Thor Epic Collection vol. 22: Hel on Earth

Date Completed: 17 May, 2025

Grade: C-

Whoof. This is it: the 90s. This volume had so many of the hallmarks: drawn out, convoluted story lines, overblown and disproportionate artwork, and ridiculous costume changes. I guess it's missing the big guns and pouches, but otherwise it sure felt like a book from the mid 90s. I never read Thor in the 90s (by 1994-95 which this volume covers, I think I was on my comics hiatus initiated by the Clone Saga). And while I appreciated Roy Thomas trying to keep these stories rooted in Thor's past, the High Evolutionary story-line seemed the least interesting thing to pull from. Not only that, trying to wedge in the God Pack (The High Evolutionary's newest human creation) as a replacement for Asgard just kept feeling forced. It was almost a reprieve to have the final issue of the volume be a DeFalco and Frenz story wrapping up Thunderstrike's storyline, even though Thunderstrike was not really involved in this volume (but hopefully he will get his own Epic Collection some day). I did like the return of Loki and how he returned as a spiritual being; I'm curious how he will return bodily in the future. However, the storyline reintroducing Don Blake was unnecessarily convoluted which didn't go anywhere (and only accomplished making Thor's relation with his alter ego even more confusing than it had been).


A small aside: my planned reading order changed slightly. After my last post, I was to finish up the Red Sonja Omnibus. That is still the plan, but due to a planned trip (and that book being so big), I decided to take this volume of Thor instead. Red Sonja is next. Also, It has been a year and a half since I started reading the Epic Collections, with a volume of Thor being the first in a rotation of four the whole time. And I am still reading Thor. Basically, I feel like it is taking too long to get through these runs, so decided to change by reading order to read my mind run twice in the rotation. So, after I go back to Red Sonja, it will be:
  • Focus Series
  • Chronological
  • Focus Series
  • Catch-Up/My Choice


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