible via the support of Patrons of Crushing Krisis. For less than the cost of a single comic issue a month you can fuel my in-depth comics coverage, plus gain access to dozens of exclusive collecting guides & reading orders – including all of the Crushing Comics Guide to Marvel Comics.
Thor Omnibus Mapping: Bronze Age Thor
Thor: Mighty Thor Vol. 6 (1978 – 1980) [MMW 17-19, AKA Eternals Saga]
All but one of Thor’s classic omnibuses to date have obeyed the “3 Masterworks” rule. The rule-breaker, The Mighty Thor Vol. 3, broke the rules for a reason: We needed to add one extra Masterwork somewhere in order for the line to eventually cleanly align with the start of the Walt Simonson run, which begins with Masterworks Volume 23.
This run is mostly written by Roy Thomas, but he’s joined by a string of Marvel’s Bronze Age all-stars, including Len Wein, Mark Gruenwald, and Ralph Macchio, with pencils by John Buscema, Walt Simonson, and Keith Pollard. The omni will entirely collect one of the earliest major Thor arcs that has seen repeated collection, The Celestial Saga AKA The Eternals Saga, which runs right to the end of this volume.
Up to this point we’ve seen it take anywhere from two to six years between Thor’s classic collections. With us getting so close to complete coverage of Thor in omnibus, it would be terrific to push Marvel to keep the pace closer to the two year mark.
A vote for this book is a vote to press forward with Thor’s classic collections, with an omnibus that includes a major and much-loved storyline.
This would collect Thor (1966) #267-302 & Annual 7-8, Marvel Preview (1975) #10, Marvel Treasury Edition (1974) #24 & 26.
Thor: Mighty Thor Vol. 7 (1980 – 1983) [MMW 20-22, fits before Simonson]
This is the final classic Thor volume we’d need to complete the oversize run of Silver and Bronze Age Thor from his debut through Walt Simonons’s run!
This run is mostly penned by a tag team of Doug Moench and Mark Gruenwald switching back and forth between them, with a final burst of issues by Alan Zelenetz. The majority of the issues are pencilled by Alan Kupperberg or Keith Pollard.
The run doesn’t contain any especially notable material – it had never been collected prior to the emergence of Epic Collections. However, it has some good plot for Sif and it ends with an important development for Jane Foster.
A vote for this book is a vote for Marvel to push down the gas pedal and speed towards having the Thor classic line meet up with Walt Simonson’s material! If both Volume 6 and Volume 7 appear on the poll it will be a very strong sign of demand for Thor and should hopefully signal we don’t want to wait more than 2 years between volumes anymore.
This would collect Thor (1996) #303-336 & Annual 9-11, material from Bizarre Adventures (1981) #32, Marvel Graphic Novel (1982) Thor – I, Whom The Gods Would Destroy, and material from Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.
Thor by Walt Simonson – Original Colors Edition (1983 – 1987) [AKA Mighty Thor Vol. 8, no skipped issues]
Thor by Walt Simonson is an incredibly popular omnibus. It’s also a monumentally important Thor run that introduces Beta Ray Bill, develops complex relationships between Thor’s supporting characters, and includes many memorable and often-imitated story elements.
I’d go so far as to say this may be second only to Chris Claremont’s X-Men in terms of Marvel’s most-important and acclaimed material of the 1980s. DC may have many evergreen original graphic novels, but Simonson’s Thor is an evergreen DOORSTOP at nearly 1200 pages of peerless mid-80s comics-making.
The existing Thor by Walt Simonson Omnibus has been through three printings in the past 14 years, and the “three prints or more” club is relatively small! It was one of Marvel’s earliest big books, though we now look at its 1,200 page size as somewhat moderate.
But… some people aren’t happy with that book. Me. I’m one of those people.
The existing omnibus has one inarguably objective flaw and one subjective one.
The objective flaw is that it skips two issues! The omnibus does not collect issue #356, a fill-in by Bob Harras & Jackson Guice, and #370, by James Owsley & John Buscema. They are true fill-ins – Simonson had nothing to do with either issue, and they have no relation to his ongoing plot.
Skipped sequential issues are now UNHEARD OF from Marvel’s omnibuses in the present day, though it’s still a common practice at DC. Part of that is the “Near Mint Condition effect” – Omar’s viewers make noise if a newly-announced Marvel book skips material, and the feedback often makes it back to Marvel. And, Marvel has always been good about collecting continuous runs.
This book is a rare exception, likely because (a) it was marketed under a creator’s name, (b) it was seen as very large at the time it was released, and (c) there was an additional cost associated with the recoloring of Walt Simonson’s pencils.
Which brings us to the subjective problem with the existing omnibus: the colors. The entire run was painstakingly recolored by Steve Oliff with participation of Walt Simonson. However, those colors weren’t restored or remastered… they were RE-colored. Many of the color choices here don’t resemble the originals at all. This is another problem more often seen in DC omnibuses than at Marvel.
Marvel might oversaturate original colors meant to be absorbed by off-white newsprint, but they very, very, VERY rarely change any color values in existing material.
Oliff’s recolor is the work of a master, but it’s the work of a master working with the tools of 2011. At this point, the saturation and blending of late-00s colors are looking very dated compared to the present day. As a result, these colors have aged poorly compared to the timeless originals.
For the record, I’ve never liked the recolors. I bought a copy, saw a single page of the omnibus, and quickly sold my copy.
Clearly not everyone feels this way, since this book has been through three reprints! However, there’s a contingent of classic material fans who have been waiting patiently for the Marvel Masterworks restoration of this material so it can finally be released in omnibus with its original colors. (And, I suspect, many people who have bought it bought it just to have the Simonson material without giving too much thought to the colors.)
A vote for this book is a vote for Marvel to finally, after fifteen years, release an oversize version of this run with original colors and without any missing issues!
This would collect Thor (1966) #337-382 and Balder the Brave (1985) #1-4 with original colors.
Thor by DeFalco & Frenz Vol. 1 (1987 & on) [AKA Mighty Thor Vol. 9]
Typically we would not map more than two volumes into an ongoing run. However, we’re not really mapping more than two here, because this is just the first volume on the other side of Simonson!
If Simonson’s lengthy Thor run is the massively acclaimed critical favorite, Tom DeFalco & Ron Frenz’s run is the lesser-known scrappy underdog that all the true fans unabashedly adore.
DeFalco wrote, and wrote, and wrote Thor – running for over a hundred issues and well into the 90s. At a time when long runs were becoming increasingly scarce while Marvel and DC chased hot creators, DeFalco just kept churning out issues – while also doing the same thing on Fantastic Four (1961) and on Thor spin-off Thunderstrike (1993).
This run has so many good stories in it, including the long-running plot threads that eventually lead to Eric Masterson taking over the mantle of Thor!
Luckily, we’ve finally got this entirely collected in Epic Collection, but that just means the material and its mapping is ready and waiting for omnibus coverage. Since the run is 100+ issues even before adding in Annuals, crossovers, and supporting series and OGNs, it’s very likely this would be three or more volumes in length. So, while we can crack into this run as an option for the poll, based on our Tigereyes rules of engagement we won’t be mapping past this first volume.
A vote for this book is a vote to begin collecting one of Marvel’s last remaining multi-year creator runs without an omnibus –
This would begin to collect Tom DeFalco’s run from Thor (1966) #383-490 & Annual 14-19, Thor Corps (1993) #1-4, the “Blood and Thunder” crossover (Silver Surfer #86-88; Warlock Chronicles #6-8; Warlock and the Infinity Watch #23-25), and material from Avengers (1963) Annual 23.
This first volume would likely collect a minimum of Thor (1966) #383-418 & Annual 14.
If you can believe it, that’s all that’s left to collect of Thor! The DeFalco run is followed by 12 short issues before the end of Thor (1966), which are likely to simply be lumped in with the final volume. Then, we already have all of Thor’s series from 1998, 2007, 2010, and from Marvel Now to 2023! See Guide to Thor – Odinson for a listing of all of those omnibuses. I suspect we could scrape together a “Thor Companion” volume in 2026 from some scattered mini-series and one-shots like Thor: The Trial of Thor (2009) #1, but it would be slim pickings!
Al Ewing’s current Immortal Thor (2023) is about to end, but promises a relaunch into a second portion of his run – so it’s too soon to map it into an omnibus. Guide to Thor – Odinson for details.
Thor Omnibus Mapping: Warriors Three, Valkyrie, Angela
The realm of Asgard includes many allies for Thor. Three of his staunchest allies have been the Warriors Three – Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg. Meanwhile, several different women have held the title of Valkyrie, often treated by Marvel as the female equivalent of Thor. And, finally, in 2013 we learned about a lost daughter of Asgard – Angela, who was originally a character in Todd McFarlane’s Spawn!
Thor & The Warriors Three (1965 & on) [key stories]
The Warriors Three have had a handful of “best of” collections that have contained some of their best stories and solo appearances, as well as a pair of significant arcs from Marvel Fanfare (1982) #34-35 and Warriors Three (2010) #1-4. This omnibus would collect them all in one place. While that would double-dip a significant number of Thor issues, most of the issues listed below are not from Thor’s title.
A vote for this book is a vote to collect all of the greatest hits of the Warriors Three into a single volume.
This book would collect a minimum of Journey into Mystery #119, Thor (1966) Annual 2, Incredible Hulk (1968) #102, Marvel Spotlight (1971) #30, Marvel Fanfare (1982) #34-35, Journey Into Mystery (1952) #-1, Warriors Three (2010) #1-4; material from Tales to Astonish (1959) #101, Marvel Fanfare (1982) #13 & 36-37, Thor (1966) #400, 410 & 415-416, Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #66, Thor (1966) Annual 17, and Marvel Super-Heroes (1990) #15, and other key Warriors Three appearances and stories.
Valkyrie, Fearless Defender of Asgard by Cullen Bunn (1994 – 2019) [Fearless, Fearless Defenders, Asgardians of the Galaxy]
Brunnhilde, the original Valkyrie, debuted in the pages of Defenders (1972) #4 in 1973. For her full history and every appearance explained, see my Guide to Valkyrie!
There’s really no point to doing a “The Early Years” omnibus for Valkyrie – it would just be issues of Defenders! However, Valkyrie has a pair of 90s solo stories and a brief burst of significant issues in 2009-2010 that would act as an anchor in this book to introduce her character.
However, the real point of this title would be to collect a trio of series by Cullen Bunn, who crackled Valkyrie into wider popularity and a starring role in the 20000s across three series – Fear Itself: The Fearless (2011), Fearless Defenders (2013), and Asgardians of the Galaxy (2018).
All three of these series might not see collection elsewhere. Fear Itself (2010) is a sprawling event that would have trouble containing this epilogue in an event omnibus. Fearless Defenders (2013) would really only have another home in a Misty Knight omnibus. And, while you’re about to see us repeat Asgardians of the Galaxy (2018) in the next proposed omnibus, it’s very much the conclusion of Bunn’s Valkyrie saga and primarily belongs here.
A vote for this book is a vote to collect all of Brunnhilde the Valkyrie’s significant post-Bronze Age material into a single omnibus, including three series that might not otherwise be collected in omnibus.
This would collect some non-Bunn establishing Valkyrie material from Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #168 (4th story), Valkyrie (1997) #1, Valkyrie (2010) #1, She-Hulk: Cosmic Collision (2009) #1, Heralds (2010) #1-5, and Secret Avengers (2010) #14.
Then, it would collect Bunn’s run from Fear Itself: The Fearless (2011) #0-12, Fearless Defenders (2013) #1-12, and Asgardians of the Galaxy (2018) #1-10.
Angela, Asgard’s Daughter (2013 & on) [includes Strikeforce]
Angela is a character with a truly peculiar history, which I fully explore in my Guide to Angela. Long story short: Neil Gaiman co-created her with Todd McFarlane, they later got into a bitter legal fight over rights and royalties, and when they settled Gaiman sold Angela to Marvel along with giving them the blessing to pick up his Miracleman comics (although neither he nor McFarlane may have ever actually owned the rights to Miracleman… which you can read more about in my Miracleman Guide launch post).
Angela arrived in the Marvel Universe through a seeming rip in the fabric of reality at the end of Brian Bendis’s 2013 event Age of Ultron. That was just a hand-waving explanation of where she had been all of these years, since it was quickly established that she had an intrinsic connection to Thor and Asgard.
Angela was never quite a breakout star, but she anchored a number of short runs in the 00s, culminating with her as a co-load in Cullen Bunn’s Asgardians of the Galaxy (2018) during War of the Realms and then starring in an Avengers-except-in-name squad Strikeforce (2019).
A vote for this volume is a vote to collect all of Angela’s first decade of Marvel material together in one volume.
This would collect material from Age of Ultron (2013) #10; Guardians of the Galaxy (2013) #5-9; Original Sin (2014) #5.1 – 5.5 [AKA Thor & Loki: The Tenth Realm], Angela: Asgard’s Assassin (2015) #1-6, 1602 Witch Hunter Angela (2015) #1-4, Angela – Queen of Hel (2015) #1-7, Asgardians of the Galaxy (2018) #1-10, and Strikeforce (2019) #1-9. It could continue with her further appearances in Thor (2020) and Immortal Thor (2023).
Thor Omnibus Mapping: Beta Ray Bill, Thunderstrike, & Jane Foster – Valkyrie
Thor does not just have allies on Asgard! Three of his most ardent supporters – who were all able to lift Mjölnir – were from realms other than Asgard!
Thor: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill (1983 – 2021) [debut through DWJ]
Beta Ray Bill is a fascinating character who originated in Walt Simonson’s Thor run. He is beloved by fans and creators alike, which has meant many Thor writers haven’t been able to resist using him in their runs. Learn about Beta Ray Bill’s complete comics history in my Guide to Beta Ray Bill.
Even if we leave aside every possible bit of excerpted material from Thor comics, Beta Ray Bill has enough material for his own slim omnibus of material from 2005 to present. However, there is a chance to collect essentially every important Beta Ray Bill page, ever into a single omnibus that begins with his acclaimed classic introduction by Walt Simonson and climaxes in his ecstatically-received journey of self-discovery and healing (through violence) by Daniel Warren Johnson.
The great thing about this book is it really does tell a complete story! Beta Ray Bill has been through many changes, both physical and mental, and these issues track all of them while leaving aside unimportant cameos.
A vote for this book is a vote for a complete “Book of Beta Ray Bill” containing the first 40 years of his story.
This would collect Thor (1966) #337-340, #350-353 (& material from #349, 354-355, 357-359), 363, 411-413 & Annual 16, Thor War in #438-441, 442, 461 (and sub-plot pages from Silver Surfer (1987) #79 & 81-82), Thor Corps (1993) #1-4, Thor (1966) #480, Starmasters (1995) #1-3, Cosmic Powers Unlimited (1995) #4-5, Thor (1998) #30 (and material from #31-33, 39-41, & Annual 2001), Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill (2005) #1-6, Secret Invasion: Thor (2008) #1-3, Secret Invasion Aftermath: Beta Ray Bill (2009) #1, Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter (2009) #1-3, Sif (2010) #1, maybe Unworthy Thor (2017) #1-5, maybe Annihilation – Scourge (2019) Alpha, Beta Ray Bill, & Omega, and definitely Beta Ray Bill (2021) #1-5 by Daniel Warren Johnson.
Thunderstrike by DeFalco (1991 – 1995 & 2011) [could include Blackwulf]
You could thing of this volume as “Thor by DeFalco Vol. 3.5.” That’s because Eric Masterson graduates directly from serving as Thor in DeFalco’s run to becoming his own unique hero as Thunderstrike. You can learn more about that process in my Guide to Thunderstrike.
Thunderstrike (1993) is a surprisingly complete tale with a definitive climax that caps Masterson’s hero’s journey that began with his introduction as an unassuming construction worker in 1988. After the conclusion of his series in 1995, it seemed like his story had a definitive ending. However, it briefly continued in Thunderstrike (2011) with a mini-series focused on Kevin Masterson – who was always at the center of his father’s story.
Damnit, I’m getting a little choked up just writing about it. Let me kick it over to my Mapping Mintie colleague NextImaginaut to explain one more addition to this book:
My ongoing case to Omar has been to push for Blackwulf (1994) to be added to a Thunderstrike Omni 1) as he figures very prominently into that series, 2) the book is quite strange and features some genuinely excellent (and mostly Angel Medina) art, and 3) is I think guaranteed to otherwise either be permanently overlooked or relegated to a distant paperback.
Alright, now that I’ve composed myself – your wish is always my command to Marvel, NextImaginaut! From this point forward, all maps of Thunderstrike for the Tigereyes poll will also include Blackwulf (1994)!
A vote for this book is a vote to collect the epic rise, fall, and return(?) of Thunderstrike – plus the complete series of Blackwulf.
This would collect Thor (1966) #433-436, Thor Corps (1993) #1-4, and Thunderstrike (1993) #1-24, plus establishing material excerpted from Thor (1966) #391-393, 403, 405-408, 413-414, 416-418, 423, & 450-459.
It could also add all of Blackwulf (1994) #1-10 and continue to Thunderstrike (2011) #1-5 and Fear Itself: The Home Front (2011) #5-7.
Valkyrie: Jane Foster (2019 & on) [by Aaron, Ewing, & Grønbekk]
Jane Foster started her life as a mild-mannered nurse working with Dr. Donald Blake who fell in love with Thor. Of course, since her employer Dr. Blake was just a construct of Odin the Allfather, that complicated both her employment history and her romantic history. I review all of Jane Foster’s comics continuity issue by issue in my Guide to Jane Foster – Mighty Thor & Valkyrie.
Of course, we have all of Jane’s entry into being a hero in Thor by Jason Aaron Vol. 1 & Vol. 2. At the end of Aaron’s run, there was some question if Jane would continue her heroism or return to life as a civillian.
That question was answered by a sequence of “Valkyrie: Jane Foster” series that were all surprisingly strong. They were originally launched by Al Ewing and Jason Aaron, and later brought writer Torunn Grønbekk into the Marvel fold.
While you cold make the argument that Jane’s story is still ongoing, at this point we’ve had 25 issues of her as Valkyrie anchoring her own adventures. Without another major run imminent, it could be a good time to collect that first three year burst of her stories.
A vote for this book is a vote to collect Jane Foster’s heroic adventures after the end of Jason Aaron’s hor.
This would collect Valkyrie: Jane Foster (2019) #1-10, King in Black: Return of the Valkyries (2021) #1-5, Mighty Valkyries (2021) #1-5, Jane Foster & the Mighty Thor (2022) #1-5, and selected issues from her time in Avengers (2018) and appearing in Thor (2020).
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