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Thor #288: Review

Oct 1979
Roy Thomas, Chic Stone

Story Name:

Fury of the Forgotten Hero!

Review & Comments

Rating:
4.5 stars

Thor #288 Review by (July 22, 2019)

Review: A lot of thrilling fighting in this issue featuring four battles: Thor vs Hero, Sif vs a giant, the Warriors 3 vs Fafnir, and Thor vs a Celestial with the surprise ending being the revelation of the opposite of a battle, a surrender. Yeah, what's up with Odin? We'll find out soon. Meanwhile, Mimir, a flaming fountain of truth, gets off a zinger against Odin: while the All-Father vows he will sacrifice anything to save Asgard, Mimir points out that he is safely at home.

Comments: Part six of the Eternals Saga which spans issues #283-301. Letters page includes a lengthy reply by Roy Thomas to Jonathan Hochberg about Jack Kirby's Eternals.






 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Thor #288 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Aboard the Celestial mothership, Thor is shocked at his first sight of the Celestial known as The One Above All. Hero (formerly the Forgotten One) informs Thor that they have been teleported there to continue their battle. Thor considers taking on the Celestial to have the greater priority but Hero slugs him anyway. Hero has been instructed by his master to spare Thor if the God of Thunder agrees not to interfere with the Fifty-Year Judgment; Thor refuses and the fight resumes, making a bit of a mess of the ship. Hero tries electrocuting Thor which only refreshes him for continuing to fight....

Meanwhile, in Asgard, Odin broods over Thor's predicament (shown to him by Mimir) as Karnilla, Queen of the Norns, appears, having just learned that the All-Father sacrificed her beloved Balder the Brave to stave off Ragnarok (issues #274-278) and is she ticked off. Odin explains briefly that Balder is in the twilight state between life and death and that he is more concerned with Thor's situation. Then Mimir shows him Sif battling a Storm Giant on her mission for Odin: she seems to be losing when she fires a fragment of the divinely-granted Odinforce through her sword, knocking the giant out. She enters the cave guarded by the giant to find...the Destroyer. Odin also sees the Warriors Three captured by Fafnir; Fandral hurls his sword into the dragon's eye and the monster responds by unleashing his flaming breath on the warriors.... Karnilla doesn't care and demands Odin restore Balder to life; he pleads the safety of Asgard and under her threats and Mimir's goading, he vanishes....

Back aboard the Celestials' ship, Thor continues his fight with Hero: when his foe hurls a gyroscopic globe (a gigantic ball of glass), Thor deflects it toward The One Above All who disintegrates it. Hero seizes Thor's hammer but is unable to lift it; Thor rains down a series of violent blows on Hero so that his enemy is subdued and the Thunder God is able to reclaim his hammer and prevent his transformation back to Don Blake. Thor then threatens The One Above All with Mjolnir, demanding to know how the Fifty-Year Judgment may be prevented....

In Olympia, Thena and Ikaris debate whether to continue waiting for Thor or take action; Zuras decrees that the waiting time is over and so the Eternals prepare for the ritual of the Uni-Mind....

Thor strikes against The One Above All but his attacks do nothing to the giant Celestial who merely swats him away. As the enraged Thor prepares to strike once again, the Celestial holds out a hand, an image forming in the palm: Thor sees his father Odin swearing allegiance to the Celestial Arishem during the time of the Third Host, one thousand years earlier....


Preview Pages
Click sample interior pages to enlarge them:




Chic Stone
Chic Stone
Glynis Wein
Keith Pollard (Cover Penciler)
Bob Layton (Cover Inker)
? (Cover Colorist)
Layouts: Keith Pollard. Letterer: Joe Rosen.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Balder
Balder

(Balder the Brave)
Karnilla
Karnilla

(Norn Queen)
Thor
Thor

(Odinson)
Warriors Three
Warriors Three

(Fandral, Hogun, Volstagg)

Plus: Fafnir, Gilgamesh (Forgotten One), Thena, Zuras.

> Thor: Book info and issue index

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