Flying over the city, Thor spies a cabbie running a light
and nearly hitting an old woman in the crosswalk; the Thunder God pursues the
cab and hoists it up to a roof where he lectures the driver on safety and takes
him back to the scene of the crime to apologize to the lady. The lady thanks Thor
but believes her old life isn’t worth much; Thor responds that all lives are
important and takes off, knowing he has done his job. Returning to the form of
Dr. Donald Blake he applies for a job at an inner city clinic….
At Ryker’s Island Prison, a rookie guard is shown to the impounded
weapons room; when he touches a crowbar it begins to glow, takes over his mind,
and marches him to the cell of the Wrecker. Touching his weapon, the villain regains
all his powers and collects his accomplices, Thunderball, Piledriver, and
Bulldozer, restoring their powers as well. They crash out of the joint and
Wrecker aims to defeat Thor to demonstrate who is the toughest….
The baddies smash their way into a MacDonald’s [sic] for a
quick meal while they decide how to find Thor. Their big idea is to wreck
Lincoln Center because that will bring the Thunder God running. So they go to
work on the sidewalk and fountains outside the Center and Thor does indeed arrive
to face them. They fight back and forth for several pages, resulting in
Bulldozer and Piledriver being knocked out and Thunderball fleeing in a panic,
leaving the Wrecker to face his hated foe. The villain rips out a huge window
and showers the broken glass in Thor’s direction but he misses and the glass kills
an old lady in the crowd. When Thor learns that it is the same old lady he
rescued that morning, he fills with rage and gives the Wrecker a true taste of
Asgard’s power, filling him with the power of Mjolnir and burning the bad guy
out. Thor takes a moment to mourn the old lady….
“Love’s Labor’s Lost”
Writer: Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio. Pencils: Keith Pollard.
Inks: Chic Stone. Colors: George Roussos.
Synopsis: Balder the Brave broods in a garden and Karnilla
comes to talk of romance—but Balder balks: his death during Ragnarok has
changed him and he also knows that Karnilla is evil under her guise of
benevolence. She gets really snitty and summons the warrior Barbaric to kill
Balder. But try as he might, the brute cannot hurt the hero. Karnilla knows
that Balder can be harmed only by mistletoe and hands her henchman a dagger made
from that wood—and immediately sends Barbaric back where he came from. She
holds up saving Balder’s life as proof of her love but he doesn’t buy it since
she’s the one who put him in danger to begin with. They part and she plots
another way to get him back….