Thor #328
Violence in Video
The Asgardians still celebrating their victory over Tyr.[1] In the aftermath of the battle, the Warriors Three decide to stay on Midgard so that they can have adventures with their old friend Thor. The thunder god, however, denies this request as this would cause too much trouble for his mortal identity of Donald Blake. Odin then decrees that everyone return to Asgard and they are all teleported away, with the exception of Sif. The warrior woman has decided to stay behind as she wants to spend more time with Thor. Even though she isn’t interested in life on Midgard, she has decided to give it a chance because Thor is connected to this world. Thor is overjoyed and takes Sif back to his apartment. There he reverts to Don Blake, who tells Sif that she has to remain out of sight until all of his patients are gone. This annoys Sif, but Blake assures her that they’ll find some way around the problems her presence poses for his mortal identity.
Meanwhile, at McCormick Place, an annual electronics show is well under way. The major attraction is the unveiling of a new video game called Megatak. The video game company responsible has spared no expense for their unveiling. Little do they know that a man named Greg Nettles has been hired to steal the revolutionary video game for a rival company before it can be revealed to the public. Unfortunately, Nettles hasn’t found a way to get back stage and swipe the technology used to operate this new video game. However, he spots an opportunity when he notices that the developers have hired an actor to pose as the titular character of their latest game. Greg pulls the young man aside and offers him $1000 to give him the Megatak costume.
Over the past couple of hours, Don Blake has been dealing with his patients but his mind is miles away. He wonders why Sif hasn’t reverted back to Jane Foster while on Earth, recounting how Sif merged with Jane some time ago, with Jane being the dominant personality whenever they are on Earth. As Sif is still in control, he wonders what happened to Jane.[2] After his last patient leaves, Sif enters Don’s office to tell him that she is bored. He tells her to get back into his apartment and tough it out. That’s when he gets a phone call from his friend Shawna Lynde who asks Don if he wants to go to the electronics show with her. Blake turns down the offer, telling Shawna that his cousin has come in from out of town. Sif overhears all of this after picking up the line in Don’s apartment and is jealous of Shawna and insulted over being called Don’s “cousin” and storms out of the apartment.
Back at the trade show, Nettles has changed into the Megatak costume. With the video game about to be unveiled, Greg realizes he has to act quickly. Ducking back stage he opens up the back panel on the giant arcade machine the game developers built to show off their new game but can’t figure out what components to steal. Deciding to rip everything out, he is fussing with the wires when the developers switch the power on for the big reveal. This bombards Nettles with electricity and he is suddenly transformed into raw energy and sucked into the machine where he is converted into data and lost within the game. When the Megatak game fizzles out, the developers ask the audience to be patient while they figure out what went wrong with their hardware.
Meanwhile, Sif has decided to go shopping for some clothes in an effort to blend in with society on Midgard. However, she has very little patience for the tailor who is taking her measurements and storms out. When she happens past a construction site, the workers there begin cat-calling at her. With very little tolerance for this either, Sif teaches the construction workers a lesson by wrapping a steel pipe around them.
By this time, the Megatak game is repaired but when it turns on, Greg Nettles smashes out of the screen. Having been transformed into the Megatak, he uses his newfound energy powers to bring other video game sprites to life, plunging the trade show into chaos. The commotion draws Sif who begins defending the convention attendees.
Don Blake hears a radio report about the chaos happening and abruptly cancels all his appointments so he can go into action as Thor. When the thunder god arrives at the convention center, Thor tells Sif to worry about the bystanders while he deals with Megatak. Deducing that his foe’s powers are electrical in nature, Thor strikes him down with a bolt of lightning which overloads Megatak. In the aftermath of the battle, Sif admits that she might get used to life on Midgard. However, this moment is soured when Thor notices that Shawna Lynda was injured in the attack. Reverting to Don Blake to make sure she is okay, Sif is annoyed when Shawna wakes up and hugs Don for coming to her aid.
Recurring Characters
Thor, Sif, Megatak, Warriors Three (Fandral, Hogun, Volstagg), Odin, Balder, Heimdall, Shawna Lynde, Nurse Stevens
Continuity Notes
Tyr conspired with Loki to overthrow Asgard by stealing the golden apples of Idunn. See Thor #324-327.
Jane Foster was on her death bed in Thor #231, prompting Sif to use the Runestaff of Kammo Tharn to merge themselves together in Thor #236. Jane was the dominant personality until they returned to Asgard in Thor #244 where Sif took Jane’s place ever since. It’s later revealed that Jane has been trapped inside the Runestaff as we’ll learn in Thor #334-335.
Topical References
The video games in this story are depicted in a way that represents the technology of the time. This includes graphics being rendered in 8-bits and video game equipment being depicted as massive stand-up arcade cabinets with CRT monitors as these were very common at the time. These depictions should be considered topical as it represents obsolete technology.
The pay phone that Nettles uses to contact his employers is depicted as having a rotary dial. This is another example of obsolete technology that should be considered topical.
Nettles is depicted as smoking inside the exhibition center. This should be considered topical as indoor smoking has been banned in public places in the city of Chicago since 2008.
The people who want Greg to steal Megatak state that “last year” the video game Pac-Man earned over three billion dollars. This story was written not long after Pac-Man was first released in arcades in 1980. Indeed, in its first year, the arcade classic made between 3.5 and 6 billion dollars. This all should be considered topical since we’re now talking about a 40 year old arcade game. While still a pretty impressive feat back in 1983, modern games tend to gross in the billions of dollars.
