Blasted
out into space by the Stranger, Thor floats unconscious until Zephyr reaches
out to awaken him with a touch on his cheek. Thor recovers, regains Mjolnir,
unaware that anyone else had been there. He overtakes Ego the Living Planet in
flight and reckons the course the rogue world is following. Thor reaches the
opposite point of the solar system and discovers the floating museum of
Taneleer Tivan, known as the Collector. Thor enters and the Collector asks if
he has tired of his life and wishes to become part of the collection; he
declines, so the Collector, growing in size and taking on a monstrous
skull-like appearance says, “I’ll just have to insist.” As the Collector
ponders how to classify the God of Thunder—Thor suggests, “Hero” and clouts the
Collector with Mjolnir. They fight and Thor is thrown back into a huge glass
tube which cracks, releasing a small winged creature. Thor hurls his hammer,
smashing all of the tubes in a row, releasing multiple creatures. As Collector
tries to recapture them, Thor pointedly walks in the direction of the next
gallery so Collector proposes a truce. He asks what Thor wanted. The Thunder
God wants to know what the Collector has that would entice Ego out of his orbit
in the Black Galaxy. He offers to show Thor but they are interrupted by Zephyr,
suddenly appearing. Thor asks if her sudden appearance to him (in issue #1) was
a call for him to come rescue her; she insists she has not seen him for a
millennium. Collector shows them his gallery of dodecahedra, each one a tesseract
containing a pocket universe too large to keep in his museum. Collector shows
that one of them contains Alter Ego, Ego’s twin brother. Thor states that he
must release Alter Ego from his prison as the right thing to do. Collector
warns Thor that shattering the dodecahedron would release the pocket universe
to overwrite the one they are in. Thor balks and Zephyr casts him into the
dodecahedron. It seems she is no longer a captive but a collaborator; Collector
informs him that Alter Ego must be fed and a bit of Norse God energy might perk
him up….
Story #2Fall Guy
Writer:
(left blank). Penciler/Inker:
Jackson Guice. Colorist:
Gregory Wright. Letterer:
Richard Starkings.
Synopsis
“Simon “Wonder Man” Williams was persuaded to do one last stuntman gig for the acclaimed director Eli; however, Simon finds himself treated badly, just a prop for the film’s real star Dirk Studley. Simon is miffed and flies off but soon his jetpacks conk out and he falls to the ground—near a studio guard who mistakes him for Dirk Studley….
Simon is being followed around by a small alien orb, with two voices; the orb possesses a wrecking ball and tries to knock Simon down. His reaction shows they were expecting one “Takumer” to react a certain way. Simon is confused so the orb zips back to the movie studio, creating a giant brick monster to move Simon along.
Back at the shoot, Simon lands in a crash and the orb recognizes that Takumer has mistakenly possessed Dirk Studley. Simon saves Dirk from a falling helicopter and Takumer leaves Dirk’s body for Simon’s—and is immediately repelled. So Taukmer takes on the form of a giant mutated rabbit and fights Simon. The orb animates a camera crane and attacks Simon from the other side, while Eli films it all excitedly. A massive electrical discharge between the combatants wreck the giant bunny while Wonder Man rises triumphantly. The orb reveals itself to be controlled by an alien film director from another dimension, with his actor Takumer taking over Simon’s body to star in the film. Simon smashes the orb, the film turns out to have been ruined by the electricity, and Takumer/giant bunny says they aren’t paying him enough to do it all again and zorps back to his own dimension. Simon shrugs and moves on…”That’s show biz!”
Characters: