Thor #213: Review

Jul 1973

Len Wein, Don Perlin

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Story Name:

The Demon Brigade!!

Review & Comments

Rating:

Thor #213 Review by Peter Silvestro (December 27, 2022)

Review: The Asgardian heroes fall before a small band of lizard men in a highly improbable battle. And the revolution is carried out in a perfunctory manner with Thor easily walking out of the dungeon and clobbering three guards. He is carrying Mjolnir as the baddies likely could not find a way to take it from his unconscious body (see issue #210 for the same thing) and frees the two women from their cell—and then they walk for a pointless length of time. Thor and Hildy have to tear down a huge door though we never find out why it’s there but it leads to the rest of the city and can’t be the only exit. They wander through the city for a few pages, apparently free from anyone looking for them, until they stumble across the resistance and it takes only the three of them to overthrow Sssthgar and his gang. An exceedingly disappointing issue with some villains who are suddenly formidable at the beginning of the issue and a bunch of hapless bums later. And Len Wein becomes a guest scripter using Gerry Conway’s plot; I’m sure the story behind that is more interesting than the bulk of this issue. So, Conway is back next time and presumably things go better.

Comments: Part two of two parts.

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Quotes

No god be above the concerns of those who do truly believe him a god!
~ THOR

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Thor #213 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

On the planet Golden Star, Thor and his party discover that they have been duped by Sssthgar and his lizardly legion. The Asgardians (Fandral, Hogun, Hildegarde plus Tana Nile and Silas Grant) fight their enemies, though a docile Odin counsels them to but they are eventually overcome and taken prisoner….

Thor wakes up in a dungeon with the other men locked up with him; all are dispirited and advise Thor to accept his lot. A guard offers Thor a taste of gruel but he realizes the food is drugged so he clobbers the guard with his legs then breaks his bonds. He bashes his way out of the dungeon and finds Hildegarde and Tana Nile locked up nearby. He frees them (they appear not to have been fed the drugged food) and they navigate a lengthy corridor, passing from an ancient structure to a futuristic one; they encounter a door which Tana recognizes as impenetrable Mondurian steel. Thor and Hildegarde rip it down and continue their journey through the city. At night, they are approached by a small alien named Gregor who takes them to a secret hideaway to meet the resistance, plotting an uprising against their lizardly overlords. Thor agrees to join them and that night they carry out their plans. Thor and Hildegarde fight Sssthgar and his henchmen in their throne room while Tana Nile frees the prisoners from the dungeon. They board Thor’s ship and learn from Sssthgar that Sif and Karnilla were sold as slaves to miners of the Dark Nebula. The lizard lord begs to go with Thor as the citizens will rise up and kill him once the drugs wear off but Thor refuses, leaving him to their justice….

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