HIS FIRST FORTY-THREE ISSUES DON'T SAY THOR ON THEM.
Thor — Journey into Mystery to the current run, and the keys that hide under the old name · Comic King
Thor — The Complete Comic King Guide
In August 1962 Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby did something no other Marvel hero was built on: instead of inventing a science-fiction origin, they reached into Norse mythology and put a thunder god in a horror anthology called Journey into Mystery. It worked — and it left behind the single most useful piece of counter knowledge in this store, because Thor's entire Silver Age, the first appearance, the first Loki, the whole Lee and Kirby foundation, sits under a title with his name nowhere on it. Sixty-four years later the character is a permanent fixture on screen, the comic has just killed him and relaunched him with no powers at all, and Marvel is about to publish his eight-hundredth issue by counting those Journey into Mystery comics as his. Comic King carries Thor in Edmonton across all of it: this week's issues, the Bronze run that is deep and genuinely affordable, the Simonson collection we hand to anyone who asks what the best one is, and proper identification of anything from the Journey into Mystery years. If the book you want isn't on the shelf, we can special-order or source it on request.
Quick Facts
Story: A Norse god exiled to Earth and taught humility — the only major Marvel hero built on borrowed mythology instead of invented science, which is why his supporting cast reads like a saga.
Length: Since August 1962 — continuously, across one 377-issue volume and seven-plus relaunches since.
Status: Ongoing — Al Ewing's run killed Thor in 2025 and relaunched immediately as The Mortal Thor, following a powerless, memory-less man on foot. The legacy count reaches issue 800 in the current volume.
Publisher: Marvel Comics — but look for the JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY masthead on anything pre-1966.
Age guide: One of the most family-friendly runs on the Marvel wall — safe to recommend broadly, which is not true of everything in this section.
Formats: New issues · back issues · the Simonson collection · Epic Collections · omnibus editions · facsimiles of the early keys.
At Comic King: New issues weekly, a deep affordable Bronze wall, and we search Journey into Mystery boxes as carefully as Thor boxes — because that is where the money is.
Three Mastheads, One Count — and Marvel Still Counts Them
Here is what you actually need to know before buying or selling anything on this page. Thor's comic has been called three different things while never once restarting its numbering. It began as JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY, a pre-existing anthology, and Thor's debut lands in issue #83 — meaning the book that contains the first appearance of Thor does not have the word Thor anywhere on the cover. The Asgard material builds through the following issues, and then in March 1966 Marvel simply renamed the title with issue #126: THE MIGHTY THOR, same numbering, no restart. There is no Thor #1 through #125. Those comics exist and people own them; they just say Journey into Mystery on the front. Volume one then ran all the way to #502 in September 1996 before the modern relaunches began. If that trick sounds familiar it is because Marvel did it three times in the same era: the Hulk moved out of Tales to Astonish at #102, Captain America out of Tales of Suspense at #100, and Thor out of Journey into Mystery at #126. Learn it once and you can explain three walls. And here is the part that turns a piece of trivia into a selling point: Marvel itself has never stopped counting. The current run is about to publish the eight-hundredth issue of Thor, and it only reaches eight hundred by counting those Journey into Mystery comics as Thor comics — the publisher agreeing, in print, that the maze is real and that those early books belong to this character. That is the single most useful thing to know when a box of old anthology comics comes across the counter, and it is why we open every Journey into Mystery run that enters the store.
The Run, Era by Era
Sixty-four years, organized. Every era of Thor, the one issue that represents it, and why collectors care:
The Keys — Issues Everyone Hunts
Journey into Mystery #83 is the book: first Thor, August 1962, and a top-tier Silver Age key that carries four figures raw and climbs steeply through the grades — genuine broker material at the top end, and the reason we open every Journey into Mystery box that comes through the door. JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #85 is the one people get wrong, and it is worth being precise about because the money is real: the first Loki is #85, from October 1962, not #84. Issue #84 is a key in its own right — it is the first appearance of Jane Foster, which is a much better fact than it used to be now that she has carried the hammer herself in comics and on film — but it is a different book at a different price, and a seller who has one does not have the other. Journey into Mystery #85 also carries the first Heimdall and an Odin cameo, and #97 is quietly one of the best-value early books: the Tales of Asgard back-ups start there, Odin's origin is told, and Surtur turns up for the first time. Then comes THOR #337 (November 1983), the first Beta Ray Bill and the start of the Simonson run — and it deserves an honest description rather than a hyped one. It is not a four-figure book. It is an affordable, extremely liquid one that sells constantly, which is better news for a shop than a trophy nobody can buy: it is the rare key that a customer can actually take home, and the story behind it (an alien picks up the hammer, which nobody thought was allowed) sells it in one sentence. Its neighbours #339 and #340, where Stormbreaker is forged, usually get overlooked and cost less again. In the modern tier, Thor volume 4 #1 from 2014 is the Jane Foster key with genuine screen backing, printed in modern quantities, so grade discipline matters far more than rarity. One warning made of money: Journey into Mystery #83 exists as a facsimile edition and inside oversized reprint collections. Oversized always means reprint. We authenticate before any conversation about value, and we buy and price against live sold comps — ask and we will pull them up on screen together.
Every Format You Can Buy
Screen & Series Status
Updated August 2026: Thor is a permanent screen fixture with four solo films behind him and a standing place in the ensemble films between them, so the character never really goes cold — and there is another team tentpole ahead with both Thor and Loki attached. The comic is running in the opposite direction at the moment, which makes for a good counter conversation: on screen he is a god among the Avengers, while in print he has been killed and brought back with no powers and no memory at all. The most reliable demand pattern here is not Thor himself but LOKI — he has had more screen time than almost any Marvel villain, and every appearance moves Journey into Mystery #85. Watch Loki news as closely as Thor news. The standing watch-item is Beta Ray Bill: a fan favourite who has never reached the screen, whose first appearance is currently cheap, and who would move hard and fast if he were ever cast — worth telling customers honestly as a maybe rather than a promise. And ahead of any Thor or Avengers release, the play is the same: Simonson and the Aaron run face-out, the Journey into Mystery keys in the case behind them. Exact dates for anything upcoming live in the Consolidated Ordering Calendar, not on this page.
Collector's Corner — Grading, Care & We Buy
Four habits govern this franchise at our counter. The first is the JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY CHECK, and it is the most valuable one in the Marvel section: we file and search both names together, always. A seller with a box of old Thor comics may have nothing earlier than 1966 in it, and a seller with some old Journey into Mystery may be holding a four-figure book without knowing the character is even in it — those anthology mastheads hide keys the same way Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish do, and we treat all of them with the same suspicion. The second is precision about which early issue is which: the first Loki is #85, the first Jane Foster is #84, and #97 carries the first Surtur alongside Odin's origin. Those are three different books at three different prices, and we identify them in front of you rather than lumping them together as early Journey into Mystery. The third is the Simonson premium, which is real and easy to explain: #337 sells for a clear multiple of #336 or #338 sitting right beside it. We point at the cover, name the artist, and the customer understands immediately — and because the book is affordable, that conversation usually ends with them owning it. The fourth is modern-era discipline: Thor from 2014 onward was printed in modern quantities, so it is high grade or bins, and we do not encourage anyone to send mid-grade moderns to CGC. Beyond those, the post-Simonson 1990s material arrives in bulk and is honest bin stock — we buy the listed keys and pass kindly on the rest. We assess keys against live sold comps on screen, grade honestly, broker CGC submissions for slab-worthy books, and stock the bags, boards and boxes that keep a run healthy while you complete it.
FAQ - Straight Answers
Why is Thor's first appearance called Journey into Mystery?
Because Marvel did not give him his own title — they put him in one they already had. Journey into Mystery was an existing anthology, and Thor's debut is issue #83, from August 1962. He was popular enough that the Asgard material took over the book, and in March 1966 Marvel simply renamed it: issue #126 arrived as The Mighty Thor with the numbering carried straight across. That is why there is no Thor #1 through #125 — those comics exist, they just have a different name on the cover. It happened three times in that era at the same publisher: the Hulk came out of Tales to Astonish at #102, Captain America out of Tales of Suspense at #100, and Thor out of Journey into Mystery at #126. The practical version, and the reason we mention it constantly: if you have inherited a box of old comics, the Journey into Mystery issues are the ones to look at hardest. Marvel agrees with us, incidentally — the current run reaches its eight-hundredth issue only by counting those anthology comics as Thor comics.
Is the first Loki in Journey into Mystery #84 or #85?
It is #85, from October 1962, and this one is worth getting right because the two books are worth very different amounts. Journey into Mystery #85 is the first appearance of Loki, and it also carries the first Heimdall and a cameo by Odin, which makes it the issue where Asgard really arrives. Issue #84, from a month earlier, is a genuine key too — it is the first appearance of Jane Foster, a fact that has aged extremely well given that she went on to carry the hammer herself in both comics and film — but it is not the Loki book, and it does not trade like it. You will see #84 described as the first Loki online often enough that we double-check every time. One more curiosity for anyone who enjoys this sort of thing: a completely unrelated character called Loki appeared in a Timely comic back in 1949, presented as a Greek god rather than an Asgardian, and abandoned afterwards. It is not the same character in any meaningful sense, in the same way that the 1967 Ghost Rider was a western. Bring in whatever you have and we will identify it precisely before anyone discusses money.
Where should I start reading Thor?
If you ask us this at the counter you will get the same answer every time, and it will not be a hedge: read the Simonson run. Walt Simonson wrote and drew Thor from 1983, and it opens with an alien named Beta Ray Bill picking up the hammer — something the rules of the character supposedly did not allow — and it never lets up. Readers and collectors agree on it completely, which almost never happens, and it is permanently in print. If you came from the films, Jason Aaron's God of Thunder and the Jane Foster run are the direct source of the fourth one and read beautifully. If you want the classic, the Epic Collections walk you through Kirby's cosmic period at a fraction of Silver Age back-issue prices. And if you want to know what is happening right now, the current run is the most interesting pitch in the store: Thor has been killed off and brought back with no powers and no memory, and the story is about a man with nothing trying to become worthy again. Come in and tell us which of those sounds right and we will put the book in your hands in about thirty seconds — and if we do not have it on the shelf, we will order it in.