Thor: The Worthy #1: Review

Dec 2019
Walt Simonson, Mike Hawthorne

Story Name:

Beyond the Field We Know…

Review & Comments

Rating:
4 stars

Thor: The Worthy #1 Review by (December 9, 2019)

Review: A trio of tales marked by the return of various creators makes a nice special issue. What may seem startling is that the mighty Thor does not appear in these tales save as a kid in a flashback sequence. But the title is “The Worthy” and as such it showcases three of the other wielders of Mjolnir: Beta Ray Bill, Eric Masterson, and Jane Foster (though only Jane is shown during her possession of the magic hammer).  The Beta Ray Bill tale by Walt Simonson is nicely done, showcasing both Bill and Sif in their heroism. The Thunderstrike story looks like it could have been produced in the 1980s; the best part is Thunderstrike’s saving the woman buried by the falling masonry: it is designed to recall the classic AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #33 and even includes the punchline “I’ll bet Spider-Man never has days like this.” And Kathryn Immonen pairs Sif with Jane Thor for a character piece that combines comedy with Jane’s then pre-occupation with finding her identity. Pretty cool.

Comments: One of a series of new stories reuniting favorite creative teams to celebrate Marvel's 80th anniversary. a) Set at no particular time in the Thor chronology. b) Story takes place shortly after the death of Officer Andrew Jackson in THUNDERSTRIKE #7. Code: Blue was introduced in THOR #426 and appeared in several subsequent issues of THOR and THUNDERSTRIKE. c) Story takes place immediately after Thor’s encounter with Sif in THOR (2014 series) #5. Collected in LEGENDS OF MARVEL: AVENGERS in 2020.





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Thor: The Worthy #1 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Beta Ray Bill is hanging out with Sif in Asgard when they discover a huge rock surrounded by dead birds and mice. Bill touches it and part of his life force is drained, nearly killing him. Sif conjures a vision of the past and finds that the rock was once a troll, caught by a boyish Thor stealing a cow from Odin’s herd. Thor led the troll on a chase until the sun rose, turning the troll to stone as he now is. But Thrudd the troll isn’t dead, merely draining strength from living things to regain life and power. Sif places Stormbreaker in Bill’s hand and he recovers and smashes the rock into smaller pieces. On their way back to Asgard, they are met by Odin, who senses that Bill is worried. Bill reveals that he is concerned that he will come to love Asgard so much that he will abandon his duty to his people. Odin gives him an apple and encouragement and ponders reassembling Thrudd to give him another chance.

“Hearts of Stone, Feet of Clay”

Writer: Tom De Falco & Ron Frenz. Pencils: Tom De Falco & Ron Frenz. Inks: Keith Williams. Colors: Rachelle Rosenberg. Letters: Clayton Cowles.

Synopsis: The Grey Gargoyle crashes into a chemistry lab and demands that the chief scientist, Denyse Calguard, compound a formula for him that will enable him to permanently petrify his victims. Code: Blue, a police force that specializes in tacking superhuman cases, is called on. Eric Masterson is also called but he is still feeling guilt over failing to save Officer Andrew Jackson from death but he transforms into Thunderstrike and heads to the lab just in time to catch a petrified scientist hurled out of a window. But ‘Strike freezes in action against the bad guy and is told to focus on the hostages. One of the cops fires Paste-Pot Pete’s glue gun at the Grey Gargoyle but he merely turns to glue stream to stone and hurls it at the building, causing a collapse. Thunderstrike launches himself to shield a lady scientist from being crushed by the falling masonry. Holding the massive pile up with his back, he exerts all his strength and throws it off. As the Gargoyle tries to seize the hero’s mace, Lt. Stone wraps the Gargoyle’s deadly right hand in a jacket, giving ‘Strike the chance to knock the villain for a loop. Dr. Calguard comes with the compound and pours it down GG’s throat and Surprise! She has reverse engineered the formula to turn the Grey Gargoyle human. Saving a life gives Eric the confidence to keep trying, no matter what!

“Rule for Reflection”

Writer: Kathryn Immonen. Art: Tom Reilly. Colors: Chris O’Halloran. Letters: Clayton Cowles.

Synopsis: Angry that Thor Odinson suspected her of being the new mysterious female Thor, Lady Sif has stormed off but she is met by [Jane Foster, as yet unrevealed] Thor. Sif does not think much of a Thor who wears a mask but they encounter in the darkness a pair of trolls who have won a shard of the magic Mirror of Finvarra while gambling. The mirror can reveal secrets including the true faces of Midgardians—which makes Thor quite nervous. Thor persuades Sif to let her smash the mirror shard to dust with Mjolnir. The two women becomes allies and Sif assures Thor that she has no interest in learning Thor’s identity—though she leaves with the cryptic comment that they should try to foster better relations. Thor finds a tiny fragment of the mirror and gazes into it and it reveals her identity: she is Thor.



Mike Hawthorne
Sal Buscema
Tamra Bonvillain
Kim Jacinto (Cover Penciler)
Kim Jacinto (Cover Inker)
Java Tartaglia (Cover Colorist)
Letterer: John Workman.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Thor
Thor

(Jane Foster)

Plus: Code: Blue (Code Blue).

> Thor: The Worthy: Book info and issue index

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