Thorion of the New Asgods #1
“Thorion the Hunter”
Writer: Keith Giffen
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
Inks and Separations: Digital Chameleon
Colors: Dan Brown
Letters: Richard Starkings &
Comicraft
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Assistant Editor: Glenn Greenberg
Editor-in-Chief: Bob Harras
Cover: Romita
Published by: Marvel
Released: April 2, 1997
You know how on some of these Amalgam posts I'm rolling along, summarizing stories and cracking jokes, and then there's a bump and I have no idea who 50% of one of the characters is based on? Usually it's a secondary or tertiary or whatever-after-that-erary character, but often a quick trip to Google is all it takes to point me in the right direction.
Well, “Thorion of the New Asgods” draws deeply on a well from which I have barely sipped at all – Jack Kirby's Fourth World. I really like Mister Miracle – but by the time I've made it through the two dozen Amalgam issues, I may have read more of them than comics actually featuring Mister Miracle, at least if you're talking Scott Free and not Shiloh Norman from Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers.
And that's OK. Even though excessive knowledge of comic book characters is one of the things I believe I'm pretty good at, it's not exhaustive. With comic prices continuing to rise and some modern stories and approaches not doing it for me, I'm glad there are still plenty of regions to explore in the styles and eras I love. It was only a few years ago I dove deep into Kirby's Eternals, and that was great. I don't write these to dazzle people with my knowledge but to share my thoughts and experiences and maybe start a conversation.
But if I was going to take a crash course on the Fourth World and the New Gods... I don't think this issue would be on the syllabus.
No disrespect is intended to Giffen and Romita, who have both produced a number of works I thoroughly enjoy, or the rest of the creative team. This issue felt like more of an homage than a standalone story, but I could be wrong about that too.
It opens with Asgard under siege, as Romita's distinctive pencils evoking a Kirby-esque atmosphere. A two-page splash and panels that follow show trolls overwhelming the Asgardian forces and battering through the door of a chamber with the intention of slaying “Odin One-Eye.” Presumably that's who they find, though he seems to have both eyes. He tells them he's ready for Ragnarok and, in the first hint that this is something more than Marvel's or just a standard mythological Asgard, invokes the power of the Source.
The cosmos explodes in a most Kirby-ish krackle and the next page takes us to the Blasted Lands in “year one of the New Order.” There, a shadowy figure is slinging a hammer and wielding the Astro-Force, and even a Fourth World tourist like me knows this is Thorion.*
He sends the shadowy forces of Thanoseid, who you might remember from “Bullets and Bracelets,” on their way and frees three beings trapped inside cocoons. These fellows assure Thorion that they won't thank him, since the “Asgods” are just as heavy-handed as Thanoseid. And Thorion doesn't care that these self-proclaimed bugs feel that way because it's the will of the Source “as is my craving for combat. And if I cloak my battle lust with false concern for those beneath notice... who is to know but the Source?”
That sounds like the kind of who-gives-a-crap-about-Earth son Odin has been shown in some stories as wanting, but not much like the Earth-loving god of thunder I've come to know. Of course, my limited experience with Orion tells me he can be a bit of a jerk, so maybe that's the idea here.
Thanoseid watches from a viewscreen and asks Lok D'saad (Loki + Desaad) if he's still willing to “strike at your half-brother and, in so doing, doom us all?” Yep, he's in, and he wants to use the Mother Cube to do the deed. Thanoseid tells him to knock himself out but be wary of disappointing Lady Death.**
Back in New Asgard, Thorion arrives to some props from his buddy Bald'r Lightbringer, a mix of Balder from Asgard plus... somebody from the New Gods … maybe Lightray?*** They appear before Odin Highfather, who informs them, rather cheerfully, that the Source “has writ of Armageddon.” That... seems like a bad thing though.
Then we get a two-page splash of the giants Ymir, Surtur, Mangog and Kalibak (three Marvels and a DC) chained to something called the Ego Mass, with one human-sized figure holding a glowing thingamabob. Following some ads, it zooms in on Lok D'Saad, who is wielding the Mother Cube and calling to Thorion. Thorion arrives, and we learn that, in a twist on the swapping of Orion and Mister Miracle by Darkseid and Highfather, Lok was traded to Thanoseid for the hammer Thorion wields. Gotta admit, that stings even more than being a frost giant secretly adopted by your people's greatest enemy. Lok says Odin used the hammer to resurrect his son, Orion, whose death we heard about in the aforementioned “Bullets and Bracelets,” into Thorion. Thorion says the deal was made to seal a truce between Thanoseid's Apocalypse and New Asgard.
Lok isn't interested in debate; he blasts his half-brother with the cube and awakens the sleeping giants. Thorion responds by... blowing everything up again.
An energy hand picks up the hammer, and an epilogue shows Odin, Thanoseid and Bald'r contemplating Thorion's sacrifice, the bugs celebrating his legend and a big honking Kirby inspired being that is apparently Thorion reformed as the Celestial. To make matters even more confusing, the blurb for the next issue that's never coming seems to have no connection to what I've just read.
Despite that scale and Romita's killer artwork, the issue was pretty mundane from an action standpoint. We don't get to see Thorion in action much upon his introduction, and there's almost no setup before he faces Lok D'saad. Lok blasts him, he blasts Lok (and everything else), and then we're at a new moment of rebirth. I've complained about some issues cramming in a ton of exposition, and that's definitely not what's happening here. Romita is given plenty of room to deliver on the visuals but, other than our first look at Thorion, nothing really stands out.
Now, perhaps someone more steeped in the lore of these franchises would recognize what's going on and be appalled at my blasé reaction. That's fair. But I feel like this issue didn't do enough to appeal to more casual readers and missed an opportunity to do more.
That goes for the characters too. It seems like a lot of combinations and references were left on the table here, maybe a little too many. We get some in the letters page, but not the visuals to go with them.
Best Amalgam: Thanoseid remains one of the more obvious and inspired combinations, but I gave him the honor back in “Bullets and Bracelets.” I suppose there's no rule against a repeat winner, especially since I didn't make it up, but let's do a different kind of repeat and give the nod to the title character again. Asgard and the New Gods are a fitting combination, and Thor and Orion have hotheadedness and a love of combat in common. The name fits together but is just awkward enough to emphasize the separate ingredients.
Most Confusing Amalgam: Are the bugs an amalgam? I think bugs or a Bug are a Fourth World concept, but I don't know if there's a Marvel ingredient here, Or maybe Thorion works here too, since he was just Orion before. But I chalked that and Odin's metamorphosis into Odin Highfather up to the whole rebirth thing, which, again, fits with both franchises. But what's up with those bugs?
* - I mean, the cover helped too.
** - Remember when Thanos kept pulling
all his crap not because he was a cosmic serial killer
but because he
was trying to impress a woman? Ah, the good old days.
*** - The Marvel Fandom wiki says yes.
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