Walt Simonson

Post by **Fist and Faith** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 4:18 am

Is this guy freakin' AWESOME?!? The first time I heard of him was this:

Most people, and even many comic fans, have never heard of it, but it's awesome!!!

Next, I saw this reprint of what was originally backup stories and a full-length crossover in Detective Comics:

This relatively little thing deserved every one of the several major awards it won.

The next time I saw him was at this extraordinary moment in comic history:

Who in their right mind would have written a story about someone with a name as lame as Beta Ray Bill?!? Who but Simonson could have pulled it off, and gone on to have such an incredible run on Thor.

Post by **High Lord Tolkien** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 1:25 pm

Simonson excelent run on Thor is easily explained.
It takes a God to write well about a God.

Post by **A Gunslinger** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 2:00 pm

Beta Ray Bill is as lame is WS is great.

Post by **Fist and Faith** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 2:05 pm

The name is lame. The character, however, is awesome. Very noble guy, worthy of his ability to wield Mjolnir.

Interesting, though, that you can think WS is great if his creations are lame. Or do you think BRB is his only lame creation, and the rest are great?

Post by **dANdeLION** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 12:20 pm

Simonson is probably the most overrated person in comics. I liken the fan reaction to his Thor run with the insane behavior of shoppers fighting over 'tickle me elmo' dolls.....

Post by **A Gunslinger** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 1:53 pm

Fist and Faith wrote:The name is lame. The character, however, is awesome. Very noble guy, worthy of his ability to wield Mjolnir.

Interesting, though, that you can think WS is great if his creations are lame. Or do you think BRB is his only lame creation, and the rest are great?

I didn't much like the character. I do, however love WS other works nad love his art style!!!! His work on an Xmen/Teen Titans X-over was perfect.

Post by **dANdeLION** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 2:53 pm

I had the Thor, and still have his FF run....not bad, but just not as good as he's made out to be. It was an art style that quickly became passe.

Post by **A Gunslinger** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 3:13 pm

dANdeLION wrote:I had the Thor, and still have his FF run....not bad, but just not as good as he's made out to be. It was an art style that quickly became passe.

My favorites include:

Neal Adams, Jack Kirby, George Perez, John Bryne, Barry Windsor-Smith, and Jae Lee.

Post by **High Lord Tolkien** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 3:52 pm

{no reall point to this story but I'm tossing it in anyway]

There was an awesome (to me anyway) What The? issue.
It had Marvel characters against DC.
One page had Superman and Thor grappling in a test of strength.
To prove that he was more powerful Thor said he was "a God drawn by a mortal named Simonson".
Superman countered with "But I am a mortal drawn by a God named Bryne!"
Then Thor gulped in fear or something.

I always thought that was so funny.
It's been stuck in my head for years.

Post by **matrixman** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 6:54 pm

That's hilarious, HLT!

I still don't know the names of comics artists all that well, but Byrne's style is familiar to me. His Superman is definitely awesome.

I think I caught some of Simonson's run on Thor. Am I correct that he drew Thor up until at least #350? In any case, maybe it was not so much the art but the story that I found enjoyable. It was the one where Thor was under some kind of curse by the Queen of Hades, but then his spirit takes command of the Destroyer and visits the Queen's domain where he unleashes hell on the undead. Quite a lot of fun.

Was Simonson also involved in the comics adaptation of the original Star Wars trilogy way back? His name seems to ring a bell there. If he was the artist, then I have to say he didn't do all that good a job. I remember Luke and Han looking especially awful. If I'm blaming the wrong guy, my apologies to Simonson.

Post by **A Gunslinger** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 6:56 pm

High Lord Tolkien wrote:{no reall point to this story but I'm tossing it in anyway]

There was an awesome (to me anyway) What The? issue.
It had Marvel characters against DC.
One page had Superman and Thor grappling in a test of strength.
To prove that he was more powerful Thor said he was "a God drawn by a mortal named Simonson".
Superman countered with "But I am a mortal drawn by a God named Bryne!"
Then Thor gulped in fear or something.

I always thought that was so funny.
It's been stuck in my head for years.

HAW!

Post by **The Laughing Man** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 7:58 pm

for some reason I thought this was about Deus Ex.......

Post by **Xar** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 8:13 pm

Matrixman wrote:That's hilarious, HLT!

I still don't know the names of comics artists all that well, but Byrne's style is familiar to me. His Superman is definitely awesome.

I think I caught some of Simonson's run on Thor. Am I correct that he drew Thor up until at least #350? In any case, maybe it was not so much the art but the story that I found enjoyable. It was the one where Thor was under some kind of curse by the Queen of Hades, but then his spirit takes command of the Destroyer and visits the Queen's domain where he unleashes hell on the undead. Quite a lot of fun.

Yes, that was it... the whole run included Beta Ray Bill, the forging of Stormbreaker, Thor losing his identity of Donald Blake and assuming the identity of Sigurd Jorlsson (if I remember the name correctly), the whole Surtur business, the battle against Jurmungandr, and the curse of Hela. I always found it quite enjoyable, myself.

Post by **Fist and Faith** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 9:19 pm

A Gunslinger wrote:His work on an Xmen/Teen Titans X-over was perfect.

ARGH! I forgot about that! That may have been my intro to him, and was definitely my intro to Terminator and Darkseid. DAMN that's a great comic!!!

Post by **Fist and Faith** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 5:18 am

I was about to start a Simonson thread, but then thought, "Didn't I do that once?"

So, by absolutely no popular demand, here it is again!

Post by **sgt.null** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 8:10 am

Post by **Fist and Faith** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 10:58 am

Perhaps not the best thing he ever did.

Post by **sgt.null** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 1:04 pm

i found his stuff a little bit overblown for my tastes. i would think that Thor would be a diffucult comic anyway. how could you break away from what is so familiar?

Post by **Xar** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 1:24 pm

To be honest though, Simonson's run in THOR enabled him to bring to the fore much of the book's nordic flavor. It was more about Thor the god, than about Thor the superhero (as it was the case in other situations). The battle between Thor and Jormungandr was amazing - and it really captured the feeling of foreboding that something horrible was about to happen to Thor. And that's only one of the great moments he gave Thor...

Post by **dANdeLION** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 1:52 pm

The current run of Thor has him behaving more like a God and less like a superhero than I've ever seen him since the Lee/Kirby days.

Heh, in re-reading this thread, I see my first post really slams WS. I guess I was reacting to the post calling Walt a God, and recalling the incredible amount of hype WS's Thor run got when it was current, buying the comics, and thinking 'this is good, but not great'. I don't hate his artwork, I don't hate his writing; I just preferred other artists/writers to him.

Kevin's Watch

Kevin's Watch

Walt Simonson

Walt Simonson