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Thor #332

Jun 1983

Alan Zelenetz, Don Perlin

Story Name:

Blood of a Goddess!

Synopsis

Thor #332 synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Rating:

Dr Donald Blake is at a police station being questioned about the disappearance of Jane Foster by the aggressive Lt. Timpalo. The accusation comes from Dr Keith Kincaid, Jane’s fiancé before she suddenly vanished. Don knows the truth—that Jane was dying and Lady Sif revived Jane by using the Runestaff of Kamo Tharnn to transfer her own living energy into Jane’s body (issues #236-238) but when Jane accompanied Thor to Asgard (in issue #249) she turned back into Sif and Jane has not been seen since—but he can’t reveal it without destroying his secret identity. With no evidence against him, Don is permitted to leave; he then transforms to Thor and flies to New York in search of the Runestaff of Kamo Tharnn, hoping it is the key to the mystery….

Nearby, Sif stops a kid from being hit by a taxi merely by pressing down on the hood but she sees from a newspaper that Don is in trouble and hurries off to his aid….

In New York, Thor checks the hospital where Jane was healed by Sif but they report that they once had the Runestaff but it’s now gone. Thor checks in with the Avengers, asking Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau) and Starfox to be on the lookout….

Back in Chicago, Count Dracula is raised from his coffin by his cult of followers; he goes out in search of victims. He passes over a rooftop where the returning Thor meets with Sif and he senses Sif’s divine blood. Dracula then attacks and feeds on three teenagers….

The next day, the murders of the three teens are being investigated by Lt Timpano; Thor offers his help but nothing happens for a few days…then the unidentified body of a vampire’s victim turns up missing from the morgue. Then police receive a call of a mugging and Thor answers to find the new vampire attacking a woman…he hurls Mjolnir at the fiend and he bursts into flame and dies—Mjolnir is a religious symbol after all. Thor and the police head to the cemetery where the three dead students have been buried in time to see them rising from their graves. He dispatches them easily (after the battle depicted on the cover) and heads to New York to consult with Doctor Strange….

Intrigued by the idea of drinking the blood of a goddess, Dracula locates Sif at Don’s apartment and, she bids him enter in her sleep. Dracula enters and feasts….

Review / Commentaries

Thor #332 Review by Peter Silvestro (July 27, 2020)

Review: Here begins in earnest the matter of Jane Foster’s disappearance and the matter of Don Blake’s complicity which will occupy the next several issues until Walt Simonson takes over for his spectacular run. It’s nice that writer Alan Zelenetz was interested enough to raise the obvious question: didn’t anyone miss Jane? This would have been sufficient to make for a cool issue, especially picturing Cap Marvel and Starfox keeping an eye out for one of the most obscure of the thousands of magical items in the Marvel Universe like it’s going to show up on Craigslist or something. But the issue also lays the groundwork for a most promising confrontation—Thor versus Dracula—to take place next issue. The action centerpiece is the battle with the three bats in the cemetery and we hit the only major problem with the issue: the art. Guest penciler Don Perlin, much as I enjoyed WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, was never one of the best artists and here he is inked by the legendary Vince Colletta, who could make a great penciler look good (watch him ink Kirby in the early TALES OF ASGARD feature) but could make almost any artist look worse. And that’s the case here with Dracula looking especially silly. Next issue improves a bit with a new penciler but still….

Comments: Part one of two parts. Keith Kincaid’s previous appearances were in issues #136, 172, and 279; he will be appearing more frequently in the next few issues. The cemetery caretaker is Polowski, Crusader’s sidekick in issues #330-331; small world, ain’t it. Sign of the times: Someone mentions taping a show on the Betamax.

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(The Boy Wonder)

Alan Zelenetz

Don Perlin

Vince Colletta

George Roussos

Bill Sienkiewicz (Cover Penciler)
Bill Sienkiewicz (Cover Inker)
Unknown (Cover Colorist)

Listed in alphabetical order. All stories.

Avengers

Captain Marvel
(Monica Rambeau)

Donald Blake

Dracula

Sif

Starfox
(Eros)

Thor
(Odinson)

Plus: Keith Kincaid.

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Thor #332

Blood of a Goddess!

Synopsis

Review / Commentaries