Stan Lee writes these stories with such enthusiasm, it’s hard not to get involved with them… even when there are glaring continuity errors (Lee has Heimdall taking the assignment of guarding the Rainbow Bridge after Thor’s come of age, when just a few stories earlier, young Thor is on the bridge with an already assigned Heimdall).
The first couple stories feature Odin, which is a bit of a problem, since he’s all powerful and isn’t much fun to watch. His fight with Surtur, however, is fun to see. Kirby’s art’s strongest in that story. Maybe because the outfits aren’t so silly yet.
The young Thor stories, those featuring Loki, are annoying, as Thor is constantly duped by his evil brother. That infinite gullibility is one of the things, I think, I didn’t like about the character as a kid (and therefore, didn’t read much Thor).
Again, Lee makes it work.
The early days of Marvel were truly what made Stan Lee’s rep in the history of comics for me. Prior to this I believe he pretty much single handedly wrote all the horror, monster/sci-fi, and goofy western stuff. Not to mention edit the entire line of comics(which I think was about a dozen titles). When Marvel discovers and reinvents the superhero genre, at least in it’s earliest years, Lee really shines. Although Thor wasn’t one of my faves, either, there’s no denying his love for mythology, or Kirby’s imagination, finally “unbound” by conventional stories set on Earth. Aside from some later horrible inking by Vince Coletta, who refuses to use a brush, Tales of Asgard remains one of the finest of the silver age of comics. Nuff Said!