To End in Flames!

With Surtur attacking Asgard, Loki has fled to Earth with his loyal minion, Igron. However, what happened in Asgard will also affect Earth as well. Already it is unseasonably warm for winter. While the people around him panic, Loki refuses to do anything. He will be satisfied with losing his kingdom if it means Thor is destroyed in battle with Surtur.[1]

Back in Asgard, Thor rallies his fellow Asgardians to battle. He leads the charge against Surtur with the Warriors Three right behind him. Meanwhile, Blader and Sif find another one of Loki’s minions and order him to send Balder to the Sea of Eternal Night to recover Odin’s body. This minion, also named Igron, warns Balder that those who venture into this realm will find death.[2] Still, Balder is willing to risk his life in order to save Odin from an eternity trapped in this realm.

Meanwhile, the battle between the armies of Asgard and Surtur continues. As the demon is vastly more powerful than the army, Thor decides to face off against his opponent alone. Using his powers of the storm against Surtur, Thor can only delay the fire demon’s advance. Still, Thor refuses to stop fighting. Going to a nearby dam, Thor uses Mjolnir to shatter it in the hopes that the torrent of water will smother Surtur’s flame.

At that same moment, Balder is transported to the Sea of Eternal Night. The moment he appears in that realm he begins rapidly aging. Despite this, he continues to press forward to the capsule where slumbering Odin is held captive. When Balder touches the capsule it is enough to wake Odin who announces the Odinsleep is over.[3] While back at the scene of the battle, Thor’s attempts to douse Surtur’s flame have failed. However, his armies have regrouped and begun bombarding the demon with projectiles. Fandral and Hogun also combine the power of their enchanted weapons to make a planetoid fall on the monster, but nothing seems to slow it down. Still, despite the impossible odds, Thor leads the army into battle once again.

By this time, Balder has pulled the capsule containing Odin back to the palace but his youth and vitality have been leeched to the point where he is about to die. Freed from his prison, Odin assures Sif that Balder will survive and uses his magic to heal the warrior. Back at the battlefield, Thor has his warriors try to stop Surtur with a frost gun, but this only immobilizes Surtur for a moment. That’s when Odin arrives at the scene of the battle and banished Surtur back to his realm. Glad to see his father is free again, Thor and his hail the return of Odin.

Recurring Characters

Thor, Loki, Warriors Three (Fandral, Hogun, Volstagg), Sif, Balder, Odin, Igron, Surtur

Continuity Notes

1. What is not explained here is what happened to the Odinring, which Loki stole from Odin in Thor #175 to usurp the kingdom. Issue #190 shows Loki reclaiming the ring after Odin left it unattended. One could presume that Loki discarded the ring when he fled to Earth, probably to try and save his own hide if Surtur should win the battle against Thor.

2. Both the minion who retreats to Earth and the one Balder and Sif confront are called Igron in this story. However, the minion that goes to Earth looks like a character previously identified as Toag. From this issue forward the Toag-looking motherfucker is always referred to as Igron and the other guy is never seen again. Official Index to the Marvel Universe: Thor’s entry on this issue suggests that Igron used a face-swapping spell that was later used by Loki in Thor #179-181 before leaving Asgard with Loki. Which is a lot of footwork for a lettering error that led artists to continue drawing Igron like Toag after Jack Kirby quit Thor, but it is what it is.

3. It’s later revealed that while Odin was trapped in the Sea of Eternal Sleep, Hela stole part of his life force to create the entity known as Infinity.. See Thor #184-188.