Thor #270: Review

Apr 1978

Len Wein, Walt Simonson

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Story Name:

Minute of Madness -- Dark Day of Doom!

Review & Comments

Rating:

Thor #270 Review by Peter Silvestro (February 25, 2015)

Comments: Part two of three parts. FAUST was first seen as a fully automated (and non-sentient) factory in MARVEL TEAM-UP #18; this 3-part adventure is his final appearance. Didn’t the cover artist notice that the bad guy is shooting Thor in the crotch?

Review: After the tall and spindly Stilt-Man Thor finally finds a foe who can match him in power. The issue is consequently exciting, fast-paced, and satisfying. A No-Prize to anyone who can figure out why FAUST and Blaastar needed the Stilt-Man for their scheme when Blaastar could easily have hijacked that cargo himself and done a better job of it.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Thor #270 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

On a New York street the Mighty Thor faces Blaastar, the Living Bomb-Burst. Separated from his hammer Thor tries to push the opponent away by ripping up a water main and hosing him down; Blaastar responds with a blast (shouldn’t it be “blaast?) that hurls the Thunder God into an alley where, out of reach of Mjolnir for sixty seconds, he turns back into Don Blake. Blaastar enters the alley and Don sends him off in pursuit of the missing Thor. When Don leaves the alley he discovers that a gang leader named Brother Honcho has found his cane and intends to keep it. Don asks for it nicely; Honcho swings it at him and when it hits the ground, Don once more becomes Thor, scaring the gang away. Thor also scares ex-Stilt-Man Wilbur Day into telling him everything he knows….

Thor heads to Tony Stark for a little help. From the info supplied by Wilbur Day, Tony identifies Blaastar’s mysterious leader as FAUST, an automated factory which has gained sentience and turned evil. Iron Man offers to help but Thor declines….

Blaastar returns to FAUST with the chest of radioactive isotopes which Stilt-Man had hijacked for them. Thor arrives and the powerful alien takes on the God of Thunder; FAUST seizes the distraction to analyze and absorb the radioactive isotopes and it is then able to launch itself into orbit. Betrayed, Blaastar enters the tunnel where FAUST had promised him power in the Negative Zone. The alien rushes through the portal but once inside he is trapped, being pulled inexorably down into the explosive belt at the center of the Zone…. Thor stands there wondering what FAUST has in store for Earth….

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