Thor #280: Review

Feb 1979

Roy Thomas, Wayne Boring

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Story Name:

Crisis on Twin Earths!

Review & Comments

Rating:

Thor #280 Review by Peter Silvestro (April 30, 2019)

Review: An odd issue, a very odd issue. On the first reading my impression was of a filler issue, overly crammed with characters, fights, and word balloons and, as such, I intended to give it a low rating. It was on the second reading that I realized Roy Thomas had written a farce, that he was having a great time writing for these parodies of DC characters. An opening fight between two heroes for no reason whatsoever? A villain who wants to destroy a world just for practice? A hero whose secret identity should be obvious to all but no one notices, even a female newspaper reporter with the initials LL? An arch villain who bears a grudge against the hero for leaving him with hair that won't stay cut (you know, like everyone else's hair works)? And another pointless fight between Thor and Hyperion? And even Thor has no idea why he visited this world in the first place, considering all the epic worries he has? Roy must have had a lot of fun—assuming I'm right in seeing this as a farce. If it isn't, my apologies to Roy Thomas.

Comments: “From a plot by Don and Maggie Thompson.” Revelation: They have STAR TREK reruns on Hyperion's Earth; ah, but do they have TNG or DS9? We'll never know. STAR WARS too gets a mention (though to be honest, only Threepio is referenced. It's possible in this world that Threepio is a character from James Bond or Alice in Wonderland or Harry Potter).

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Thor #280 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Thor walks the streets of New York City, brooding about the Celestials, unaware he is being followed by a mystery man. Then Hyperion teleports in and initiates a battle with Thor. Thor assumes this is Bad Hyperion from the Squadron Sinister and thrashes him; the enemy then reveals himself to be Good Hyperion of the Squadron Supreme who thrashes in return. Pausing in the fight, Good H informs Thor he was about to offer the Thunder God a role in a movie being shot in his dimension. Thor declines snootily and H mentions that the invitation was for all of the Avengers to portray themselves in an epic film about the Squadron Supreme. Thor agrees to take H to Avengers Mansion and the mysterious figure following Thor jumps through the portal to Hyperion's satellite fortress orbiting his Earth. This guy is revealed to be the Bad Hyperion from the Squadron Sinister and is surprised to learn he has a “good” counterpart. Bad H wants to destroy Thor's Earth (i.e. 616) and plots to wipe out Good H's homeworld just for practice....

Thor and Good H return to the satellite (the Avengers weren't home) and Thor agrees to a tour of Good H's Earth (though Thor isn't sure why he's taking his time when he's got the Celestials on his mind). There they meet the movie director L.L. Burbank and Good H excuses himself to return to his space station (which has now landed on the ground). Bad H overpowers him and takes his place, teleporting Good H into space. As cartoonist Mark Milton (Good H's secret identity, a concept Bad H doesn't understand) Bad H finds himself at a loss; Good H's girlfriend Lonni Lattimer is on the set and introduces herself to Thor. Good H's archenemy, the hairy Emil Burbank arrives and tries to shoot the fake hero; Bad H carries him off and reveals his true identity and offers to team up with the villain....

Back on the set, Thor rescues Lonni from a falling light; Good H, having escaped outer space, has returned with the entire Squadron Supreme and accuses Thor of trying to steal his girl and punches him. Thor responds with Mjolnir, clouting a bunch of the heroes—and Lonni too by backlash of wind. Bad H and Burbank arrive, manning a giant robot and wreaking havoc on the set. Thor and Hyperion easily vanquish the baddies while the cameras are rolling. The pre-programmed robot seizes Bad H and flies off with him, the movie looks to be a success, and Thor takes his leave and goes home.

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