The Immortal Thorsday Thoughts 16

The villains that Al Ewing chooses for Dario Agger’s group of “Gods of Midgard” are amongst the oldest to appear in Thor stories in the comics. Not a complete list of the oldest – even the oldest human villains – but amongst them. All four predate other human villains like the Absorbing Man or the Wrecking Crew. In most cases, the four chosen have gone on to actually be villains more for other heroes than memorable as “Thor villains.” Mr. Hyde is probably thought of as a Daredevil foe more than Thor’s – while the Radioactive Man has had a lot of appearances over the past couple of decades in a variety of places, most notably as a member of the Thunderbolts. Grey Gargoyle even had a moment as a bit of a major Iron Man villain thanks to turning Paris to stone in Fear Itself. Looking through their respective histories, all four are very much characters of the Marvel Universe at large with only the Grey Gargoyle actually appearing in a Thor comic proper in the 21st century. Basically, after their first appearances in Journey into Mystery, they all went off to be villains at large rather than staple Thor villains.

Their first appearances, both in comics and as Thor villains, occur over a 21-issue span of Journey into Mystery, beginning roughly a year into Thor’s time headlining the title. During that first year and interspersed were a variety of other villains like Loki and other Asgardian threats, several low-level human threats that kind of fizzled away, and one human threat that remained a somewhat recurring Thor villain, Zarrko the Tomorrow Man. Radioactive Man is a bit of an outlier, but, once Human Cobra (as he was originally known) is introduced in issue 98, nine of the ensuing 16 issues featured Human Cobra, Mr. Hyde, and Grey Gargoyle in some combination:

Journey into Mystery #93 – Radioactive Man

Journey into Mystery #98 – Human Cobra

Journey into Mystery #99-100 – Mr. Hyde

Journey into Mystery #105-106 – Human Cobra and Mr. Hyde

Journey into Mystery #107 – Grey Gargoyle

Journey into Mystery #110-111 – Human Cobra and Mr. Hyde

Journey into Mystery #113 – Grey Gargoyle

Their order of appearance in Journey into Mystery is how they show up in The Immortal Thor #16: Radioactive Man, Cobra/Mr. Hyde (same panel, teaming up), and, then, Grey Gargoyle. There are other allusions, like Radioactive Man’s arrival in New York recalling his original arrival in the city, walking through customs with impunity – or the way he tries to discredit Thor in front of the police being a variation of his original hypnosis of the hero, or even Thor throwing Mjolnir away. And the attacks of the other three are pretty much what those three do. It’s all very effective. Further disrupt the idea of Thor as a hero on Earth and, then, kill him. But, why these four? Of all of the superhumans that Dario Agger could recruit, why these four who have failed so many times before?

As Thor follows the body of the Radioactive Man across town as it’s propelled by Mjolnir, he thinks “[...] I AM MADE TO SEEM THE VILLAIN--AND HE THE HERO. NOT AN AUSPICIOUS START, THOR.” And so we return, once again, like a broken record, to the teller of the tale. Part of Thor’s identity is tied in his superhero persona on Earth and, if Loki is to destroy all that makes up Thor, then that part must be targeted as well. Amora, Skurge, and Dario did part of the job with their Roxxon Thor, but that still left lingering doubts. What Thor is real? If there are two, which one is good? Which one bad? There’s no way to know. So, you go back to the beginning and his earliest superpowered human villains, all working together to, first, make Thor seem the villain and, then, kill him – at least in a manner that will last on Earth. They supplant the God of Thunder as Gods of Midgard, filling the void his absence leaves. That seems important somehow: something for something.

I know, I remain fixated on this approach to reading these comics, but I can’t see any other. It’s all one story with one direction and purpose. For any of these issues to be throwaway stories that don’t contribute to that larger story seems wrong. Maybe it’s right, who knows. I’ve decided to give Ewing more credit than that with respects to this story.

The way that Thor’s image is meant to be remade before some of his earliest villains kill him is a variation on a retcon. By reliving those early days, it’s like a retcon in real time. It doesn’t change the past at all, but it does change the perception of the past. Like, maybe Thor was always bad and these four were always good, that everyone misinterpreted what happened. A spell that travels back through time, remaking history. It’s not entirely dissimilar from Skurge destroying the bridges and that disconnecting Thor (and Asgard) from Earth. The events remain, but something shifts. This would be more of a collective delusion than that, though. Like a reinterpretation of history where the facts aren’t so much in dispute as what they mean is. It fails, of course. I’m not convinced that it was ever meant to work completely, its true purpose to add to the cumulative effect of knocking bits off Thor until nothing is left, reducing him to bits and pieces, literally here.

Next issue, we’ll keep on following this path with a look at the human side of Thor’s soul in The Immortal Thor #17 and what exactly Donny Cates did to Donald Blake.

The Immortal Thorsday Thoughts 15

The three weapons that Thor must gather in preparation to journey to Utgard is a subplot of the run with Loki in his form as the Skald and Enemy of Thor pitting Thor against the riddles of himself via rune magic to have Thor earn these weapons. What I find interesting is that Thor is known for his trio of weapons/tools of great power, as described in The Prose Edda: “He, too, has three choice possessions. One is the hammer Mjollnir. Frost giants and mountain giants recognize it when it is raised in the air, which is not surprising as it has cracked many a skill among their fathers and kinsmen. His second great treasure is his Megingjard [Belt of Strength]. When he buckles it on, his divine strength doubles. His third possession, the gloves of iron, are also a great treasure. He cannot be without these when he grips the hammer’s shaft.” Despite these being the three items Thor is known for, these are not the three weapons Loki has him earn.

In The Immortal Thor #15, Thor resolves the problem of absorbing the power of Zeus by channeling it into a belt that can house it and help him contain it, Yolgjörd, not Megingjard, despite acknowledging the idea of Thor’s belt of power by mentioning that Thor fashions Zeus’s power “Into the shape he associated with his strongest self.” That gives him Tormod, the ax that holds his cleverness and, now, Yolgjörd, the belt that holds the power of Zeus. Now, these are both variations on his known tools, Mjolnir and Megingjard, which suggests that the third weapon (never obtained due to his banishing Loki in this issue) would be a play on his gloves of iron. Al Ewing doesn’t give Thor the weapons he’s most known for: he creates new variants. It’s a surprising choice for a run that references the mythology of Thor and the Aesir so much, but is rather keeping with his approach.

While Ewing draws upon the stories found in the Eddas for inspiration, weaving elements into existing Marvel continuity, and expanding details into something quite different, it is all in the service of something new. The Immortal Thor exists in a place beyond the Eddas with Odin dead and Thor as the king of Asgard. To have Thor gather his familiar tools would mean that he’s still the same Thor, that he hasn’t grown or learned or increased his abilities. But, Thor is still Thor and these are riddles of runes related to his name, so the weapons he would fashion to solve the riddles would still conform to the ideas associated with him. Instead of a hammer, he makes an ax. Instead of a belt of power, he makes... er, a different belt of power. Or, more accurately, his endurance. These new weapons, while recalling the old, do serve different functions. If the original trio were all centred around Thor’s strength and ability to fight, these new ones are more subtle, representing his wisdom and his endurance, things needed more by a king than a warrior possibly.

Looking ahead and at the third unknown weapon, I’m left wondering what it would have been and how Thor having it would have changed anything. He doesn’t get it due to his exiling Loki here, somewhat out of nowhere. Yet, if you’ll recall, Thor dies in Utgard not because he was lacking in magical weapons, but because Loki stabbed him through the back with Eternity’s Arrow. Moreover, that was Loki’s plan it seems all along, so how could a third weapon have saved Thor? What would have been different?

Or, perhaps a different question: where does the idea to banish Loki come from? This is a story told by Loki and I’ve theorised that certain elements of the tale come more from the teller than anything else. As Thor threatens Loki, they don’t seem particularly bothered by their brother’s anger or what he may be about to do. I don’t think Loki makes Thor banish them necessarily, more that the teller of the tale nudges things in a certain direction and Thor is more than glad to see it through.

That said, given the nature of the magical weapons and their origin, I don’t see the point in Loki pushing for their own banishment. If the goal of their plan is to somehow use Thor to free everyone, then not following through on the third weapon seems like an impediment. Each of the weapons were obtained/created to solve/answer a riddle – a rune-magic riddle featuring a rune of Thor’s own name. More than that, the weapons represent a part of Thor’s self. So, he externalises a part of himself to overcome another part of himself. Using himself to cancel out himself. It suggests a plan that involves Thor eliminating pieces of himself metaphorically until there’s nothing left, freeing himself of himself. Add that to the idea of the Utgard gods being an invention of Loki, a magical retcon generated when they recreated the Bifrost and they become further externalised ideas of Thor and the other gods. Toranos is the ur-skygod, Utgard-Loki, the ur-trickster, etc. And who is Thor set against as the seeming architect of their unleashing on the world? His own mother. It is about Thor fighting against parts of himself and it doesn’t seem like denying a third (or fourth or fifth or, etc.) weapon that places an idea of Thor in the physical world, outside of him, to be the smart play.

But, Loki is part of the story, too, and the teller must be true to the tale, eh?

The topic of the belt had me thinking about the last time he wore his belt of power. For all that the belt and gloves are associated with Thor as an idea, they’re not tools he often resorts to using. Over the decades of comics, there’s only been a handful of times that he’s wore either. Their most notable use was by Red Norvell when he sought to replace Thor, first to take Sif, and, then, at the behest of Odin when Thor chose Earth over Asgard. The main time that I can recall Thor wearing them for a specific purpose in a big way was at the end of the second year of the Dan Jurgens/John Romita, Jr. run on the title when Thor battled Mangog and Thanos (or a clone of Thanos), and needed further weaponry to be able to match the power of the two of them.

Odin enchanted the Belt of Power, Shield of Life, and Gauntlet of Tomorrows for Thor to use against them. In the original issues, the story ends with the hero triumphant. However, in Thor #24/750, Dan Jurgens returned with numerous past creators to tell the story of the immediate aftermath where Thor refuses to give the enchanted weapons up. Odin, realising that the power is too great for Thor, that he would soon give into it too much, is forced to demonstrate the danger of keeping them. Faced with the returned Mangog, Thor battles the beast for hours and, as he is about to go for the kill, Odin removes the illusion and Thor is faced with Balder, who he has been fighting the entire time. The shock of nearly killing his friend in a battle rage causes him to see how far he’d given himself over to the weapons.

What Thor does with the power of Zeus, using it to create a belt to house it, separate from himself, stems from this lesson. The endurance he has isn’t to simply withstand the onslaught of Zeus and to channel that power, it’s to endure the temptation of the power. Much of this run is about Thor considering the great power at his disposal and how he wields it. When he tricks Toranos into taking on the power of Thor, he tells the Elder God that the power of Thor is the power to hold the storm back, to not give into the urge to unleash all of his might. While it’s a recent story, Ewing has been drawing upon the Jurgens run quite a bit – and has a story himself in the same issue, one that bridges the gap between the end of Loki: Agent of Asgard and Defenders Beyond, but that’s for another time.

And that’s why his banishment of Loki surprises me enough to think that Loki had a hand in it. Compare it to how Thor handles his audience with Amora later in this issue, and his treatment of Loki seems reactionary. In this run, Thor is usually more thoughtful and even-tempered. But, right after crafting the belt, he lashes out at Loki and banishes them from Asgard. It stands out.

Next week, I’ll discuss The Immortal Thor #16 and dive into the villains of the issue.

The Immortal Thorsday Thoughts 14

And so we come to the fifth comicbook released during the time of The Immortal Thor that ties into it and could be incorporated into the ‘official’ canon that is this story: The Immortal Thor annual #1. It has the obvious signifiers of being somewhat essential or quasi-essential or, at minimum, worth slotting between issues of the monthly like written by the series writer, Al Ewing, and explicitly mentioning the larger plot points of the series, and events from this issue popping up later (Blackjack O’Hare, specifically). There’s one crucial detail that separates it, though, like Avengers Inc. #3 that makes it maybe less essential than other comics related to this run:

It’s not narrated by Loki.

If there’s one common feature across The Immortal Thor it’s Loki’s narration. I would argue that it’s the most important element of the book, the key feature that colours everything we experience yet is almost invisible. Ewing’s choice to tell this story through Loki telling the story is important and has carried on into The Mortal Thor, because this story is as much about Loki as it is Thor (maybe more). Avengers Inc. #3 being narrated by Janet Van Dyne like every other issue of that series makes sense and, while tying into The Immortal Thor, still functions very much as its own thing. The other tie-in issues all function as an extension of The Immortal Thor and they’ve all followed the lead of the main series in their approach with Loki narrating and folding into his larger story in some way.

Now, Roxxon Presents Thor #1 doesn’t feature Loki’s narration specifically, either. However, as I discussed in my post on that issue, the nature of that comicbook meant that Loki’s narrative influence is subtle yet still felt. Plus, that issue was something else entirely, a fiction within the world of the comic we’re reading, so it would naturally get a little latitude with how it functions. This annual, on the other hand, is firmly within the same world and, if it’s meant to be part of the larger narrative of The Immortal Thor, should function by the same narrative rules.

Ewing acknowledges this in the issue, actually. The annual is the third in a series of connected summer annuals that tell the story of the formation of a new Infinity Watch, each annual focusing on one of the Infinity Gems Stones, with this one being Power. It revolves around the Champion’s quest to regain the lost Stone, Thor seeking it out as something to assist with his conflict with Utgard, and the current holder, Powerstone. Thor’s entry into this story has him talking with Loki, recapping for those who haven’t kept up, and, at the end of their scene, Loki tells Thor, “HEED MY WARNING, THOR. I CAN’T HELP YOU--NOT WITH THIS. / IT’S NOT MY STORY TO TELL.” At which point, Powerstone’s narrative caption pops up with “TOO RIGHT! IT’S MY STORY!”

This is fairly explicit in passing the narrative baton from Loki to Powerstone, so the lack of Loki’s narration is a purposeful choice on the part of Ewing. There are a few reasons that I can see for this choice. The first is that he wants to keep this annual at arm’s length. Unlike the other tie-in comics, this one truly does not factor into the larger story and he doesn’t want to pretend like it does. Ewing has a habit of being an excellent team player in that any way he can have his books join in, he’ll do it. He’ll find a way to bend his story to fit whatever event or crossover is happening, and, usually, do it quite well. Given The Immortal Thor’s popularity at the time, it’s likely that Marvel was going to do an annual with or without Ewing and he volunteered so it could fit in with the main series as smoothly as possible, while still keeping it at arm’s distance.

Which leads to the second reason: this isn’t his story really. This is an Immortal Thor comic that’s actually part of another story, so he’s making a little meta joke about the way that this is part three of the Infinity Watch annuals where Derek Landy is the actually the main writer (and writes the backup feature which is a story running through all of the annuals). Unlike Giant-Size Thor #1, which was also part of a separate line of titles, that one was more a thematic line of ‘Giant-Size’ issues where Ewing could do a little one-off that thematically works with the larger Immortal Thor story while not being absolutely essential. This issue is less thematically related and more plot-related in a manner that does not matter.

And, as it is not Ewing’s story really and it does not matter, by making it Powerstone’s story, it allows for Ewing to lead into a style and tone that doesn’t quite fit with the monthly series. This is a bit of a goofy slapstick issue that fits quite well with the himbo nature of Powerstone. If Loki were telling the story, it could still be funny, but it would be a different sort of funny. It would be witty and clever, while this is broad physical comedy akin to a Jim Carrey movie or a Looney Tunes short. While I was critical of issues 11 and 12 with the introduction of Braggi’s narration not actually altering the tone of the issues in noticeable way, Loki passing off the telling to Powerstone does make a marked difference in how this issue is told compared to the monthly.

Altogether, it creates an effect where it’s an Immortal Thor comic written by Al Ewing, but it’s actually part three of another story and he wants to be very clear that this is not like the monthly comic. Like he wants us to know that this isn’t part of that story and he doesn’t want to be a jerk about it either. It’s a neat trick that walks a fine line that still leaves me debating how ‘essential’ I consider it. He goes out of his way to imply that it’s not part of the larger story of the series, yet the way he does it is so purposeful and in keeping with the way he’s telling that story that it kind of backfires and brings it in. Which was maybe his actual intention.

For the record: it goes in my reading order right after issue 12, then Giant-Size Thor #1, then issue 13...

But, we’re past that, all the way to issue... 775? The Immortal Thor #14 is, apparently, ‘Thor legacy #775,’ a bit of parallel numbering that Marvel does to have their cake and eat it too. They can have endless relaunches and number one issues, while also recognising the decades-long history of its titles. Thor anniversary issues have always been weird due to the numbering of his series being an evolution of Journey into Mystery’s numbering, which Thor didn’t enter into until issue 83. So, while Marvel would mark those big issue numbers (1, 12, 24/25, 50, 75, 100, etc.), they have historically also marked issues ending in 82 as the 100th, 200th, 300th, 400th, etc. issues of Thor comics in what is another version of having their cake and eating it too. Before you skip ahead, they don’t do that with legacy 782 here, which is fine, because they don’t really do it with legacy 775 either. Aside from the caption on the cover of The Immortal Thor #14 proclaiming “IT’S THOR THE ALL-FATHER VERSUS ZEUS THE SKYFATHER IN THIS EPIC 775TH ISSUE!” there is nothing special or traditionally celebratory about this issue.

Instead, it’s simply the next issue of The Immortal Thor, following up on the previous where Thor, Hercules, and Loki are in a dark dimension confronted with Zeus. We learn that Zeus is basically a dry run for Thor, given to Gaea as a baby to save him from Cronus’s murderous consumption, imprinted with the Wheel, and Thor’s current test. His first test in a different dimension was to solve the riddle of the rune Raidho, which is one of Thor’s own runes. Here, again, under the spell of the rune Uruz, another one of his own name, Thor must confront another aspect of himself. He must face his forefather in the skygod pantheon of those who command lightning. It’s in the solution to the problem he faces in Zeus that The Immortal Thor annual actually makes the compelling argument for its inclusion into the official canon of the series: Thor defeats Zeus in a very similar manner to how Powerstone defeats the Champion.

Powerstone’s victory involves him, as holder of the Power Stone, sucking the power out of the Champion via thinking (albeit idiotic thoughts), while Thor sucks the power out of Zeus through endurance and will. Funnily enough, the solution comes in part via Hercules, who is generally viewed as someone who’d fall squarely in the middle of Thor and Powerstone in the brains department. He’s also the one that realises that Nyx has found a true place of power that is preferable to war on Earth in an effort to conquer it for what that’s worth. But, defeating Zeus and taking on his power, along with the mark of the Wheel, doesn’t actually solve the riddle of Uruz. Not even the wisdom of idiots can do that...

Instead, we’ll see how Thor does that next week along with Thor vol. 6 #24/750.

The Immortal Thorsday Thoughts 13

As we begin the second half of The Immortal Thor, changes happen to the title. The first is that, having firmly established the Elder Gods, Al Ewing no longer focuses on retcons to plant the seeds for the story nearly as much. Instead, he shifts from looking back to looking forward, beginning to build more on existing stories. Issues 13 through 15 build upon two Avengers stories that he co-wrote No Surrender and No Road Home along with his Guardians of the Galaxy run, taking up those plot points and weaving them into the larger story of Thor and his collision course with the gods of Utgard.

While teased since the prologue story to The Immortal Thor, Thor’s confrontation and death with the Elder Gods of Utgard becomes the main focus of the second year of the title. Everything points towards Thor’s journey to Utgard and his confrontation with his fate. The seeds for this confrontation have been planted, the motives of Gaea and the gods created and made appropriately dire, and Thor’s path set.

Ewing’s ability to take what’s come before and continue to build upon it across different works is impressive. It was January 2020 when Zeus said that the wheel has turned in Guardians of the Galaxy #1 and, taking that phrase, Ewing made it a central idea of The Immortal Thor over three years later. He’s not the first writer to build these epic stories out of bits and pieces of mini-series and one-shots and cut short runs until they all collide in surprising ways that reward the faithful that stuck with it from project to project across a decade. Mainstream superhero comicbooks is a modernist medium that way. Stories built of stories built of stories. You don’t even need to have read them – I’ll admit that I have not.

I’ll also admit that these three issues, while practical in their advancement toward Utgard, suffer from feeling out of place. If you squint a bit, you can see some thematic elements with Thor progressing through godly business from his own family to another pantheon of the same age, all on the road to the Elder Gods. There’s some muddiness in the way that Thor is suggested to be a progression from Zeus, though, that stands out, and the entire story all adds up to Ewing wrapping up old business. Maybe not so forward thinking, unless you subscribe to the idiom that you need to bury the past before you can move on or however that goes. All of which is my way of saying that change isn’t always for the better and we’re in for some aimless, rambling three weeks, perhaps, so get ready.

*

The second change is the debut of Jan Bazaldua as the regular artist of The Immortal Thor, in that she will draw at least some of every issue going forward. I would throw out some stat about the number of artists in the first year versus the number of artists in the second, but issue 19 kind of skews things when looking at lists of names. But, ignoring that, Bazaldua is the visual look of the second half of the year after the first devolved into a rotation of artists after Martín Cóccolo departed. Her visual style isn’t a great departure from that of Cóccolo, which surprisingly adds to the visual continuity of the series. There’s a bit more Olivier Coipel in Bazaldua’s style with the broad faces yet with thicker, more carefree line work.

Her work on the second year of the title is a bit underrated, I find. Gone is the energy and hype of the initial issues, well into the dull middle section of the story where it feels a bit like the book is treading water until it can get to Utgard. I don’t entirely buy that idea and part of what keeps it somewhat exciting is Bazaldua’s visuals. She adds drama and energy when it’s needed.

*

The third required reading comic is Giant-Size Thor #1, something of a throwaway issue. While referenced in The Immortal Thor #13, it is actually pretty far from required reading. The entire premise of the issue is based on treating the title of the comic as the literal point with some aliens kidnapping Thor and using him to pilot a Giant-Size Thor mech. That’s the plot. Get the joke? Eventually Hercules arrives and Thor frees himself and the day is saved and the bad guys punished and all of that. It’s a fine issue where the initial play on the title actually hits in the right way to produce a laugh.

The most notable element of the issue is the way it reuses panels from Ragnarok, the story that ran in Thor (1999) #80-85, where Thor, in an effort to gain the knowledge that Odin once sacrificed an eye for, tears out both of his eyes, specifically in issue 83. The panel where Thor realises what he must do and goes to tear out his remaining eye is one of the most memorable panels, for me, in all of comics. Brian Level does his best to recreate Andrea Dell’Otto’s work here, but doesn’t quite capture the shock and horror of the original, which partly resided in the previous panel having the same blocking.

The callback to that story rests on the idea of Thor’s sacrifice to gain the knowledge necessary to save his people from the endless cycle of Ragnaroks, to see the circle of the threads of fate, and cut that thread. That was a sort of freedom that Thor sought to give the Asgardians. It initially meant the freedom to die and stay dead. Eventually, it was, theoretically, the freedom to determine their own fate. Now, Loki seeks to give them all even more freedom and the story ends with Loki’s narration asking what Thor would give “In time to come, when a new sacrifice is needed?” It’s a loose pointer to the eventual sacrifice of his life (and more?) in Utgard and beyond. Ever the one to join in when there’s an event or a series of throwaway one-shots, Ewing does his best to deliver something not entirely throwaway.

Next week, I’ll discuss the other throwaway tie-in one-shot The Immortal Thor annual #1 along with The Immortal Thor #14.