Thor #283: Review

May 1979

Roy Thomas, Chic Stone

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Story Name:

Suddenly--The Celestials!

Review & Comments

Rating:

Thor #283 Review by Peter Silvestro (June 4, 2019)

Review: It's taken awhile to get to this point—so a few more pages won't hurt, as Marvel seemed to be thinking. So before we get to the Celestials, we have Thor foiling a bank robbery for about a third of the issue—they kind of thing I think Thor was wasted on as does Thor himself evidently. And then he argues with Odin for the next third of the issue while conveniently summarizing the situation. And then we get to the Celestials: a beautifully Kirbyesque golden giant that Thor has to face and now, now after a long buildup, do we get to the Eternals Saga. If Marvel was going to incorporate Kirby's Eternals into the regular 616 universe, THOR was the place to do it as gods and monsters were already the backdrop (with an occasional bank robbery) and Thor works best on a cosmic scale. Buckle yourselves in, these 19 issues will be epic.

Comments: Part one of the Eternals Saga which spans issues #283-301. First appearance (disguised) of Ereshkigal. Thor tells a Mexican crook that the Spanish language is not spoken in Asgard; so English is? Mary Worth is mentioned, not the horrific character of urban legend but the wise older lady of the the veteran comic strip created by Allen Saunders and Dale Connor.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Thor #283 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

In Mexico City, Thor foils a bank robbery yet ponders why he is pausing in his pursuit of cosmic matters to act like a mere “superhero.” He gathers storm clouds over the city and cries out to Odin who asks impatiently whether Thor is giving up his interest in Midgard to return to Asgard. Thor says no and wants to know why he is so drawn to Earth and who is his mother. Odin won't tell him. Thor summarizes the false Ragnarok (issues #274-278) in which Odin tried to trick the prophecies into thinking they had been fulfilled and asks why. Odin won't tell him. Lastly, Thor asks what Odin knows of the Celestials (which Thor learned of in THOR ANNUAL #7). Odin starts to answer, thinks better of it and vanishes....

Thor flies to the Andes mountains in Peru, the site of his meeting with the Celestials a thousand years earlier; he spies a huge silver dome and tries to crash through but is repelled. On his way he passed a jetliner which, following in his wake, discovers a golden giant: the Celestial Gammenon whose task is to gather living things for analysis. Gammenon seizes the plane, tearing off the wings and when Thor tries to interfere, it blasts him away and returns with its prize into the giant dome....

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