Sangre Means Blood!

Eric Masterson is walking his son Kevin to school on morning when suddenly shots ring out. A teacher named Gerrins is hit by the shooter while everyone runs for cover. Eric leaves Kevin in the care of his teacher Ed Marrero, telling them that he’s going to call the police for help. In reality, Eric has slipped into a nearby alley so he can change into Thunderstrike. Leaping up onto the rooftop, Eric discovers that the shooter is long gone. However, they have left behind a calling card written on the wall in red paint that reads “Sangré Means Blood!”

When the police arrive on the scene, Thunderstrike compares notes and everyone agrees that this was a targeted shooting. The school district super intendent, Armande Pleps holds a press conference to speak out against this act of violence. Thunderstrike tells the cops to send word through the Avengers if he is needed and departs so he can change back into Eric Masterson and bring Kevin home. Eric returns the boy to the home of his ex-wife, Marcy Steele who is horrified to learn that Kevin witnessed the shooting. Eric also came by because he is concerened about Marcy since her husband Bobby Steele still hasn’t returned home after hitting her the other day.[1] When Susan Austin — Kevin’s nanny — enters the room, she can’t help but notice how close Eric and Marcy seem to appear at that moment — like they were never divorced to begin with. Before leaving, Eric goes to say goodbye to his son. When asked if he called the Avengers and Thunderstrike for help, Eric makes an excuse that he went to call 911 instead. As he leaves the building though, Eric decides that he’s going to have to let Kevin in on his double identities some time soon. As he walks away from Marcy’s apartment building, Eric is unaware that he is being spied upon by Bobby Steele. Bobby is furious to see Masterson leaving his home and suspects that he might be trying to steal Marcy away from him.

Meanwhile, Sif wakes up in Eric Masterson’s bed after having a nightmare about Thor going mad.[2] However, Sif knows that the dream was brought on by some external force. Sensing it coming from Eric’s closet, the Asgardian opens the door and is surprised to see that Masterson is in possession of the Executioner’s enchanted axe.[3] That’s when Eric’s roommate Susan Austin notices that someone was sleeping on the couch the night before. Going into Eric’s room to tell him to clean up after his guests she is shocked to see Sif standing in his room. That’s when Eric arrives an, embarrassed by the situation, tries to explain that Sif is a cousin but Susan isn’t buying it. Masterson then agrees to do the dishes for a month as long as Susan keeps quiet about this and lends Sif some clothes to wear.

Elsewhere in the city, in an abandoned warehouse a woman grieves over photos of her son. next to these family photos is a list of names of people scratched out.[4]

Later, Code: Blue is in target practice when Thunderstrike and Sif arrive to look into the murder of Gerrins. Since the shooting, the NYPD has searched the teacher’s apartment and have made a horrifying discovery: Gerrins was part of a pedophile ring who were producing and distributing child pornography. Mother Majowski has been looking into the shooter, who they thought was Frank Castle at first until the shooter started leaving messages. They have now dubbed the killer Sangré based on these messages. With the data that they collected from Gerrin’s computers, Majowski was able to learn the identity of their ringleader, school district super intendent, Armande Pleps. As it turns out, Pleps is making yet another press conference to denounce Gerrins after news of his dark secret became public.

Thunderstrike races to the scene and catches Sangré on a nearby rooftop and stops them from shooting Pleps with their sniper rifle. Thunderstrike feels like a hypocrite trying to stop Sangré from killing Armande, but knows that letting the justice system deal with the creep is the right thing to do. Sangré is far from harmless however, she is able to temporarily blind Thunderstrike by spraying him in the face with gas. They then reposition themselves on another roof top and try to make another shot at Armande. Unable to stop Sangré from pulling the trigger, Thunderstrike dives off the building and deflects the bullet his with enchanted mace but ends up crashing into the ground below to do so, allowing Sangré to escape. By this time, Code: Blue has arrived on the scene and place Pleps under arrest.

While the police secure the area, Sangré changes out of her costume, revealing herself to be the crying woman from earlier. She walks out of a building and smiles as she overhears that Pleps is arrested. She then walks out of the area unnoticed by anyone except the Punisher who has been tracking Sangré’s movements. He notes in his journal that she Sangré will be someone that bears watching![5]

With the immediate threat over, Eric Masterson finally has time to hear why Sif has returned to Earth. She explains that she is seeking allies to help Thor, who has recently succumbed to the warrior madness. Eric tells her that she should go back and find Beta Ray Bill since she abandoned him during their last clash with Thor as he’d be better help.[6] When she asks Eric to join her, Masterson tells her he can’t. Before he can explain himself, Sif gets angry and teleports away. This leaves Eric a lot to think about as he has taken on so many more responsibilities since becoming a superhero. He concludes, however, that Sif must have been the on helping him during his recent fights with Bloodaxe and the Juggernaut, certain that it couldn’t have been anyone else.[7] Eric is absolutely incorrect as the person responsible continues to observe him from afar.

Recurring Characters

Thunderstrike, Sangre, Code: Blue (Marcus Stone, Rigger Ruiz, Mad Dog Rossitano, Fireworks Feldstein, Jock Jackson, Mother Majowski), Sif, Marcy Steele, Bobby Steele, Kevin Masterson, Susan Austin, Ed Marrero, Samantha Joyce, Stellaris, Punisher

Continuity Notes

1. Bobby’s erratic behavior is for a few reasons: He was apparently brutally mugged recently. His performance on the Smashers has also been flagging leading to him to start abusing steroids to try and enhance his game. See Thunderstrike #5 and 8. He lost his temper last issue and struck Marcy. He went missing shortly thereafter. His strange behavior is being used here as a red herring to lead readers into believing he might be Bloodaxe. However, as we’ll learn in Thunderstrike #22, Bloodaxe is actually Jackie Lukas.

2. At the time of this story, Thor has succumbed to the Warrior Madness exacerbated by an ongoing identity crisis. See Thor #460-471, Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #86-88, Warlock Chronicles #6-8, and Warlock and the Infinity Watch #23-25. Sif came looking for Thunderstrike last issue to enlist his aid in helping Thor.

3. Here, Sif refers to the Executioner as “once dreaded”, that’s because in more recent times Skurge reformed himself and sacrificed his life to help Thor and his allies escape Hela’s realm. See Thor #360-362. The weapon had gotten into the possession of the Enchantress in Thor #402. It eventually ended up in the hands of Jackie Lukas in Thor #450 and used it as Bloodaxe until Eric took the weapon away in Thunderstrike #1.

4. The scratched out names on the list are all last names of artists who quit Marvel to form Image Comics in the early 90s. These names include (Jim) Lee, (Rob) Liefeld, (Todd) McFarlane, (Erik) Larsen. There are also the names Murray, and Simpson, but I couldn’t tell you if those are the names of people who worked at Image or not. Anyway, this was obvious bitterness directed at the guys who quit Marvel to start up Image Comics. Whatever DeFalco’s issues where, he seems to have come around and decided that the creation of Image was good for comics.

5. Except the Punisher never encounters Sangré again. As of this writing (November, 2022) she will make only one more appearance after this in Thunderstrike #11.

6. Beta Ray Bill clashed with Thor in Thor #461. This story incorrectly attributes this to Thor #487.

7. Thunderstrike was assisted by a mysterious benefactor in issues #1 and 2. This person is revealed to be Stellaris in Thunderstrike #6.

Topical References

• Mother Majowski is depicted smoking a cigar inside a police station in this story. Indoor smoking was banned in the state of New York back in 2003. As such his smoking indoors should be considered topical.