Thor #354 (1985)

The Surtur saga ended with Odin and Surtur being crushed under an avalanche.  This issue is pretty much a “clean up” issue, with Loki already beginning to scheme about taking over as the next ruler of Asgard.  Hela comes to Asgard, assuming Odin died in the cave-in, and Thor denies that his father his dead and hits her with his hammer.

Also, Fandral goes to Earth and erases everyone’s memories of Don Blake.  This is Walt Simonson’s way of saying that his decision to eliminate a secret identity for Thor is intended to be permanent.

Simonson’s Thor work is really hard to break up.  There are about a dozen different plotlines and nothing is neatly grouped into arcs designed for future trade bound publication.  It’s a great run—just one that’s hard to recapture and summarize.

Creator: Walt Simonson
Grade: B-

For the complete history of the MU, year by year, go here.
And see my Ratings of Runs on comics here.

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