Life Preservation

Victor Prazniki has hired Thor to provide protection for him and his family. He explains that he is being targeted by someone who wants to obtain the Raven’s Eye. It is an ancient sword that was allegedly stolen from the Norse god Votan at the beginning of time by a Frost Giant. It exchanged hands through a succession of reaver kings until it ended up as part of the Knight’s Templar's possessions. From there, it ended up being owned by the Romanov family until the Russian Revolution. In more recent times it came into the possession of a crime cartel who he associated with through his former job in the Machinist’s Union. When he invested the union pension fund into some junk bonds on behalf of the mob, Raven’s Eye was given to him as a gift.

By this point, Victor’s wife Sylvia grows bored with the conversation and this leads to a squabble between her and her step-daughter Annie, who Thor previously saved.[1] Victor gets them to settle down and explains that all he wants Thor to do is to protect his wife and daughter while he finalizes a deal with a local museum who has agreed to add Raven’s Eye to their collection. Thor agrees to take the job and says that he’ll work for expenses only. However, the Enchantress stays behind to negotiate a less altruistic fee from the wealthy Prazniki. Thor then hopes into a limo with Sylvia and Annie and two other bodyguards. They then head off for a safe house where they are to wait for the sword to change hands.

However, once they enter the city they get caught in a traffic jam. Getting out to see what’s going on, he learns from a beat officer that someone caused an earthquake that wrecked the road. He also bumps into Officer Kim Gaunt, whom Thor helped with a hostage situation the night before.[2] Suddenly, a military grade helicopter appears in the sky and begins opening fire on the street below. Thor quickly pushes Kim out of harms way then throws Mjolnir at the chopper, causing it to crash. The shooting has prompted the bodyguards to try and move Annie and Sylvia out of the area on foot. However, when they step out of the limo, mechanical arms pop out of the ruined street and snatch the Prazniki women and pull them underground. Thor and Officer Gaunt then leap in after them.

Just then, a drunk homeless man who resembles Odin wanders out of a nearby alley, drawn by the sound of battle. Finding one of the voices involved familiar, the besotted drunk leaps down the hole in the street after them.[3]

Down in the sewers below, Kim has dropped her gun in the fetid water and is trying to find it when the homeless man falls on him. Thor is surprised to see the old man again so soon and is convinced that this is his father. The drunk has no idea what he’s talking about and when Thor tries to convince him that they are father and son, the bum tells him that his son is dead, everyone is dead, and Asgard is dead. He says that he was responsible for killing his son by turning his back on him.[4] By this time, Kim has found her gun and suggests that they get moving so they can find Annie and Sylvia.

Meanwhile, Victor is at home watching the news waiting for a call from the museum. Instead, he gets one from the man who has been trying to get the Raven’s Eye. He tells Prazniki that he has his wife and daughter hostage and orders him to hand over the ancient sword if he ever wants to see them alive again. Realizing he has no choice, Victor goes and gets the sword, which he had stashed away inside a grandfather clock. He then drives out to the given location and heads into the sewers.

At that same time, Thor and Kim are continuing their search through the sewers. Thor continues to try and get the man he thinks is Odin to admit to who he really is. However, Kim throws doubt that this could be Odin as this homeless man — known only as Wad — has been living on the street for years. The conversation comes to an abrupt end when they hit a tripwire that causes the tunnel to start collapsing. Whirling his hammer around over his head, Thor knocks away debris as they make a run for the end of the tunnel where they can see a doorway. When Thor smashes open the door, he finds all three members of the Prazniki family tied up as prisoners of his step-brother Loki.[5] That’s when Wad sees the sword and insists that it belongs to him. Racing toward Loki, Wad grabs the sword triggering a spell that transforms everything around them. Thor, Annie, Sylvia, and Kim find themselves wearing ancient clothing in the middle of a lush forest as a dragon swoops in from overhead.[6]

Recurring Characters

Thor, Enchantress, Wad, Victor Prazniki, Annie Prazniki, Sylvia Prazniki, Kim Gaunt

Continuity Notes

1. Thor rescued Annie from kidnappers in Thor #495. Next issue we’ll learn that the person who is trying to get Raven’s Eye is the Mad Thinker for…. reasons?

2. Thor met Kim Gaunt last issue.

3. We first saw this man last issue. He is indeed Odin. As explained in Journey into Mystery #511, when the WorldEngine tricked Yggdrasil to think Ragnarok had already passed, Odin manipulated these events to save his people. This involved banishing all the immortals of Asgard to Earth and hiding them in mortal identities with no memory of their past, Odin included. The Wall-Father was also sent back in time a number of years where he became a homeless drunk.

4. Odin is referring to the events of Thor #491. When the WorldEngine began its work it was slowly killing Thor because Ragnarok prophesized his death. When Thor called to Odin for help, the All-Father refused to help since Thor had turned his back on Asgard back in Thor #472. Luckily, Thor was able to be protected by protection spells cast by the Enchantress in Thor #492-494 that kept him alive until the WorldEndgine was shut down. However, this led to Thor losing his powers in the following issue. They will be restored in Thor #500.

5. This isn’t the real Loki but a life-like robot as we’ll learn in Thor #500.

6. According to the Unofficial Appendix, this world has been designated Reality-10190. However, as of this writing (June, 2022) this designation has not been officially listed in any Marvel publication so this could be subject to change.

Topical References

• Victor Prazniki says that the junk bond situation and his association with the mob happened in the 1980s. This date reference should be considered topical as the Sliding Timescale continually pushes the Modern Age forward that such a designation would prematurely age a character. Modern readers should interpret this to mean that Prazniki got involve in these shady deals 10 to 16 years prior to this story as opposed to a specific decade, or about 1 to 7 years before the start of the Modern Age.

• Victor is depicted watching CNN on a CRT television that has a VCR hooked up to it. This should be considered topical due to the obsolete technology and the fact that CNN is a real world network.