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Thor #220

Feb 1974
Gerry Conway, John Buscema

Thor #220 cover

Story Name:

Behold! The Land of Doom!

Synopsis

Thor #220 synopsis by Peter Silvestro
Rating: 4 stars

Thor and Avalon ride the space-scoop to the planer Rhun and discover an unexpected fact: the people of Rhun are so large that Thor is the size of a flea next to them. Thor jumps onto the hand of the supreme leader Lord Kragonn and strike it; the annoyed ruler merely slaps Thor off as if he were a fly. Avalon catches the stunned Thor and takes him back to the others in the scoop where they all sink into despair. Kragonn, desiring to know why their servants have rebelled, has the scoop drawn in on its winch and placed in a box and delivered to its inventor, the despised toady Dracus, for study. Dracus, however, wonders if the rebel robots can give him some clue as to how he can overthrow the Lords and seize power. The scholar dispatches four tiny Exterminators to fight the rebels but Thor and Avalon fight back, joined by Sif and Balder. The lady warrior discovers that the enemy is vulnerable around the eyes and so they are quickly defeated. They await the next event….

In Asgard, Hildegarde punches out two guards and pushes her way into an audience with Odin. She explains that her sister Krista has vanished by means of a strange gem. Odin looks into his divining crystal and sees…that Krista is doomed….

Lord Kragonn visits Dracus who tells him of the outworlders who have joined the Sub-Worlders; meanwhile, Thor discovers that Avalon knows very little about the rulers of Rhun. The Rigellian mutates spy on Kragonn and Drtacus to learn what’s going on there. Dracus persuades Kragonn that the tiny interlopers have been sent by one of the other planets as the vanguard of an invasion so Kragonn orders their destruction (which Dracus hopes to use as the trigger for an interplanetary war). Dracus bombards the scoop with radiation, forcing the inhabitants to flee right into Kragonn’s face. Dracus unleashes more tiny protectors and there is a small scale war which Dracus hopes to end by stepping on it. But the mutates have climbed Dracus’ clothing and apply pressure to his neck, paralyzing him. The mutate leader broadcasts a message to Kragonn, outlining a course of action…

…and so Lord Kragonn and some aides fly a ship to another of the Black Stars, accompanied by Thor and company in a smaller ship (inside the bigger ship). Arriving on the next planet, they discover it a wasteland, the other three Black Stars having decayed and died. With this, the space scoops are no longer necessary as there is no need to draw energy from worlds they destroy so the Sub-Worlders are set free. Kragonn also allows Thor and his group (including Tana Nile and Silas Grant) to return to the Rigellian fleet, asking them to think kindly of the Gods of Rhun….  



 

Review / Commentaries

Thor #220 Review by (February 28, 2023)

Review: The Kirby homage concludes with the stunning revelation of the enemies’ proportions and the mission to the other Black Star. And it’s as goofy as anything Kirby could have turned out. Tiny heroes failing to defeat giants—until a couple of mutates do a Vulcan nerve pinch on a bad guy—when Thor striking with Mjolnir merely irritated the Big Boss—giving the mutates the opportunity to instantly figure out how to use an alien communication device and talk to Kragonn as an equal. And they all find out the other planets have been dead for centuries—something Kragonn (or one of his ancestors) should have checked out as soon as he realized the other worlds had gone silent. And they died out because they didn’t have space scoops, as though that is the only thing needed for a living, growing civilization. And so the little tiny robots are freed from slavery—to go where and do what is never explained as we were told the robots feed on the machines they serviced in a symbiotic relationship. Kirby would have thrown in a fight with a giant alien rat at some point but the rest is a very good homage.

Comments: Part three of three parts. Letters page includes one from future Marvel editor Ralph Macchio.



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John Buscema
Mike Esposito
Glynis Wein
Gil Kane (Cover Penciler)
Dan Adkins (Cover Inker)
Unknown (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: John Costanza.

Characters

Listed in alphabetical order. All stories.

Balder
Balder
(Balder the Brave)
Hildegarde
Hildegarde
(Hildegarde)
Odin
Odin
Sif
Sif
Thor
Thor
(Odinson)
Plus: Silas Grant, Tana Nile.

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