Okay, Christmas over, it's time for the mayhem of a new year. To start things off how about this beautiful panel of a near collision between the Fantasticar and the mighty Thor!
The villain of the piece is the Puppet Master. Not much to look at, but like Psycho Man and like DC's Psycho Pirate, I am sure Puppet Master occupies a very special place in the hearts of comics writers. Before I continue let me digress . . .
I am a fan of a card game called Magic the Gathering. It is a game where the rules are written on the cards. They've all got this wonderful fantasy-inspired names. One such card is called "Act of Treason". If you have this card, it allows you to control your opponents in the game.
Puppet Master is Marvel's "Act of Treason" card. Put him in a story and control who you want, after all he is a - puppet master. As mentioned, this guy is a godsend to writers and in this story the Puppet Master gets to control the big kahuna himself - Thor. So we get treated to some sights and sounds like . . .
Thor hitting Reed Richards with Mjolnir.
Thor literally blowing away the Human Torch.
Thor breaking down the defenses of the Invisible Woman.
And of course, The Thing vs. Thor
Notice the cop out? As in, mind-controlled Thor not as strong as regular Thor. This reminds me that Thor had a robot stand-in in Civil War and he was also absent in World War Hulk. Presumably Marvel's most powerful - Marvel's version of Superman is another way of looking at it - they can't just show Thor being able to stand toe-to-toe against the upper mid-level powerhouses like the Thing. For my part I wouldn't mind if they just threw away the excuse and have Thor defeat the Thing after an epic battle. That works for me. But that's not the way it goes here.
In the end it is Wundarr's tendency to absorb latent radiation that destroy's Puppet Master's control (Puppet Master uses radioactive clay and is assisted by the obscure Radion). How would you like to be in this bind?
