Jack Kirby's Thor/Tales of Asgard: C or D?

I don't understand why they did those Tales of Asgard backups, as they were mostly far less interesting, but they still look fantastic, of course.

RE: MIGHTY THOR #133 (which I picked up for a buck last Sunday, and finally got around to reading on this morning's commute)

OMG KIRBY THOR AWESOME

Most of you probably knew that, but KIRBY THOR is kinda like Pre-"Wild Honey" Beach Boys or any number of Blondie Greatest Hits compilations for me - so obviously amazing that it's probably easy to take for granted and neglect getting a hard copy for an absurd/obscene length of time. BUT REALLY - DUDE! EGO THE LIVING PLANET!!! THE TOWER OF HUMANOID ANTIBODIES!!! THAT TWO-PAGE SPLASH OF EGO'S LANDSCAPE!!!

Aren't these Essential volumes all in black and white? And wouldn't I want them in fantastic marvel 4 color?
Also, for Thor folks out there - Can I be absolutely sure that Fing Fang Foom is NOT the Midgard Serpent? And what collections of Simonson's run on Thor is available/best?
Excelsior,

yeah, the Essentials all B&W, but they're substantially cheaper than the Marvel Masterworks color reprints, and still thoroughly amazing. I think I like Kirby Thor as much as the FF, and if you're into his Fourth World stuff, Thor is the most direct antecedent.

Thanks. I think I Love Comics is slowly talking me into getting back into comics. I could totally go for one of those huge Thor Essentials this weekend. And there are reprints of Simonson's run on Thor which I just found out about after I posted this. I am totally headed to Forbidden Planet NYC today.

I don't know if Kirby's children see any Essentials royalties, but I think this is one of those cases where you could get color versions on the download with a clear conscience.

Also, CLASSIC.

The Kirby family don't get a penny from Marvel for any reprints; I think they do get royalties from DC and other companies

some of the repro on the Thor Essentials is VERY poor, and black and white only highlights the shortcuts in colletta's inking

yeah, that sucks; no royalties = download at will. when are they putting out a Kirby Thor Omnibus, btw? when the movie comes out?

yeah, the Essentials all B&W, but they're substantially cheaper than the Marvel Masterworks color reprints, and still thoroughly amazing. I think I like Kirby Thor as much as the FF, and if you're into his Fourth World stuff, Thor is the most direct antecedent.

Also, I believe those Marvel Masterworks have been digitally recoloured, which can look horrible if not done well. It always annoys when they do that but make no effort to match the original colouring - for me part of the essential "feel" of old comics comes from those limited four-colour pallettes, and I hate it when they try and mess with that.

so I went ahead and got Essential Thor Vol 2 and it's as awesome as I hoped. Yes, some of the reprints are shoddy, and Vince Colletta did slack off at some points, and the print even smudges under your fingers, and apparently Kirby's family gets no royalties, but it's a whole lot of comic book for the price.
Also, Thor 133 is great (EGO) and Kirby's art gets progressively more fantastic, and the Tales of Asgard stuff is also great. I read the Thor straight and plan to go back to re-read the Tales of Asgard straight through.
Kirby's collages, though infrequent, are also great and it DOES seem a good forerunner of his 4th World stuff. I think Kirby was definitely doing his best stuff at Marvel when on Thor (possible exception being FF's Galactus/Surfer stuff).

Also, Thor 133 is great (EGO)

Oui! I like Morrison's homage/rip-off/whatever to the "tower of antibodies" splash in ALL STAR SUPERMAN #7, along with Stan's caption to forgive any discrepancies between what actually happened and Kirby's memory.

John Byrne also has a tower of antibodies, this time fighting the Thing, in FF #235, when the FF take on Ego again. Honestly, who wouldn't want to fight a tower of antibodies on a living planet in the Black Galaxy Bio-verse?

As far as I'm concerned (and I think i'm in the minority here), Kirby's art on Thor is the best thing he ever did.

I spent most of last year getting all the Marvel Masterworks Thor volumes and they are fucking awesome. Colletta drops the ball sometimes (not my fave Kirby inker by a longshot) but overall there are so many grandiose ideas and utterly jaw-dropping panels/splash pages/designs its fairly mindblowing. have no use for this stuff in b&w though, the color is crucial.