The Art Continues to Improve... The Story Does Not
The art in this issue is great - rarely has Thor looked so godlike before now, nor Loki so sinister.
But that's where the good stuff ends. Here's the story in a nutshell:
The USA decides it would be a good idea to launch a nuclear warhead into space and detonate it. It goes astray and can't be destroyed. It could land anywhere, so all the nations of the world simultaneously send out radio appeals to "the Mighty" Thor. Yes, everyone always refers to him as "The Mighty" Thor in this issue, even in casual conversation. Anyway, Loki, again imprisoned on Asgard, uses his "remote control" magic to steer the missile. See, the all-wise Odin still hasn't learned that chaining up Loki does no good, as this has to be at least the third or fourth time he's used his magic to affect things while chained.
Anyway, Thor destroys the missile (as Loki planned) but using every ounce of energy, Loki creates an illusion to distract Thor before he can retrieve Mjolnir. Loki creates a giant dragon illusion which causes Thor to turn his head at just the right angle to allow his returning hammer to hit him in the head (who knew Thor's hammer didn't always return to his hand?) right where it would hit Thor in the "chromosomic gland which determines and changes personality!" This of course turns Thor evil, as Loki had planned. Then Loki implants the thought into him to come to Asgard to free him. Why he couldn't have done that in the first place without the nuclear missile? Who knows.
So on the way back to Asgard, Thor, who evidently is not only strong but stupid - even when he's evil - punches Heimdal in passing, for no reason, then he frees Loki. All the rest of the Asgardians show up to stop Thor and Loki. They are led by Odin (who still has two eyes) and they decide that an entire pantheon of gods vs. two is not good odds, so the let Loki and Thor go to Earth to cause havoc, even though it's supposedly an important place to Odin, though he never had problems with Loki wrecking it in past issues (and continued to let him use his powers on it while imprisoned).
Once on Earth, Thor and Loki decide the best use of godlike powers would be to destroy a bunch of famous monuments. When the United Nations appeals to them, the gods go there. Once there, a trapdoor opens under Thor, and his hammer remains hanging in midair like all those cartoons where someone falls, but their hat stays. Then the Asgardians (who were disguised as U.N. members), use Thor's own hammer to hit him in the chromosomal gland and change him back.
Satisfied that Loki will no longer be a threat if they just use chains on him again, he is returned to Asgard and chained up with no other precautions... because that's how Odin rolls.
This is one time where the backup stories were actually better than the Thor story.
