Thor #306 — Nick Peron

Sep 28

Sep 28 Thor #306

Fury of the Firelord

In Saudi Arabia, some locals are watching the new coming out of America. Seeing Thor’s battle with the Air-Walker, they decide to inform Firelord who has made a living as a defender of this region. Curious, Firelord sees what the commotion is about and when he sees Air-Walker he remembers who he is and decides to go and confront Thor in America.

In New York, young Kevin Matheson — whom Air-Walker brought to New York with him as a guide — accuses Thor of killing his friend. Soon, Kevin’s mother Beverly arrives and they are reunited. Soon, Firelord arrives and seeing Gabriel’s inert body accuses Thor of killing his friend and attacks. Thor holds his own against the former Herald of Galactus but realizes that if they continue fighting in the street one of the innocent bystanders will get hurt.

Thor tries to flee, but Firelord knocks him into the harbor where they continue to fight. Thor is surprised that not even the water can snuff out Firelord’s flames. Retreating to a deserted short, the battle continues. Thor tries to explain that he was forced to do what he had to because Air-Walker was threatening lives. Unfortunately, Firelord is too angry to listen to reason and since they are evenly matched, Thor decides to surrender to his fate. Firelord prepares to execute Thor and realizes that he can’t bring himself to do so because he knew that the thunder god is speaking true.

With the fight over, Thor asks to hear about Firelord’s past with the Air-Walker. Firelord explains that, prior to becoming a Herald of Galactus, he was a Xandarian named Pyreus who was first officer aboard an exploration ship commanded by Gabriel, who was a man he grew to deeply respect. On one mission they came upon a massive alien ship and as they approached, Gabriel was abducted from his command chair. The alien ship then took off into hyperspace and they were unable to follow. Pyreus vowed to never rest until he tracked down the man he admired most.

Later, Pyreus would learn that Gabriel had been kidnapped by Galactus who, at the time, was seeking a new herald. He used his Power Cosmic to transform Gabriel into the Air-Walker. Galactus grew close to his new herald and was deeply saddened when Air-Walker was by the Ovoids, a race of aliens that dared to fight back against Galactus. Detecting a small spark of light in Gabriel’s body, Galactus built a robotic body identical to his own and transferred this life force into it. Unaware of his true nature, the robotic Air-Walker was then sent to Earth to force the Silver Surfer back into service, leading to a battle between the Surfer and the Fantastic Four. The battle ended when the robotic Gabriel was destroyed and Galactus abandoned his creation.[1]

Not long after this, Pyreus managed to track down Galactus and, unaware of his friend’s fate, demanded the world devourer return his friend or face the wrath of the Xandarian empire. Impressed by his bravery and his respect for Gabriel, Galactus offered to reveal the truth if Pyreus agreed to serve as his Herald for a time. Agreeing to the conditions, Pyreus agreed and was transformed into Firelord, unaware that he was also made to forget his friend in an effort by Galactus to maintain his loyalty. This led to Firelord’s clash with Thor in which the thunder god helped free Firelord from bondage by offering the Asgardian Destroyer armor as a replacement Herald. Galactus agreed and freed Firelord and, no longer remembering his original mission, remained on Earth for these past months.[2] It was only when seeing Air-Walker’s battle on TV did he finally remember his long dead friend. Although Thor doesn’t know how the Air-Walker was repaired or where he has been hiding all this time, he agrees to allow Firelord to take his remains into space for a proper burial.[3] After Thor clears things with the police, Firelord collects the Air-Walker and departs for deep space.

The following day, Thor changes back into his mortal guise of Dr. Donald Blake to report for work at his new job at the West Side Clinic. There he frets over finding a new apartment but luckily his colleague Ramon Hernandez has a lead for him. After the work day is done, Blake checks out the apartment and finds it suitable for his needs. While in deep space, Firelord has buried Air-Walker’s remains on an asteroid near their native home of Xandar. After paying his last respects he ignites an eternal flame before heading back into space.[4]

Recurring Characters

Thor, Firelord, Air-Walker, Ramon Hernandez, Beverly Matheson, Kevin Matheson

Continuity Notes

The robotic Gabriel was sent to Earth and destroyed in Fantastic Four #120-121. This story misattributes it to Fantastic Four #124. At any rate, at the time of those stories the Silver Surfer was exiled on Earth for a time after betraying Galactus. See Fantastic Four #48-50.
Firelord came to Earth with Galactus leading to Thor turning over the Destroyer as a replacement in Thor #225-226. The Destroyer would remain in the possession of Galactus until it was brought back to Asgard by Loki in Thor #264-265.
Last issue revealed that the Air-Walker ended up in the Machinesmith’s secret robotics lab. For more on this lab see Captain America #249.
This is not the end of the Air-Walker. A portion of the robot was recovered by an inventor named Jonathon Cayre who, years later, equipped it with a self-regeneration process. This Air-Walker was destroyed by Captain Britain in Excalibur: Air Apparent #1. Not long after this, the remains buried in space were reanimated by the combined power of Firelord, the Silver Surfer and Nova to help in their battle against Morgue, a rogue Herald of Galactus, in Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #73.

Topical References

The Saudis in this story are depicted as watching the news on a CRT television. This should be considered topical because this technology is obsolete.

… Till Death Do Us Part!

Balder the Brave has fallen in love with a woman named Nanna. Unfortunately, Karnilla the Norn Queen is using this new romance in order to force Balder into marrying him. Transported to Karnilla’s domain, Balder is forced to agree with this wedding in exchange for Nanna’s freedom, however only agrees to it if Karnilla promises that she will not directly harm Nanna in the future. Karnilla agrees to these conditions and has Balder prepared for their wedding.

Nanna is teleported back to her home in Asgard but she refuses to give up on her love. Changing into warrior’s garb, Nanna goes to the royal stables where she asks Hermod which is the fastest of the horses. When he points to Odin’s four-legged horse Sleipnir, Nanna steals the horse and takes off for Karnilla’s domain. Fleet-footed Hermod tries to stop her but Sleipnir is much faster than he is and she gets away.

Nanna interrupts the wedding just as it is beginning and tells Karnilla she will do whatever it takes to prevent Balder from being forced into marriage. Karnilla tells Nanna to do her worst and, after reminding Karnilla about her vow, Nanna fatally stabs herself. As she dies, Nanna tells Balder that she was willing to give up her own life so that Balder might be free and dies in his arms. Devastated by Nanna’s suicide, Balder blames Karnilla for her death and reminds her of her vow. At first, Karnilla is about to renege on her promise but seeing how upset Balder is, Karnilla decides to be true to her word and warns Balder to be gone when she wakes in the morning she then leaves Balder to grieve over his dead lover in private.