Thor #385

Nov 1987

Stan Lee, Erik Larsen

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Story Name:

Be Thou God, Or Monster!

Synopsis

Thor #385 synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Rating:

Hulk wakes up in the center of a forest he destroyed and scares the campers who disturbed him with their loud talking….

In New York, Thor foils a bank robbery then learns that Hulk is on a rampage in a Midwestern town. He heads to Lansdale, hoping for a challenge and he finds one. He and Hulk smash each other and wreck the street. Hulk holds a woman hostage until Thor throws away his hammer to make it a fair fight. The smashing continues as they move on to wrecking buildings, threatening a bus full of children, derailing a train, and much much more. Then Mjolnir returns but Hulk’s anger has dissipated and he bounces away. Thor mourns the fact that his own desire for victory over his enemy made him as savage as Hulk: a god became a monster.

Review / Commentaries

Thor #385 Review by Peter Silvestro (September 22, 2020)

Review: Stan Lee? Jim Shooter and Erik Larsen came up with the plot which yields an entire issue of these two popularly matched antagonists whomping each other and ruining real estate values. And Larsen’s art is serviceable, nothing spectacular, just some nice storytelling and a big fight. But Stan Lee, long past his writing expiration date, fills in the dialogue and it is pretty lame, the same standard talking points both characters were known for since, well, since Stan Lee started writing for them. I don’t know the genesis of this issue but it looks like the plotters threw together a simple story with no complexities for Stan to stumble over. Evidence indicates this had been done a few years earlier but thrown in here as a filler issue. The outcome of the story? Yeah, Thor is ashamed of himself when it is over and rightly so. I would have liked a sequel wherein we see how he atoned for his crimes to the citizens; Silver Age Superman would have rebuilt the town in seconds with his superspeed and been given the key to the city. But Thor? We’ll never know.

Comments: The Marvel Chronology Project places this shortly after the first SECRET WARS event. Plotted by Jim Shooter and Erik Larsen.

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