Thor #406: Review

Aug 1989

Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz

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Story Name:

War With Wundagore!

Review & Comments

Rating:

Thor #406 Review by Peter Silvestro (May 5, 2021)

Review: The Lee-Kirby years return as several concepts pioneered by the Great Ones are brought back for further adventures: the High Evolutionary, the New Men, Wundagore, the Black Galaxy, the Rigellians, and more with Joe Sinnott as inker to make it all look authentic. If you’re going to copy earlier creators, always go for the best. And as an aside: Thor is a noble hero because he has a respect for all life, which Mongoose explicitly lacks. We’ll see how they fare against one another next time. The second tale is a strange one: having taken two issues to force Ulagg to perform a service for Odin, the service itself is performed without complaint and turns out to be a big deal made simple.

Comments: First story: Part one of three parts. High Evolutionary has been bedeviling the Marvel Universe since THOR #134. Hercules and the High Evolutionary vanished during the Evolutionary War event, specifically AVENGERS ANNUAL #17. Count Tagar fought as an ally of Thor in THOR #133-135. Ron Frenz and Tom DeFalco collaborated on the plot. Second story: Part three of three parts. Title steals a line from the Bible, while also cribbing from the story of Noah (minus survivors)—and STAR TREK 3.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Thor #406 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Following Mongoose’s clue from last issue, Thor heads for the spectacular lab known as Wundagore; when he comes in sight, Mongoose has a missile fired at him which the Thunder God handily explodes. The villain, assuming Thor to be dead, orders his men to recover Thor’s corpse for its cellular material. Count Tagar is disappointed with this disregard for life and decides to explain everything to their prisoner, Eric Masterson; Tagar tells Eric about the New Men and relates the history of the High Evolutionary, ending with his being evolved into discorporation along with Hercules. Tagar also shows Eric the machine that is constantly scanning the universe for Herc and H.E…..

Meanwhile, the Rigellians have learned that the earthquakes plaguing their world are being caused by upheavals in the Black Galaxy; the leaders decide to launch the Null Bomb into the galaxy to save their own planet….

The New Men are searching the mountains for Thor’s body and then discover he is very much alive and very much angry. He takes them all down, even rescuing one who nearly falls to his death as he has a respect for life. The New Men offer themselves as servants to Thor. Tagar alerts the men to return and bring Thor with them. Mongoose decides something big has happened and he hides until he can learn what it is. What it is is the scanner has discovered the High Evolutionary and Hercules are in the Black Galaxy. Thor offers to go into the Black Galaxy to rescue them, the New Men volunteer to accompany him, and Eric Masterson also joins the group, once he is given a suit of battle armor. Eric is enabled to send a message home to his son Kevin and Susan Austin that he is helping Thor on a mission and he hopes to be home soon. The Stellar Telejump transports Thor’s team to a planetoid in the Black Galaxy where they are in the midst of a meteor storm controlled by Hercules, who has become one with the galaxy….

“Let There Be Life!”
Writer: Tom DeFalco. Pencils: Tony DeZuniga. Inks: Tony DeZuniga. Colors: Mike Rockwitz. Letters: Mike Heisler.
Synopsis: Having secured the services of Ulagg the Grand Enchanter, Thor and the Warriors Three board a starship and fly to a planet whose inhabitants were so evil that the gods destroyed it with a giant flood. Ulagg performs his magic and dry land appears, filling the planet with life. Thor expresses a desire to come back someday and see what the inhabitants of this land called Midgard are up to….