The Snow Giant

Exiled to a distant outpost in fabled Asgard, Loki begins his latest plot against his half-brother, Thor.[1] To this end he has used an enchanted globe to cause a freak snowfall in the city of New York. This has caused New Yorkers to get creative in order to traverse the snow clogged streets as road crews work around the clock to try and plow the streets.

Loki is soon visited by Karnilla, the Norn Queen, who had heard about Loki’s exile and come to suggest an alliance. Loki is interested but would like to know what Karnilla is offering to bring to the table since his current plan needs no assistance. She tells Loki that she has found the location of the Cask of Plagues which had been hidden centuries ago by Odin. Intrigued, Loki agrees to form an alliance and they head to retrieve the cask.

Meanwhile, in New York, Thor patrols the city seeing where he can help and comes upon one the Manhattan Bridge where plow crews are trying to remove enough snow before the bridge buckles under the weight. At that moment, after working 24 hours with no break, one of the drivers begins to crack up under the pressure and rams his plow into one of the other drivers. When the driver breaks through the barrier and plunges off the bridge, Thor swoops in and rescues him. Thor then rescue a bunch of bystanders when one of the cable of one of the abandoned trams breaks and threatens to fall on them. By this time, the burned out driver has regained his wits and thanks Thor for saving his life.

By this time, Loki and Karnilla have reached the cave where the Cask of Plagues has been hidden. Opening it, Karnilla pulls out a Snow Giant that has been shrunken down and imprisoned within the cask. They then drop it through Loki’s crystal ball causing the creature to appear in New York City at its normal size. When Thor sees the creature on the rampage, the snow plow driver insists on lending a hand after Thor saved his life. While Thor fights the monster, the worker rushes to aid the people who have been buried in ice and snow by the monster.

Back in Asgard, as Loki gloats over his impending victory against Thor, Karnilla decides to betray him. She pulls out a trio of Mindless Ones from the cask and restores them to normal size. The mindless creatures then ambush Loki and knock him out. When the trickster god wakes up, he finds himself locked in a barred cell of Karnilla’s own design. Although he cannot break out of his cell, Loki notices that Karnilla foolishly left his enchanted crystal close enough to his cell for him to leap into it and escape to Midgard.

By this time, Thor is still struggling to contain the Snow Giant who is invincible in his natural element. When the snow plow driver tries to ram his truck into the side of the monster, the Snow Giant takes him hostage. It then threatens to kill Thor’s ally unless he agrees to surrender to him. That’s when Thor remembers how, as a child, his father told him how he defeated the Snow Giant in the past. Odin had told how the creature was vulnerable to extreme heat. Getting inspiration from this old story, Thor agrees to the Snow Giant’s terms and his ally is let go. Thor quickly rips up a gas main and uses Mjolnir to spark a flame. The Snow Giant tries to flee the flames, by Thor explodes a fuel truck in his path. Beginning to melt under the extreme heat, the Snow Giant soon collapses and dies.

That’s when Loki appears through his crystal and explains to Thor that Karnilla was responsible and that he can stop her if his brother can send him back to Asgard. Knowing that his half-brother was likely also involved, Thor agrees to help anyway because the Cask of Plagues is a more deadly threat. Transporting himself and Loki back to Asgard, Thor tosses his brother back to the outpost that is now his home in exile. There, Loki gets the drop on Karnilla and uses his magic to banish her from the scene. He then takes the Cask of Plagues and burns it in the fireplace.

Returning to Earth, Thor checks on the city worker who helped him out. Although he had refused medical aid throughout the Snow Giant crisis, now that the danger is over the man admits that he does feel a little woozy. As Thor carries him off to a doctor, the man admits that the snow drives everyone a little bit crazy.

Recurring Characters

Thor, Loki, Karnilla, Mindless Ones, Odin

Continuity Notes

1. Loki mentions how he was recently freed from being shackled to his wife, Sigyn. This happened last issue. Loki had been shackled to her as punishment for his role in attempting to bring about Ragnarok. See Thor #273-278.

Topical References

• The original twin towers of the World Trade Center are depicted as part of the New York City skyline in this story. This should be considered a topical reference as they were destroyed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 and since replaced with the new Freedom Tower.