As I - once again - have to split off material in the bonus section into two parts I needed to come up with new topic for a post but as usual I´m only using an old one because I thought which better time than this to start my often postponed SOUL SHROUD SAGA series starring Eric Masterson ?
Longtime readers already know this but since it may be new to first time visitors I am a big fan of Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz especially when they work together like in their THOR run that followed on the heels of Walter Simonson´s epic revitalization of the title. Because they came in right after one of the best THOR runs ever a lot of people skipped their issues and dimiss them which may be one of the reasons why I like it so much.
I know it borders on sacrilege but for me it is a guilty pleasure that I would rate even above the Walter Simonson THOR run and in fact when I had to get rid of my whole comicbook collection I had no problem selling my two Artist´s Editions of Walter Simonon´s THOR but I just couldn´t get with the idea to sell all of my issues of the Tom DeFalco / Ron Frenz THOR run.
Epecially since I had just managed to fill all the gaps a few months prior. In the end I had to sell those issues - as I sold all my issues of THE MIGHTY THOR - but I kept all the Epic Collections from that run and the complete run of THUNDERSTRIKE. Speaking of which, Thunderstrike will not be appearing in this series although it is about Eric Materson. I had the hope that we would get to see Thunderstrike in the Thor movies and then I hoped he didn´t since I only liked the first Thor movie but now they have essentially turned Thor into Thunderstrike but are still calling him Thor.
The only good thing that came from all of this is a new interest in Eric Masterson by the few initiated who know where the inspiration for the new Disney princess Thor we see on the big screen nowadays comes from.
Before we head into the pool I want to include a few links for those new blog visitors who might want to check out my older posts starting with Tom DeFalco whose FANTASTIC FOUR run with the late PaulRyan ( who has a lengthy FLASH FRIDAY seriesontheblog) I really enjoyed. So much that I prepared a ton of stuff about it but like so many other series I never got around to start it. He also wrote the MC2 titles like AVENGERS NEXT, JUGGERNAUT 2, AMERICAN DREAMER, FANTASTIC FIVE, Wolverine and Psylocke´s daughter WILD THING, LAST HERO STANDING and LAST PLANET STANDING but I never did a spotlight post on them. There is however another MC2 title, the best known one SPIDERGIRL and I did indeed write twoposts on the book in 2017 since he teamed up with Ron Frenz again.
Speaking of Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz teaming up on spider - books they also did a lengthy run on AMAZING SPIDER - MAN back when I started to get into reading american comicbooks and was still buying all my issues at the international press newsstand in Stuttgart so I wrote twotribute posts to that and especially in homage to the platin blonde mercenary Silver Sable who for me is one of the most criminally underused female characters in Spider - Man history. Thankfully she had a big part in the AssasiNation Plot storyline during ToddMcFarlane´s run on the title .
Which brings us to their collaboration on THOR and Eric Masterson, about whom I wrote three posts. The first one way back in 2014 in which we covered everything from THOR 383 - which was the first issue of Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz and a SECRET WARS tie in - up to Thor´s battle with the Celestials and Captain America ( back then wearing the red and white costume that would become the U.S. Agent´s uniform and going by the name The Captain and you can read about his fights with Iron Man in my Bob Layton Iron Man spotlightposts) lifting Mjolnir for the first time.
I wrote my second Eric Masterson post in 2015 in which we continued our journey making a jump to THOR 430 covering the broad strokes of THE SOUL SHROUD SAGA. My readers had to wait for my third Eric Masterson post until 2017 but for that they were rewarded with the full issue 433 which is the first outing of Eric Masterson as the official new Thor. Which we will be skipping especially since it has no big impact in the SOULD SHROUD SAGA storyline. There is also my Mark Texeira GHOST RIDER tribute post from 2014 in which I wrote about how I had stopped reading THOR and started again because of THOR issue 430 which was the second part of a story that guest - starred Ghost Rider and led right into THE SOUL SHROUD SAGA ( and from which I will be copy / pasting just a few things ).
There are also two Ron Frenz posts with the nice pictures he posts on facebook and the second one is an all - Thor post that includes original art from his THOR issues. Last but not least I also did twoposts about the work he did for Marvel Comics Distinguished Competition namely the famous Zap Superman and the SUPERMAN RED SUPERMAN BLUE storyline.
Now Eric Masterson was a callback to the original Thor series - as you might say was the entire THOR run by Tom DeFalco - in that at first you had two different personas trading places with each other like Rick Jones and Captain Marvel before or even Billy Batson and the original Captain Marvel from Fawcett Comics. Both were separate individuals and when one appeared the other vanished. Like it had been the case with Doctor Donald Blake and Thor in the earliest issues of THOR. The original part came when Thor disappeared to parts unknown ( this mystery unfolded in the what I like to call THE SOUL SHROUD SAGA as nobody else has cared to put a name on it ) and Eric Masterson had to fill in for Thor full time. This was really the first time somebody from Midgard had to learn the ropes of wielding the power of Thor while struggling with trying to lead a normal life. Which in the case of Eric Masterson meant working as an architect and having a semi normal relationship with his son while sharing custody with his ex - wife and her new husband who was a rich football player.
It was really the first time we saw a mere mortal struggling with having to live up to the standards of a god ( even when Donald Blake had no idea that he was the original Thor he was on autopilot when he became the god of thunder ) so it´s no wonder I got hooked. Plus, he went back to the bearded look Simonson brought into the comics. I was so disappointed when the clean shaven girly man Thor made a comeback and Eric stayed true to the beard through his short lived career from replacement Thor to Thunderstrike. Which I also followed religiously. Even though Eric had not to wrestle with having to fill Thor´s boots anymore now he had to find a place for himself in the world and prove to the hero community that he was a hero in his own rights and not only a cheap Thor knockoff whom the Avengers would call when Thor was busy. The story sure had potential but the writers never got the right handle on him and finally decided to take the easy way out and kill him off. With all the reality changing / bending / melding all - new, all - different Marvel NOW stuff I was hoping they would bring Thunderstrike back but I guess it´s too much to expect that even one single good thing comes out of all of this crap rehashing old stories.
Coming back to THE SOUL SHROUD SAGA ( at least that´s what I like to call it, I don´t know if anybody else does ), the story began in THOR issue 432 and was finally resolved in issue 457, 25 issues later. So it went on for two years. No, wait, even longer than that because technically speaking the story already started in issue 429. Okay, if you really want to get anal about it the story really starts in issue 441 but that´s too complicated.
I COULD begin at the real beginning of the story but I don´t think this would make much sense to my readers. Also since I would be going in reverse I would have a countdown, starting with seven and then going down to one or zero. Or I could go in the order in which the issues came out but then I have a lot of " this will be important later on "in this.
As it is we will include the big clash between Thor and Loki that sets the whole thing off ( so to speak but not really ) but we will start a few issues earlier with something we didn´t know was important then and finally go on forward to the real beginning. I know I am kind of vague but I am trying not to spoil too much for those who don´t know the SOUL SHROUD SAGA.
HOW SUBZERO GOT HIS LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE BACK or HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE MIGHTY THOR ( AGAIN )
Now I don´t know why I stopped reading THOR and I´m not sure which issue was my last one since I have gotten some of the missing issues.
Maybe it was the whole " been there, done that " feeling I got from the book which was further emphasized by the new look Ron Frenz and Joe Sinnott were going for which greatly emulated the classic Jack Kirby look.
Maybe I had the feeling the book was going nowhere which may have been an error on my part because after the big climax of issue 400 things were supposed to be quieter and building up to something. Maybe I decided to cut down my pull list for monetary reasons and THOR was just one of the books that landed easily on the chopping block or it might have been that the comic shop skipped some issues - which happened a lot.
Whatever the reason somewhere between Thor and Hercules´ fights against Doctor Doom, the Wrecker and his Wrecking Crew, the Juggernaut, the Black Galaxy Saga, the introduction of the New Warriors, the guest starring of Excalibur and the return of the Juggernaut who became ruler of the alien planet Thor had exiled him to I fell off the THOR bandwagon.
Until issue 430 which guest starred the Ghost Rider in a story called " The god, the ghost and the guilty ! ". When Howard Mackie reintroduced the Ghost Rider - or rather the NEW Ghost Rider - one of the main mysteries surrounding this spirit of vengeance was if and in which way he was connected to his predecessor or the underworld and its ruler Mephisto.
Ghost Rider had already made an appearance in issue 429 but since he wasn´t on the cover I jumped into the story with issue 430. I had hoped to learn something new about the Ghost Rider and while as always you just got another small hint that didn´t really reveal anything a subplot was going on that indeed had started long ago and would have more important ramifications down the road. And especially for Loki. In the issue Loki paid Mephisto a visit and readers saw the mysterious soul shroud for the first time ( although it was not quite finished at this point ) and learned of its mystic ability to capture the sould of a dead asgardian. Loki struck some kind of bargain with Mephisto and at the end of the issue the finished soul shroud was revealed to us with the face of the mighty Thor on it.
The next issue was drawn by Herb Trimpe and I really didn´t dig the art which is why we are skipping it. The story is just your run of the mill Thor versus Ulik brawl while Loki drains the Wrecker´s asgardian power, killing him in the process. I have never been a big fan of trying to humanize villains because I think that the basic make up of a person decides if they become a hero or a villain. Let´s face it : both heroes and villains have the same origin stories but their own nature decides if they turn their tragedy into something positive or not. So I don´t want to know what Freddy Kruger or Jason did before they became the psychos we all love to hate.
THOR issue 432 was the big 350th appearance of Thor and to celebrate that Loki and Thor faced of in a final duel to the death. In what was their final confrontation ( or so I thought at that time ) Loki was unusually brutal and determined, even going so far as to trying to kill Eric´s son Kevin afterwards - whom took hostage to entice Thor to battle him - but instead Loki ended up slaying Eric´s friend and love interest Susan Austin.
Loki is ready to be taken back to Asgard and take his punishment but Thor can´t take it anymore. Loki has crossed the final line so he has no choice and does what he is never allowed : take the life of another asgardian.
Although Thor´s action was justified Odin´s decree stays true so Thor is whisked away to Asgard to be judged and Loki is dead for good. Or is he ?
I don´t want to say too much ( especially since this will be explored in future posts about Thor ) but there are still many unexpected twists and turns waiting for us not the least one the surprise ending of this issue.
hammer time
links
and the SUPERGIRL COMIC BOX COMMENTARY has twoposts on the Strange Visitor storyline in which Professor Hamilton recycled Superman´s old Zap Superman containment suit
videos
paste
more
videos
banner
quote of the day