COMIC DETAILS
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Comic Description:
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Thor 376 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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2028416007
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Owner:
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Thorseface
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SET DETAILS
Owner's Description
Thor no. 376: “Heroes always win...don’t they?”
Publication date: February 1, 1987
Newsstand copy
Census: As of 6/20/23, 18 copies in 9.8 (no change), none of which are signed. There is no Canadian variant listed.
Writer: Simonson
Penciler, inker: Sal Buscema
Letterer: Workman
Colorist: Roussos
Favorite line and some thoughts:
"Did you ever once tell him that you loved him?"
-Heimdall
Here near the end of Walt’s run he fleshed out the characters of Amora and Heimdall in some new and interesting ways. Because the Rainbow Bridge is no more Heimdall has time to spare, and Amora, the most eligible bachelorete in the Golden Realm, needs a little help dealing with the loss of her plaything, the Executioner. Turns out the all-seeing Heimdall is as perceptive in affairs of the heart as he is with everything else, though the Asgardian Title IX office might have a different take on his overall approach to Amora in 2022.
Elsewhere in Asgard Balder names the newly sheathed Twilight sword the “Twilight of the Gods,” which title is a traditional translation of the Old Norse term "Ragnarok." Note that in Norse mythology the flaming sword of Surtur is never named; Walt, it seems, decided to call the sword Twilight. With Balder’s declaration, then, Walt forcefully positions the sword as a metonym for the final demise of Asgard. What the sheathing of the sword entails for the prophecy of Asgard’s doom is unclear, but from the hindsight of over 30 years we know that its survival meant that subsequent Thor scribes were able to draw on the sword as part of further explanations of the Ragnarok theme.
Cursed by Hela with brittle bones, Thor is taking some serious damage from the Absorbing Man. The coverage by on-the-spot newsman Chuck Cherkle (last seen in Thor 341), which begins with rather humorous commentary on superhuman vigilantism, turns darker by the end of the book as Thor is nearly beaten to death. Chuck and his vulturous colleagues seem to channel the disgust and fatigue Walt and many other Americans felt with the incessant, breathless media coverage of current events like the Iran-Contra affair (“Is it true that the President [Reagan] has asked you to assist the Contras in Nicaragua?”). That sort of "journalism" has never gone away, and regardless of your politics we are all worse off for it. Like Thor, we feel beaten near to death by the rage and anger. Or at least I do, and I'm no superhero.
“Mon dieu! Les croissants!” Just read the book. It’s worth it for this little anecdotal moment alone.
As you can tell from the cover of this book, Thor and the Absorbing Man tumble into the abandoned 14th street station of the old Interborough Rapid Transit Company, long out of service by 1987. It’s down there in the old tunnels that Creel takes on the metallic properties of an old subway car. This is before he finally absorbs Mjolnir’s Uru essence and gives our hero a true run for his money.
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