Thor #358: Review

Aug 1985

Walt Simonson, Walt Simonson

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Story Name:

When Dalliance Was In Flower, or, Take the Cash and Let the Credit Go

Review & Comments

Rating:

Thor #358 Review by Peter Silvestro (December 31, 2013)

Review: Another dual hero issue mixes comical romantic mischief by Thor with the more familiar superheroing of Beta Ray Bill. Plus an invention that turns armor into credit cards! It’s the kind of absurd fun the comics don’t have anymore. Delightful.

Comments: Megatak first appeared in THOR #328; his murder is one of several killings by the Scourge of the Underworld across various Marvel titles at this time, leading up to a story arc in CAPTAIN AMERICA #318-320. Megatak is later resurrected by the Hood as an enemy of the Punisher (PUNISHER Vol. 7 #5-9)

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Thor #358 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Thor has fallen victim to the magical vapors of the love potion given to Lorelei by Loki. The God of Thunder falls completely under her spell and is now her slave. She tries to persuade him to support Loki in his bid for the throne of Asgard but Thor still has the presence of mind to refuse. She then leaves him in a huff….

Sif and Beta Ray Bill dance around a confession of love for one another. Elsewhere in New York, the disaffected Vietnam veterans who make up the Green Liberation Front are ready to rob the Federal Reserve Bank and detonate an impulser which will destroy the country’s financial records. Sergei, the tech genius who designed their armor which can be reduced to a smaller form (resembling credit cards) because his family is held hostage in Russia, discovers via his bugs that his parents are already dead. Soon, the GLF agents invade the bank but are met by Beta Ray Bill, who finds himself battling their golden-armored leader in the sky. Sergei hits a button and the leader’s disguise vanishes revealing Titanium Man. The GLF crooks, realizing they have been duped by their country’s enemy, attack the Soviet villain (also stopping the impulse bomb). Overwhelmed by too many opponents, Titanium Man teleports away. Sergei gives Bill the control device and the alien hero informs the GLF men that he will return their armor to card form and they had better not be wearing it when he does. [In an alley nearby, the villain Megatak plots his next scheme—but he is suddenly gunned down by a derelict who announces "Justice is served.] Sergei returns to the hideout to find his plan has worked: Titanium Man is now trapped in a card—which the inventor tears up and throws in the trash.

Interlude: the Warriors Three enter a tavern where they are mocked and insulted by a bunch of drunken louts. Volstagg purchases all the ale the bar has and invites the barflies to drink up….

In Asgard, Lorelei stops by Loki’s palace and she is suddenly enchanted into falling madly in love with the God of Mischief. She proceeds to seduce a surprised Loki…

Heimdall discovers Thor at his home and brings the news that Malekith the Accursed has escaped. Thor responds with his decision to support Loki for king….

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