COMIC DETAILS
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Comic Description:
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Thor 369 Modern
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Grade:
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9.8
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Page Quality:
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WHITE
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Certification #:
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0295070027
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Owner:
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Thorseface
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SET DETAILS
Owner's Description
Thor no. 369: "For Whom the Belles Troll."
Publication date: July 10, 1986
A Newsstand copy.
Signed by Walt Simonson on 6/26/22.
Census: As of 11/18/22, 33 copies in 9.8, of which 1 is signed. There are no Canadian 9.8s.
Writer: Simonson
Penciller: Buscema
Inker: Isherwood
Letterer: Workman
Color: Scheele
Favorite line and some thoughts:
"...Perchance I dream, for I see a beard where formerly I saw a chin."
-Balder the Brave
Balder wonders if Thor has "decided to look more like the Thor of mortal legend," a second nod to Walt's impending revamp of the hero's outward appearance.
This is a great book to study if you are interested in the collaborative nature of the typical creative process in comics. Up until issue 366, Walt handled pencils and inks. Issue 367 was inked by committee, as mentioned earlier, and Sal inked his own work on issue 368. Here, however, a young Geoff Isherwood inks Sal's pencils, and if you know Isherwood's work you will immediately detect his presence here in his more liberal approach to sculpting with light and shadow. Isherwood has pencilled Thor stories elsewhere; I recommend the back-up piece he did about a young Loki in Thor 400. Here, I think, he was a little heavy handed, but his approach is unmistakably his own.
We've not seen poor Ruby, Thug's old squeeze, since Journey into Mystery no. 89 (1962). Another ancient (albeit only visual) reference is the troll mother Uglitha, whose "human" form would seem based on the prophetess Volla from Thor no. 127 and / or the "Old Witch" of EC Comics.
Balder's "trick," as Thor calls it, was first employed in the conclusion to the Balder the Brave miniseries; like Balder's weapon, the sword of Freyr, it finds support in the Prose Edda.
The cover to this issue is one of my favorite in the run. Just pure poetry from Walt. And you've got to love that ridiculous title.
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