Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
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Thor #383
Issue(s): Thor #383
Cover Date: Sep 87
Title: "This secret love--!"
Credits:
Tom DeFalco - Writer
Ron Frenz - Penciler
Brett Breeding - Inker
Ralph Macchio - Editor
Review/plot:
This is the first issue of the DeFalco / Frenz Thor run, but it does not yet feature Thor, at least in the main story. The issue is a conversation between the Enchantress and her sister Lorelei. Lorelei is introduced in a manner very similar to the way DeFalco introduced Enchantress in Dazzler #1, with a warrior fighting his way to her castle to declare his love for her, and to be rewarded by being turned into an inanimate object (a statue in this story, a tree in the Dazzler issues).
This could just be an idea that DeFalco likes, but it is possibly meant to illustrate the growth of the Enchantress since that issue, with her now trying to impart her wisdom on her younger sibling. To illustrate that growth, the Enchantress tells a shaggy dog story that takes place during Secret Wars.
Whatever point the Enchantress had is lost on Lorelei, but at least we get to see Ron Frenz draw some scenes from Secret Wars.
Quality Rating: C
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: A footnote at the beginning of this issue says that it takes place before Thor #377, possibly with the idea that all the Asgardians started becoming statues in that issue (and perhaps this being prepared as a fill-in before the resolution of that story). But there's no reason to push this back (and in fact that would cause some difficulty since the Enchantress' romantic interest in Heimdall is referenced - Lorelei was magically infatuated with Loki and then paralyzed while that was happening). Lorelei and the Enchantress would have been restored along with the other Asgardians last issue. So this can be placed its regular spot in publication order.
References:
- Enchantress' story takes place during Secret Wars, mostly issue #4.
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
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Comments
The Enchantress also turned the Black Knight into stone way back in Defenders #3.
As revealed in Back Issue #53, this issue and the next were done as fill-in issues. Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz were actually lobbying Ralph Macchio to take over Daredevil. Macchio needed a couple of fill-ins for Thor ASAP and asked DeFalco & Frenz to do them, and they agreed, figuring that if they made Macchio happy it would lead to them getting the DD assignment. Instead they were surprised when Macchio then decided he wanted them to take over as the new regular creative team on Thor. The first Thor issue DeFalco & Frenz actually did knowing that they would be the regular creators was #386.
I like this issue quite a bit. It's definitely a nice continuation of Amora the Enchantress evolving into a somewhat morally ambiguous figure, as opposed to an out-and-out villain.
Furthermore, this is one of those stories that shows just how imposing a figure Doctor Doom can be. The Enchantress is a goddess, and she's repeatedly been depicted as haughty and arrogant, standing up to Odin, Thor, Loki, Karnella and pretty much any other inhabitant of Asgard who gets in her way. So it's very striking that when faced with the very mortal Doctor Doom, she folds like a cheap suit. Doom is so dangerous that he makes gods back down.
Very surprised to learn DeFalco & Frenz wanted to do Daredevil... Thor seems the perfect fit for their silver age revivalism. DeFalco got to do his mix of grandiosity and corn, and Frenz left behind the Ditkoisms he'd done on Spider-Man to concentrate on the Kirby grandeur that few could do as well as he did. I'd never imagined they hadn't chosen Thor.
Nocenti's run had just started on Daredevil, her run wasn't yet fully warmed up yet but they would still have been following not too long after O'Neil's run and Miller's Born Again, which would have been odd acts for them to follow. Maybe they figured they had just been doing Spidey & wanted to continue doing street-level stuff, bot the post-Miller DD wouldn't have suited them the same way.
Personally I loved Nocenti's Daredevil run (I realise not everyone does) and for all its corn and inconsistency, I do think that the DeFalco-Frenz team was one of the better Thor runs (though distantly behind Simonson and Lee/Kirby), so I'm glad things turned out the way they did.
"Whatever point the Enchantress had is lost on Lorelei..."
Apparently, you lost her point, too. How could you have missed it? It's perfectly obvious.
She was pointing out that Lorelei contemptuously (and cruelly) dismissed a man who seemed genuinely interested in her without even giving him a chance. Even she described him as handsome, as did the Enchantress. He might have made her happy.
