COMIC DETAILS
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Comic Description:
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Thor 355 Modern
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Grade:
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9.8
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Page Quality:
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WHITE
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Certification #:
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1476875020
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Owner:
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Thorseface
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SET DETAILS
Owner's Description
Thor no. 355: “The Icy Hearts!”
Publication date: May 10, 1985
Census: As of 6/20/23, 18 copies in 9.8 (up by 4), 1 signed (no change). The highest Canadian edition is a single 9.6.
Writer: Simonson
Penciler and Inker: Buscema
Letterer: Workman
Colorist: Scheele
Favorite line and some thoughts:
"In truth, were I told conflicting stories by my father and a floating eyeball...I know which I should believe."
-Buri (Tiwaz)
This is an important issue in the Simonson run as it is the first to feature Sal Buscema's work. Sal, already an old and respected hand at Marvel, agreed to come on board for Walt (I presume so that the latter could take a much-needed break). Here and in his subsequent work on the run Sal strove to emulate Walt's style so as to ensure a sense of continuity with the narrative framework Walt had laid down. It works extremely well; while his pencils lack some of the vitality of Walt's work they are not without a certain charm and earnestness. And Sal is great at drawing a good superhero tussle. Walt has said that it was an honor to collaborate with Sal. I suppose it was a sort of trial issue for Sal as far as the collaboration was concerned, since his real stint began with issue 368. If that was the case Walt was very happy, since he has called this one of his favorite issues in the entire run.
Tiwaz, or Buri, is referenced in the Prose Edda. He is the first man, licked from a salty ice block by the primeval cow, Audhumla. He is father to Bor, grandfather to Odin, and great-grandfather to Thor. Walt located his home in the far northern regions of Asgard, in the icy wastes. He exists outside of time, it seems, perhaps even outside the time of the Aesir, living in a state of divine retirement. His icy house is a nod to his mythological origins.
Walt has described this issue as Thor's struggle to come to terms with Odin's death and his own regrets about his relationship with his father. Despite the icy setting, it is a sympathetic and even heartwarming description of the emotional work required to press on after the loss of a loved one. There is some humor here, too. Buri's line about the "floating eyeball" is Walt's not-so-subtle reference to the disembodied eye of Odin that Thor met in Roy Thomas' Thor 292. The eyeball gave a rather different account of Odin's origins, one that Walt rather jokingly if firmly dismisses here. In other words, it was a time when creators still had to reckon seriously with continuity or be prepared to answer whiney letters from the readership.
Tiwaz would appear once in Louise Simonson's run on the New Mutants (issues 82-84, if I'm not mistaken), this time to aid the young mutant heroes.
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