Issue(s): Thor #328
Cover Date: Feb 83
Title: "Violence in video"
Credits:
Doug Moench - Writer
Alan Kupperberg - Penciler
Vincent Colletta - Inker
Mike Carlin - Assistant Editor
Mark Gruenwald - Editor

Review/plot:
Doug Moench might have been better served if he had left after last issue's mini-epic, but he did remain for this final story. I don't know if it's fair to say that Moench tried to do something different for Thor or if he just wrote in the Moench style and that inevitably made Thor a different sort of book than usual. In any event, his run had its moments but also a decent number of stinkers, and this one definitely falls in the latter category.

It starts off ok. The Asgardians are wrapping up their time on Earth (who is that lady in the purple mask? She is staring right at me! Make her stop!!).

The Warriors Three mention that they wouldn't mind staying on Earth a while longer, but Thor ixnays that, saying that "no Asgardian born would be fully content here" unless a god "be prepared to submerge himself in mortal form as the occasion demands". This is good foreshadowing for Sif, who is hiding behind a wall with the intent of remaining behind with Thor. Odin also says that only Thor "hath demonstrated the affinity with mortals necessary to live in this lower realm".

After the Asgardians leave, Thor says aloud that he will miss Sif, and then Sif reveals that she's actually still here. And Thor welcomes that.

But only a page later, Sif is already complaining.

And that's before Donald Blake's sort-of love interest Shawna Lynde gives Don a call.

Oy, god, what have we gotten ourselves into? Get ready for nearly a year of this, folks.

Blake does wonder why Sif is in fact still Sif, and not Jane Foster at this point, since it was thought that the two were merged into a single entity. But that's not followed up on yet.

Because as agonizing as Sif's current depiction may be, we can make this book a lot more horrible. And a surefire way to do that is with yet another story about this fad called arcade games.

Thanks to an intriguing corporate espionage plot, corporate spy Gregory Nettles gets himself dressed up in the costume of his competitor's game mascot and, thanks to some crossed wires, becomes Megatak!!

Megatak has the power to shoot Pac-Mans and Space Invaders at people.

Thor and Sif find common ground beating up Pac-Mans and fighting Megatak.

Sif finds herself enjoying the battle, and especially the feeling of reverence from the mortals she's saving.

That kind-of awkwardly scripted sequence (someone thanks Sif for saving them from a floating Pac-Monster and Sif starts thinking about humans' "noble worth") makes me want to talk more about my pet theory that Thor's increased visibility on Earth lately is rekindling Asgardian worship, but that will actually become a topic of the book soon so i'll leave it be.

Thor eventually zaps Megatak with some lighting, stopping him. But when he has to turn back into Donald Blake to help Shawna who was (not really) injured during the ruckus, we can't help avoid Sif's psycho stare.

Nurse Stevens is back to being a white woman this issue.

Quality Rating: D+

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - beginning a period with Sif on Earth

Chronological Placement Considerations: This begins with the Asgardians still on Earth and having just finished a big feast. So it takes place soon after, but not directly after, last issue. No appearances by any Asgardians should appear in between.

References:

• There's no footnote, but one of the reasons Thor doesn't want the Warriors Three to remain is that he's already tired of dealing with Asgardian beings that can't behave themselves on Earth after dealing with the Menagerie from Thor #320-322.
  
• Also no footnote, but the relevant issues for the Sif/Jane Foster merger are Thor #236 and Thor #249.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A