The Art of the Mighty Thor (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781506752808)

Walt Simonson is an American comic book writer and artist, best known for a run on Marvel Comics' Thor from 1983 to 1987, during which he created the character Beta Ray Bill. He is also known for the creator-owned work Star Slammers, which he inaugurated in 1972 as a Rhode Island School of Design thesis. He has also worked on other Marvel titles such as X-Factor and Fantastic Four, on DC Comics books including Detective Comics, Manhunter, Metal Men and Orion, and on licensed properties such as Star Wars, Alien, Battlestar Galactica and Robocop vs. Terminator.

He is married to comics writer Louise Simonson, with whom he collaborated as penciller on X-Factor from 1988 to 1989, and with whom he made a cameo appearance in the 2011 Thor feature film.

Jack Kirby: Born Jacob Kurtzberg in 1917 to Jewish-Austrian parents on New York's Lower East Side, Jack Kirby came of age at the birth of the American comic book industry. Beginning his career during the rising tide of fascism in Europe, Kirby and fellow artist Joe Simon created the patriotic hero, Captain America. In the 1950s, Kirby turned his artistic talents to other genres, such as monsters, westerns, crime, and romance. In 1961, Kirby returned to super heroes to illustrate what would become the defining issue in Marvel Comics history: Fantastic Four #1. For the next decade, Kirby and Stan Lee would introduce a mind-boggling array of new characters--including the Avengers, the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, and the X-Men. Taken together, Kirby's groundbreaking work with Lee helped form the foundation of the Marvel Universe. Kirby died in 1994, but his influence on the comic book industry is as strong as ever.