The Armchair Squid: Marvel Immersion Project: Thor #378-382

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Thor #378

Originally Published April 1, 1987

Writer: Walter Simonson

Artist: Sal Buscema

The Frost Giants attack Loki's castle.
Loki realizes his disadvantage and runs away from them, throwing the still unconscious Thor in their way as a shield.
Loki pleads with Iceman, his captive, to help but Iceman refuses, instead cranking up the cold to further strengthen and draw the attention of the giants.
Loki falls to the giants but the now revived Thor comes to his rescue, shamed by the mistaken belief that Loki has acted bravely whereas he himself has not.
Thor defeats the giants, though he feels ashamed by the fact that it was due to the new armor, not his own bravery. Thor certainly does have a fragile ego!
After retreating, the giants plot their next attack, planning to target Loki's son, Jormungand.

Thor #379

May 1, 1987

Simonson/S. Buscema

Fin Fang Foom via Marvel Database

The giants travel to Norway to awaken Jormungand, son of Loki aka the World Serpent and Dragon of Midgard. Instead, they find Fin Fang Foom (it really is Jormungand in disguise but they don't realize it yet).
The giants goad FFF into fighting Thor. The dragon goes to New York to find him. They meet in the park, though FFF doesn't recognize Thor.
The two reveal their true selves (Jormungand in a beautiful full-page panel) and the battle begins.

Thor #380

June 1, 1987

Writer and Artist: Walter Simonson

Visually, the issue is stunning, each page but the last a single, full-page panel.
Storywise, it's pretty simple:

Thor and Jorgungand battle.
After their final, brilliant clash, Jorgungand is dead and Thor's armor lies empty.

Thor #381

July 1, 1987

Simonson/S. Buscema

The frost giants discover Thor's armor. He's still in there, but reduced to jelly. They beat up on him for a while.

But Loki summons the Destroyer who starts beating up on Thor, only to realize he isn't fighting back. Impressed, he tries to absorb Thor's undying spirit. Thor's spirit fights but Destroyer prevails.
Destroyer puts on all of Thor's gear and even picks up Mjolnir. He teleports away.
Featured: the Avengers, including some new team personnel.

Meanwhile, Utgard-Loki (based on Útgarða-Loki of Norse mythology) is planning to lead the giants in an attack on Asgard.

Thor #382

August 1, 1987

Simonson/S. Buscema

Walter Simonson's last issue.
The Destroyer, now in Thor garb, arrives in Hel and starts, well, destroying everything.
Hela summons Thor and restores him, intending to kill him to stop Destroyer - death works in mysterious ways.
The jokes on her. As Thor returns, he triumphs and Hela lifts her curse over him.
Thor then returns to Asgard and defeats the giants, though he lets Utgard-Loki go when he promises to lift Loki's curse over Asgard.
All is back to normal, just in time to pass the story on to the new creators.

The Armchair Squid