Hey everybody, welcome back to another great week in Ye Olde School Café! This week, we’ll take a trip back and look at a great story – Thor: The Black Galaxy Saga! In this tale, we see a myriad of characters like Hercules, The High Evolutionary, the Avengers, and obviously the Thunder god himself, Thor! This story was conceived by Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz (Thor #416-425, 1990).
At this point in Thor’s life he was bound to the human Eric Masterson. Also, the mighty Hercules was not quite himself after an adventure into space, and he was basically living on Eric’s couch. Eric was in the midst a divorce, and although at first his wife said she didn’t want to take of their son, Kevin, she soon changed her tune and was fighting for custody. Obviously the life of a superhero is one that demands immediate attention to others most of the time, so it didn’t look good for Eric as far as keeping his son. Now, let us journey back to 1990 and this thrilling tale of science fiction and fantasy!
One moment things are fine, and the next thing you know, Hercules is in an uproar about something. He starts shouting and acts as if he’s in a trance of some sort. He yells out that “the stars are alive” and “they’re calling out to me.” Eric doesn’t understand at first what’s going on, but he will eventually know, and be afraid. Meanwhile, in a dark alleyway of the Bronx, a homeless man is startled by the appearance of a strange being from outer space. The being uses some kind of hypnotizing beams from his eyes to calm the man down, and then he basically sucks the life force from the man, leaving him for dead. A couple of police officers hear a ruckus and investigate. The first officer to see the alien draws his weapon, but this traveler from another world is faster, and again hypnotizes his victim. He then commands the officer to fire on his partner. The other cop dodges the shots, and then this is when Eric hears and changes into Thor. Thor immediately goes after the alien, but soon realizes this is no ordinary villain. Thor uses Mjolnir to deflect the eye beams, and the alien is impressed, but still continues his assault. He transforms the police officer into some kind of multiple-armed beast that savagely attacks the son of Odin. Thor shrugs him off, and then uses Mjolnir to summon a flash of lightning to disperse the alien and the beast. The alien is again quite impressed with Thor’s power, and tries another trick by using a bulldozer to attack Thor. As Thor is pushing the machine aside, the alien grabs his arm. Thor is astounded that this being has the amount of power to challenge him. Thor’s arm freezes like ice after the alien grabs him. This is what the alien uses to escape to find another victim.
As all that is going on, Hercules is at home just chilling out. He gets an unexpected visitor, though, and the visitor is the Dark Dweller that just fought Thor. Hercules is totally caught off guard and gets his brain zapped by the villain. Thor changes back into his human counterpart Eric, and then heads home. As he enters the threshold, he’s grabbed by Hercules who is still under the spell of this villain. The Dweller then hears someone else approaching. He quickly grabs that person, who just happens to be Eric’s assistant, Susan Austin. The Dweller commands Hercules to kill Eric, and he then throws him with all his force out onto the balcony. Eric can’t seem to hold on and falls towards the unforgiving pavement below. At the last second, he grabs his cane and then strikes it on the ground just as he hits. In a pile of rubble, we see the ground begin to shake, and Sue is going berserk because she thinks Eric is dead (she’s secretly in love with him). As Herc and the Dweller look over the balcony to the ground, they’re amazed that Thor rises from the rubble. The Dweller commands Herc to finish the job, but Thor is ready for him this time. He throws Mjolnir at Herc, but at his feet so the strap grabs hold of him, and redirects his momentum. As the two titans fight, the Dweller escapes with Sue. Thor notices this and quickly ends the struggle with his friend.
As we all know, there are many things happening at once, and we see two quick interludes during this wild fight. One that shows us the High Evolutionary and his companion, Count Tagar, aboard a ship in the deepest part of space talking about creating something powerful for his own purpose. We also watch as Odin wakes up from a nightmare, thrashing and screaming. His wife, Heimdall, and Vizier all come to see what has startled him, but he won’t surrender any information and tells them to get out. He mumbles to himself that the end is near for everyone, even gods! Back in the Bronx, we see that Thor is hot on the trail of his enemy. He catches up to the Dweller, but then is blindsided by a punch from Hercules, who is still under the spell of the Dweller. Thor then uses Mjolnir to create a tornado and whisk away the threat of Hercules, and also get the people out of harm’s way. He then turns his attention to the Dark Dweller. He uses his mighty hammer to create a flash of lightning to distract him, and then unleashes an enormous punch to the alien. This has him reeling, and he appears to want to retreat. Thor uses Mjolnir to create a whirlwind of sorts that swallows up the intangible form of the alien. He then directs it towards the sun and unleashes it. The Dark Dweller tells him that he cannot be killed, but Thor tells him that may be so, but he can still be punished. We then see a life form speeding towards Earth that looks very familiar. So much so that it seems to mirror the looks of Thor himself!
Well, that’s it for this week, but tune in next week for more of this crazy adventure with Thor, Hercules, and a whole host of others. Be here to see The Wrecking Crew!
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net