Thor #334
Runequest
Thor arrives at Chicago Community Hospital to do his rounds as Doctor Donald Blake. However, with murder accusations looming over him, the patients are too frightened and he is forced to cancel his work for the day. He is then ordered up to the administrator’s office. There, the head of the hospital is expresses his concerns over the accusations, particularly since Keith Kincaid — Don’s primary accuser — has appeared on Good Morning Chicago to air his grievances. The medical board is facing pressure due to Kincaid’s clout in the field. This angers Don who believes that he is being judged in the court of public opinion without a fair trail.
Storming out of the meeting, Don heads down to close up his office when he gets a phone call from his old friend Shawna Lynde. She is calling out of concern because she hasn’t heard from Don in a while. However, when he tells her that he was just about to head out the door, Shawna becomes deeply upset and tells him that she might not be around when he finally decides to call her back and hangs up. Leaving the hospital, Don ducks into an alley to change into Thor but is followed by some journalists who are trying to get a statement. Having no comment, Don shoves past them and hails a cab so he can find someplace private to change into Thor.
A short time later, Thor arrives at the television station just as Keith Kincaid is leaving. Thor swoops the doctor up, telling him that they need to discuss the disappearance of Jane Foster. He first would like to know why Kincaid believes that Don Blake is responsible for her disappearance. Keith begins by telling Thor about how he was orphaned as a child and, wanting to follow in the footsteps of his parents, worked hard to pay his way through medical school. It was after that he opened his own practice that he fell in love with Jane Foster after she came to work with him after her stint working at Don Blake’s practice. The two quickly fell in love and she eventually became his fiancée. One day, while he was out of town she was hospitalized but when he finally returned she had left the hospital and disappeared without a trace.
Hearing all of this, Thor decides to trust Keith with his biggest secret and reverts to his mortal form, proving that Thor and Don Blake are the same man. Blake then explains to Keith how the goddess Sif saved Jane’s life by using the Runestaff of Kamo Tharnn to merge them together. However, while Jane was the dominant personality for a time, Sif took over dominance and Jane has not been seen since.[1] However, he has pinpointed the location of the Runestaff and is about to go on a quest to recover it and learn what really happened to Jane. When Keith asks to accompany them on the journey, Thor agrees to take him along. Thor, Sif, And Keith then travel to Avengers Mansion in New York. There they are greeted by the team’s butler, Jarvis. Inside, they meet with the Wasp who informs Thor that the space-faring Quinjet has been prepped and is ready for take off.[2] Using Mjolnir to power the shuttle and augment its travel speed in space, Thor and the others embark on a mission to the homeworld of Kamo Tharnn.
Their departure is observed by Odin who watches events from a seeing pond at the base of Yggdrasil. Odin wonders why his son has continued to hold on to his mortal guise so long after its has outlived its usefulness.[3]
As the trio approach Kamo Tharnn’s home world all of them are worried about what they might find: Keith Kincaid is absolutely overwhelmed by everything that has been happening and fears that this experience isn’t real. Sif, meanwhile, fears that Jane Foster will turn out to still be in love with Thor, creating another wedge between them. Thor’s worries are similar, wondering if Jane will remember her love for him, Don Blake, or Keith Kincaid.
When they land on the planet, they are attacked by a swarm of spheroid aliens that traverse on tiny spider-like legs.[4] They learn that these creatures have been stranded on this world after the prison transport carrying them crash landed. Although they face superior numbers, Thor and Sif are able to fight back the aliens with some assistance from Keith, who has armed himself with a laser weapon he found on board the Quinjet. Getting fed up by the delay these creatures are creating, Thor summons a powerful whirlwind to send the spider-like creatures scattering to the four winds. Heading into dilapidated library that serves as Kamo Tharnn’s home, they find the elderly scholar shackled to a torture rack. Freeing him, they discover that Tharnn his quite mad — often speaking in contradictory phrases. Regardless, when they ask to be taken to the Runestaff, he brings them to the chamber where he has hidden it.
Grasping the staff in her hands, Sif tries to channel its power to restore Jane Foster. Although there is a blinding flash of light, nothing has happened, leaving Sif to fear that Jane may have been lost forever.
Recurring Characters
Thor, Sif, Possessor, Keith Kincaid, Odin, Avengers (Captain America, Wasp, She-Hulk, Captain Marvel, Starfox), Edwin Jarvis, Shawna Lynde
Continuity Notes
This story glosses over Jane Foster’s long history with Thor. The details:
It briefly explains that Jane was Thor’s mortal love since he returned in the Modern Age. This was first seen in Journey into Mystery #84. However, Odin forbade this romance back in issue #90 of that series.
Thor did manage to successfully petition Odin to consider a marriage. Odin the tested Jane’s worthiness to become a god and she failed it spectacularly. Jane was then sent to Earth with all memory of Thor erased and she soon went to work with Keith Kincaid. See Thor #136.
More recently, Jane was driven to near suicide by the Dweller-in-Darkness and given up all will to live as seen in Thor #230-231.
In order to save Jane’s life, Sif recovered the Runestaff of Kamo Tharnn and used it to merge with Jane to save her life. See Thor #235-236.
Jane remained with Don Blake for a time until she accompanied Thor to Asgard in Thor #249. When she grabbed Sif’s sword, Jane swapped places with her. The last time Jane has been seen was in Thor Annual #9 when a trip to the Dark Dimension caused the pair to swap places again.
Don Blake was brought in for questioning in Jane’s disappearance in issue #332.
We’ll later learn in Thor #334-335 that Jane has since been trapped in the Runestaff of Kamo Tharn pretty much the entire time she’s been absent.
Keith notes that Wasp is the chairwoman of the Avengers. At the time of this story, Janet Van Dyne was voted in as leader of the team in Avengers #217. He does not recognize Captain Marvel. This is likely due to the fact that this story takes place shortly after Marvel joined the team in Avengers #227.
As explained in Thor #159, some time earlier Odin has banished Thor to Earth in the form of Donald Blake in order to teach him a lesson in humility. Thor eventually won the right to return in Journey into Mystery #83.
This alien race is not mentioned by name here. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #6’s Alien Appendix identifies them as the Kt’kn.
Topical References
The security guard at the hospital comments that he hasn’t heard a woman shriek like that since he went to take his wife to see the movie Psycho. He could be referring to the original film from 1959. However, not long before this comic was published a sequel, Psycho II was released in 1982. At any rate, this should be considered a topical reference since Psycho — while still considered a classic — isn’t generally viewed as a very scary movie.
The TVs in this story are depicted as CRT televisions with knobs and dials. These are topical as this technology is no obsolete.