Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
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Thor #385
Issue(s): Thor #385
Cover Date: Nov 87
Title: "Be thou god, or monster!"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Script
Jim Shooter - Plot
Erik Larsen - Penciler
Vincent Colletta - Inker
Marc Siry - Assistant Editor
Ralph Macchio - Editor
Review/plot:
This fill in issue features some very early Marvel work by Erik Larsen. Larsen had done some work for smaller publishers (AC, Eclipse, and Megaton) and had been doing some work at DC at this time as well, but this was his second published book for Marvel (the first being Amazing Spider-Man #287), and may very well have been an inventory story that was drawn earlier but only published at this point, based both on the fact that the art is looking kind of primitive and the fact that the story doesn't fit in with what was going on in 1987.
In a pairing that works surprisingly well, this issue is scripted by Stan Lee himself, off of a standard Hulk vs. Thor plot by Jim Shooter. Between the scripting and the stiff art, i could almost believe i was reading some early issue of Tales to Astonish, maybe with Dick Ayers stepping up to pencils for some reason.
I say "standard" but everybody loves a Hulk/Thor battle.
The underlying theme is Thor's inability to resist the thrill of battle, which causes him to fight even when fighting results in more destruction than the Hulk's initial rampage.
It's not really "good" in any sense of the word, but it's fun enough as long as you don't go in expecting more than 20 pages of the Hulk and Thor pounding the crap out of each other.
The Hulk is in pure "Hulk smash" mode, although he's especially nasty. Very aggressive towards bystanders...
...and willing to take a hostage.
Marvel accidentally left a phone number in the margin notes on one of the pages...
...and apparently people tried to call in hoping to get a No Prize.
Quality Rating: C-
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: Opening narration says this takes place "at a time in the not-too-distant past, when the God of Thunder went beardless and his beloved father Odin still strode the halls of Asgard". The Hulk is wearing fitted purple shorts like he did in the Banner-brain days. I was tempted to push this back even further in time, but the shorts caused me to go along with the MCP's placement, which is after the Hulk starts descending into madness again, circa Hulk #296. For Thor, that suggests around/during Thor #341. It actually fits about as well as you could ask.
References: N/A
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? Y (inventory story)
My Reprint: N/A
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Comments
According to Erik Larsen's website, the story was published "years later" than it was drawn:
http://www.savagedragon.com/eriklarsen.htm
Whose number does it belong to? ;)
They (jokingly) refuse to divulge that info in the lettercol response. Something like, "Maybe it was the Hulk hotline? We're not saying."
I feel sorry for whoever rang that number then. :P
According to Larsen, this story was penciled in 1985. Larsen states that he also co-plotted the story with Shooter:
http://comicbook.com/blog/2012/12/28/how-stan-lee-wrote-erik-larsens-first-published-marvel-work/
Here's a link to a youtube vid where Shooter explains how Larsen's first work for Marvel. Copy and paste if it doesn't work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qto0T5bNfVU
may very well have been an inventory story that was drawn earlier but only published at this point
I remember when this was published, between this and the Web of Spider-Man cosmic football game story, it seemed like Marvel was trying to burn off Shooter-related Inventory stories after his dismissal as EiC.
