Late one night, Hercules panics, seeing an omen of danger in
the stars and Eric Masterson has to help him to bed; his son Kevin doesn’t believe
Dad’s excuse that Herc has the flu….
An alien comes to Earth and finds a homeless vagrant in an
alley; the creature sucks the life out of the man to replenish its own energies
and continues to hunt….
Eric takes a late night walk, worried about Hercules ever
since they returned from the Black Galaxy (issues #406-408). He changes into
Thor. Nearby, two policemen have discovered the shriveled corpse of the
homeless man. The alien Dark Dweller hypnotizes one of the cops with his red eyebeams
and orders him to shoot his partner. Thor arrives to prevent a second, fatal
shot; Dark Dweller fires his eyebeams at Thor who deflects them with Mjolnir. The
alien transforms into a four-armed giant and is clobbered; he brings a
bulldozer to life to attack Thor, causing him to drop Mjolnir; they fight for the
hammer but the villain, losing energy, must turn into a mist and escape. The
hypnotized officer snaps out of his trance….
The next morning, Susan Austin takes Kevin Masterson off to
school, while Eric goes to work, planning to come home early and clean the apartment
to prepare for a visit from the Child Welfare board. Hercules is staying home
to brood over his recent troubles. Eric joins Jackie Lukus for a meeting with
the flamboyant Aloysius P. Jamesly over his latest project; during the meeting,
they see a pair of robbers exiting a jewelry store. Eric considers changing
into Thor but Detective Marcus Stone and his partner Vinnie Evans arrive in
time to nab the crooks, leading Eric to think that Thor may be redundant….
The Dark Dweller arrives at Eric’s apartment, having tracked
Thor to the place by his life force; he can’t detect Thor now but feels the
presence of Hercules. The monster enters the apartment and easily draws Herc
into his power. When Eric arrives home, he is seized by the hypnotized Hercules.
Then Susan walks in and the Dark Dweller grabs her and tells Herc that Eric is
no longer needed so Herc hurls our hero off the balcony. Eric grabs on but
loses his stick—then loses his grip and he falls….
“The Greatest Love”
Writer: Tom DeFalco. Pencils: Mark Texeira. Inks: Mark
Texeira. Colors: George Roussos. Letters: Michael Heiser.
Synopsis: Fandral the Dashing defeats a trio of swordsmen in
a tavern and then rebuffs all the beautiful women there because he has another greater
love. One of the bad guys, Garloff the Unwashed, wishes to go with Fandral and
see this woman he values more highly than all others. The two travel a difficult
and dangerous path to arrive art a cabin atop a high mountain where Fandral
introduces Garloff to—his mother. She scolds him as a mother should and Fandral
delights in it.