Thor #280
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThor #280 is the first issue to bring together both versions of Hyperion — the heroic Squadron Supreme Mark Milton (Earth-712) and his villainous Squadron Sinister counterpart (Zhib-Ran of Earth-616) — in the same story, a milestone in Marvel's long-running meditation on DC/Marvel analogues. The issue also marks the debut of Emil Burbank, the Lex Luthor pastiche who would later be fully developed into the major Squadron Supreme villain Master Menace in Mark Gruenwald's celebrated 1985 miniseries. Beyond its character firsts, the issue is a deliberate, self-aware exercise in inter-company meta-commentary: titled 'Crisis on Twin Earths!' as an overt nod to DC's parallel-world storytelling tradition, it layers irony upon irony by casting the Superman-analogue Hyperion against a Thor drawn by Wayne Boring — the very artist who visually defined Superman for a decade. That creative collision gives the issue a unique place in Bronze Age history as both a fun piece of pop culture commentary and a genuine building block for the Squadron Supreme mythology.
In "Crisis on Twin Earths!", Thor answers Hyperion's desperate call to his world, where the hero finds himself facing a twisted version of his ally—and a dangerous new threat in the form of Emil Burbank. With the Squadron Supreme caught in the crossfire, Thor must navigate a reality where heroes and villains are inverted, and trust is the first casualty. Written by Don Thompson, Maggie Thompson, and Roy Thomas, with art by Wayne Boring and Tom Palmer, and colored by Carl Gafford, this issue features a striking cover by Joe Sinnott.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The story concept originated with comics fans and future Comics Buyers' Guide editors Don and Maggie Thompson, who pitched the plot to writer/editor Roy Thomas; Thomas then scripted it and shaped it around the then-imminent release of the 1978 Superman film. The artist choice was the real coup: penciler Wayne Boring, who had been the primary Superman artist through the 1940s and 1950s and had largely retired from comics, was brought back specifically for this one issue through the intervention of new Marvel Bullpen hire Ralph Macchio, who was Boring's nephew. Inker Tom Palmer, the regular finisher on the Thor series, worked to reconcile Boring's Golden Age Superman style with late-1970s Marvel house expectations, and this appears to have been Boring's first and likely only work produced in the 'Marvel method' of storytelling from a plot.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date: February 1979 (Thor vol. 1 #280); published by Marvel Comics Group.
- Story title: 'Crisis on Twin Earths!' — a deliberate reference to DC's long-running 'Crisis on Earth-X' parallel-world crossover tradition.
- First appearance of Emil Burbank (Earth-712), the Lex Luthor analogue and arch-enemy of Hyperion; Burbank would later be reimagined as the armored supervillain Master Menace starting in Squadron Supreme #6 (February 1986).
- First time the heroic Hyperion (Mark Milton, Earth-712/Squadron Supreme) and the villainous Hyperion (Zhib-Ran, Earth-616/Squadron Sinister) appear in the same story, establishing the twin-Hyperion dynamic that Mark Gruenwald's Squadron Supreme miniseries later built upon.
- Plot by Don Thompson and Maggie Thompson; script by Roy Thomas; pencils by Wayne Boring; inks by Tom Palmer; colors by Carl Gafford; letters by Joe Rosen. Roy Thomas also served as editor.
- Wayne Boring — the definitive Superman penciler of the 1940s–50s and co-creator of the Fortress of Solitude and Bizarro World — was recruited for this issue through Marvel Bullpen newcomer Ralph Macchio, who was Boring's nephew.
- The Squad Supreme appears as a group in the issue, including a cameo-level assembly of Beast, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Iron Man, Hellcat, and Captain America from the Avengers.
- The issue has been reprinted in multiple collections: Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe (2006), Squadron Supreme Classic Omnibus (2016), Squadron Supreme vs. Avengers (2021), Thor Epic Collection #9: Even an Immortal Can Die (2023), and Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol. 18 (2019). A British edition and a Whitman variant also exist.
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Reprinted in Captain America #50 (1982), Ombrax-Saga #249 (1986), Ombrax-Saga #250 (1986), Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe #[nn] (2006), Squadron Supreme Classic Omnibus #[nn] (2016), Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor #18 (2019), Squadron Supreme vs. Avengers #[nn] (2021), Thor Epic Collection #9 (2023), Marvel Comic-Stars #12
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