Thor

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Thor 429

Posted by John Klein III on November 8, 2013
Posted in: Review. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

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Plot, Pencils & Words Ron Frenz & Tom DeFalco

Finished Art Joe Sinnott

Letterer Mike Heisler

Colorist Mike Rockwitz

In honor of Thor : Dark World coming premiering today, I bring  you the final part of this three issue saga.

On the cover, Captain America turns 1991, in 2016, Cap will be 75.  Crazy how time works like that.

Believe it or not, Juggernaut is the better ruler than Prince Zalaski.

Kitty whispers to Thor, that she can escape at any time.

Thor promises the prince, that he will fight Juggernaut and not disgrace the prince.

Thus begins the meat of the issue.  The pacing and action are awesome.  This is a fight worthy of pay per view.

I like, at the start, that Thor allows Juggernaut to put his helmet on.  This is going to be a battle, but an honorable battle.  That page where he puts his helmet on, and then they have a bit of a stare down.

Kitty frees Excalibur, and they start fighting the rebels.

Thor creates this barrier around the city that makes magic uesless.  This turns off Juggernaut’s force field, but only for a minute.

Now, Thor is doing damage to his foe.  He would have won right there, but if he goes without Mjolnir for a full minute, he reverts back to Eric Masterson.

Back on Earth, Code : Blue is transporting Bulldozer, and The Wrecking Crew show up to bail him out.  The new Ghost Rider, Dan Ketch (my favorite of the two Ghost Riders) shows up to fight the crew.

Thor throws his hammer into deep space, with Juggernaut tied to it.  While he is turned back to Eric, he throws the prince under the bus.  Who knew Thor would use a loophole?

Thor 429

In the middle of the speech, he turns back into Thor, and finishes the speech.  Excalibur brings th prince back, in chains.

Ghost Rider holds his own, for a while.  Then Wrecker zaps Ghost Rider, and draws out Mephisto.  I take it that Ghost Rider was just coming out, and this guest spot is to promote that title.

Business Suit Loki  decides he has to step in and deal with Wrecker.

Eric gets home, a caption box stating Thor dropped Excalibur back over seas.

Susan, his assistant and Jerry, some old guy, reveal they know his secret.  If I owned the next issue, I bet the reveal is far from the truth.

There is an ad for the merged Incredible Hulk, which was a great era of the Hulk.

Thor 428

Posted by John Klein III on November 6, 2013
Posted in: Review. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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Plot, Pencils & Words Tom DeFalco & Ron Frenz

Finished Art Joe Sinnott

Lettering Mike Heisler

Coloring Mike Rockwitz

Cover promises a four way battle.  Of which, I haven’t seen the likes since Wrestlemania 2000 with the Rock, HHH, Mick Foley and the Big Show.

This comic gives us Thor v. Excalibur v. Wrecking Crew v. Code : Blue.

Thor 428 Lockheed 1

Opening page is great use of only two panels.  One depicting the illusion of Juggernaut and the below with the actual victim, Thor.

Kitty utterly defeated and caused Thor so much pain.

Also depicted is Kitty and Lockheed!

Thor 428 Lockheed 2

Great double splash page with all 16 characters.  Only ones missing are Enchantress and Ulik, which makes sense as they are invisible at the moment.

One of the Code : Blue refers to Excalibur as the British Avengers or X-Factor.

Kitty is thinking they might think she went too far with merging Thor with the dock.

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Kitty fights Jock Jackson.  She finds him cute with a nice butt.

I miss the classic blue sweater costume of her’s.  She really is due for a new costume design.

Thor escapes his predicament by using Mjolnir.

Kitty starts realizing that Juggernaut is acting strange and mumbles all of his words.

Rachel throws a fireball at Thor, he bounces it right back at her.

Nightcrawler saves her from falling into the water.

Thor 428 Lockheed flame

Meggan fights Wrecker on her own, then Lockheed swoops in for the assist.  Enchantress puts Wrecker’s hands and feet in rocks.

Lockheed notices the invisible Enchantress and Ulik, in a very cute panel.

Captain Britain fights Thor, one on one for most of the issue.

Lockheed breathes fire at Enchantress and Ulik.

Kitty is about to assist Captain Britain when Bulldozer charges at her.  Thor notices and throws his mighty hammer.

Wrecker teleports the crew, minus Bulldozer.  Once they are gone, Excalibur sees Thor as he really is.

Code : Blue gathers Bulldozer and Captain Britain tells Thor that they still need to know what happened to the Juggernaut.

For his part, Thor is pretty cool with the entire misunderstanding.

Thor teleports Excalibur, minus Rachel and Kurt, to the asteroid where he left Juggernaut, back in Thor 412.

Once they land, they all get zapped.  Kitty fakes being unconscious.

Turns out, the aliens who carted the heroes away, work for their new king . . . The Juggernaut!

I looked Eric Masterson up on Wikipedia, and it reads like his time as Thor, is super complicated.  Like, it is Thor’s mind in Eric’s head and then he became Thor outright.  I don’t know, it doesn’t sound like a great era for Thor.  Super complicated, and isn’t acknowledged at all now.

The popular idea is to tell the story of Kevin, Eric’s son, becoming the new Thunderstrike.  Which is the identity Eric adopts once he is no longer Thor.

Next issue promises to be exciting, with the Juggernaut being a king.  Why would he ever leave, once you rule all?

Thor 427

Posted by John Klein III on November 5, 2013
Posted in: Review. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

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Plot, Pencils & Words Ron Frenz & Tom DeFalco

Finished Art Joe Sinnott

Lettering Heisler & Co.

Coloring Yomtov & Rockwitz

The cover is a homage of Uncanny X-Men’s first issue.  Kitty is in the Iceman position.  Captain Britain is Cyclops.  Meggan is Jean.  Nightcrawler is Beast.  Rachel is Angel.

Thor / Juggernaut is, of course, Magneto.

This is during that awkward era when Thor was also Eric Masterson.  The only good thing about him is that he is an architect.

Is he suppose to be two separate beings, sharing one body?  Seems like he is a different Thor.

Apparently, last issue, Thor saved the universe.

Eric is on the losing side of a custody case with his ex-wife.  He can’t have his son full time, or part time, and be the thunder god.

Eric wants to spend time with his lady friend, Jackie.  There is a fantastic sight gag with her brother.

They walk by a newspaper stand, the Daily Bugle, the headline being that the Wrecker is on a rampage.

What makes me think that he is a different Thor or that Thor is a time share, is that early, he thinks Lady Sif is more attractive when he is Thor.  The other time, is with Captain America at Avengers Mansion.  They are doing a training session, and then Thor just destroys the modules.  Why the hell would he do that?  Thor comes off like an idiot.  To the point where Captain America has no other choice but to face palm.  This is December 1990.

The British government sends Excalibur to America to track down Thor.  Juggernaut escaped his prison in Thor 412.

The awkward thing with this trip is that three fifths of the team has close ties with the East Coast.  They will make no attempt to reach out to those friends.

 This issue is very guest star cameo heavy.

The Wrecking Crew are stealing groceries.

For whatever reason, Loki and Enchantress are in business attire and working out of a skyscraper.  Even Ulik is in a suit!

There is a two page ad for Tiger Electronics.  Never own on of those

I like the idea of Code : Blue, a squad of New York City Police Officers who are train to fight super villains.

Loki gave Enchantress and Ulik an item to trap Wrecker.  When they set it off, it gets the attentions of : Dr. Strange, Spider-Man and Quasar.

Fun moment when Wrecker gives Thunderball a new wrecking ball and tells him to not plan any more take overs.  As soon as he says that, Thunderball immediately thinks about taking over the crew.

Rachel also hears the trap, and with Excalibur, blasts through the ceiling of Kennedy Airport.

Kitty is a tad disappointed that Rachel can’t control her impulses.

Eric reunites with his son.  He hears the siren from the trap, andd ignores it.

We get an Excalibur vs. Wrecking Crew fight.

Bulldozer tries to run down Kitty, she lets him go right through her.

Thor shows up to the fight, he is having a mental monologue about how his priorities are wrong.  Another example of how I am sure that he just happens to be Thor, in name only.  When he is around people who knew Thor, he is faking it as best as he can.

The Wrecker tricks Excalibur to believe when they see Thor, they are really seeing Juggernaut.  Even though they still hear him speak like an Asgardian.  They are heroes, so of course, they just start punching away.

Issue ends with Kitty showing everybody, that she can beat Thor, if ahe doesn’t give a damn about his well being.

He is phased into the ground, and let go.  It looks as painful as one would imagine.

Kitty defeated Thor.

Thor 373

Posted by John Klein III on November 3, 2013
Posted in: Review. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

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Writing Walt Simonson

Art Sal Buscema

Lettering John Workman

Coloring Max Scheele

What is not to love with this issue.  Simonson packs so much into it!

Speaking of, look at that cover by Simonson.

This was due to Marvel celebrating their 25th anniversary.

Look at that border, I own all but three of these.

Spider-Man, Hulk, Iron Man, Captain Marvel (Monica), Dr. Strange, Namor, Captain America, Wasp, Ant Man, Puck, Shadowcat, Rogue, Wolverine, Colossus, Storm, Rachel Summers, Nightcrawler, Iceman, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Angel, Beast, Daredevil, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Hawkeye, Luke Cage, Thing, She-Hulk, Invisible Woman, Reed Richards, Human Torch and Thor

This one comic makes a bunch of references to previous stories, and it is nice that we are given those issue numbers.

Also, art by my favorite Buscema brother, Sal.  Sal Buscema is one of my top three Spider-artist of all time.  Of course, the majority of fans won’t agree with me, but that is on them.

Apparently, Thor has been away from Earth for quite some time.

He is missing his father, Odin, whom is lost along with Surtur from a battle those two had.

Odin’s battle was in issue 353, that is such a long time.

Thor is being barred from Surtur’s realm, Muspelheim.

Thor had a civilian identity, Sigurd Jarlson, which was pretty much just Thor with a ponytail and glasses.  He was a construction worker.

He did not do much with this identity’s apartment, as we see nothing on the walls or floor, except for a bare mattress.

Imagine being a mugger then you get Mjolnir placed in front of your face?  I would give up too.

Asgardians are trying to hide Surtur’s sword, but it is gigantic.

Volstagg has two Earth boys in his home.  He is watching over them, as their mother died in 371.  He has to break the news to them.

The boys don’t believe him.  Feel so bad for them, and they first thought he was Santa.  Those two cannot catch a break.

Thor hasn’t worked construction since issue 341, that is a long time.

Thor’s apartment is bare, and he didn’t want the Avengers’ companionship but he finds his old boss, Jerry.

Jerry is a great guy, invites Thor home for dinner.

Jerry and his wife Tina, are raising six kids, Ernesto, Pietro, Giovanna, Maria, Rosa and Gabriella.  Six kids, sounds insane to me.

Ernesto takes a shine to Thor, and wants to hang out with Thor for the rest of the night.

Thor loves dinner, and even washes the dishes.

He is too tired for a bedtime story, but will take the kids to the park the next day.

In Odin’s absence, Balder the Brave is in charge of Asgard.  He gets a misson, leaving Heimdall to watch over Asgard.

Thor tells the kids about a time Odin was ib disguise and taught a young Thor a lesson.

Then these frogs come up and tell Thor about the Mutant Massacre.  He became friends with the frogs when he himself was a frog, back in issue 364 / 365.

Puddlegulp will eventually become Throg, of the Pet Avengers.

This talking to frogs business confirms to the kids that he is Thor.

Hela has plans for Thor.

Thor goes to the Morlock Tunnels and runs into Blockbuster and Harpoon, after walking pass a bunch of dead bodies.

I wish Thor killed Harpoon, for what he did to Kitty.

We get a “I say thee nay!” proving this issue has it all!

He fights the Marauders off, they scatter off.

Seeing Angel pinned to the wall is horrible!

Thor hears some footsteps and turns to face his would be attackers.

Most likely, it is only the rest of the Original Five X-Men, as X-Factor.