TBAT
The Mighty Thor – Blood and Thunder – A long, very drawn out tale of Thor, insane, battling Sif, Beta Ray Bill and the Silver Surfer, intent on destroying Asgard and the universe. He doesn’t actually destroy anything, though, and in the meantime there are some zany adventures with trolls and all sorts of other insanity. In the end it’s all psychological, and when we learn that the reason for Thor’s insanity goes back to his attachment to Dr Donald Blake, we must wonder… why now, after so many years? The story actually picks up mid-point (meaning that it doesn’t bother to show Thor going off the deep end, just presents him as already crazy), and ends with a cliffhanger of sorts, so it’s not self-contained at all – a bit dissatisfying; there’s also a mish-mash of storylines given that the story spans a number of titles (Thor, The Warlock Chronicles, Warlock and the Infinity Watch, The Silver Surfer). The Silver Surfer is nearly useless in all this, despite his grand “I AM THE SILVER SURFER” statementizing; actually, there’s a lot of awful prose in the book:
Doctor Strange: I must apologise for your rude reception. Wong is out for he evening and I was lost in my studies. I’m afraid my house’s defenses perceived you as trespassers and acted accordingly. I imagine I must also apologize for the tea. Wong prides himself on his private blend, but I’ve never been able to work any kitchen magic myself. I hope it’s at least drinkable?
Silver Surfer: It’s fine, Stephen, truly. THough I am probably no judge.Thor: Prepare to pay for your criminal effrontery, mortal!
Criminal effrontery? Sheesh!!!
In addition to its more familiar characters, there’s also a strange (and strangely ineffectual) black superhero called Maxam – not sure what he’s all about, and the ever-present Pip and Gamora. Nice to see them, even if they don’t do much. They’re there when Maxam gets into a weird bar brawl with racist cowboys (why?).
The story is drawn by a whole bunch of artists, most of whom are very good at drawing over-muscular superheroes blasting stuff, and are not-so-bad at drawing statuesque Kirbyesque Norse gods (in particular Odin, of course, and his outrageous shoulder pieces and amazing carved gauntlets). Drax the Destroyer, here a babbling idiot (although he does play a mean sax), is particularly muscle-bound (and, likewise, also totally ineffectual). Some of the panels look like block prints, many of them are childish and overly-boldly inked, or Crayola-coloured, infused with a coarse weirdness.
But it goes both ways too – Moondragon is looking mighty sexy for a bald lady, with that strange cleaved body suit of hers. Love it!
It’s hard to describe, but this is all really bizarre stuff!! Tom Grindberg, in the Warlock and the Infinity Watch title, does a great job drawing some weird, moody, Mike Mignola-like work, and also introducing Count Abyss, in his desolate hell with his strange one-eyed vixen Maya (they don’t have a part in this story, sadly, theirs probably picks up in later issues), strange god-trolls, and a great battle between Warlock and Thor; we don’t see too much of them. Thor is eventually captured, with the help of Thanos, Doctor Strange and the Infinity Watch, there’s some mucking about in Asgard, a battle royale on the rainbow bridge Bifrost, strange loving scenes between Beta Ray Bill and Sif; yes, Thanos fights it out with Thor, and Odin, and does well. All right – Thanos!! There are freaky adventures in Thor’s astral plane, which is revisited in the end with a grand finale father-son-temptress duke-em-out. Not really worth the read, though.