The Mighty Thor #363 Review

Issue Review
The Mighty Thor #363

Direct Market Release Date: September 24, 1985

Credits

Title: This Kursed Earth...!
Story: Walter Simonson
Art: Walter Simonson
Lettering: John Workman
Colors: Max Scheele
Editing: Ralph Macchio
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

Summary

The Mighty Thor returns to Earth from Hel after rescuing the souls stolen by Malekith. He is soon accosted by two homeless individuals who accuse him and the Avengers of being out of touch with their needs. Thor silences them by telling them that he had just returned from the halls of death "for the sake of thy fellow mortals", and shows them his recently scarred and disfigured face.

Meanwhile, the unstoppable curse has climbed out from the bottom of the building that he was buried under during his recent confrontation with Power Pack, and walks the streets searching for Thor. Power Pack backtrack along Kurse's path of destruction looking for anyone injured bystanders when they come across Beta Ray Bill. The heroes decide to find Thor and warn him of Kurse's impending attack.

Some time ago, the Beyonder resurrected Algrim the Elf from the bottom of the ocean and, granting him improved powers, set him on a quest to fulfill his main desire - to kill Thor. From his new base of operations, he monitors Kurse's progress as he finally encounters Thor, and the two heavyweights begin to battle.

The Beyonder arrives at the site of the battle and finds that he identifies with Thor's power and inner conflict. Interested in testing him, the Beyonder increases Kurse's power. Thor is nearly beaten when Power Pack and Beta Ray Bill arrive to help.

Kurse is so consumed with rage towards Thor, that he suffers frequent flashbacks to their previous battle. During the fight, he begins to remember that the source of his anger was caused by a betrayed by Malekith, who replaces Thor as the object of Kurse's rage. He is finally taken down by a blast from young Energizer, whose powers are focused through the hammers of Beta Ray Bill and Thor.

Sensing that Kurse's powers were amplified by the Beyonder, Thor calls him out. The Beyonder appears, and offers to send Kurse back from where he came. Thor recommends sending him back to Hel to get revenge on his betrayer, Malekith. The Beyonder senses that Thor also hopes that Kurse will make life tough for the death goddess, Hela, who disfigured him, and is pleased by the irony.

Katie Power expresses her anger at the Beyonder, and how his creation hurt their mother. He tells her that hurting him would make her no better than Kurse. The Beyonder restores power to Thor and Beta Ray Bill's hammers, and leaves.

Thor is about to leave for Asgard, when he is approached by a woman under one of Loki's spells. She kisses him, and Thor is turned into a frog.

Quotes

Caption: He had found four gifted children and brought them tragedy, and they had buried him beneath the ruins of a building that collapsed during their furious battle. But his power, and his hate were perhaps beyond dying, and eventually he climbed out of the depths a second time and stood unbowed before the sun. he uttered one word... A word that encompassed all the hatred and fury of his despair. A word upon which the whole of his being was focused, as though there were nothing else in all the world hut his hatred and the word. And the word was...
Kurse: THOR!

Thor: Who art thou to despise those who have set their lives at hazard to safeguard this world and all who inhabit it? While ye slept here in safety, I stood in the halls of DEATH itself! And all for the sake of thy fellow mortals!

The Beyonder: At the time, I had thought Kurse would show me something of the nature of humans... But I have already learned more than such a simple being can teach me. Perhaps I should release my energy from his shell and return him to his former state. But I see that he has finally found Thor after all this time... So why not let the experiment finish anyway.

The Beyonder: Again and again, Thor rises to his feet when even a worthy foe would see no shame in surrendering to the inevitable. Yet in the end, there can be only one result. Why does Thor fight on?

Katie Power: I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!
The Beyonder: Why should you hate ME, Katie? I took your Mommy to the Hospital?
Katie Power: Because YOU made Kurse, and Kurse hurt Mommy! You're a BAD man! I wish I could DISINTEGRATE you!
The Beyonder: Then you would be just like Kurse and that wouldn't be any good, would it? But maybe doing good is what makes somebody a part of the family. That may be just what I'm looking for. Because all the power in the universe can't make you good. You have to choose it.

Commentary

Secret Wars II crosses over into Walter Simonson's epic run on Thor, here wrapping up the Kurse subplot from Power Pack #18. One almost has to wonder if there wasn't more to the Kurse subplot. It began in Secret Wars II #4, and then went nowhere for a few months, save for an occasional panel of the Beyonder wondering how far along Kurse had come in his journey to destroy Thor. Even now, as the plot comes to a close, Simonson has the Beyonder admit that he's not even that interested in his creation anymore. It feels like the Kurse story was either shortened, or had been delayed so long that the simplistic reasons Kurse was created no longer fit the Beyonder's evolving character. This story thread did do a nice job of pacing Kurse's character development though, slowly revealing his insanity and the true object of his anger.

The Simonson's were able to successfully cross two unlikely titles, as the hammers of Thor and Beta Ray Bill needed to be magnified using Power Pack's powers in order to defeat Kurse. There's also some nice twists here as Katie finds out that the Beyonder, who helped rescue their mother from Kurse, was in fact the same man who created the threat in the first place.

The Beyonder's end speech about family is a little hokey and contrived, but no doubt intentional, and show that for all his omnipotence, the Beyonder still doesn't quite grasp how things work. There also seems to be a lettering error, as the Beyonder bafflingly states "In the future, I shall choose good. But I can choose it for everyone!". Would it not read better if he said that he "can't"?

Up next...

Secret Wars II continues in Power Man and Iron Fist #121!