Thor Annual 7

and Ever -- the Eternals!
by Roy Thomas, Walt Simonson, and Ernie Chan
1978

This is a story from Thor's past, one which he has forgotten. His memory of the events in this story are restored to him by Mimir, Fiery Guardian of the Well of Wisdom. There are captions throughout which are present day Thor and Mimir's conversation.

Before getting into the story from Thor's past, that dominates this annual, Mimir provides a little bit of his origin story. Mimir first appeared in Thor 240 (Oct 1975). This is his 5th appearance. He also appears in the Eternals story that runs from Thor 283 - 300 but after that he has just a couple more appearance.

Mimir's story of Thor begins with the events of Thor Annual 5, when the Norse and Greek gods fought. This took place hundreds of years ago. After the battle and the events of Annual 5 were over Thor was frustrated and departed Asgard for a time. This is where the story proper begins and where Thor's memory fails him.

The first being that Thor encounters is Dromedan, the Deviant Mutate. Thor is lured to a sealed chamber in a mountain in South America. He breaks open the chamber and finds Dromedan. Dromedan tries to use his mental powers to compel Thor to free him. Thor resists, departs, and leaves Dromedan imprisoned in the mountain.

Soon thereafter Thor encounters some of the Eternals: Valkin (leader of the Polar Mountain Eternals), Virako (father of Ikaris), Druig (Valkin's son), and Ajak. Druig shows his true colors and attacks the God of Thunder. Once the misunderstanding has been resolved the Norse God and the Eternals speak. They explain themselves to one another and the readers. Thor tells them of his encounter with Dromedan and where to find him.

The Eternals tell him about the Celestials and the first and second hosts. They show him the city they are building which is presumably the same city where Dr. Damian, his daughter Margo, and Ikaris encounter Ajak in Eternals (1976) 1. They show him how they are guiding the natives of the various South and Central American civilizations. From this and some of Mimir's narration it becomes clear that this story is probably set about 500 years in the past. The Eternals of the region are worshipped as gods in the eyes of the natives.

While Thor is hanging out with Valkin, Virako, and Ajak, Druig plans to find Dromedan and use him for his own evil plans. It isn't long before the Eternals and Thor encounter Dromedan. They suspect that Druig may be behind the emergence of the Deviant. Dromedan uses his vast mental powers to call forth a South American deity known only as Thunder. While Thor battles the other god the Eternals square off against Tutinax whom Dromedan has also summoned. It is a bit unclear how this is done. The focus seems to be on the fighting and not so much on clear explanations.

Dromedan throws a number of things at the heroes. The last and most deadly is a giant worm. Virako ends up sacrificing himself to kill the worm. He irradiates himself and then throws himself into the great beast's maw. The beast is destroyed and Virako's atoms scattered. It is acknowledged that Druig is to blame for the death and destruction but Valkin naively forgives his son.

The third Host of the Celestials chooses that moment to arrive on earth. Valkin uses his powers to send Thor away and cause him to forget all that he saw during his time with them. This is kind of weird considering all they told him before about the Celestials. There is some promise after the story that Thor has not seen the last of the Eternals.

This isn't a great story but after reading all of Kirby's run on the Eternals, whom he created, it was nice to read a different and maybe less reverential approach to the Eternals. The story helped to tie some things together and give them a significance that they did not have before. It also serves as a bridge between Kirby's Eternals and the upcoming Eternals story in the pages of Thor.

The fact that the story was written and drawn by a couple creators (Roy Thomas and Walt Simonson) with whom I am more than passingly familiar also added to my interest in reading this story.

4/24

Eternals, Thor, and What If?

I wasn't entirely satisfied with how things wound down in Jack Kirby's Eternals series and I've been doing a little research. I knew that there was an Eternals story that ran for about a year in the pages of Thor. I started to read Thor 283 because I thought that was where it began. It was and it wasn't.

The year before in Thor Annual 7 there was a story that also featured the Eternals. That story was mentioned in Thor 283, which was how I found out about it.

Thor Annual 7 (1978)
Thor 283 (May 1979) - 293 (Mar 1980)
Thor 300 (Oct 1980) - 301 (Nov 1980)

It is hard to tell (based on my research) how big a role the Eternals play in these issues. It is possible that they just appear in flashback in some of them.

Thor 294 (Apr 1980) - 300 (Oct 1980) is a retelling of the Ring of the Nibelung series of operas by Richard Wagner. The Norse Gods feature prominently in Wagner's operas. In the collected edition this is considered to be part of the Eternals Saga that ran in Thor even though they only appear in Thor 300.

Also mentioned in Thor 283 was a similar story that ran in Thor 274 - 278. It was similar in that it was also about Ragnarok and also written by Roy Thomas. The earlier story opens with Balder getting killed and Thor getting replaced by Red Norvell. It is also relevant to the run of Eternals stories in Thor because the framing sequence in Thor Annual 7 takes place between Thor 274 and Thor 275.

I looked a little further and found that about the same time the Eternals were appearing in Thor there was also a run of Eternals backup stories in What If 23-28. All but one of them were written by Mark Gruenwald. They are each 6 pages long. I used to have some of these issues but I have no recollection of these backup features.

What If? 23 (Oct 1980) - 28 (Aug 1981)

All of these issues of Thor and What If plus Kirby's run on Eternals are available through Marvel Unlimited.

4/21

MCS: http://www.mycomicshop.com/search?SeriesID=42612896