Thor #481
The Living Stone, I Presume?
Thor has arrived in New York City to tell Don Blake the truth he recently learned about their shared past.[1] He stops at Avengers Mansion where he is welcomed in by Jarvis who tells him that the other Avengers are off on a mission. Thor uses the phone to call Don Blake at his new home to tell him that isn’t particularly happy to hear form the thunder god and it takes some convincing to agree to a meet up.
Thor then heads out, but has to stop to save a woman from a car that can’t brake properly in the rain. In doing so, the out of control car gets smashed up and the driver is really annoyed about the whole deal. Eye witnesses to the accidents blame Thor for the fender bender and demand to know why he, a god of the storm, didn’t just make the rain stop. Thor is annoyed by this line of questioning and takes off.
As Thor continues his trek to Don Blake’s apartment, he is telepathically contacted by the High Evolutionary and the Godpack. They want Thor to come back and the Evolutionary promises the thunder god returns he will finally reveal the truth about his creation of the Godpack.[2] This is suitable to Thor, who agrees to return once he has finished his business with Blake.
Thor soon arrives in a low income neighborhood in the South Bronx where Blake has found a new apartment. Blake complains about how money is tight and getting work as a doctor again is proving difficult since his knowledge of medicine is many years out of date.[3] He is also still mad at Thor after learning that he stole the woman he loved, Jane Foster. Thor assures him that he only loves the lady Sif.[4] This doesn’t matter to Blake, who points out that regardless of that Thor still stole his life for years. Thor wishes there is something he could do, so Blake tells him to help win Jane back. Thor tells him he can’t do that and decides to leave, promising never to bother him again. Blake takes offense to this an accuses Thor of cutting and running now that he got what he wanted.
This entire exchange is being observed by Grotesk and his minions, the Lava Men, who have been tracking Thor’s activities recently. Grotesk intends to defeat the thunder god and his apparent connection with Don Blake gives him the perfect opportunity. One of the Lava Men, Basallo warns his master that Thor won’t be easy to defeat, mentioning how he was instrumental in defeating their people in the past. However, Grotesk points out that he has all the power of the underground nuclear tests that gave him his powers and he will use it to crush Thor this time.[5] He then activates a device that causes an earthquake that rips open the ground, causing Blake to fall into it.
Seeing that Don is in danger, Thor tries to follow after him, unfortunately the opening in the ground is plugged by a massive chunk of living rock. Thor recalls that, during his previous battle with the Lava Men with the Avengers, there is a one weak spot in this type of construct that will cause it to shatter with a single blow. Unfortunately, only his teammate Giant-Man was able to determine where that spot was, making this knowledge useless to the thunder god. Thor burrows around it instead in order to access the tunnels below in the hopes of finding Blake and a means to destroy the living rock before it reaches critical mass and destroys all life on Earth. In the tunnels he is ambushed by both Grotesk and his army of Lava Men.[6]
Thor finds himself quickly overwhelmed, particularly when the Lava Men use their ability to control rock to block Mjolnir from returning to his hand. Worse, Grotesk threatens to snap Don Blake’s neck if Thor doesn’t surrender. At the same time, the living rock is growing larger and larger, destroying all the buildings around it. When all seems lost, Thor is saved by the arrival of the Godpack who came to help him out after hearing what was happening in New York City. While Anak, Bellam, Blitziana, Luminor, and Zefra help deal with the Lava Men, Riger examines the living rock with his enhanced senses and is able to find the weak spot. As this is happening, Zefra rescues Don Blake while Thor recovers his hammer. Being told exactly where to strike, Thor hits Grotesk so hard he goes flying into the weak spot causing the living rock to implode on itself, seemingly destroying Grotesk in the process.[7]
With Grotesk destroyed, the Lava Men are no longer subject to his mental control. Basallo thanks Thor for freeing his people and promises that the Lava Men will return to their domain and trouble the surface world no longer. Don Blake is not happy with what happened because his apartment — the only place he could afford — got trashed in the battle. Thor then invites him back to Wundagore to live with him and the others. On the way back, the High Evolutionary contacts them and expresses his displeasure that the Godpack went out without his permission. However, he puts this issue aside to address that the threat he has been preparing for all along is coming. He reveals that he actually created the Godpack to deal with his previous creations the New Immortals.[8] The rogue group has resurfaced and now the time for battle is fast approaching.
The Godlings all agree to assist their creator and all join hands in a show of unity. The last one to join in is Thor himself, who pledges to fight by their side.
Recurring Characters
Thor, High Evolutionary, Godpack (Anak, Bellam, Blitzaina, Loga, Luminor, Riger, Zefra), Grotesk, Basallo, Edwin Jarvis, Don Blake
Continuity Notes
The issue with Don Blake is insanely complicated. Here’s the break down:
When Thor reappeared in the modern age, circa Journey into Mystery #83, he split his life between being the god of thunder and a mortal doctor named Donald Blake.
Since Thor #159, it was always believed that Blake was merely a construct created by Odin to teach Thor a lesson in humility.
More recently, Thor found a man who appears to be Don Blake in a secret cave hidden in Wundagore Mountain in issue #475.
Odin revealed last issue that Blake was actually a real guy and Thor replaced him the moment of his first transformation all those years ago. Odin then secretly hid the real Blake in a cave and kept it a secret.
However, it’s later revealed that the Blake found in the cave wasn’t the real guy, but a mystical construct created by Sigyn years earlier when she accidentally killed the real deal. This will be revealed in Thor #483.
The High Evolutionary created the Godpack from the bodies of dead criminals over the course of Thor #472-475. The reason he created them was so he could fight back against his earlier creations, the New Immortals, who had gone rogue as we’ll learn next issue.
Blake’s memories stop at the moment he turned into Thor for the first time in Journey into Mystery #83. Per the Sliding Timescale, that happened about 9 years prior to this story. Generally speaking, most doctors need to recertify themselves ever six to ten years, so this situation tracks.
Thor loved Jane but when Odin tested her to find out if she was worthy of being a goddess, she flubbed the test in Thor #136. She then exited his life and Sif became his romantic interest immediately. Jane went on to marry Keith Kincaid in Thor #336 but they have been separated since issue #375.
You wouldn’t think there would be a lot going on with Grotesk and the Lava Men prior to this story, but you’d be wrong:
Basalla mentions the last two times the Lava Men fought Thor. This was in Journey into Mystery #97 and Avengers #5 respectively.
Grotesk mentions how he got his powers after getting caught in an underground nuclear test. This was first detailed in X-Men #41.
The Lava Men are members of Grotesk’s race that worshiped a demon named Ch’sa’dra who turned them into their molten forms. More recently, they began devolving into speechless monstrosities. See Avengers #305-308.
Grotesk took over ruling the remaining Lava Men during the Subterranean Wars. See Avengers Annual #20, Incredible Hulk Annual #17, Namor the Sub-Mariner Annual #1, Iron Man Annual #12, and Avengers West Coast Annual #6. Grotesk made the Lava Man capable of speech between that event and this issue.
Thor recognizes Grotesk on sight, which is impressive since — up to this point — they had never met before. One could assume that Thor read about him in the Avengers files, I guess.
Although Grotesk is physically destroyed here, his spirit will later be placed in a suit of mystical armor as we’ll see in X-Men: Manifest Destiny - Nightcrawler #1.
As explained in Thor #473, the New Immortals turned on the High Evolutionary. He managed to escape and retreat to Earth where he then began creating the Goldings to protect him from the New Immortals.