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Thor #393: Review

Jul 1988
Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz

Story Name:

The Blaze of Battle!

Review & Comments

Rating:
4.5 stars

Thor #393 Review by (December 22, 2020)

Review: The cover promises “all-out action in the breath-taking Marvel manner!” and that’s what we get: an entire issue bouncing back and forth between two epic battle scenes with terrific art mirroring the best of Romita or Buscema. Thor versus Quicksand is the more epic of the two but that’s only because DD versus Hogun sounds so one-sided. But DD, by the hands of the writer and artist, really rises to the occasion and makes us forget this guy had trouble fighting Leap-Frog and Stilt-Man. The hints of Quicksand’s origins in a nuclear disaster give her an underlying bitterness her blood-and-sand-brother Sandman doesn’t have. It’s all in the character. And Seth’s invasion of Asgard will take center stage in the fast-approaching #395-400.

Comments: Part two of two parts. Quicksand reappears in issues #402-403, afterward bedeviling Captain America, Spider-Man, Thunderstrike, and more. Colorist Christie Scheele is credited as Max Scheele.






 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Thor #393 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

At the nuclear power plant, Quicksand is trying to choke Thor with her sand but Thor easily fights back, recovers Mjolnir, and displays a hint of his real power. Quicksand is terrified and escapes via a vent….

In Asgard, Volstagg and Fandral are leading the fight against the latest incursion by the forces of Seth when, again, the enemy retreats through a portal. In the palace, Balder has recruited the Enchantress to enhance Heimdall’s senses so as to predict the site of the next enemy attack—but the attempt fails. Balder is summoned by the Grand Vizier and shown the flame that is tied to Hogun’s life-force is flickering, indicating that the hero is injured and engaged in battle….

On Earth, Hogun is fighting Daredevil, whom he perceives as an armored monster; DD realizes he is vastly outmatched just second before he is buried by a collapsing wall….

Thor calls on the power plant staff to search for Quicksand while rejecting the manager’s request to hush up the incident. The villainess, meanwhile, has entered the control room and set the plant to explode in a nuclear holocaust. Thor finds her and the battle continues even more brutally than before. Once outside, she reveals that the plant is set to explode; Thor allows her to escape while he addresses the more immediate calamity. He spins Mjolnir around the now evacuated pant so that it is transported to the surface of a barren planet where it detonates harmlessly. Thor regains his guise of Sigurd Jarlson and rejoins the group; Jackie Lukus was worried about Eric, Eric Masterson was worried about his son—and suspicious that Sigurd returned as soon as Thor departed, Jerry Sapristi wasn’t worried since he knows Sigurd is Thor….

Daredevil escapes from the falling brickwork and pursues Hogun in a fast-moving battle. DD recovers and battles Hogun across the city, until Hogun leaps on the tramway to Roosevelt Island. The SWAT team open fire, the tram car is torn to pieces and Hogun falls into the River….

In Asgard, the flame connected to Hogun’s lifeforce fades and dies….    


Preview Pages
Click sample interior pages to enlarge them:




Ron Frenz
Brett Breeding
Christie Scheele
Ron Frenz (Cover Penciler)
Brett Breeding (Cover Inker)
? (Cover Colorist)


Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Balder
Balder

(Balder the Brave)
Daredevil
Daredevil

(Matt Murdock)
Hogun
Hogun

(Hogun the Grim)
Thor
Thor

(Odinson)

Plus: Jackie Lukus, Quicksand.

> Thor: Book info and issue index

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