Having
opened Bor’s vault, Thor is transfixed by the vision of the entirety of
history. A now-adult Laussa comes to him from the future, drawing his attention
away from the Time Storm and telling him to “check on your dead,” a message
future Thor gave her to bring….
Checking
on his dead, Thor discovers Valhalla is empty and summons Valkyrie (Jane Foster).
They bicker comically for a page or two with Odin, inhabiting Mjolnir, joining
in. Thor tells Jane they are under attack by an unknown enemy; she sees the
ruined Bifrost but Thor tells her he did that himself when he was a Hulk. They travel
to Hel, the kingdom of the dead ruled over by Hela, via Thor’s goat cart and
find both she and Karnilla are gone. The place is inhabited by the Valravn, a
pair of massive ravens that feast on the dead while quoting limericks. When one
of them targets Odin with a snarky poem, he is enraged and flies through the
air, smashing the giant bird in the head. Thor scoops up phis hammer as the
other Valravn tries to stomp on him but Thor is protected by Jane’s spread
wings. Thor shows his glory, demanding answers from the two cowed birds. Then
Nidhogg, eater of the dead, an even more gigantic dragon, arrives. Thor hurls
Mjolnir into its open mouth and it comes smashing out through its eye. Thor
speaks to Odin in the hammer but there is no answer….
In
Latveria, Doctor Doom philosophizes on the end of the world and we discover he
has Hela, Goddess of Death, trapped and helpless in a glass container….
“When
One Door Closes” 4/5
Writer:
Cheryl Lynn Eaton. Art: Criscross. Colors: Andrew Dalhouse. Letters: Joe
Sabino.
Synopsis:
Bast arrives at Avengers Mountain, seeking Black Panther and a boon owed her by
Odin. Thor steps in, offering to repay his father’s debt. Bast explains to the
two heroes that in her temple, the gate to Duat, Land of the Dead is broken and
she wants them to repair it lest something nasty escape. Thor and T’Challa stop
off to tranquilize a lioness as the key to the first of the gates. Taking the
drugged cat, they head to the Temple of Bast and enter to find the giant
reptile demon called Ammut. T’Challa fights the monster while Thor uses Mjolnir
to repair the gate and the lioness forces the demon back to its own realm. From
within Mjolnir, Odin claims the victory but Bast reveals she was in the lioness
so she is victor—and Odin still owes her a favor….