I'm trying to remember if I've read #333, the conclusion of Thor vs. Dracula; but a subplot that had been simmering for a bit was the missing Jane Foster. Dr. Donald Blake had been accused of murdering her--I'm not really sure how, since there wasn't a body or a motive that held water--so Thor was motivated to try and find her: in fact, Thor feels like a heel for not doing so before, until the murder rap came down. With Sif and Dr. Keith Kincaid, Thor's journeyed to the world of Kamo Tharnn, the Elder of the Universe known as the Possessor. He had the Runestaff, a yellow stick with a lion head on it; that had been swiped by Sif and Hercules and used to save the dying Jane Foster back in Thor #236. It only sort of worked though: supposedly Sif transferred her life force to Jane and they merged into one person, but instead Sif re-emerged and Jane went...somewhere.
Thor and Sif go into the Runestaff; to try and find Jane; while Dr. Kincaid tries to treat the raving Possessor. While Thor and Sif face a bizarre inner landscape; Kincaid realizes Jane--and others--aren't in the staff, but in the Possessor, driving him insane. Grasping the staff, Kincaid tries to reach the gods, but may instead just manifest giant crabs. A totally reasonable and common manifestation of...yeah. The gods return, and after a quick explanation Sif uses the staff to release a roomful of Marvel's aliens from the Possessor: there's a Ciegrimite from Hercules #4, a Kray-Tor lookalike, and a miscolored "Infant Terrible" from Fantastic Four #24! No wonder the Possessor's head was killing him. Oh, and Jane's there, too: she doesn't seem to recall much of Thor, but does remember Kincaid after a moment.
The Possessor, seemingly reformed, proclaims he'll turn the planet into a center of learning and knowledge; and nobody really has any follow-up questions for him. Thor and everyone head back to the quinjet for the trip back to earth (Mjolnir was powering the trip, although I don't know if Thor had to hold it the whole time?) and while Thor seems to feel all's well that ends swell, Sif knows it isn't: she's going back to Asgard, with or without him.
Keith Kincaid was very, very much the consolation prize for Jane getting written out of the book; and I want to say more than once? Although he and Jane had a kid, they eventually divorced: I thought there had been some character assassination of the poor sap, to make him the bad guy and free Jane up again. He was involved in a subplot in Dan Jurgen's run that got lost somewhere, then he and the kid were killed in a car accident later. He wasn't the most fleshed-out character, but too bad for him.
2 comments:
Even for early Mark Bright art, it doesn't look anything at ALL like his style, even with Coletta on inks. Hmmm.
Those manifested crabs were definitely an adult joke tossed in for older readers, so yeah, there's that.
I think I vaguely remember reading that Kincaid died. Seemed like a nice enough guy, who really was a consolation prize for Jane like you said. I'm guessing even though she settled for him, her heart always belonged to Blake/Thor.
Shame he & her son had to die to make things convenient for certain writers.
Only Vinnie Colletta could have captured the sensuality of the girl in Panel 1 of Page 3 shown, where Thor declares that they have been saved. She is thinking, "yeah, Thor, whatever, now could you leave us alone..."
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