Comic Browser:

#295
#296
#297
#298
#299
#300
#301
#302
#303
#304
#305
#306
#307
#308
#309
#310
#311
#312
#313
#314
#315
#316
#317
#318
Selector

Thor #300: Review

Oct 1980
Mark Gruenwald, Gene Day

Story Name:

Twilight of the Gods!

Review & Comments

Rating:
4.5 stars

Thor #300 Review by (October 21, 2019)

Review: An epic wrap-up both of the recounting of Richard Wagner’s Ring operas and the Celestial saga, the latter much more successful than the former. I’m still not sure why the “Eternals Saga” involved an adaptation of the Nibelungenlied but the conclusion was very word-heavy as they tried to fit more into the low page count than could reasonably be accommodated. The second half of the issue was truly epic, with Odin taking on the Celestials and losing. Thor too but the whole matter was resolved logically (aside from Mother Earth’s deux ex machina) and with quite a bit more action than I would have expected. There’s still another issue left in the saga but all the pressure is now off (at least from the Celestials) so we can relax.

Comments: Double-sized special issue. Part eighteen of the Eternals Saga which spans issues #283-301. Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio share scripting duties. “Twilight of the Gods!” is actually the title for part one alone but it serves for the entire issue as well. The Eye of Odin has been talking since issue #292, time for a rest especially for a creature without a mouth. Gaea/Mother Earth previously appeared in DOCTOR STRANGE (1975 series) #6-9 as Mother Nature. The Destroyer armor will be restored in issue #381. Issue is dedicated to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, “the real All-Fathers.”






 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Thor #300 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Thor continues to listen to the account of the Eye of Odin, blissfully unaware that this is the day Arishem of the Celestials will pass judgment on Earth….

Siegfried goes out hunting and meets the Rhinemaidens who ask for the Ring of the Nibelung back; Sieg refuses, mocking talk of a curse. He then encounters Gunther and Hagen who have come to make amends for their quarrel (last issue). But Hagen, who covets the ring, stabs Siegfried in the back with a spear. Shocked at this turn of events, Gunterh has Sieg’s body taken back to the castle. There, he orders Hagen imprisoned but the wicked dwarf is quicker and stabs Gunther to death. Gutrunna has him locked up and when Brunnhilda enters and sees her beloved dead, orders him immolated on a huge pyre and leaps into it herself, horse and all. Thor realizes then that he has failed at Odin’s purpose for granting him human form. In Valhalla, Odin awaits the arrival of the dead Siegfried and Brunnhilda, then restores them to their divine forms, wiping their memories of the failed mission….

Odin takes the ring, snaps it in half and uses the two parts to staple himself to Yggdrasil, after stabbing himself with his spear Gungnir and hangs there for nine days, as penance for his failures. A mystery woman in a green cloak stops by to show him a vision of the arrival of the Celestial Third Host and so he comes down from the tree hurries back to Asgard and inquires of Mimir; the all-knowing flame tells him of space gods come to judge mankind. After brooding about this for a few days, Odin calls a summit of the chief gods of all Earth’s pantheons to hash out the matter of these invaders. They decide to send a delegation to the Celestials so Odin, Zeus, and Vishnu are chosen and they travel to the Peruvian mountains where the Celestial city was. They are met by Ajak who explains that the Celestials had created humanity and therefore had the right to judge as they saw fit. The divine trio fire their weapons at Arishem who absorbs the energy and gives them each a vision of the destruction of gateways to their homes; this will he do unless the gods promise not to interfere for the next millennium. Odin, Vishnu, and Zeus bow to Arishem as a pledge (thus—finally—answering Thor’s question from the end of issue #288). Odin returned to Asgard and built the Destroyer armor and the Oversword in preparation for the next meeting of gods and Celestials….

Thor realizes he has misjudged his sire and takes the eye and heads back to Asgard; there he finds everyone dead including Odin who still sits on his throne. He also finds the Oversword missing and goes to the Well of Mimir which is dying. Thor tosses the Eye of Odin into it and it recovers enough to tell the Thunder God that Odin has entered the Destroyer and taken the Oversword to fight the Celestials. Odin smashes his way into the Celestials’ dome, followed by the Eternals’ Uni-Mind, and faces the assembled Fourth Host. The Celestials fire upon the Uni-Mind, causing it to fall apart into the individual Eternals. Odin battles them but finds he can cause them no permanent damage but they can pierce the indestructible armor. Thor arrives to add a raging storm to the battle but it does not help Odin. Odin bows in defeat and the Celestials pour their power onto him turning the Destroyer into a mass of molten slag. Thor, enraged, strikes out at the Celestials but he can do them no harm—until he smashes the pedestal Arishem stands on, toppling the leader to the ground. Shouting defiance, Thor raises the Oversword and pierces Arishem’s breast. But then Arishem calmly draws the sword out and melts it in his hand—then he reaches for Thor. The woman in the green cloak appears between them and orders him to halt; she reveals herself to be Mother Earth, with an offering of twelve youths, each representing one of the pantheons, to be disciples of the Celestials, in exchange for the life of the planet. And so Arishem decides to spare the Earth and he and his host depart with the youths, leaving Mother Earth to inform the injured Thor that she is his birth mother….



Preview Pages
Click sample interior pages to enlarge them:




Gene Day
Gene Day
Carl Gafford
Keith Pollard (Cover Penciler)
Keith Pollard (Cover Inker)
? (Cover Colorist)
Layouts: Keith Pollard. Letterer: Joe Rosen.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Thor
Thor

(Odinson)
Valkyrie
Valkyrie

(Brunnhilda)

Plus: Eye of Odin, Gaea (Mother Earth), Siegfried, Vishnu.

> Thor: Book info and issue index

Share This Page


Elektra