Call your source what you will, they all contain the same tale, but none are the same. Thor and Loki (and others) are travelling and find themself in a land where everything is giant. They seek shelter in a cave that turns out to be the glove of a giant who calls himself Skrymir. He is journeying back to his home, Utgard, and offers to let the two tiny gods travel with him. When he goes to nap, he tells them that they can eat whatever they want in his food pouch, which is tied with a loose knot. However, Thor is unable to loosen it despite his great strength and, in a rage, smashes his weapon upon Skrymir’s sleeping head. However, Skrymir wakes up and barely notices the blow. He travels on ahead, taking such giant strides. When Thor and Loki eventually reach Utgard, they are confronted by the lord of the castle, Utgard/Utgarda-Loki/Utgard-Loki, who, in exchange for their presence, says that they must prove themselves. In a series of trials, Loki loses at an eating contest, Thor is unable to empty a drinking horn, someone loses in a foot race, Thor is bested by the strength of an elderly woman, and Thor is unable to lift a cat up off the floor. In the end, Utgard-Loki reveals that he is Skrymir and that every test was a trick: Loki was competing against fire in the eating contest, the other end of the drinking horn was connected to the sea, the race was against their own thoughts which always went far ahead, Thor wrestled with old age, and the cat was actually the Midgard Serpent. In fact, even the difficulties with Skrymir were tricks: Thor actually smashed a mountain in two, and the food pouch was fastened with something stronger than a loose rope. Having had his fun, Utgard-Loki and Utgard disappear, leaving Thor and Loki to go on their way.
That’s roughly the story that each of these works tell. The shape is the same, the details differ.
When you put Thor #272 next to The Immortal Thor #6-7, there is actually very little overlap. I couldn’t find even a single panel where Al Ewing and Martín Cóccolo directly duplicated the work of Roy Thomas and John Buscema. Only Skrymir and Logi (the eater/fire) look similar in both versions, every other character/locale looks a little different. The flows of the stories are different, obviously drawn out a bit in the two-issue version, even with the various asides from Thor and Loki to comment upon the story. But, really, it’s only the broad shape of the story that remains the same, like both are following the same plot summary/bullet points, but each do it their way.
The first reason for this is the most obvious: there was 46 years between the comics. Sensibilities have changed, so directly recreating Thor #272 would be completely out of step with comics as they are today. Moreover, the comic already exists, so why recreate it directly? But, many comics recreate/reference old comics by doing a modern version of certain panels/moments where part of the fun is in dropping something old into something new. Like I said, I couldn’t find even a single panel that overlapped. At no point does Ewing use even a single line of dialogue directly, nor does Cóccolo copy the staging of a panel. Yet, in both issues, Dario Agger is seen reading Thor #272 with the Enchantress and Skurge looking over his shoulder. The cover of his version is identical to the one published in 1978 in our world, presumably in his as well. After all, he bought the fictional Marvel Comics that exists in the Marvel Universe and, of all of the comics from our world that could exist in theirs in roughly the same form, this issue would be it, based on a story from Norse mythology. The version that Agger reads, though, is the one that we’re reading... in The Immortal Thor #6-7. As I said last week, this is a commentary on the nature of the retcon in comics. The new replaces the old in official continuity. Now that we have The Immortal Thor’s telling of the tale, what use is Thor #272? And what do the changes mean going forward (and backward)?
More than that, the new version isn’t what happened any more than the old version was. Here, it’s a story that Loki (in the form of Thor’s enemy) tells Thor; there, it was a story that Thor told some children. In The Prose Edda, it’s a story that three forms of Odin (High, Just-As-High, and Third) tell Gangleri (King Gylfi in disguise while journeying, much as Odin changed his name while doing the same) when he visits their court. This isn’t fact or history, it’s always a story told. 272 is Thor telling a story of when he was small and overmatched to some children to show them that he understands what it’s like to stand up to a strong bully. In The Immortal Thor, Loki is repositioning the story to no longer be the Utgard of mythology (the outer land), but the new Utgard of this comicbook. Where Utgard-Loki isn’t simply a powerful trickster whose name is meant to echo that of Loki, but an archetypal god upon whom Loki is based/stems. As we know from the first and final issues of The Immortal Thor, Loki is the one that brings the Utgard gods back (or gives Gaea the means/opportunity) only to take their access away, basically severing the links between Utgard-Asgard-Midgard, as part of a larger plan to free everyone (whatever that specifically means). These issues are a crucial step in this specific story spell wherein these Utgard gods are retconned into the history of Thor and Asgard (as is Lukki... once we’ve caught up with him).
That’s the obvious thing about the story of the Utgard gods, yet something that most readers gloss over: they’re a retcon. Ewing is intricate and evasive in how he pulls it off. Sometimes specific, sometimes vague, usually couched in ideas that superhero comicbook readers are familiar with (the idea of archetypal versions of existing characters creating a broader mythology). Basically, every origin can be mined for more detail, more depth, more story. Skim the letter columns of these early issues as readers toss out theories for the Utgard gods and Ewing never confirms, never denies, always acknowledges as a possibility. Are they the same gods in the shadows from Ragnarok who would elevate Thor if he doesn’t break the cycle? Mmmmmmmmmmmaybe! And, here, Ewing, being the clever, funny guy that he is, takes a Roy Thomas-penned comic and retcons it to be a different story for his own purposes as if Roy the Boy isn’t the Original Retcon King. Oh ho ho.
A retcon here isn’t just a retcon. Story magic acting upon beings that live inside a story makes it history. The Utgard gods weren’t until they were and, then, they always were. “THE STORY’S CHANGING AS I READ IT,” Dario says in issue six. That’s how it works. You can’t unread what you’ve read, unsee what you’ve seen. You can love it, hate it, wish you’d never read it, but, once you have, the past has changed. You read The Immortal Thor #6 and 7 and, then, you go back and reread Thor #272 and who is Utgard-Loki in that comicbook from 1978 by Roy Thomas and John Buscema? Can you read it as you once did?
Utgarda-Loki
answered, “That would be an accomplishment, if you are up to it, and feats such
as that will be put to the test.” (The
Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson, trans. Jesse Byock, pg. 58)
*
“That will indeed
be a feat,” said Utgard-Loki, “If thou performest what thou promisest, and it
shall be tried forthwith.” – From Thor’s
Adventures on His Journey to the Land of the Giants, The Younger Eddas of
Snorre Sturleson
The Immortal Thor #7 is the final issue Martín Cóccolo draws as the regular artist on the title (he would return for a page in issue 19). In this issue and the previous, he attempts to hold his own by drawing the same story originally drawn by John Buscema. While Al Ewing can have his fun by playing with Roy Thomas’s retelling of a story from The Prose Edda, inviting direct comparison with one of the comicbook artist greats is no small task. Buscema is, now, more well-remembered for his work on the likes of The Avengers and various Conan comics, his time on Thor falling in that somewhat hazy void between the giants of the title, Kirby and Simonson. While he’s discussed in positive terms, Buscema isn’t usually put at the same level as a Kirby or Ditko, maybe not even a John Romita. He seems to be regarded as a talented artist, but also just ‘there’ throughout a large period of Marvel. That strong company artist whose look is so associated with the house style of the company for the period of his peak. Which, to me, is actually a huge compliment – a sign of how great he was that the look of his art defines the look of the entire publisher to a certain extent.
But, to get back to Thor #272 and The Immortal Thor #6-7 specifically, just as the writing’s purposes are different in the old and new, so too is the art. As Thomas was trying to adapt a story from The Prose Edda using Marvel’s Thor and Loki, Buscema was trying to present that story in a direct, literal manner. It was meant to be visually interesting, but also clear, following that old adage that you should be able to follow along even if you don’t read the words. Aside from the opening splash, no page contains more than four panels, most in the 5-6 range, and almost always in a grid with no stacking. Cóccolo, on the other hand, over the course of two issues, sits mostly in the 3-5 panels per page with a lot more variance in layouts. He only reaches six panels twice and a single page that is eight equal size panels 2x4 for a very specific effect. He’s also managing the various versions of Thor and Loki that switch throughout the story from tellers to parts of the story-within-the-story. Even the ability to go full bleed on the art gives Cóccolo so much more space.
Space is the word that jumps out when I try to point to the biggest difference. Cóccolo’s art seems to have more space than Buscema’s. Less restrictions from grid layouts, from the bleed around the pages, from the idea that each panel must be full. Buscema fills his panels to the brink, adding as much extra detail as he can in the background, which limits the sense of scale at play in the story. Yet, there’s something more definitive and solid about Buscema’s art. Cóccolo’s has a sense of fluffy playfulness to it that ties into Loki’s storytelling, but also detracts from the heft of it. The feeling of danger is palpable in Buscema’s art, lending a bit of that sword and sorcery fantasy approach to some of the scenes that show why he was so at home drawing Conan.
As much as I like, in theory, Alex Ross’s design of Utgard-Loki, it drags issue seven down visually. There’s something goofy about the design that makes the character hard to take seriously as a threat. Which, to be fair, can work to the advantage of the story where his actions can shock/surprise given the look of the character; here, instead of being large and impressive, like the Utgard-Loki in 272, he seems out of place. He telegraphs the trickery. The moment where Thor attempts to lift the cat, for example, and it stretches and bends before becoming the Midgard Serpent comes off as more Seussian than threatening. The new version lacks danger, I guess.
The one spot where Cóccolo uses a layout of more than six panels is the page near the end where Loki reveals the various tricks of Skrymir/Utgard-Loki and it’s done in a manner that seems a little reminiscent of Jim Starlin. Eight panels, each dedicated to one trick, any human-like figures being heads that take up the entire panel. It’s an interesting approach that has letterer Joe Sabino trying his best to place each panel’s word balloon as far off to the side as possible to maintain the effect. Despite that, it shows a bit of the limitations of this particular approach. As much as Cóccolo treats each page as its own visual unit, using wildly different layouts or repeating panels, it seems to be trying to do so with the same goal as Buscema’s art. Less experimentation to push limits, but visual interest while maintaining clarity. It’s like he’s working within the box like Buscema, only the box is now bigger.
*
There’s one last element of this retelling that I want to ramble on about that struck my interest. In The Prose Edda, Thor and Loki travel specifically into “East Giant Land.” In Thor #272, they are simply lost and find themselves in a strange land. In The Immortal Thor #6, they follow the black bridge that leads to Utgard (not aware that that is where it leads). They travel through the dark forest and cross through the unlocked gates that open on their own as they approach. This runs contrary to what we’re told about Utgard, a realm that Utgard-Loki, Toranos, and others fled to in order to not die at the hands of Atum. The gates were locked and Gaea was given the key. This happened well before Asgard’s time... So, how were Thor and Loki able to enter Utgard?
As always, there’s the simple and easy answer: because that’s how Loki’s story goes. However, Loki’s story is designed to not only relate what happened, but to create a new sort of history through his Skald Magic. It takes the story that Thor told those children back in issue 272 and repurposes it, transforms it, recasts these Utgard gods in the place of that Skrymir and Utgard (as he’s only called that in issue 272). Perhaps, the story Thor told in issue 272 was never about this Utgard-Loki at all; perhaps, it was about another so-called copy that “USE OUR NAMES AS TALISMANS,” as Utgard-Loki said in The Immortal Thor #1. Or, perhaps, it was always just a story told by humans that never actually happened to Thor that, through retelling and being written down, somehow got imprinted onto him and is repurposed by Loki... The shift from Utgard to Utgard-Loki for the name of the lord of Utgardhall/Utgard is telling, is it not? Even if it does call back to The Prose Edda.
Loki is very clear, in his telling, to cast Thor as the one that’s eager to cross the bridge and enter the gates, while Loki warns him the entire time. It becomes less like Loki’s purpose to place the Utgard gods into their shared history and more like their collision was Thor’s doing. That every step towards his doom was his own choice, not the manipulation of Loki. It also reminds us that most of The Immortal Thor is narrated by Loki. Just as this story is bent to his purpose, how too are the comics we’re reading?
Next week, we’ll dive into further retconning with The Immortal Thor #8 and a story from Thor annual #10.
