Thor #328: Review

Feb 1983

Doug Moench, Alan Kupperberg

::: click cover to ENLARGE it :::

Story Name:

Violence In Video

Review & Comments

Rating:

Thor #328 Review by Peter Silvestro (June 29, 2020)

Review: Ouch! The early days of the videogame industry are on view in this adventure and they look absolutely primitive. So much so that the idea of a dude being absorbed into a game console and endowed with power over electricity comes across as totally dumb—even though it’s no dumber than many other comic book origin stories (bitten by a radioactive something-or-other? Hm?). That and the bad guy doesn’t last long against our heroes. And Sif is pretty headstrong, chafing under Midgard’s restrictions so I hope they will be able to do something really creative here. We’ll see. And that final shot of jealous Sif is downright scary.

Comments: Sif’s stay on Earth will be a running plotline until issue #336; Sif’s merging her life force with that of Jane Foster to save the latter’s life took place in issue #231. First appearance of Megatak/Gregory Nettles who returns in issue #358 and goes on to fight the Punisher and Venom (Flash Thompson). The radio is playing a medley of Johnny Mathis hits as performed by 101 Strings, and as a Baby Boomer, I find that really funny. And Nurse Stevens is back to being Caucasian after her one-issue stint as African American.

From Our Blog:

Gwen Stacy, beauty queen of Standard High School, was Peter Parker's (alias Spider-Man) first great love.

Gwen Stacy: Classic Beauty

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Thor #328 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

The adventure on Midgard over, the Norse gods consider returning to Asgard. The Warriors Three would like to stay to see more of this world but Thor convinces them they would be miserable; thus, Odin transports them, Balder, and Heimdall home. Thor then discovers that Sif has chosen to remain behind as she and Thor are betrothed and this is the only way they can be together. Thor agrees then takes her to his apartment/office and tells her to stay there until Donald Blake’s working day is over….

Meanwhile at the electronics show at McCormick Place, a new videogame called Megatak is about to make its debut; industrial spy Gregory Nettles is under orders to steal the chips to the new game. Nettles offers the model dressed as the game’s main character big bucks and takes his place, using the disguise to sneak behind the scenes for the chips. While he is back there, the host turns on the game and Nettles is sucked into the machine….

At the office, a bored Sif can’t understand why Thor would want to disguise himself as a human and serve others. Wondering why Sif did not revert to her Jane Foster form, Don gets a call from Dr. Shawna Lynde inviting him to the electronics convention; Don declines due to a busy schedule but Sif overhears and storms out, taking Don’s suggestion to go shopping for new clothes. At a fancy store, Sif quickly become offended by the clerk’s attempts to measure her and walks out, intending to go to the electronics show to check out Shawna Lynde. Some construction workers get fresh with her and she wraps them up in steel pipe….

At the show, Megatak bursts out of the game, able to control electronic energy and he brings other videogame menaces to life and has them attack the crowd. Sif arrives and starts fighting the video monsters and Thor, who heard about the chaos over the office radio, shows up and orders Sif onto crowd control while he battles the villain. Thor blasts Megatak with an excess of electricity then siphons it off, leaving his foe unconscious. Sif likes this whole protecting mortal thing and sees a nice future together for them. But Thor spies that Shawna Lynde is injured and, as Don Blake, he goes to her aid. Sif sees how they are around each other and seethes with jealousy….

::: click cover to ENLARGE it :::