MCP #4 – Thor

Marvel Comics Presents #4 (Thor)
“Silent Thunder”
By Al Milgrom
Letters – Jim Novak
Colors – Greg Wright
Assistant Edits – Michael Rockwitz
Edits – Terry Kavanagh
Chief – Tom DeFalco


Here’s the thing… well actually The Thing was our anchor story last issue… but the other “thing” I’d like to discuss is how it looks like Legacy Blogger might not be an option in a li’l bit.


Right now, every time I access my Blogger dashboard, it defaults to the new-look version.  Used to be, that it would force the “new-look” on me like once… twice a month, tops.  I hear through the grapevine that reverting might be going the way of the dodo pretty soon.  I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, eh?


I ain’t happy ’bout it… I’ll tell ya that much.  What else ain’t I happy about?  Well, we gotta spend the next several minutes talking about Thor, for one!


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We open with Thor fighting off some robot exoskeleton things… which, is pretty much all I picture when Thor has a “Midgardian” adventure.  Then… the sensational character find of 1988 shows his pervy face… why, it’s the Fear Bug!!!  After giving us a page recapping his prior attempts to “feed”, he sets his sights on Thor.  After a scan, he learns that this is no ordinary man… and it doesn’t look like he has any fear.

So, what is a pervy fear bug to do?  Hey, I know… let’s make Thor think he’s participating in Ragnarok.  That doesn’t happen like every fourth issue featuring the guy!  Okay, okay, I’m exaggerating… but, it sure feels that way, dunnit?  When our man refuses to go down, the Fear-Eater does… something… inside him to cause him to be kayoed.  What was it… and why didn’t he just do it to the Surfer, The Captain, and The Thing?  Well, your guess is as good as mine.

Thor lays there a bit, dealing with his current situation… before, you guessed it, ultimately overcoming his fear… driving the Fear-Eater away to seek out another host.  When Thor comes to, he realizes he’s still on Earth.

We wrap up with the Fear-Eater spotting his next victim… and, it’s Daredevil!  Get this, though… whatta they call Daredevil?  Oh yeah, The Man Without Fear.  Wonk, wonk, wonkkkkk… R.I.P. in Pieces, Fear-Bug… we hardly knew ye!

—


Welp, I’ll hand it to Milgrom, the Daredevil twist at the end was pretty clever… and it did elicit a chuckle.  Daredevil, if I’m not mistaken, will be our “anchor” story next issue… so, this is a neat way to build a bit more cohesion in the anthology.


The rest of the story?  Weak-city.  I don’t necessarily feel like the Fear-Eater is “played out”, in fact, I think I’d have enjoyed seeing a few more stories with him goofing around the Marvel Universe.  Heck, for all I know, he’ll show up in next issue’s DD feature!  Thor… I’m sorry, gang… I’m never going to be able to summon up enough interest to fully invest in a Thor story.  That ain’t the fault of Milgrom… or the story, just my own personal tastes.


Overall… this is probably the weakest “Fear-Eater” feature.  I wonder if we’ll ever see the li’l bugger again.


Tomorrow: Tyin’ it together…