DeFalco/Frenz Retrospective: Thor #443


 

Writer: Tom DeFalco
Penciler: Ron Frenz

Synopsis: Eric journey's to Mephisto's realm to retrieve his stolen hammer. 

Comments: The cover reminds of me of the cover of Thor #412. 



The title of this story taken from the horror film and also novel, The Mephisto Waltz, which is turn was taken from music by Liszt. 

I couldn't find it on TV Tropes, but I remember Richard Roeper mentioned the movie law where the hero will storm in and the assistant will try to hold them back or say "You can't go in there!" and the person they want to see will say it's fine. That actually happened to me once when I worked in an office and told someone to wait and the person just barged in the office. Fortunately, the person they wanted to see was okay. But I digress. There's no asterisk but Strange met the new Thor in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #35, during the whole Infinity Gauntlet crossover. 




We're still lead to believe Thor is being held captive by Mephisto. I'm not sure how fair they're playing with the audience by having Thor's face on the bag. 




I like the weapon that doesn't have any real shape, but manifests itself like a gun for Eric. 



Eric is pretty good at rock climbing. Drat, he looses the amulet meant to conceal him like how Don Blake stepped on a twig in Journey into Mystery #83. Eric's joke about using the amulet to go into the girl's locker room would probably not be used today, but Dr. Strange does call him out and Eric is under stress. 





Another Terminator 2 reference. I think Tom may like the movie more than J.D. Vance's grandmother in Hillbilly Elegy. 




Dr. Strange sends help in the form of the Silver Surfer. The Surfer knows how to get to Mephisto's realm as he demonstrated in Mephisto's first appearance in Silver Surfer #3. 



Mephisto tries to tempt the Surfer as he did in Silver Surfer #3, but the Surfer breaks free in the same way. 





Eric is aided by a mysterious force and gets the cane back and think he's finally found Thor, but is teleported away before he can free him. For some reason, this was listed among "Thor's Top 10 Most Embarrassing Moments" in Thor: The Legend. 






Strange and the Surfer think the Thor bag is just another ruse by Mephisto and are not going back to his realm. Eric finally gets evicted for the destruction to his apartment. 








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