Walt Simonson
Early life
Early life
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Walter Simonson was born September 2, 1946, in [Knoxville, Tennessee](/wiki/Knoxville%2C_Tennessee "Knoxville, Tennessee"), and lived there for two and a half years. When his father, who worked for the [United States Department of Agriculture](/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Agriculture "United States Department of Agriculture"), received a promotion at work that required him to relocate to [Washington, D.C.](/wiki/Washington%2C_D.C. "Washington, D.C."), Simonson, his younger brother and his parents moved to Maryland, where Simonson's parents still lived as of 1989\.May, Peggie (Editor) (June 1989\). "People at Work". *[Direct Currents](/wiki/Direct_Currents "Direct Currents")* \#18\. [DC Comics](/wiki/DC_Comics "DC Comics"). p. 7 Simonson first read comics as a child, through the subscriptions to *[Walt Disney's Comics and Stories](/wiki/Walt_Disney%27s_Comics_and_Stories "Walt Disney's Comics and Stories")* that his brother had. By the age of ten he was an avid fan of the work of [Carl Barks](/wiki/Carl_Barks "Carl Barks"), *[Little Lulu](/wiki/Little_Lulu "Little Lulu")*, *[Little Iodine](/wiki/Little_Iodine "Little Iodine")*, and [Alex Toth](/wiki/Alex_Toth "Alex Toth")'s work on *[The Land Unknown](/wiki/The_Land_Unknown "The Land Unknown")*. He also enjoyed drawing from a very young age. Although Simonson was embarrassed to be seen by girls buying comics while in high school, he discovered [Russ Manning](/wiki/Russ_Manning "Russ Manning")'s work on *[Magnus Robot Fighter](/wiki/Magnus_Robot_Fighter "Magnus Robot Fighter")* right before he started college, and submitted a drawing that was printed in issue \#10 in May, 1965, in the publication's fan page, "Robot Gallery." This was his first published work in comics.

Simonson studied geology at [Amherst College](/wiki/Amherst_College "Amherst College"), with the intent of becoming an expert on dinosaurs. In 1964 or 1965, Simonson discovered [Marvel Comics](/wiki/Marvel_Comics "Marvel Comics"), in particular that company's version of *[Thor](/wiki/Thor_%28Marvel_Comics%29 "Thor (Marvel Comics)")*. Having already developed an interest in [Norse mythology](/wiki/Norse_mythology "Norse mythology") prior to discovering [Stan Lee](/wiki/Stan_Lee "Stan Lee") and [Jack Kirby](/wiki/Jack_Kirby "Jack Kirby")'s take on the hammer\-wielding deity,Simonson, Walter (May 1, 2001\). "Introduction", *Thor Visionaries: Walt Simonson* (Vol. 1\), p. Marvel Comics (New York) it became Simonson's favorite title, one that he read for four years. From this he realized that drawing comics was more fun, and more feasible as a career than working outdoors in hot weather as a geologist or paleontologist, despite harboring a love for the latter that continued the rest of his life.Bell, Josh (2011\). ["A Thousand Pages of Thor: Thor by Walter Simonson Omnibus, by Walter Simonson ’68 (Marvel Comics)"](https://www.amherst.edu/aboutamherst/magazine/issues/2011summer/amherstcreates/simonson). Amherst College. Simonson came to be heavily influenced by the artists who worked for Marvel, such as [Jack Kirby](/wiki/Jack_Kirby "Jack Kirby"), [Steve Ditko](/wiki/Steve_Ditko "Steve Ditko"), and [Gil Kane](/wiki/Gil_Kane "Gil Kane"), as well as British artist [Jim Holdaway](/wiki/Jim_Holdaway "Jim Holdaway") and European artists such as [Moebius](/wiki/Jean_Giraud "Jean Giraud"), [Jean\-Claude Mézières](/wiki/Jean-Claude_M%C3%A9zi%C3%A8res "Jean-Claude Mézières"), Antonio Hernández Palacios and [Sergio Toppi](/wiki/Sergio_Toppi "Sergio Toppi"). In 1967, while in college, Simonson began writing his own epic story starring Lee and Kirby's version of the character, featuring [Surtur](/wiki/Surtur_%28Marvel_Comics%29 "Surtur (Marvel Comics)") and the [Odinsword](/wiki/Odinsword "Odinsword"). In later years he would be given the opportunity to publish this story, as the writer on that title.

After graduating from Amherst with a degree in geology, Simonson took a year off, and then enrolled as an art major at the [Rhode Island School of Design](/wiki/Rhode_Island_School_of_Design "Rhode Island School of Design"), graduating in 1972\. His thesis project there was the 50\-page black and white book *[The Star Slammers](/wiki/The_Star_Slammers "The Star Slammers")*, which took him two years to write, pencil, letter and ink himself, and was initially published as a series of [ashcan](/wiki/Ashcan_copy "Ashcan copy") promotional 5\.5" x 8\.5" b\&w chapter booklets from 1971–1973 to promote the 1974 [World Science Fiction Convention](/wiki/World_Science_Fiction_Convention "World Science Fiction Convention") in Washington, D.C. (DisCon II). Simonson would later revisit *Star Slammers* throughout his career, publishing it through various publishers over the decades.


What was the title of Walter Simonson's thesis project at RISD?