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Thor #296

Jun 1980
Roy Thomas, Chic Stone

Thor #296 cover

Story Name:

From Valhalla--A Valkyrie!

Synopsis

Thor #296 synopsis by Peter Silvestro
Rating: 4 stars

Impatient Thor again threatens the Eye of Odin for not yet explaining how Odin killed his own son, so the Eye continues...

In Asgard, Odin worries over Alberich's curse and looks down on Midgard to see Vikings at war and his nine Valkyries to ferry the dead heroes to Valhalla to start filling it. Meanwhile, a fellow who looks very much like Thor is fighting his way through a driving storm and comes to a cottage, seeking shelter. He faints and the lady of the house cares for him; her husband, the brutish Hunding, arrives and roughly jokes about his wife cheating with this handsome stranger, offending the hero. The stranger, calling himself “Woe-King” relates his story: he and his father returned from hunting to find the wife/mother dead and the hero's twin sister presumed to be dead in the burning home. Father and son rode off for revenge against the clan of the Neidings; there followed a massive slaughter in which the father vanished, leaving only his wolfskin cloak behind. Woe-King became a wanderer and one day he saw a woman being forced into a marriage against her will and intervened, killing many of them. He then learned that he was killing the bride's brothers and she was also slain in the melee. Hunding reveals that he was one of the brothers and vows to kill Woe-King the following morning as hospitality forbids doing it now. Later that night the wife comes to Woe-King, having drugged her husband; she shows him a great sword embedded in the tree at the center of the cottage, put there by a stranger who passed by as she was being wedded against her will to Hunding; when the sword “Needful” is pulled out, she shall have her revenge. The hero pulls it out and reveals his name is Siegmund, Son of Wulf; she reveals that she is his twin sister Sieglinda, and know that their father was likely a god, they fall in love as being above human kinship....

Odin is watching from Asgard and he admits to being Siegmund and Sieglinda's father so he dispatches his favorite Valkyrie, Brunnhilda, to Midgard to ensure that Sieg wins the duel the next day. But Odin's wife Frigga has a stake in it: as she is the Goddess of Marriage, she objects to Odin taking the part of a pair of adulterers over Hunding who has kept his vows and Frigga demands that Siegmund die. Odin reluctantly agrees even though Siegmund be his own son by a human mother; he orders Brunnhilda to carry out his fate but the Valkyrie balks and even Odin worries over the fallout for Ragnarok of losing this mighty hero. In Midgard, Brunnhilda warns Siegmund of his fate as Odin has removed the sword's power but because she sympathizes with the young lovers, she promises that Sieg will kill Hunding. And when the villain arrives, they battle and Sieg has the upper hand until Frigga reminds Odin of his vow and the All-Father is forced to go down and protect Hunding, smashing the sword Needful and allowing Hunding to kill Sieg. Brunnhilda rides off on her winged horse with Sieglinda, Odin kills Hunding, and vows revenge against the Valkyrie for forcing him to kill his own son...as Thor watches in shock....


 

Review / Commentaries

Thor #296 Review by (September 24, 2019)

Review: The saga of “the mortal Thor” is how the cover introduces this tale. And it's true: Thor's semi-human predecessor was Siegmund, mighty hero of Germanic myth, a myth that allows much of its resonance to carry through into this standard superhero comic. Roy Thomas does a great job of incorporating the tales of the Nibelungs into the action and interests of Thor and his modern ilk and Chic Stone's art—with the recognizable inkings of Marie Severin—puts it across pretty well.

Comments: Part fourteen of the Eternals Saga which spans issues #283-301. Marie Severin and Al Milgrom are credited with pencils and inks too.




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Chic Stone
Chic Stone
Carl Gafford
Keith Pollard (Cover Penciler)
Keith Pollard (Cover Inker)
Unknown (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Layouts: Keith Pollard. Letterer: Joe Rosen.

Characters

Listed in alphabetical order. All stories.

Freyja
Freyja
(Frigga)
Odin
Odin
Thor
Thor
(Odinson)
Valkyrie
Valkyrie
(Brunnhilda)
Plus: Eye of Odin, Siegmund.

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