Blog

When last I left  yon fellow adventurers, Thor and his new friends the Eternals (well, old friends I guess really), were headed for the Eternals homeland of Olympia. There they are going to try and gain the help of the rest of their fellow super beings in the fight against the Celestials. First off, Thor and company interrupt their Olympic style games that are going on. At this point we get a quick glimpse of what is going on in Asgard. Lady Sif is searching for something unrevealed but she ends up running into a Frost Giant. Shift to The Warriors Three who stumble into a cave that is inhabited by Fafnir; A fire breathing dragon who was once a man but was turned into a beast by Odin himself. Next we move back to Olympia where suddenly there is an impromptu appearance by a being calling himself “The Forgotten One.” He claims to be an Eternal who was banished by Zuras years earlier for his arrogance (avid Avengers fans know him as Gilgamesh). He claims to be an emissary for the Celestial Host. The Forgotten One basically threatens to kill anyone who gets in the Hosts’ way. After some heated verbal exchanges he starts to beat down all the Eternals that oppose him only to be stopped in his tracks by Thor. Amidst the battle Thor and “Hero” as he is now calling himself are transported to the Celestials ship hovering above the Earth.
Meanwhile, Odin is watching all of this transpire and is confronted by Karnilla; She is the Norn Queen and hopelessly in love with the now fallen Balder the Brave. She essentially tells Odin to use his enormous power to bring Balder back to life. Odin tells her that he cannot and she gets so angry she challenges him to a fight! He tells her he has other matters to attend to elsewhere and splits. We then turn our attention back to Thor who starts getting the better of The Forgotten One and subdues him. Thor then turns his attention to the towering Celestial and repeatedly tries to get the recognition of the giant space god. Well, to make a long story short, Thor gets swatted like a fly. We next see Odin traveling to Olympus (home of Zeus, Hercules, Ares and the rest of that pantheon of gods) to gain their help in stopping Thor and the Eternals from interfering with the Celestials judgment. Following a brief skirmish Zeus agrees to bring all of his peeps to help out. Now right about the same time, the Celestial that is smacking Thor around decides to show him a glimpse of a past time when his father and other gods were bowing down; pledging to not stand in the way of the Celestials and their jurisdiction. This drives Thor to a breaking point for a couple of reasons. One, because to see his father doing this is like being betrayed; and two, not only is Odin his father but he is also fundamentally the God of all of Asgard!
Now at this point of the story I was thinking…”there is no way Odin and Thor are gonna throw down.” Boy was I dead wrong. We next see Thor arriving in Asgard to see his father and question him about viewing that frightful image of him kneeling before the Celestials feet. Now one quick side note here: Thor has been banished from Asgard, partially by himself but all of the inhabitants know that he is not welcome there until Odin says he is. Thor is greeted by Heimdall,the guardian of Bifrost (the rainbow bridge that connects Earth to Asgard) with some hostility and demands that Thor go back. Thor commands Heimdall and his troops to let him in but they do not and a fight ensues, including even Thor’s betrothed Lady Sif trying to thwart his entrance. Thor begins to make his way forward but at this moment we see what it was Odin sent Lady Sif to retrieve on her secret mission. It’s called “The Destroyer”; a suit of armor that is nigh indestructible that can be controlled by someones spirit. Believe it or not she assumes control of the armor and hits Thor with a cheap shot and then hurls him back to Earth. The next issue (Thor #290) is somewhat ridiculous being that Thor battles a pro wrestler. Well, it’s actually a deviant masquerading as a wrestler that’s trying to kill an Eternal who also happens to be a pro wrestler. Yeah, I know… weird, huh? Honestly if not for the humor factor it would be a useless issue.
The last segment of the first volume is phenomenal in my opinion. Thor #291 shows us what lengths a father (Odin) is willing to go to in order to stop his son and the Eternals. This issue IS one of the best Thor issues ever; maybe even one of the best Marvel comics ever. It boasts a huge brawl between the Eternals and Olympians, plus Thor versus Odin!!! For me, nothing is cooler than seeing these heavyweights battle it out. Sometimes I think hero vs. hero or villain against villain is more telling about a character than the traditional conflict.
Well folks that’s it for volume one of this spectacle. We are left with Odin poised to stab his own son with his mighty spear. Will he do it? Believe me when I say you can’t imagine what volume two holds for this story. Some burning questions will be answered like… will Odin kill Thor? What is the origin of Odin and all of Asgard? What has Odin’s missing eyeball been up to? Um yeah, no joke, we will find that out too! Tune in next week for answers True Believers!
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net