Thor #333
… Like a Bat Out of Heaven
Dracula has gained access to the apartment of Donald Blake where the goddess Sif is sleeping alone. There, he feeds on the immortal goddess’ love. He discovers, much to his surprise, that Sif has instantly become a loyal servant to the vampire-lord. This allows him to convince her to leave with him back to his lair.
Meanwhile, Thor has ventured to New York City to seek the aid of Doctor Strange in order to help learn what happened to the Runestaff of Kamo Tharnn. Using the Eye of Agamotto, Doctor Strange probes Thor’s mind and learns that Thor’s mortal identity Donald Blake is suspected in the disappearance of Jane Foster. He also learns how, months earlier, Jane was in mortal danger and was saved by Sif who used the Runestaff to merge into a single being. While Jane was the dominant personality for a time, she soon vanished leaving only Sif.[1] With this information, Strange takes Thor upstairs to where he keeps the Orb of Agamotto to prove Sif’s mind from afar. With the Orb, Doctor Strange is able to determine that the Runestaff has since returned to the alien planet where it was found in the possession of Kamo Tharnn.
Through this mental probe, Doctor Strange also learns that Sif has been she is in the presence of vampires and warns Thor of the danger she is in.[2] He warns Thor that Dracula is a powerful enemy indeed but he will not resurface until nightfall and recommends that the thunder god return to Chicago and prepare for the coming battle. When Thor arrives on the roof of his building, he reverts to Don Blake and checks his room for Sif, but finds no trace for her. Rushing into his office, he is bothered by the fact that his nurse quit and that a temp agency has hired a replacement for her. Don also learns that he doesn’t need to cancel any of his appointments as his patients all beat him to the punch after the murder accusations about him made the news.
Elsewhere in the city, Dracula revels over the new strength he has acquired from Sif’s blood, deeming her a more worthy concubine than the mutant Storm, whom he stalked recently.[3] He is also surprised to see that the increasingly loyal Sif has also grown a pair of fangs, well in advance of a normal mortal. That’s when one of Dracula’s worshipers enters with a new dress he has commissioned for Sif to wear. With night beginning to fall, Dracula intends on taking Sif out on the town in the tradition of a count of his native Transylvania.
Later, Thor pays a visit to Detective Tampano, the police officer who Thor helped with an batch of vampires that appeared in the city. Tampano doesn’t have much on leads except for a tip about strange activities happening at a nearby apartment house. This happens to be the building that is occupied by Dracula’s followers. He corners one of them outside and forces him to reveal where Dracula has taken Sif. After Thor departs for their location, the betraying follower goes upstairs and kills himself before the others so they can perform another one of their macabre rituals.
Thor soon arrives at the Grand Opera where Dracula has brought Sif to watch a performance to Tannhäuser by Wagner. There, Thor confronts Dracula directly and the two begin to battle it out in the middle of the opera. Needing more space to fight, Dracula assumes his bat form and smashes through the ceiling. After protecting the opera goers from the falling debris, Thor goes up to the roof to face his foe. There, Dracula tries to summon a storm, but Thor’s own command of the elements proves much stronger. Fighting off a swarm of rats, Thor can’t land a single hit on Dracula because he keeps on transforming into mist to evade the attacks. Growing fed up, Thor summons a bolt of lightning that strikes Dracula’s mist form, forcing him to return to flesh. However, before Thor can land the killing blow, Dracula is teleported away.
The thunder god is then visited by the astral projection of Doctor Strange who informs Thor that he has sent Dracula to New York so that he can deal with the vampire in a more permanent fashion.[4] Thor is then joined by Sif who has managed to shake off Dracula’s influence and return to normal. Thor is overjoyed to see that his beloved is free from the vampire’s control. He then tells her that he has finally learned the location of the Runestaff of Kamo Tharnn and that they will be venturing into space to find it and hopefully learning the fate of Jane Foster.
Recurring Characters
Thor, Sif, Dracula, Doctor Strange, Darkholders
Continuity Notes
This Glosses over Jane Foster’s long history with Thor. The details:
It briefly explains that Jane was Thor’s mortal love since he returned in the Modern Age. This was first seen in Journey into Mystery #84. However, Odin forbade this romance back in issue #90 of that series.
Thor did manage to successfully petition Odin to consider a marriage. Odin the tested Jane’s worthiness to become a god and she failed it spectacularly. Jane was then sent to Earth with all memory of Thor erased and she soon went to work with Keith Kincaid. See Thor #136.
More recently, Jane was driven to near suicide by the Dweller-in-Darkness and given up all will to live as seen in Thor #230-231.
In order to save Jane’s life, Sif recovered the Runestaff of Kamo Tharnn and used it to merge with Jane to save her life. See Thor #235-236.
Jane remained with Don Blake for a time until she accompanied Thor to Asgard in Thor #249. When she grabbed Sif’s sword, Jane swapped places with her. The last time Jane has been seen was in Thor Annual #9 when a trip to the Dark Dimension caused the pair to swap places again.
Don Blake was brought in for questioning in Jane’s disappearance last issue.
We’ll later learn in Thor #334-335 that Jane has since been trapped in the Runestaff of Kamo Tharn pretty much the entire time she’s been absent.
Doctor Strange briefly recounts his recent encounter with Dracula which took place in Doctor Strange (vol. 2) #59.
Dracula almost turned Storm into a vampire back in Uncanny X-Men #159.
Strange’s next battle with Dracula takes place in Doctor Strange (vol. 2) #60.