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Thor #492: Review

Nov 1995
Warren Ellis, Mike Deodato Jr.

Story Name:

Worldengine Part Two of Four: Run Through

Review & Comments

Rating:
3 stars

Thor #492 Review by (May 7, 2024)

Review: This issue contains three major developments; One, we meet Detective Inspector Curzon who is John Constantine with the interesting bits removed. He’s here mainly to tell us how widespread the crazy stuff affecting Thor is. Second, Beta Ray Bill falls victim to the same malady as Thor. This is to inform us that all the Thors are dropping like flies—which is mainly Beta Ray Bill as Eric M is already dead in his own comic and from a different cause and Red Norvell is alive and well. So it is just Thor and Bill. Thirdly, Thor and Amora enter into a sexual relationship, after a ghastly tall and skinny image of her appears, supposedly intended to be sexy. This last one is the most significant because that’s the one the subsequent author will have to contend with when he continues the series. More stuff happens next time…

Comments: Code: Blue is a special police unit created to deal with superhuman crimes; created by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz, it was introduced in THOR #426 and appeared intermittently through #456, before moving over to THUNDERSTRIKE with DeFalco and Frenz. This is their last appearance in this title, they will show up in several Spider-Man and FF issues, among others, before making a final appearance in THOR: THE WORTHY #1 as part of a Thunderstrike throwback. First appearance of Detective Inspector Curzon; he uses the Cockney rhyming slang “Let’s have a butcher’s” for “Let’s have a look” and jokes about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Eric “Thunderstrike” Masterson died in THUNDERSTRIKE #24. There is a passing reference to Hollywood’s Hays Code (misspelled as the Hayes Code here), a set of rules guiding what could and could not be shown in a motion picture, very strict and in force from 1934 to 1968 when it was replaced by the current MPAA rating system. The letters page consists of editor Ralph Macchio and writer Warren Ellis talking about the new direction for Thor.






 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Thor #492 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Detective Inspector Curzon of Great Britain is detached to Code: Blue; we see him drag himself out of bed, make snarky comments to the TV news, offend everyone with his smoking, while yelling at everyone. He wades through piles of testimonies from the city’s psychics, each describing a vision of a giant tree in pain. He is given a package; it contains a severed head resembling a skull….

In Asgard, Beta Ray Bill, bearing a portion of the power and nature of Thor, suddenly falls ill, collapsing to the ground, seeing a vision of a massive machine. The physicians of Asgard examine him and all they can say is he is in a coma after a seizure. Sif reports to Odin who casually mentions that Thor was ill and is probably dead. As is Eric Masterson. Red Norvell remains. Sif hides her sorrow over the death of Thor from the All-Father….

Thor awakens in a luxury apartment, surrounded by businessmen bearing Viking swords. They tell him not to leave. He picks up Mjolnir and gives battle. After a brief melee, Amora the Enchantress stops them. She tells Thor that she had these men locate him and bring him to her. He is suspicious as they have always been enemies but she has woven magic around the apartment to protect him from his mysterious enemy. She explains that having been exiled to Midgard for centuries, she has had time to rethink her relationship with Thor. Now that he is an exile too, can they not find solace in one another’s arms?

Curson is called to the scene of Thor’s battle with the undead warriors (last issue). Lt. Marcus Stone lays out the facts. Curzon recognizes the dead warriors as matching the skull of wood and radio bits he has on his desk. Stone recognizes the wood as ash. Curzon makes a surprising connection: ash wood to World Ash…as in the dreams of the psychics….

Characters: Thor, Code: Blue, Beta Ray Bill, Enchantress, Odin, Sif, Marc Stone,


Preview Pages
Click sample interior pages to enlarge them:




Mike Deodato Jr.
Mike Deodato Jr.
Marie Javins
Mike Deodato Jr. (Cover Penciler)
Mike Deodato Jr. (Cover Inker)
? (Cover Colorist)
Letterer: Jon Babcock.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Thor
Thor

(Odinson)

Plus: Code: Blue (Code Blue), Marcus Stone.

> Thor: Book info and issue index

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