Retro Review: The Mighty Thor #390 (April 1988)

The new Avengers trailer makes much humor of the fact that not EVERYONE is worthy to lift the mighty croquet mallet of Thor.  Of course, one of those suspects has already brandished Mjolnir in the regular comic book continuity.  But which one?  Your Major Spoilers (retro) review of The Mighty Thor #390 awaits!

THE MIGHTY THOR #390
Writer: Tom DeFalco
Penciler: Ron Frenz
Inker: Brett Breeding
Colorist: Jack Morelli
Letterer: Christie Scheele
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: 75 Cents
Current Near-Mint Pricing: $4.00

Previously in The Mighty Thor:  Punished for his hubris by All-Father Odin, Thor was sentenced to life on Earth as a handicapped doctor named Donald Blake.  A freak coincidence (that turned out to be intentional on the part of Odin) led him to find his lost hammer, allowing Donald Blake to become Thor and vice-versa.  He helped to found the Mighty Avengers, and served as one of the most stalwart heroes of Earth-616 for years.  In recent months (circa the spring of ’88, anyway), Thor had ventured into space and fought an extended campaign in the Black Galaxy alongside Hercules, a battle that has finally come to an end, allowing the Thunder God to finally return home to his comrades in the Avengers…

I have to admire the chutzpah of Steve Rogers here, challenging a Norse deity for funsies, utterly confident that he will be able to fend off Thor’s attack.  As the other Avengers go their separate ways, Thor and The Captain have a chance to catch up on recent events, beginning with the United States government ordering him to follow their orders or give up the costume and role of Captain America forever.  Such base perfidy does NOT go over well with the God of Thunder…

In case you’re wondering:  No, the tendency of Tony Stark to be portrayed as an amoral jerkface is by no means a new development, as he had recently turned on Captain America to protect his proprietary armor designs (during the events known as the Armor Wars).  The question of WHICH of his oldest mortal friends to trust puzzles and angers Thor, and he is thus distracted when his old foe Grog, The God-Crusher arrives with an army of cannon-fodder in the service of Egyptian death-god Seth MacFarlane…

Thor and The Captain, along with incidental player The Black Knight, wade into the oncoming soldiers, unafraid of defeat.  Many times, when Ron Frenz is doing his Kirby-riffs, there’s a stiffness about his designs that makes them difficult to really appreciate, but as The Black Knight turns to see his two comrades, we see Frenz (and inker Brett Breeding) pulling out all the stops with a lovingly rendered panel of battle…

Separated from Mjolnir, Thor is overwhelmed by Grog and his green-clad foot soldiers, and the God-Crusher proceeds to blast the Odinson with his own eldritch abilities.  That’s where The Captain steps in…

Though the uniform is now probably more associated with The US Agent, the man in black is the same Captain America who stood against Loki, who battled against both Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, who punched Hitler square in his sissy little moustachlet.  If anyone had any doubts about the caliber of Steve Rogers’ character, it is about to be dispersed…

“Whosoever blah blah blah fishcakes, the musical fruit, if he be worthy, something something Burma Shave power of Thor!”  Cap makes short work of his attackers, and where a lesser man might have tried to keep the power for himself as long as possible, he immediately returns the hammer to its rightful owner…

Thor’s fury scatters his enemies, and he personally strikes down Grog the God-Crusher with his bare hands, even repairing the damage to the Avengers Hydrobase headquarters with his lightning (it makes slightly more sense in context, but only slightly) as The Black Knight looks on in wide-eyed wonder.  Seeing The Captain raise Mjolnir, Thor realizes which of his old cronies is the one he must believe…

Another lovely panel from the art-team there, in an issue that is otherwise pretty unremarkable, which makes for a quandary for me in terms of review.  On the one hand, Captain America lifting Mjolnir and flinging away his attackers is an amazing moment, but on the other, this ends up being little more than a placeholder issue, one that cements Thor’s timeline into ongoing events in the Iron Man and Captain America titles, and sets up the run to both Thor #400 and Avengers #400 the next year, revolving around Seth and the awkwardness that we see in the Avengers team early in this issue.  Still, you can’t argue too much with the fact that, when I saw Chris Evans barely move Mjolnir in that ‘Age Of Ultron’ trailer, I immediately thought of the events of this issue, leaving The Mighty Thor #390 with a better-than-average 3 out of 5 stars overall.  An iconic moment, it seems, is an iconic moment regardless of whether the totality of the issue is memorable or not…