The
Rutland (Vermont) Halloween Parade is ready to go. Attendees Len and Glynis
Wein, Steve Englehart, and Gerry Conway hop in their car and head to Tom
Fagan’s house, full of costumed partygoers. They sense something off about Tom but
he placates them. He is under the spell of Loki, who is hiding in disguise with
Fagan’s two mean dogs, Satan and Diablo….
Thor
arrives, with Sif and Hildegarde, having trailed the Absorbing Man from New
York with the aid of Mjolnir. They explore the forest and Creel, now made of
oak, jumps out and hits Thor knocking him into the river. Sif draws her sword
but Thor assures her he must fight alone. Thor hits Creel with his hammer,
turning the villain into Uru and the ensuing fight tears up the ground like an
earthquake. When it ends, they are at the bottom of a man-made chasm, Thor
pinned by a giant boulder and Creel is recovering first….
The
Marvel staffers are hanging around a diner, waiting for the parade to start.
Glynis excuses herself to go to the ladies’ room and when she doesn’t come back
for a long time the guys investigate and discover she is missing….
Crusher
Creel prepares to bash Thor’s head when the Thunder God revives, grasps the
baddie by the ankle and flips him up through the tunnel; he summons Mjolnir and
blasts his way to the surface. He smashes Creel who goes flying into the river;
unable to keep himself from turning into water, the villain dissolves and is
washed away. A snarky voice behind him causes Thor to turn and see Loki,
accompanied by the magically enhanced dogs, Satan and Diablo. He orders them to
kill Thor who summons a whirlwind to take them away, unharmed. Loki then shows
Thor a host of hypnotized locals, including Tom Fagan and Glynis Wein, telling
him that he will be drawing their power to fight Thor, through the flaming
Firesword. They duel and Thor discovers the Firesword can cut him seriously.
Sif again wants to leap to Thor’s aid but Hildegarde restrains her, reminding
her that Thor must win this battle alone. Karnilla the Norn Queen suddenly
appears beside them and offers to save Thor if Sif will agree to help her find
Balder. Sif declines. Thor and Loki continue to fight and then Mjolnir is
knocked from Thor’s hand and Loki restrains him from recovering it, counting
down the sixty seconds until Thor once more becomes Dr. Donald Blake. At this,
Sif hastily agrees to anything Karnilla wants so the Norn Queen conjures up a rainstorm.
Loki is distracted and Thor recovers his hammer. Then Thor calls down a
lightning bolt which destroys the Firesword, freeing the captives—but also
strikes Loki blind….
Epilogue:
As Glynis finds her way back to the others, someone steals Steve’s car and
drives off; blind Loki pursues the car until he tumbles over a cliff. Thor
returns to Hildegarde to discover Sif has left with Karnilla to fulfill her
promise….