I Say Thee Neigh
Thor 337

COMIC DETAILS

Comic Description: Thor #337 Signature
Grade: 9.8
Page Quality: WHITE
Certification #: 1000058004
Owner: Thorseface

SET DETAILS

Winning Set: I Say Thee Neigh
Date Added: 6/2/2021
Research: See CGC's Census Report for this Comic

Owner's Description

Thor no. 337: "Doom"

Publication date: August 2, 1983

Signed by Walt Simonson on 10/10/09, by Stan Lee on 11/23/09.

Census: As of 6/13/22 the census lists three copies of 337 in 9.9 and 1,513 copies of 337 in 9.8 (the latter up by around 200 since this year last time). One of the 9.9 copies is signed, I think by Stan only. Of the 9.8s, 208 are signed (up by 18). I've seen one or two of these with three signatures (Jim Shooter with Walt and Stan, I think, maybe with a remarque). Mad respect. There are 76 Canadian 9.8s, with 3 signed.

Writer, penciler, inker: Simonson
Letterer: Workman
Colorist: George Roussos (NB: I'll be giving only the names of the original colorists)

Synopsis for "Doom" (this and all subsequent synopses are borrowed from marvel.fandom.com)

In space, we see the core of an ancient galaxy explode. Amazingly, though, gigantic tongs grab the leftover starstuff, and an equally gigantic figure begins to mold it. In Grant Park in Chicago, Don Blake is out for a stroll, thinking about how sometimes he wishes he could set aside his godly heritage and be just a man, when he is struck in the back with a frisbee. Blake gives it back to John when he is grabbed by two men, who hustle him to a car and shove him in. Inside is Nick Fury, who tells Blake he needs his help, or more to the point, Thor's help. They arrive at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier where Sitwell gives a briefing about the trouble they have. Using an advanced warp driven probe, they have discovered an alien ship. As the ship passes by a star, it flared to life and was sucked in by the ship, refueling it. The ship is now headed towards Earth at several times the speed of light. Thor agrees to help and begins his journey. In Asgard, Sif arrives to find Volstagg with Balder feasting. Balder is morose after his sojourn in Hela's realm and has visibly gained weight. He has sworn to never fight again. Sif was wanting company since Thor has forsaken her for Earth, but she will not find it here. She goes to Heimdall and asks him to find her a battle to ease her emptiness, but he cannot help her either. In space, Thor has met up with the ship, and as he closes in on it, it's automated weapons open fire. Thor destroys the gun battery and rips his way through the hull. Inside, he finds a large figure encased in crystal, that suddenly breaks free. In Asgard, Loki is bored when he hears a noise. Outside, he sees warriors engaged in a forbidden Troll hunt. The Troll is hiding when it sees a beautiful woman offering to help hide it when she gets close, she grabs it and hoists it up. Lorelei has won the hunt. Loki invites her back to his castle and she agrees. Back aboard the ship, the gigantic alien tosses Thor aside and introduces himself as Beta Ray Bill. Bill believes Thor is some sort of demon that has been harassing his people and plans on killing him. As they battle back and forth, Thor has dropped Mjolnir. Thor knows he must stop them and begins trying to tear the ship apart. Skuttlebutt sets for Earth to set down for repairs while Bill attacks anew. But before Thor can do anything else, he changes back to Blake, and Bill is upon him fast. Bill forms a stasis egg around himself to survive the crash, and the unconscious form of Blake is inside as well. Nick Fury arrives at the ship's crash site just seconds after impact. Bill looks for Thor's hammer to use as a weapon but finds only a stick. He strikes a wall in frustration and is transformed into an alien version of Thor. Outside, Bill throws the hammer and destroys one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicles, and catches Mjolnir when it returns to him. Astonishingly, Bill is worthy! He is about to strike again when the skies open up, and an image of Odin appears. He mistakes Bill for Thor and takes him to Asgard. Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. start to move in, when Blake crawls out of Skuttlebutt, and realizes what has happened. The alien was worthy enough to wield Mjolnir, and Blake is stuck on Earth as a mortal.

Favorite line and some thoughts (see image no. 2): Bill, standing over the unconscious body of Blake: "I do not understand the demon's transformation...but it would be unwise to question a gift horse too closely."

It's difficult to do justice to how dramatic a break this issue was from what preceded it...apart from the obvious, the famous cover in which Bill, decked out in Thor gear, destroys the title's old logo, Walt summarily disposed of the Chicago storyline and signaled the development of a new psychological depth for characters like Sif and Balder. The visuals are, of course, amazing. The introduction of Loki’s mountaintop fortress, which resembles a Norwegian stave church, anticipates Walt’s transformation of Asgard into a place where one believes ancient Viking God’s might actually live (with all due respect to the traditional Nordic Dubai created by Kirby, which according to one bonus map even featured a shopping mall). All of this, and the rather on the nose Father and Son relationship signaled in the last panels (Odin has "forsaken" Thor, the outstretched arms of Don Blake yelling "Father") are in keeping with the more theological / mythological approach for which Simonson is famous. Indeed, Surtur, who was in many ways just another clowny villain prior to this issue, is presented as the ancient force of nature that he is in Norse mythology, one poised to play his traditional role in Ragnarok. And again, everything looks AMAZING. The dramatically foreshortened SHIELD helicarrier and Skutllebutt (the name, we will learn, of Bill's sentient ship) profit from Walt's earlier work on Star Wars, etc. Walt’s graphic style and inimitable linework is at full power.

For collectors, this is an interesting book where the "Newsstand" question is concerned. The bar code copies tend to command a higher price but, as is occasionally observed in online forums, they seem more numerous than the direct market copies. An ebay search for "Thor 337" (slabbed or unslabbed) on any given day will typically yield a larger number of slabbed bar code copies. All of this seems to confirm what Walt has always said about this book, i.e. that its popularity came as a surprise to the direct market retailers. Accustomed to poor Thor sales the comic shops hadn't placed big orders for 337 and were caught with their pants down. According to Walt (and others) the retailers raided all of the newsstand copies, which possibly represent a greater proportion of the overall print run. Fun fact: you can spot a copy on the wall in the comic book shop in 1987's The Lost Boys. Whether the copy shows a Spidey or a bar code is hard to tell. Maybe teen idol Corey Feldman knows.
 
Image #1
Enlarge  
Image #2
Enlarge  

To follow or send a message to this user,
please log in