One Night in Rutland: 1972, Part 3

Let's fill in the blanks of Halloween night 1972 by opening the cover of this fine comic magazine, the only one which tells the full truth about Norse gods walking (or flying) in our midst: The Mighty Thor #207!


Cover of Thor #207 (January 1973), pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Joe Sinnott

We're back at the Nexus of Halloween Realities, Rutland, Vermont, where Steve Engelhart, Gerry Conway, Len Wein and Glynis Wein are avid observers at 1972's annual Rutland Halloween Parade! This is after they've arrived in Rutland in Steve's broken-down, mufflerless Mustang (Beast in tow) in Amazing Adventures #16 and JLA #103, but before the unrelated attacks of the Juggernaut and Felix Faust. Got it? Good.
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Panel from Thor #207 (January 1973), script by Gerry Conway, pencils by John Buscema, inks by Vince Colletta, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Denise Vladimer
The Gang (minus their cowardly, talking dog) heads on over in the Mystery Mustang to Tom Fagan's house, where we're mightily suspicious of a light in Tom's eyes. Not to mention that he's back in his Nighthawk costume when we saw him as Batman only back in JLA. Ah, those wacky Marvel guys, not allowing a talking character to dress up as the Dark Knight! Incidentally, your may have noticed that many of these Rutland tales star the very self-same creators who wrote and drew them. Long-running Thor inker Vince Colletta was actually supposed to appear in this story...but he erased himself.

Here we see, as was hinted at in both JLA and Amazing Adventures, the Mysterious Disappearance of Ms. Glynis Wein™. To be precise: she disappeared from the ladies' room. That's got nothing to do with the occult forces of evil; she's just escaping from a bad date!

Turns out the Evil on this side of town (while Felix Faust is fiddling with psyches on the other, and Juggernaut is jogging straight down the middle) is the Norse god of evil mischief fangirl attraction, Loki! That's what's happened to Glynis, although she later shows up in the mental enslavement of Felix Faust. Well, with all the leagues of Satan wandering around town, it's absolutely not unheard of that you might accidentally wander from one Army of Evil to another. Here, Loki's bewitched Tom and Glynis, plus Halloween party-goers dressed as Cap, Scarlet Witch, Doctor Doom and...um...Clownface the Malevolent, I'm guessing. First appearance Tales to Terrify #39.

Now, all Rashomon-like, let's return to that crappy Mustang getting stolen by Felix Faust, except now we see that he had an almost-hitchhiker in the pursuing Loki. I don't know about you, but I woulda paid good money to see Faust give Loki a lift and then follow their on-the-road style adventures across America, helping hindering widows and orphans, and destroying entire civilizations in their wake. It woulda been a hoot!

As it is, we ring down the curtain on Glynis asking Len for a hug, which as good a place as any to end this post, and (for tonight at least) our visits to Rutland, Vermont. (I'd take a snuggly hug from manly Len Wein any day!) Now, you'll please excuse this little stuffed bull, because I have to go and pour out my gigantic bag of candy into a gigantic pile. I love to dive around in it like a porpoise, and burrow through it like a gopher, and toss it up and let it land in my mouth! As for One Night in Rutland, well, let's make it two nights: join me back here tomorrow night for more Rutland rascalities, following that famous parade as seen in comics from 1973 and onwards! We'll see Loki make his second attack on Rutland and an Elder of the Universe in a rubber mask, Green Arrow snoozing, a rabbit in Rutland, the absolute destruction of Rutland, and an appearance by the worst band in any comic book, ever! (And I've read every issue of Steeltown Rockers.

See you tomorrow, have a spooky rest of Halloween, and remember: if you're suspicious of any candy you make have gathered tonight, send it over my way for extensive candy taste-testing. See you tomorrow night for more in Rutland!