This is my personal recommended reading list for new readers. This is a collection of my favourite arcs, and what I would consider “core” reading. You may notice that it is not necessarily in order, and that much of it is within around 10-15 years old. This is because as a title gets much older than that, it becomes less relevant and can even become an outright chore to read, and the newer stuff is an absolute nightmare to start with.
I like to recommend from around this point in the comics because it’s all fairly straightforward (as much as a Marvel comic can be), and doesn’t require a lot of title hopping to keep up. Once the main series starts branching off and doing weird things, I suggest going on to some of the other lists and following titles marked with ✨.
I’ve also included a lot of random little things that don’t have anything to do with anything, but which are very fun, low-stakes reads that aren’t convoluted to all hell.
📵 – Not available on Marvel Unlimited
💥 – Recommended starting points
✨ – Core/Recommended reading
📱 – Marvel Unlimited exclusive
| # | Title | Volume | Issue | Release Date | Cover Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thor: Season One (2013) | 1 | #1 | Oct 2 2013 | Dec 2013 | This is a weird one that I absolutely love. It's main continuity, but also really, really not. It's a primer for the lore, quickly establishing who the main players are and what makes the world turn. Don't look for a Season Two, because there isn't one. This is part of an ongoing process by Marvel to make it as difficult as possible to get into comics. I'm putting this one right here at the top because if you read this one, you don't have to slog through all those Silver Age comics that can make you want to claw your eyes out from silted dialogue and bizarre art. |
| 2 | Thor (1966) | 1 | #617 | Nov 10 2010 | Jan 2011 | Sometimes this run gets lumped in with vol 3, which is also quite good and elsewhere on this list. I recommend starting here for new readers because this is a quick arc that establishes what the current stuff is doing now. |
| 3 | Thor (1966) | 1 | #618 | Dec 8 2010 | Feb 2011 | |
| 4 | Thor (1966) | 1 | #619 | Jan 19 2011 | Mar 2011 | |
| 5 | Thor (1966) | 1 | #620 | Feb 23 2011 | Apr 2011 | |
| 6 | Thor (1966) | 1 | #620.1 | Mar 23 2011 | May 2011 | This is a "Point One" issue, which for a while were being used as unofficial starting points in order to avoid launching a new volume. Unfortunately for Marvel, they wound up being confusing as hell and tended to take place somewhere other than the comic it was released after. |
| 7 | Thor (1966) | 1 | #621 | Mar 30 2011 | May 2011 | Inexplicably, the series was renamed BACK to Journey into Mystery after this. Marvel were just going all out of their way to confuse and alienate readers at this point. |
| 8 | Thor (2007) | 3 | #1 | Jul 5 2007 | Sep 2007 | Taking a step backwards to what came before. If the Point One, and renaming to JiM weren't confusing enough, volume 3 takes place and was even released before the above volume 1 issues. This run explains why Asgard is in Oklahoma, and why Loki is a small child. It also takes place after Ragnarok, which I've listed below because I highly recommend it, although many people found it very intense. |
| 9 | Thor (2007) | 3 | #2 | Aug 1 2007 | Oct 2007 | |
| 10 | Thor (2007) | 3 | #3 | Sep 12 2007 | Nov 2007 | |
| 11 | Thor (2007) | 3 | #4 | Nov 14 2007 | Dec 2007 | |
| 12 | Thor (2007) | 3 | #5 | Dec 28 2007 | Jan 2008 | This is where things start to get sticky. It's the infamous "Lady Loki" arc, and whatever you've heard about it from Tumblr, throw it all out the window. This arc is Loki at his absolute most depraved. It has nothing to do with his sexuality or gender, although he may have learned some things about himself during this arc. This is the arc where he steals Sif's body and parades it around half-naked because he can. |
| 13 | Thor (2007) | 3 | #6 | Feb 27 2008 | Feb 2008 | |
| 14 | Thor (2007) | 3 | #7 | Mar 19 2008 | May 2008 | |
| 15 | Thor (2007) | 3 | #8 | Apr 23 2008 | Jun 2008 | |
| 16 | Thor (2007) | 3 | #9 | May 29 2008 | Jul 2008 | |
| 17 | Thor (2007) | 3 | #10 | Jul 30 2008 | Sep 2008 | |
| 18 | Thor (2007) | 3 | #11 | Oct 29 2008 | Nov 2008 | |
| 19 | Thor (2007) | 3 | #12 | Dec 24 2008 | Jan 2009 | |
| 20 | Thor (1966) | 1 | #600 | Feb 11 2009 | Apr 2009 | After #12, volume 3 was re-numbered to 600 and slots back into volume 1. It picks up the exact same story, but the numbering is different. I don't know why they do this. |
| 21 | Thor (1966) | 1 | #601 | Apr 22 2009 | Jun 2009 | |
| 22 | Thor (1966) | 1 | #602 | Jun 24 2009 | Aug 2009 | |
| 23 | Thor (1966) | 1 | #603 | Sep 30 2009 | Nov 2009 | |
| 24 | Thor (1966) | 1 | #604 | Dec 3 2009 | Feb 2010 | |
| 25 | Thor (1966) | 1 | #605 | Dec 23 2009 | Feb 2010 | |
| 26 | Thor (1966) | 1 | #606 | Jan 27 2010 | Mar 2010 | |
| 27 | Thor Giant-Size Finale (2009) | 1 | #1 | Nov 25 2009 | Jan 2010 | This directly follows Vol 1 #603, and wraps up that bit of the story before leading into Siege. |
| 28 | Thor (1966) | 1 | #607 | Feb 24 2010 | Apr 2010 | This begins Siege, which was an entire ordeal that encompassed almost every facet of the Marvel Universe. I am compiling a full list for this event elsewhere, if you would like to read the whole thing. Otherwise, you should be able to follow this story with minimal confusion with the issues listed here. |
| 29 | Thor (1966) | 1 | #608 | Mar 24 2010 | May 2010 | |
| 30 | Thor (1966) | 1 | #609 | Apr 28 2010 | Jun 2010 | |
| 31 | Thor (1966) | 1 | #610 | May 26 2010 | Jul 2010 | |
| 32 | Thor (1966) | 1 | #611 | Jun 30 2010 | Aug 2010 | |
| 33 | Thor (1966) | 1 | #612 | Jul 28 2010 | Sep 2010 | |
| 34 | Thor (1966) | 1 | #613 | Aug 25 2010 | Oct 2010 | |
| 35 | Thor (1966) | 1 | #614 | Sep 8 2010 | Nov 2010 | |
| 36 | Thor (1966) | 1 | #615 | Sep 22 2010 | Nov 2010 | |
| 37 | Thor (1966) | 1 | #616 | Oct 13 2010 | Dec 2010 | |
| 38 | Journey into Mystery (1952) | 1 | #646 | Nov 21 2012 | Jan 2013 | After Siege, the main title got obscenely convoluted and has not managed to un-arse itself since. There's a lot of good stuff that comes next, but I can't recommend it to a new reader because the story bounces between two titles at once in the most bizarre way. To follow everything after Siege in order, see the Kid Loki list (Agent of Asgard is absent from this list because it needs Loki's run of Journey into Mystery to understand). Instead, this is a short run that Sif helmed for a while, continuing the ongoing themes of identity and self-worth. It's a very fun, light-hearted romp which unfortunately can't stand on its own too well, and needs all that stuff up there to kind of understand. |
| 39 | Journey into Mystery (1952) | 1 | #647 | Dec 19 2012 | Feb 2013 | |
| 40 | Journey into Mystery (1952) | 1 | #648 | Jan 20 2013 | Mar 2013 | |
| 41 | Journey into Mystery (1952) | 1 | #649 | Feb 27 2013 | Apr 2013 | |
| 42 | Journey into Mystery (1952) | 1 | #650 | Mar 27 2013 | May 2013 | |
| 43 | Journey into Mystery (1952) | 1 | #651 | Apr 24 2013 | Jun 2013 | |
| 44 | Journey into Mystery (1952) | 1 | #652 | May 22 2013 | Jul 2013 | |
| 45 | Journey into Mystery (1952) | 1 | #653 | Jun 26 2013 | Aug 2013 | |
| 46 | Journey into Mystery (1952) | 1 | #654 | Jul 24 2013 | Sep 2013 | |
| 47 | Journey into Mystery (1952) | 1 | #655 | Aug 28 2013 | Oct 2013 | After this point if you would like to continue on with the main continuity, I would recommend either visiting the Siege or Kid Loki reading lists, and following any titles marked with ✨. If you choose to launch into the Current Continuity reading list, here's a spoilery TL;DR: The Loki who got blown up during Siege made a deal with Hela and Mephisto that resulted in his soul not carrying on to an afterlife. He made himself a horcrux of sorts and hid it in a trans-dimensional pocket, which his reincarnated child self found and stuffed into a magpie that didn't really exist, and named it Ikol. Despite not existing, that magpie killed the kid and took over his body. Something went wrong; either enough of the kid survived, or somehow the horcrux was made wrong and Ikol found himself burdened with a big old disgusting conscience loaded with guilt. He stole some powers while on a mad romp with the Young Avengers and aged himself up to a young adult, just in time for another, older version of Loki to start running around and causing problems. Ikol again blows himself up and seemingly reincarnates once more into a greasy chaos gremlin who seems to be the version currently running around today. Also, he's king of Jotunheim, and once ran for President of the USA. War of the Realms was a wholeass acid trip. Read that for more on whatever's going on with Loki. |
| 48 | Thor (1998) | 2 | #80 | Aug 2004 | This starts Ragnarok, which is balls to the wall insanity. The main Thor title stopped for a few years after this while Marvel took a step back and fiddled with a bunch of different ways to reboot the lore. Some of those, I've listed below. I can't find solid release info for this run, but the Marvel apps tend to default to the cover date anyway. | |
| 49 | Thor (1998) | 2 | #81 | Aug 2004 | ||
| 50 | Thor (1998) | 2 | #82 | Sep 2004 | ||
| 51 | Thor (1998) | 2 | #83 | Oct 2004 | ||
| 52 | Thor (1998) | 2 | #84 | Nov 2004 | ||
| 53 | Thor (1998) | 2 | #85 | Dec 2004 | ||
| 54 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #1 | Nov 14 2012 | Jan 2013 | This technically picks up from a run that I didn't list above, but it really has nothing to do with anything that happened before it. Love and Thunder is heavily influenced by this run. The art is gorgeous, the story terrifying, and this run remains one of my favourites. |
| 55 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #2 | Nov 28 2012 | Jan 2013 | |
| 56 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #3 | Dec 19 2012 | Feb 2013 | |
| 57 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #4 | Jan 9 2013 | Mar 2013 | |
| 58 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #5 | Feb 20 2013 | Apr 2013 | |
| 59 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #6 | Mar 13 2013 | May 2013 | |
| 60 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #7 | Apr 10 2013 | Jun 2013 | |
| 61 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #8 | May 8 2013 | Jul 2013 | |
| 62 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #9 | Jun 12 2013 | Aug 2013 | |
| 63 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #10 | Jul 17 2013 | Sep 2013 | |
| 64 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #11 | Aug 14 2013 | Oct 2013 | |
| 65 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #12 | Aug 28 2013 | Oct 2013 | |
| 66 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #13 | Sep 18 2013 | Nov 2013 | |
| 67 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #14 | Oct 9 2013 | Dec 2013 | |
| 68 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #15 | Nov 13 2013 | Jan 2014 | |
| 69 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #16 | Dec 18 2013 | Feb 2014 | |
| 70 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #17 | Jan 15 2014 | Mar 2014 | |
| 71 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #18 | Jan 29 2014 | Mar 2014 | |
| 72 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #19 | Feb 12 2014 | Apr 2014 | |
| 73 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #20 | Mar 19 2014 | Mar 2014 | |
| 74 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #21 | Apr 16 2014 | Jun 2014 | |
| 75 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #22 | May 7 2014 | Jul 2014 | |
| 76 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #23 | Jun 18 2014 | Aug 2014 | |
| 77 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #24 | Jul 2 2014 | Sep 2014 | |
| 78 | Thor: God of Thunder (2013) | 1 | #25 | Sep 17 2014 | Nov 2014 | This issue leads into Jane becoming Thor, which spans multiple runs in the most confusing way possible. For that one, you'll want the War of the Realms list, particularly those marked with ✨. I don't know why Marvel insists on making their comics as difficult to follow as possible. |
| 79 | Loki (2004) | 1 | #1 | Jul 8 2004 | Sep 2004 | Sometimes also titled Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers, because it gets confused with the motion comic. This is a short, non-canon series that explores the idea of what would happen to Asgard if Loki won. |
| 80 | Loki (2004) | 1 | #2 | Jul 21 2004 | Sep 2004 | |
| 81 | Loki (2004) | 1 | #3 | Aug 18 2004 | Oct 2004 | |
| 82 | Loki (2004) | 1 | #4 | Oct 6 2004 | Nov 2004 | |
| 83 | Loki (2010) | 2 | #1 | Oct 20 2010 | Dec 2010 | This one is a retelling of some of the more well-known myths surrounding Loki, reframed to fit within the main continuity. It shows how he went from Thor's beloved brother to the biggest problem Asgard has ever faced. This recently got a reprint with Ikol on the cover. It was very weird and I don't know why they did that. |
| 84 | Loki (2010) | 2 | #2 | Dec 15 2010 | Feb 2011 | |
| 85 | Loki (2010) | 2 | #3 | Feb 16 2011 | Apr 2011 | |
| 86 | Loki (2010) | 2 | #4 | Mar 16 2011 | May 2011 | |
| 87 | Thor: The Mighty Avenger (2010) | 1 | #1 | Jul 8 2010 | Sep 2010 | This is another primer for the lore, but done in a very different way that I really like. It takes Don Blake out of the equation entirely and leaves Thor confused and stumbling around very similarly to the way we saw in the first film. This is also notable for being the first time we see Loki being genuinely helpful in his own irritating way, rather than being slotted into the role of the villain. |
| 88 | Thor: The Mighty Avenger (2010) | 1 | #2 | Jul 28 2010 | Sep 2010 | |
| 89 | Thor: The Mighty Avenger (2010) | 1 | #3 | Aug 11 2010 | Oct 2010 | |
| 90 | Thor: The Mighty Avenger (2010) | 1 | #4 | Sep 9 2010 | Nov 2010 | |
| 91 | Thor: The Mighty Avenger (2010) | 1 | #5 | Oct 13 2010 | Dec 2010 | |
| 92 | Thor: The Mighty Avenger (2010) | 1 | #6 | Nov 24 2010 | Jan 2011 | |
| 93 | Thor: The Mighty Avenger (2010) | 1 | #7 | Dec 8 2010 | Feb 2011 | |
| 94 | Thor: The Mighty Avenger (2010) | 1 | #8 | Jan 12 2011 | Mar 2011 | |
| 95 | What If? Thor (2018) | 1 | #1 | Oct 24 2018 | Dec 2018 | Cute little oneshot that takes place outside the main continuity and flips the roles: What if Thor were raised by frost giants? |
| 96 | Alligator Loki (2022) | 1 | Ongoing | Mar 11 2022 | Mar 2022 | This is a Marvel Unlimited exclusive that gets a release every couple of weeks (I'll update this list to include all the issues once the series completes). It's completely stupid, and funny as hell, running with one of the stranger parts of the TV show. Loki's an alligator, and he's here to cause chaos. That's all. |
There is so, so much more to read after this, but if you’re a brand new to comics, this is where I would suggest starting off before using the other lists to explore different avenues. If you’re here for Loki, you may have been recced Agent of Asgard, Vote Loki, or the 2019 run, but those are honestly the last places I would suggest starting. I have not included any of these runs because they are all so complicated and convoluted that even long-time readers had a hard time following some parts without a second or third read.