With “The Mighty Thor” #346-348, Walter Simonson introduced one of the most iconic villains Thor has yet faced. Malekith the Accursed zips on to the stage with an energy and zeal that contrasts with the usual power posing we see out of Marvel villains.
Written and Illustrated by Walter Simonson
Colored by Steve Oliff
Lettered by John Workman
Walter Simonson’s third arc of “The Mighty Thor” centers around a manhunt for an old veteran, Roger Willis. Through various means, explored in-between the main plot of the last several issues, he’s come to possess the Casket of Ancient Winters. Willis thinks it holds the essence of winters past or something. The Dark Elf Malekith wants this thing for the usual sort of evil villain reasons. By and large, the story’s far more engaging and entertaining when Thor and Malekith scour New York searching for Roger Willis. Eventually, it turns toward the usual calling all forces, unite the calvary sort of ending and while that’s fun, it all feels like prelude toward the final showdown with Surtur. Meanwhile, the siren Lorelei is up to her usual tricks and Loki’s doing his own thing he probably doesn’t understand. Much like the last arc, this one serves as a bridge between the stunning opening and the operatic conclusion.
There are times it feels like Simonson took on too much with his story. He constantly cuts back and forth between the numerous ongoing plot lines. In an effort to make sure readers were up to speed, he has to spend precious space catching us up on what happened last time. (Of course this was common with serialized superhero comics from the ’80s.) Because of the nature of the medium and the multiple characters running around, he’s forced to waste precious page space recapping major plot points to help us understand various motivations. John Workman crams word balloons and caption boxes in as much available space as possible. Sometimes it overloads the story and drags down at the momentum, noticeably whenever they’re forced to slow down and fill in some of the background of the narrative. Simonson overcomes a lot of these issues by keeping the pace relentless, the characters moving, the action dynamic. Especially now, as we near the cosmic confrontation, there’s nary room to breathe. Story information explodes off the page.
This arc marks the first appearance Malekith the Accursed. (He was actually introduced a few issues back, but it’s here the story doubles down on him and his desperate hunt for the Casket of Ancient Winters.) He might be the first tangible and truly wicked thing Thor has faced. Sure, there’s the siren running around and causing trouble. But the dragon from the last issue felt like it was played for more laughs than terror. And Beta Ray Bill became an enduring presence in his own right. But there’s a vile-ness about Malekith. There’s an unsettling quality to his presence. Up till now, Simonson presented him in the background, lurking over the other characters in his flamboyant costume with his sharp grin.
He’s pure motion here, flying across the page, cutting through the panels, calling the hounds.
Simonson pulls manga-like techniques to convey Malekith’s speed and stamina. He moves so quickly the background blurs out and races by. Simonson had a lot of fun with the character and that agility, that liveliness, that might come cleanly off the page.
Reading through Simonson’s “The Mighty Thor” this time around, I noticed how well he does in controlling the book’s energy. These issues were originally published in 1984, a couple years before Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons made the nine-panel grid packed with information the new normal. Pages here rarely feature more than six panels, even during the more dialogue heavy sequences or the exposition dumps. He maintains a grid, avoids layering panels on top or through each other. He has his favorite kinds of square panels and anamorphic frames that might carry us through a few pages until a odd vertical composition or enormous, imposing image. He puts us in this rhythm, catches us in this momentum, all of it building up to some mighty revelation, some great event.
I also appreciate how non-decompressed his story appears. Yes, there are all these plot points thrown out there, all of them building up toward the final confrontation, but a lot also happens in each of these issues. There’s a common trend in superhero comics to draw out a plot beat as long as possible. An entire issue might go by where the characters make one decision while posturing like gods. Simonson takes the time to explore the characters, get us invested in their melodrama, and gear us up for whatever comes next. He has so much on his mind and, at times, it feels like he’s literally pulling us along to keep up with him.
There’s only one more arc of “The Mighty Thor” to close out this re-read. After that, Simonson stepped down from art duties and stuck mostly to writing the scripts, which had their own memorable moments. We’ve seen him figure out what makes a Thor comic work and you almost have to appreciate the throw everything on the page and sift through it later approach.
