Thor (vol. 2) #4
From the Ashes
In the ruins of Asgard, a being calling himself Perrikus has just been freed from his centuries long prison below Asgard.[1] He summons Adva, one of his fellow Dark Gods and explains how he was just recently freed by Thor, but the thunder god has not yet returned. Adva, who can track anyone in the known universe, scans the Earth for signs of Thor and finds no trace of him. This leads Perrikus to presume that Thor is dead.
In reality, the god of thunder has been pulled into the ocean by a siren named Sedna, who intends to transform him into an amphibian and make him her mate. As Thor struggles to get free he tries to summon Mjolnir which was swallowed by Sedna’s sea monster, but the enchanted hammer is not listening to his commands.[2] After sixty seconds passes, Thor is shocked when he suddenly reverts back to his mortal guise of Jake Olson. This is unseen by Sedna, who is surprised to see a mere mortal in her grasp when she turns to look. Suddenly, the Sub-Mariner arrives and pulls Jake away from the siren and as the two struggle, Jake swims to the surface before he drowns. As Namor fights Sedna and her sea monster, Jake continues to command Mjolnir to return to him but the hammer continues to ignore his orders.
Back on the mainland, Jake Olson’s fiancée has become worried because Jake has failed to return after promising to pick up her daughter Amanda from school. She decides to call Demitrius Collins, Jake’s co-worker, to see if he has seen him. Collins, unknown to Hannah, is in the middle of getting payment for selling drugs.[3] After completing the exchange, he tells Hannah that he’ll stop by Amanda’s school to see if he can find their her daughter or Jake. Fairmont thanks Demitrius for his help, noting that Jake has been activing very weird lately.[4]
Meanwhile, Jake Olson is still stranded out at sea and soon Sedna’s monster emerges from the water to attack him again. Pleading with Mjolnir to come back, the enchanted hammer finally obeys his command, ripping out of the monster’s stomach. The moment it reaches Olson, he is transformed into Thor once more. Thor and he Sub-Mariner then work together to repell the creature.
However, Sedna isn’t ready to admit defeat and attempts to use her siren’s son to enthrall Thor and manipulate him into going with her. Namor knows all about this trick and interferes with her plan. Realizing that she won’t win over the thunder god this day, Sedna retreats into the deep vowing that she will come back for him some day.[3] Free from her song, Thor thanks Namor for his help. He admits that he feels a kinsman ship to the Atlantean ruler as they are royalty that both are alone in a world of mortals and suggests that they go out drinking and share stories. While the Sub-Mariner can agree with Thor’s feelings of alienation, he cannot spend the time reveling as his duty to rule Atlantis take priority and he departs.
By this time, Dimitrius has found Amanda who almost had a nasty run in with a local gang and brought her home. When Jake Olson does return he makes up some story about Amanda not being there when he finally arrived at the school. Breaking into his Asgardian affectation, “Jake” apologizing for screwing up, saying he is unaccustomed to the conditions of their relationship and takes off. “Olson” then goes up to the roof and changes into Thor and takes off. Hannah, chases after him to talk but by the time she gets up to to the roof, Jake has disappeared without a trace.
Meanwhile, Parrikus contacts the domain of the Dark Gods to inform their leader, Majestron Zelia that he is finally free. She is pleased and orders him to prepare Asgard for her arrival. As she ends the call, Odin — who is Zelia’s shackled prisoner — vows that he will break free and have his revenge against her and her people. The Majestron finds these words amusing and hollow. Although he is now silent, Odin can’t help but feel nothing but shame, humiliation, and defeat.
At that very moment, Thor has shown up at the Merry Peddler bar along the Main cost. There, unaware of the fate of his father, the thunder god drinks and entertains the local fishermen with tales of his times at sea. Despite the fact that he has found comradery this evening, the god of thunder feels lonelier than ever before.
Recurring Characters
Thor, Jake Olson, Sub-Mariner, Dark Gods (Perrikus, Majestron Zelia, Adva), Sedna, Odin, Hannah Fairmont, Amanda Fairmont, Demitrius Collins, Enrakt (possessing Mjolnir)
Continuity Notes
Perrikus was made a prisoner after the Dark God’s war against Asgard. Odin has been keeping him prisoner in secret for thousands of years as explained in Thor (vol. 2) #9.
This is because Mjolnir has been possessed by Enrakt one of the Enchanters. See Thor (vol. 2) #14 and 16.
It’s later revealed in Thor (vol. 2) #15 that Dimitrius is actually an undercover cop investigating the theft of drugs at the hospital where Jake and Hannah work. Here it appears that Dimitrius himself is the criminal since he’s seen selling drugs. No explanation for this scene is given, but I figure that Dimitrius is collecting evidence to nail Olson for stealing from the hospital.
The reason why “Jake Olson” is acting weird to Hannah is because it’s not Jake at all. The real Olson was killed during the Avengers battle with the Destroyer. Thor was also fatally injured in that battle and in order to cheat death the thunder god agreed to take over Jake’s life to atone for not saving the mortal’s life. Thor has none of Jake’s past memories, making the job difficult. See Thor (vol. 2) #1-2.
Except she hasn’t, at least not as of this writing in June, 2022.
