Thor #6

History

The Vol. 3 Thor series launched in 2007 under writer J. Michael Straczynski — best known at the time as the creator of Babylon 5 — paired with Olivier Coipel, fresh off House of M, with inks by Mark Morales and colors by Laura Martin. The Oklahoma-set Asgard concept had been germinated by Neil Gaiman, who would have written the series had his schedule permitted; after Mark Millar also briefly touched the concept, Straczynski inherited and fully developed it. Issue #6, internally titled 'Wandering Gods,' concludes the six-issue opening arc collected in the first Thor by JMS trade paperback, and features variant cover art by Arthur Adams alongside Coipel's main cover. Editor Warren Simons shepherded the run under Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of Kelda Stormrider (Earth-616), an Asgardian goddess of ice, winter storms, and churning clouds — a wholly original character created by J. Michael Straczynski with no basis in Norse mythology.
• Kelda's debut scene establishes the Asgardian-human culture-clash theme central to the run: she wanders into Broxton, Oklahoma at night and meets Bill Cobb III, a local short-order cook at a diner, planting the seeds of their ill-fated love story.
• The issue's climax shows Thor flying to low Earth orbit and unleashing a global lightning storm to simultaneously free all dormant Asgardians from their mortal host bodies — a planet-scale set piece that closes out the first story arc.
• Loki appears throughout this arc and this issue in the body of the goddess Sif, a female form Loki arranged for himself following his death in Thor (1998) #80; the full scope of the deception is developed across subsequent issues.
• The full creative team for the issue: writer J. Michael Straczynski, penciler Olivier Coipel, inker Mark Morales, colorist Laura Martin, letterer Chris Eliopoulos, editor Warren Simons.
• The issue carried at least two cover variants: the main Coipel cover and an Arthur Adams variant, the latter noted in collector databases as a 50/50 direct-edition split.
• Issue #6 is the final chapter collected in Thor by J. Michael Straczynski Vol. 1 TPB (ISBN 9780785129509), which reprints Thor (Vol. 3) #1–6 in its entirety.
• Kelda's powers — weather manipulation including summoning ice spears and the ability to transform her lower body into a tornado for flight — are not fully displayed until later issues; her #6 debut establishes her character and sets her relationship with Bill in motion.

Cast · 6 characters

Full credits

Key issues in Thor

Variants (2)