Thor #323 — Nick Peron

Sep 28

Sep 28 Thor #323

… Comes a Dark Stranger!

Centuries ago, Thor, his half-brother Loki, and the Warriors Three are returning home to Asgard when they are caught in the rain. Thor fells a tree and carves out its center to give them all cover from the rain. It’s here that they are confronted by a blue-skinned warrior calling himself the Dark Man. Claiming to come from the unexplored northlands, the Dark Man boasts all who faced him in battle have met defeat save for Thor’s father Odin. Insulted by the new comer, Thor punches him in the face and is surprised when he knocks the Dark Man’s head clean off. This amuse the barbarian who collects his head off the ground and puts it back on. He challenges Thor to meet him in the north to prove if he is a valiant warrior. Thor decides to accept the challenge and sends the Warriors Three back to Asgard while Loki accompanies him.

Up north, the brothers come across a golden bridge where they are visited by the Dark Man’s wife. She tries to seduce Thor, who turns down her offers as he wishes to challenge the Dark Man. Although Loki decides to flee, Thor presses onward and just barely makes it across the golden bridge when it begins crumbling beneath his feet. On the other side, Thor soon comes upon the Dark Man’s home and goes inside. There he is horrified to see that every warrior who fell to the Dark Man has been turned into a stone statues and put on display.

There he is ambushed by the Dark Man who seriously wounds Thor with his stone axe. When his wife rushes to his side and offers to restore him with a kiss, Thor once again declines her advances. Although his enemy is more powerful than him, Thor continues to fight. Ultimately, the thunder god is no match for the Dark Man. Despite his imminent death, Thor still refuses to die like a coward and accepts his fate like the true son of Odin. Thor’s love for his father impresses the Dark Man who reveals that Thor passed his test. Giving Thor a horse to give to Odin as a gift, the Dark Man teleports him back to Asgard.

He arrives just as Loki is telling Odin that Thor likely perished and reveals that he is in fact alive. Hearing Thor’s tale, Odin explains that he experienced the embodiments of fear and desire. Wanting nothing to do with the Dark Man’s gift, Odin banishes the horse and tells his son that he will face both fear and desire many more times over the course of his life as they are constant companions to a warrior. He warns Thor not to let this conflict make him over confident in the future. After Odin departs, the Warriors Three arrive and Thor decides they should go out on the town so they can celebrate his recent victory.