Thor #341
The Past is a Bucket of Ashes
New York
After some time away, Thor has returned to New York City and quickly realizes how much he has missed the city. After giving up his mortal guise of Donald Blake,[1] Thor decides to head to Avengers Mansion in the hopes his allies can help him establish a new life on Midgard. As the thunder god enters the mansion he doesn’t suspect that he is about to embark on the most surprising adventure of his career.[2]
Meanwhile, Lorelei has arrived at a subway station in a rough part of town. There she is cat-called by some punks. Annoyed by their unwanted advances she uses her ability to charm men to make them fight each other for her affections. She then ventures into the subway tunnels where she soon finds the dragon Fafnir. She hopes to use her charms on the dragon but realizes too late that Fafnir has the power to bend the wills of others as well. He quickly enthralls Lorelei in the hopes of using her to get his final revenge against Thor.
SHIELD Headquarters, A Few Weeks Later
Thor pays a visit to Nick Fury in the hopes that the SHIELD director can assist him in establishing a new civilian identity and an apartment somewhere in New York. Fury finds this a tall order and agrees to help but makes no promises. He leaves Thor in the capable hands of “The Costumer”, the man SHIELD uses to create phony identities for their agents. Getting Thor a new civilian identity is easy, but an apartment proves more difficult. Fury is able to get Thor an place in Brooklyn. However, Fury believes that Thor’s mortal clothing won’t do much to hide his identity and suggests that he wear a pair of glasses to further disguise himself. Thor thinks this is silly but when he later bumps into a reporter in the hallway, the reporter dismisses the idea that he ran into Thor thanks to those glasses.[3]
Asgard
Odin is in the middle of a mystical ceremony to increase the power of his ravens: Hugin and Munin. Carving runes into their talons, Odin hopes that the two birds will be able to venture through the portal in Beta Ray Bill’s home galaxy. His hopes is to learn the origin of the demons who had been terrorizing Bill’s people up until recently.[4] Increasing their size, Odin sends Hugin and Munin off on their mission.
New York
Under the guise of Sigurd Jarlson, Thor is arranged to meet with Jerry Sapristi, the head foreman on a construction site for a job. Since he and Nick Fury go back a long way, Jerry agrees to hire Jarlson on the job on a provisional basis.[5] The meeting is interrupted by the sound of a woman screaming for help and “Sigurd” races out to see what he can do to help. He discovers that a woman has been left suspended on the top of a construction crane. With no concern over his newly formed identity, Thor leaps into action and rescues the woman, unaware that she is Lorelei, the Enchantress’ sister.
He quickly learns that she was used as bait by Fafnir who sought to lure out Thor so he can get revenge against the thunder god for his past defeat.[6] Whipping his tail, Fafnir brings down the scaffolding Thor is standing on, seemingly burying the thunder god and the helpless damsel under tons of debris.
Elsewhere Beyond the Fields we Know
The massive entity continues forging his massive sword. As he works he calls out to an entity he calls the “Dark Elf”. He asks that this entity seek out the second son of Odin. In response, a voice in the darkness assures his master that he will do just that.
New York
Thor saves himself and Lorelei from the falling debris by spinning Mjolnir fast enough to create a protective vortex around them. Once under cover, the thunder god taps his hammer on the ground turning his civilian clothes into his Asgardian rainment. Thor confronts Fafnir and vows to stop the rampaging dragon just as he had done centuries earlier.
Asgard
Volstagg has decided to stop in on his old friend Balder the Brave and discovers that Balder is gone. However, instead of looking for his friend, the rotound Volstagg decides to go rooting through Balder’s larder.
Balder, meanwhile, has decided to leave Asgard so he can be left alone and made sure that his larder was well stocked to distract Volstagg and prevent his friend from following him.[7] Setting up camp in the forest, Balder hopes that the solitude can help him get away from the horrifying memories from his time in the realm of the dead.[8] Little does Balder know that he has wandered into the domain of Karnilla the Norn Queen. Observing Balder from her domain, Karnilla orders that no harm shall befall him as she hopes to once again win his heart and soul.
New York
The battle between Thor and Fafnir rage on until the thunder god summons a powerful storm against his foe. Fearing for his life, Fafnir quickly burrows into the ground to make an escape. Thor tries to follow but has to break off chase when Fafnir compromises a subway tunnel, causing it to flood. Thor is forced to cave in the tunnel to prevent the transit system from being totally flooded, cutting off his pursuit. However, Thor figures it will only be a matter of time before Fafnir rears his ugly head once more.
Asgard
On the outskirts of the kingdom, Loki has been observing the events on Earth from his castle. He is amused with how the battle between Thor and Fafnir went. However, he was a more than a little disappointed that Lorelei foolishly allowed herself to be enthralled by the dragon. Still, he has been deeply entertained and can’t wait to see what happens next.
New York
Having resumed his civilian identity, Thor collects Lorelei from the wreckage. When Jerry arrives on the scene he calls "Sigurd” a hero for saving the girl’s life. Lorelei wakes up just long enough to thank Thor for the rescue and hugs him deeply. That’s when Thor notices how beautiful the woman is. However, all thoughts of Lorelei are interrupted when Thor hears someone calling out to him in the language of the Vikings who once worshiped him. He doesn’t know who could be calling his name but intends to find out.
Recurring Characters
Thor, Fafnir, Odin, Volstagg, Balder, Heimdall, SHIELD (Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan), Karnilla, Haag, Lorelei, Loki, Surtur, Malekith (unidentified), Jerry Sapristi, Hugin, Munin
Continuity Notes
The enchantment that allowed Thor to change into Don Blake was transferred to Beta Ray Bill’s hammer, Stormbreaker, so the alien could assume his original form as seen last issue. This is not the last we’ll see of the Don Blake entity, it will make its return in Thor (vol. 3) #1.
A footnote here tells readers that this “surprising adventure” will be explained next issue. It is referencing Thor’s involvement in the original Secret Wars, which was told in Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #1-12. Thor’s abduction (along with the rest of the Avengers) was chronicled in Avengers #242. The three blank panels on this page are filled in next issue’s letter pages.
The reporter’s name here is Clark. This whole thing with the glasses and the bump with the reporter is a nod to Superman over at DC Comics. Superman is known for having the civilian identity of reporter Clark Kent and that Kent’s glasses help trick people into thinking Clark and Superman are two separate people. It’s a flimsy disguise at best and there are just as many tropes about how silly it is out there.
For more on the demons that were chasing Bill’s people see Thor #337-340.
Here, Jerry states that Nick Fury is his cousin. While this might have been possible when this story was published, this would become an impossibility due to the Sliding Timescale. Per Strange Tales #159, Nick was born in the 1910s and has remained relatively vital thanks to the Infinity Formula, per Marvel Spotlight #31. It would become physically impossible for Jerry to be Nick’s cousin and still be working on a construction site, let alone being alive. Incidentally, Nick Fury’s profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #4 does not list Jerry or his extensive family as being related to Fury in any way. As such, Jerry’s reference here is probably figurative rather than literal, like when people who have gone through much together refer to each other as brothers.
Fafnir wants revenge against Thor for a centuries old battle that was first depicted in Thor #134-136.
Here, Balder recounts how a young warrior named Agnar tried to pick a fight with him. That was in Thor #338.
Balder spent a period of time hovering between life and death from Thor #274 to 301. During that time he spent in Hela’s domain and what he saw there horrified him so badly it turned his hair white.
Topical References
The original twin towers of the World Trade Center are depicted as part of the New York City skyline. This should be considered topical as these buildings were destroyed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 and subsequently replaced with a new Freedom Tower.
One of the punks harassing Lorelei says that she looks like “Blondie”, what he actually means is that she resembles Blondie front-woman Debbie Harry who was at the height of her popularity at the time of this publication. At the time of this writing (October, 2021), Debbie Harry is 76 years old, so that wouldn’t be seen as a compliment and therefore should be considered topical.
