Over the years, I've mentioned Walt Simonson's run on Thor a number of times, usually to the effect that it's the coolest and you should be reading it now, even if you already have. This ties into his run, and has Walt as a consultant, so that's something, right? Right? Let's see! From 1987, Mephisto Vs. #4, "His Satanic Majesty's Request" Written by Al Milgrom, pencils by John Buscema, inks by Bob Wiacek.

We looked at Mephisto Vs. (X-Factor) #2 last year, and I think I just got #3 from a dollar bin recently...is it handy right now? Don't be silly! I also probably read these back when they first came out, but I read a friend's and maybe didn't have my own for some time. This issue, Mephisto has a nice set of mutants new added to Hell: Storm, Psylocke, Dazzler, and Rogue. The first three fade out, returning to earth: Mephisto had tricked Rogue into stealing their essences, but could only keep them as long as Rogue's powers could. Mephisto had actually brought her physically to Hell; which he usually wouldn't, and he has to caution his staff to be careful with her. A minor demon turns on Mephisto, and when the first one doesn't burst into flames immediately, others follow. Rogue wonders if Mephisto was as all-powerful as he seemed before, when the Living Tribunal shows up, who also seems to wonder if Mephisto was weakening: he was up to something, and accuses Hela of being behind his problems. She had stolen some souls, which Thor had later freed. 

This tied into Thor #380: under Hela's curse, Thor was unkillable, but his bones were brittle as graham crackers--I've used that line before discussing that curse; I don't know if that comparison was in the material somewhere, or if graham crackers are more fragile than other kinds of crackers? Thor had fought, and seemingly slain, the Midgard Serpent; and survived...sort of, having shattered every bone in his body. Mephisto takes Rogue with him, to offer Thor the sweet release of death, in exchange for his soul...Meanwhile, outside of the ring of fire Mephisto put up to keep out looky-lous, two Quinjets full of Avengers have arrived, east and west coast teams. Iron Man and She-Hulk aren't able to penetrate the wall of flames; nor is Captain Marvel.

Hela arrives, to yell at Mephisto for interfering in a private feud: Thor pipes up, he won't go with either, he'll just sit there and suffer if he has to. Mephisto compels Rogue to give Thor a final kiss, but instead of absorbing his powers, she seemingly releases his spirit, which is his old-school look. Done with her, Mephisto returns Rogue to the X-Men, after he's bagged Thor's spirit in "mystic mylar." Hela opens a hole in the wall of fire, letting the Avengers in as a distraction, then steals Thor away to "a distant dimension where I can free him from your encumberance undisturbed!" That is a sentence all right. Iron Man calls out Mephisto, who's busy concentrating on where Hela might have gone, and Cap checks if Thor is maybe okay...no. No, he is not. While those injuries weren't at Mephisto's hands, he doesn't correct the Avengers, letting them believe he had that kind of power. Still, he was fighting on two fronts: while most of the Avengers weren't a problem, he was still distracted trying to find Hela.

The Avengers don't exhibit a lot of teamwork (or Mephisto just no-sales their powers) and get crushed and knocked out; while Mephisto finds Hela and retakes Thor's soul, down to Hell. Thor still seems to have Mjolnir, and resists the lesser demons, so Mephisto tries to lure him in with battles and dames. Thor resists, and Mephisto doubts he will ever break: he asks Hela if she will claim her prize now, but she wasn't done watching him suffer, and Mephisto returns Thor's soul to his broken body...but under his breath wonders if she wasn't going to regret "winning" there. (And he's right!) Hela wipes the memories of the assembled Avengers, who return to their respective bases, with mystic member Dr. Druid announcing he would investigate "the source of our confusion." Yeah, I'm sure he got right on that.

Mephisto returns to Hell, seemingly empty-handed, inspiring the lesser demons to rise up against him, which lasts about a panel before they're reduced to a literal puddle. Mephisto has another conversation with the Living Tribunal: this was all according to plan. He knew Thor would resist him, and in doing so gain the strength to resist Hela, keeping that piece off the board. He ends the series with a good laugh over the trouble he had caused, and how "truly evil is its own reward." Aside from the reader, his only confidente appears to be a green snake-thing; so that's open to debate.

Read more!

This isn't even the most nonsensical version I've read of this, but it tries harder.

My copy is pretty ratty, but I should scan the whole thing for Internet Archive: from 2009, Toyfare #137, "Twisted Toyfare Theatre: Invasion of the Mego Snatchers" By a big chunk of Toyfare staff: Aclin, Gutierrez, Dietsch; with Bricken, Brucie, Collins, Molino, Powell and Ward! 

This was their riff on Secret Invasion, which goes off the rails around page 4, but no more so than any other version of that story I've seen. (Seriously, I know I've read it, but it keeps falling out of my head.) And Mephisto's explanation of the fix resonates a bit with me, since I remember thinking fans might feel like that back when Ben Reilly replaced Peter Parker as the 'real' Spider-Man. 

As usual, I'm on vacation next week, and as usual, the blog will continue to trundle along aimlessly regardless! See you then.   

Read more!

Needle drop! Tired, obvious needle drop, but sure.

Huh, I thought the song started with "whoo who" or whatever. From 1987, Mephisto Vs. #2, "Sympathy for the Devil" Written by Al Milgrom, pencils by John Buscema, inks by Bob Wiacek.

It's been years since I've read this series, but I grabbed two issues from the quarter bin recently; and I think Mephisto was trying to pull a trading scheme like we saw Huey, Dewey, and Louis do, except with souls. Start with nothing, then keep trading up, until he had Thor's soul. And I think Mephisto lets slip, he started with nothing: X-Factor thought he had the Invisible Woman's soul; but he just had her as hostage. But, if they made a deal based on bad info, well, that's on them! This issue is also maybe not a load-bearing piece, but is lodged right into then-current continuity; in a brief window when X-Factor was still running their fake mutant-hunter cover, Warren was in the hospital post-Mutant Massacre, and Scott's wife and kid were MIA but presumed still alive. None of the team does real well, but Scott seems to get repeatedly clowned and/or screaming ineffectually for Jean. I had needle drops in mind, since I had been writing posts at a pretty good clip, then got sucked into watching Preacher on Shudder! It's not as good as the comic, sure; and I maybe wouldn't have made Hitler a recurring character; but I like the actors and the music. And this extrapolates from a brief scene in the book! Read more!

Come for Death's Head II, stay for the sorta Mephisto.

The first series of Warheads was only fourteen issues: I almost bet, if you check your local quarterbooks, you might find an issue or two. Probably not all, so you might have to check other quarterbins, but you'd best hope I didn't get there first! From 1992, Warheads #6, "Killing Ground" Written by Nick Vince, art by Simon Coleby.

The splash page features very 2000 AD-style narration, as Warheads hitter Gregory has been having nightmares about the demon "Meffy 'Soklees," made out of lost socks and underwear. That's probably not right...The demon seemingly turns half of Gregory into mismatched socks and drawers before he wakes up, which might be an omen. Insult to injury, he's also fined 20£ (pounds) by team administrator Mr. Grant, for "screaming at night." How much is that? Uh...British money has always confused me, but it also depends when this story falls; as the pound went all sideways on "Black Wednesday" in '92. Grant then gets chewed on by one of his bosses, Rathcoole of Mys-Tech, who is furious a Warhead named Che was still alive. But, Grant was also taking orders from a demon-looking creature called the Golem, who seemed to have plans for Che and the Kether Troop.

Gregory is sent to Rathcoole, who wanted Che for this job, and furiously orders Grant be disemboweled when he turns up. Still, Gregory would have to do for this mission: killing Mephisto, with a magic crystal sword. Gregory realizes he had dreamed of Mephisto, which Rathcoole considers a good omen, but Gregory isn't sure. Meanwhile, the Kether Troop is sent via wormhole, to a massive city that seems surprisingly low-tech. One of the troop, Desmond, shoots a local seemingly for laughs: before Colonel Liger can have his weapons removed, an ambush captures all of the troop except Che: he was described simply as a "martial artist," but was the sole survivor of a lost troop and wasn't entirely trusted.

In Darkmoor, Rathcoole summons Mephisto...who was super off-model here: the John Romita Jr. redesign would've been standard by then. Here, he's colored like the old John Buscema look, but that's about it. Rathcoole tells Mephisto, he wanted to die: as part of Mys-Tech, he had sold his soul a thousand years prior, but was wearying of bringing souls to Mephisto. Not because of conscience, because it was too easy: humanity was so corruptable, Rathcoole didn't think they had a chance. That was incidental, though: he was just trying to get Mephisto in position, for Gregory to stab him in the back with the magic sword. Which does nothing: they needed to use a different wand to make the sword, and Mephisto had that one locked down. Gregory is made half-demon; and Rathcoole turned over to the rest of the Mys-Tech board, who claim they're still loyal: Mephisto probably doesn't put much stock in that, but turns Rathcoole's powers off for a bit so they can punish him.

The captured Warheads are tortured, and a couple killed, by the local wizard-king; who was interested in finding Che, since he was invisible to his magics. Che arrives with Liger's talking gun, in time to save him and Misha, the only two regulars on this mission. The gun--which gives itself the name "Clementine" now--takes out the wizard, and finds his power source, the Sapphire Lotus. But before they can grab that, someone else grabs Liger: Death's Head II! He and Tuck were there to collect, but not what you would think: DH II claims Clementine was stolen, but if they pay for the "outstanding charges" they can keep it. Liger isn't anxious to give DH II any money; but the local army might be about to swarm them--or so we're told, we'll probably have to wait until next month to see them. Read more!

He already thought he was a demon once, it wouldn't take much to convince him he was dead.

Even though it's not inside this issue, I swear there was a house ad with the cover for this one; but I hadn't read it until just now! From 1982, Thor #325, "A Deal with Darkoth" Written by Doug Moench, pencils by Alan Kupperberg, inks by Jim Mooney.

Darkoth wasn't even a bad guy, but does fall into the familiar villain trope of seemingly dying, a lot: he was apparently killed in Fantastic Four #194, but instead had been grabbed by Mephisto, who wants to use him against that goody-goody Thor: they had fought recently in Thor #310, and Mephisto didn't think he could get better than a stalemate directly. But, Darkoth had been test pilot Desmond Pitt, an old friend of Ben Grimm's; who tried and failed to infiltrate Dr. Doom's intelligence operation against NASA. Doom had taken Pitt, ruined his name, faked his death, made him a rather baroque cyborg, convinced him he was actually a demon, but abandoned Darkoth when he turned on him. Darkoth may or may not have been "dead" at this point: Mephisto might just be lying, about giving him enough life for this chance to kill Dr. Blake and be reunited with his son.

Refusing to murder Blake or Thor, Darkoth is eventually turned evil by Mephisto, but Thor manages to free him, at least momentarily. Darkoth begs Thor to kill him, to free him from his half-life slavery, and Thor obliges. Mephisto is furious over the loss of Darkoth's soul; and Thor smites a ton of Mephisto's lackey demons. I feel like Darkoth would've said his son's name as he died; not "my son..." like a Borat bit. Later, Dr. Blake makes arrangements for his new secretary to adopt Desmond's son, so sort of a happy ending? Even though I still think Thor and Darkoth got fooled there; and Darkoth still wasn't dead; he'd turn up in 1991's Excalibur #38.

Also this issue: another "Tales of Asgard," as Loki again steals the golden apples of immortality and the goddess Idunn. I don't think I've read the previous issue (with a fight against perennial punching-bag Graviton) but Loki seems like he thought Big Daddy Odin was maybe cheating on his adopted mom Frigga, and took extreme steps to retaliate, which included giving most of the apples to the Midgard Serpent, Jormungand. Loki maybe realizes his error, but will have a hard time convincing Tyr to come off it...("The Golden Apples of Immortality" Written by Doug Moench, pencils by Alan Kupperberg, inks by Jack Abel.) Read more!

How about another darn Ghost Rider guest-spot? I'm not even doing this on purpose here.

From 1991, Thor #430, "The God, the Ghost, and the Guilty!" Plot and words by Tom DeFalco, pencils and plot by Ron Frenz, finishes by Al Milgrom.

I don't think we often see villains like the Wrecking Crew after a fracas, but I would've thought they would've known not to set the Wrecker off after a loss. In this case, it's Piledriver catching hands for implying the boss maybe might've been the teensiest bit scared of the Ghost Rider. This being an affront to his leadership and his ego, Wrecker orders the Crew to search the city until they find the Ghost Rider...his skull's on fire and he leaves a flaming trail, but it's still surprisingly tough to find him, right? Oh, the Wrecker also wants his "red-faced friend," none other than Mephisto himself!

Loki, on earth with Ulik and the Enchantress in earth garb (which is not super-convincing for Ulik) thinks the Wrecker could've got Mephisto's attention on his schemes, or he could just be looking into the then-relatively new Ghost Rider. Loki visits Mephisto, who claims to be bored with the mortal realm, and was looking to collect an immortal soul with his "soul shrouds!" There is a face in the shroud, and we don't see whose, but Loki proposes they team-up. Still, Loki seems shaky later with Enchantress, who wonders what could rattle him.

Meanwhile, Eric Masterson's friends Susan Austin and Jerry Sapristi confront him with his secret: his weird disappearances, sketchy behavior, giving custody of his son Kevin to his ex-wife Marcy; he obviously has a drinking problem! Eric laments his secret identity drama, then changes into Thor to look for the Wrecking Crew. He is spotted by Thunderball, who reports in since if Wrecker gets his clock cleaned by Thor, Thunderball thinks he could take over; and since Piledriver wouldn't mind seeing Wrecker catch a beating, Wrecker has to face Thor to maintain his rep. Loki gives Danny Ketch a little mental projection to get him to the scene as well.

Loki has set all this up, to steal back his stolen Asgardian power from the Crew. He maneuvers the Wrecker into opening a portal releasing demons, then the big dope gets his power drained and captured, setting up the next issue, "Requiem for the Wrecker!" And Mephisto reveals the shroud's face; it looks like a bad silkscreen of Thor. 

Also this month, a Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation: Paid circulation, actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 157,425. Plus 5,700 in subscriptions! Not bad!

Read more!

"Summon."

I don't know why Kurt is channelling Hank Hill today...actually, of course we have seen Kurt punch Mephisto in the face before, back in Nightcrawler #12.

Morbius is a smart fellow, but I'm not sure English is his first language, so "reconnoiter" could have snuck past him. Also, Doom probably knows Morby's name, but calling him by name would be too great an honor. He's actually fought Moon Knight, so he could probably give him that much. 

EDIT: Most of the joints in my old Marvel Select Mephisto are tight to the point I'm afraid they'll break, with the exception of his hips, which are as loose as Doom's mom...what, too soon? Marvel Select is at long last reissuing their Watcher figure; but I wonder if Mephisto would ever get the same consideration. I also think his throne has been bootlegged, possibly more than once; I see it more often on eBay. Read more!