BHOC: THOR #262

Brevoort History of Comics

This issue of THOR was one of two that I got in my Christmas gift of the SUPERHERO GIFT PACK. While I was reading the series at this point, it wasn’t truly one of my favorite. Mostly that was due to the extended periods the book would spend in Asgard, where it often felt more like a sword & sorcery series. Which makes sense, as that genre, as embodied by Conan, had become a strong force in the industry. Even in a tale like this one, set in deep space, that sense of S & S came across quite clearly. Some of that, I’m sure, was down to the visuals of the artistic team, who gave even the more sci-fi concepts and environments a hint of the flavor of old-world castles and dungeons and the like.

That mismatched artistic team was Walt Simonson and Tony DeZuniga. Walt was providing breakdowns only, so the overall storytelling moves and set-ups were his. His work already showcases the kind of design work that he would come to embody in just a few short years. But here, his line was buried under the finishes of DeZuniga, who was a very heavy embellisher. DeZuniga was a terrific artist all on his own, but when he worked over other artists, he dominated to the point where you might not recognize the penciler. As here, in particular all of the faces and heads would be redone in Tony’s style.

The writer was Len Wein, who could always be depended upon to spin a decent yarn. Here, the story opens up with Thor, Sif and Fandral having been captured while attempting to search the stars for the missing All-Father, Odin (The Asgardians used to lose Odin something like once every two years back in the 1970s.) So the opening half involved an enormous infodump on what’s going on. Thor and his friends are on Templeworld, a planet whose people and operations were sustained by its god, the One Above All, until that being exhausted his energies in staving off an attacking alien armada. Since that time, the Templeworlders have sought out replacement gods to power their cities–and of course, the latest one they have conscripted is Odin himself.

But even Odin’s energies are now beginning to dwindle, and that means that the Templeworlders are going to need a new source of godly energies–and Thor is looking mighty choice to them. Elsewhere, Hogun the Grim, Volstagg and the Rigellian Recorder are attempting to sneak into the city and rescue their compatriots, giving the issue some much-needed action as the trio face off with and conquer a patrolling Techno-Tracker while making their approach.

After a brief interlude back in Asgard, wherein Balder the Brave and Karnilla are attacked by someone posing as Thor, we return to our trio scaling the outer walls of the city and attempting to find entrance therein. Here, they are beset upon by Carrion Birds, but Volstagg in particular, so often little more than the butt of fat jokes during this period, proves his mettle and saves Hogun’s life. While all this is happening, Odin’s life-force is continuing to dwindle away. As the All-Father appears to expire, he asks Thor not to blame these dying aliens for his demise.

This all pisses off the Thunder God so much that he’s able to break free of his shackles in a murderous rage. Clearly, he is not heeding Odin’s final wishes. What’s more, he’s joined by Sif and Heimdall as well as Hogun, Volstagg and the Recorder, who have also arrived. Team Asgard proceeds to wipe the floor with everything in its vicinity, prompting K’rll and N’gll, the two head Templeworlders, to attempt a dire gambit. While Odin is gone, they still have a great deal of the Odin-Force held in their batteries, and K’rll has N’gll feed it into him. He’ll be able to shape it into a form and control it as a weapon.

And so, this issue wraps up with the Asgardian heroes facing an enormous creature, the Odin-Force personified in humanoid form. To Be Continued! That TBC wasn’t any big deal for me, as the next issue was also in that same SUPERHERO GIFT PACK. But we’ll get to that in due time. It isn’t a bad issue, but I can’t help but think that it would have been a much better issue had a more fitting finisher worked over Walt’s breakdowns. His aesthetic if present, but it’s like looking at it through a fog.

Published

34 thoughts on “BHOC: THOR #262”

  1. At the time this run was coming out, I was also annoyed by the DeZuniga finishes — and by the Alcala finishes on RAMPAGING HULK.

    It was only years later that I realized there wasn’t a lot of Simonson linework DeZuniga was “burying” — the breakdowns were loose, just a platform on which DeZuniga was hired to do his thing. So it wasn’t “Simonson art buried by heavy inks,” it was “DeZuniga art with really great storytelling.”

    And then sometime after that I found out that Walter had deliberately chosen to take on jobs where he could do this — that he felt he was too slow to draw a monthly book, and if he took jobs that were all about the layouts, not the finishes, he could train himself to do it faster, to get his instincts firing in a way that didn’t involve a lot of second-guessing and getting bogged down.

    So Marvel got what they wanted — a THOR book with Kirby-ish storytelling but with more fantasy-oriented rendering with lots of illustrated texture — and Walter got what he wanted — a job where he could push himself to focus of storytelling, not surface drawing. But I still wanted pure Simonson.

    We eventually got it, but it took a while…

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

    1. As a kid, I really enjoyed the look of those early RAMPAGING HULK issues. Simonson and Alcala are about as far apart stylistically as two artists can be, but somehow the combination “clicked” for me, in a way that Simonson/DeZuniga didn’t quite.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    2. I liked Alacal a little but never warmed to DeZuniga. Would it be called finisher or just plain artist? Anyways, DeZuniga was to me best suited for other genres, ones I also didn’t care for. There are times when I enjoy an artist suited for one genre tackling another. Perlin on Defenders and Calmee on Alpha Flight are two examples. Both were best suited for the mundane and rather than be a mismatch, both gave the series I mentioned a very grounded fantastical. What’s weird is Alcala kinda makes me think of Ploog and I don’t think I ever read a book Ploog drew that I didn’t love.

      Like

      Reply

      1. I never liked Alcala on anything.

        It wasn’t a matter of skill — I could admire the craft he put into it, and see the artistry. I just didn’t like it. It looked to me like everything and everyone had been dipped in bear grease.

        So I could understand why he was a good choice for, say, SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN. I just, personally, would have preferred someone else.

        DeZuniga I wasn’t wild about, but I didn’t dislike as much as Alcala.

        And DC wound up using both of them over Gene Colan, because of lack of better alternatives, Colan’s best inkers being under contract (or at least busy) at Marvel, and I think that was a poor solution.

        Liked by 2 people

      2. I like Mike Ploog too. Funny how I can remember I have a couple of Mike Ploog drawn books ( Werewolf by Night & The Monster of Frankenstein/Frankenstein Monster ) but not Darwyn Cooke’s The Spirit.

        Like

  2. Those armoured aliens on page 14 reminds me of Walt’s armoured members of The Right ( because of the helmets with “teeth” ). Plus I assume that to avoid detection was the reason the Recorder didn’t just fly himself, Hogun & Volstagg up that building?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. It made a reappearance as the Soul-Eater [ Quasar#35-36 ( June-July 1992 ) drawn by Greg Capullo ( best thing to happen to Quasar ) & inked by Harry Candelario ) ] in a much much much etc. larger size.

      Like

      Reply

  4. I think Alcala & DeZuniga were both very strong artists. I liked Alcala when he inked his own drawing. I still remember his art in the early “Master of the Universe” “mini-comics” that came packaged with the toys. Some powerful stuff. But his inks would overpower too many other artists’ drawing, to the point where those artists’ styles were unrecognizable. I felt robbed of seeing the attributes that I looked forward from those artists. Don Newton comes to mind. Alcala’s moody atmospherics seemed more appropriate for horror comics. Some of the Batman comics he was inking did seem to lean towards grotesque villains & grisly crimes. But his effect on Batman’s appearance wasn’t what I was looking for. Especially from the great Don Newton.

    Colan’s art is pretty unique. His strengths still came through under a wide variety of inkers. I could still recognize Gene’s style under Alcala’s inks, but it wasn’t a favorite combination for me for Superheroes. All those black backgrounds with the white specks. Maybe for “Dracula”. Bob Smith did a very decent job over Gene’s drawings, and there are several panels that are actual standouts. My favorite inker for Gene, especially on any Batman stories, was Klaus Janson.

    Tony DeZuniga drew & inked some beautiful stuff. His own full art is often stunning. He wasn’t “faithful” to the styles of other artists. In this case, as Kurt revealed, Tony was doing the finished drawing & inking over Walt’s storytelling. (Walt’s “layouts”? Breakdowns”? Different artists have given me different definitions for each.) Tony inking John Buscema’s drawing could look really good in spots, but not always immediately recognizable as J.Buscema’s drawing. For J.Buscema fans, it could have a dampening effect. I didn’t mind Tony’s inks over Colan’s work as much. The tick, atmospheric finishes didn’t subtract from the overall mood, especially if it fit the tone and type of story.

    Tony inked Klaus Janson on a “Detective Comics” annual. If I wasn’t such a big Klaus Janson fan, I wouldn’t have minded so much. Janson needs to ink himself. Only he can make his drawings transcendent. The pages drawn by Klaus and inked by Tony looked flat, the faces & figures’ distorted weaknesses were magnified. The magic of Janson’s cinematic lighting and wet-slate sharpness was gone. Similarly for an issue of Wolverine that Tom Palmer inked over Klaus’s drawing. Both well deserved celebrated inkers. But only Janson should ink Janson.

    Tony inked John Byrne on a Marvel Team-Up, featuring Spidey and Thor vs. the Living Monolith. (Tom covered it in a previous article.) And the result was, in my limited opinion, the best visual work with Byrne’s name on it I’ve ever seen. There are a few smudgy panels, especially of small figures. But Tony’s lighting really added volume and depth to Byrne’s characters. Many of Byrne’s tropes for drawing figures and faces are gone, replaced with a naturalistic touch, leaning towards fine-arts.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I really liked DeZuniga’s inks on Byrne on the Team-up Monolith issue. I also liked his finishes on Simonson on a Thor issue featuring Stiltman. I’m sure I encountered his work elsewhere but those two issues stick in my head.

      Alcala was a heavy inker but I generally liked his work over Simonson on the Hulk mag and on Pollard in an Ironman issue.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. I’ll have to look those up, thanks. I like Pollard’s work w/ smoother, slicker inks than I associate w/ Alcala’s, but it’s worth it to me to see what that art ream looked like.

        Like

    2. I remember reading an interview with Byrne where he mentioned really liking that DeZuniga-inked TEAM-UP issue as well. Something to the effect of “That was the first time the finished art looked like what I was picturing in my head”.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      2. MARVEL TEAM-UP #70 was June 1978, so Byrne had been on X-MEN for a few issues by that point. I found the exact quote, from THE ART OF JOHN BYRNE (which came out in 1980):

        “Well, so far, the one inker who’s come the closest to looking finished, as it looks in my head, was Tony DeZuniga on the one TEAM-UP, which is not to put anybody else down. It’s just that when that book came out, it looked as it had looked in my head…my pencils don’t look as they look in my head, but that book looked like what was in my head. Beyond that flash in the pan, obviously Terry Austin is superb. He does a couple of things I don’t like…little things with zip-a-tone occasionally, but they’re so trivial as to be hardly worth mentioning.”

        Liked by 2 people

      3. Thanks for that Byrne quote. Interesting that Byrne said his drawing is often not what he saw in his head. I’m not a big fan of his work. I see more flaws in it, considering how endeared it is to so many.

        Id like to see something he’s really taken his time with. Because of the payment structures then, he drew as many comics as he could a month.

        I know he’s got the talent & skill to draw even better than he has.

        Liked by 1 person

      4. I like his work, as it set a standard for comics back then. Even though he was mostly trying to be Neal Adams, it elevated the bar. I think I measured everyone against Byrne and Perez at the time that X-Men and New Teen Titans were going on. Looking back, the art isn’t as perfect as I thought. But for its time, it’s still damned good. I know a lot people didn’t like when he changed his art style either, but I grew accustomed to it and in many ways liked it better than some of his old stuff.

        Liked by 1 person

      5. @Faust, I wasn’t sure, who’d you mean changed their style, Byrne or Perez? And when did they change it, on which book? Just curious.

        Perez really tightened up his style @:DC. Teen Titans, Crisis on Infinite Earths, & Wonder Woman were all way beyond HHS earlier Marvel work, in my opinion

        Byrne seemed to cut more corners. Like “short hand”, as opposed to becoming fine tuned, like Barry Windsir-Smith, Art Adams, Mike Mignola (in the1990s) or Simonson. Or even more naturalistic, like Perez on Wonder Woman. Byrne’s inks got looser. Overall it seemed sloppier.More cartoony & cluttered. No offense.

        Like

    3. Funnily enough, one of my favorite Byrne runs was on Wolverine. He was inked by Janson. Two styles that are so different, that I couldn’t imagine it being any good at all. But I really liked it. Janson added some rawness and rough edges to Byrne’s work that made it look even more powerful.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. i have those Byrne/Janson issues. Written by Archie Goodwin, I think.You can tell who the artists are if you’re already familiar with them. Janson has over powered others like Jurgens’, or Graham Nolan (and I’m OK w/ that). But Byrne is distinct enough to stay recognizable. Klaus ys did add some grit to Byrne’s stuff. And it worked well for Wolverine.

        Liked by 1 person

      4. Well, wouldn’t you know…was just reading Avengers 182 with my kid. And as it turns out, Byrne pencils with Janson inks (also on 183)! This was before Byrne started to change his style, so the effect isn’t quite the same. But I guess I had forgotten that Janson had inked him back then too.

        Liked by 1 person

      5. Wow! Byrne & Janson on Avengers 182 & 183? Thanks for that. I’ll have to search for those. I liked Dan Green’s inks over Byrne’s drawing. That was maybe roughly around that time.

        Liked by 1 person

      6. Dave Hunt was my favorite Byrne inker. Austin was good but everyone he inked looked like Austin art mostly. He was like a then modern Sinnot, overwhelming every artist he touched.

        Liked by 1 person

      7. Yea, it was the early Byrne run on Avengers. Perez had been on the book, then it was several fill-ins I guess, before Byrne came on. David Michelinie wrote the issues we just read.

        Liked by 1 person

      8. I have seen Avengers 182 & 183. Really liked that art combination. Klaus adds that magic lighting no one else does, and it gives Byrne’s stuff a depth and edge it normally doesn’t have. There’s grit, but also a slickness. Byrne draws maybe my fave version of the Beast, and Klaus makes it even better.

        Liked by 1 person

      9. Jansen can be good so it’s a shame he and Romita Junior seem a team anymore. The combo looks like layouts done with thick Sharpies to me

        Like

      10. Hmm. I liked JR,Jr. and Klaus together on the Avengers 15 years ago. During Bendis’s run. “The Heroic Age”.

        Like

      11. That was a bit too sloppy looking to my taste. Now it’s blocky, scratchy, and looks like they raced each other to see who could do their part of the job fastest.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Looking at the cover, it really brings home that John Buscema and Joe Sinnott really were the Marvel Swan/Anderson of the period . . . .

    Like

    Reply

  6. Another one I haven’t read. I’m not sure if we just didn’t see many Thor comics on the racks or it was just because we didn’t like the character (we didn’t really). At some point I’m going to read through these in the Epic collections. I’m not sure what I’ll think about this art, as it’s difficult to look at without thinking about what Simonson would do years later.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment