Thor #251: Review

Sep 1976

Len Wein, Tony De Zuniga

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Story Name:

To Hela and Back

Review & Comments

Rating:

Thor #251 Review by Peter Silvestro (September 13, 2014)

Okay story is marred by the idiotic character of Sif: she takes everything too personally and can only fret and fuss over the situation. The recent series went just a bit too far in the other direction, portraying her as a bloodthirsty tomboy but at least that wasn’t painful to read. Wait…Hela is said to be ruling over Valhalla? In earlier comics she was ruler of Hel and trying to conquer Valhalla. Someone wasn’t paying attention. Anyway, the all-time classic journey of Thor into Hel is Simonson’s epic in #360-362; I think I’ll go read that again as this one pales by comparison.

Comments: Harokin was introduced and perished in THOR #129-133.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Thor #251 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Sif finds Thor brooding and worries that it is because she has replaced Jane Foster in Asgard; Thor assures her that he is merely worried about the missing Odin. The Grand Vizier announces that he has used his magic to search the entire universe for Odin and found no trace of him. But there is one realm that he could not look into: Valhalla, the place of the dead ruled over by Hela [sic]. Thor sets himself to go there and turns down the offers of his friends to accompany him. Thor rides through the Mists of Midnight and over the Golden Bridge, decorated with the shields of the dead. His horse dies of fright and Thor is confronted by former enemy Harokin who welcomes him to Valhalla. When Thor reveals that he is alive, he is attacked by a horde of warriors just as he spies a shadowy figure who may be Odin watching from a high point….

Back in Asgard, Balder and the Norn Queen spar verbally over their attraction to one another. The Grand Vizier persuades a weepy and whiny Sif not to give up hope.

Thor and Harokin go head to head but the God of Thunder is shot in the back with a troll weapon called a bludgeon bow and thought to be dead. He quickly awakens and resumes battle. Hela appears and puts a stop to the brawl; she tells Thor Odin is not there. The Thunder God climbs the hill to see for himself: the shadowy figure is an aged warrior named Grombar who Thor mistook for the All-Father. Hela allows him to depart her realm, knowing that the torments of his soul are a far greater punishment than anything she could arrange….