Thor Annual (vol. 2) #1
The Hand of Grog
In Helipolis, Seth — the Egyptian god of death — meets with a priest named Hem-Net-Jer who has some new about Seth’s enemy, the Asgardian thunder god Thor. Hem-Net-Jer states that the hero killed his grandfather, Bor, and has been cast out of Asgard.[1] Hem believes that the thunderer is at his lowest ebb and his defeat is all but guarenteed.
Seth decides to take this advice and summons Grog the Gog-Slatyer, Gog, Magog, and Scarab. He orders them to go to the region where Thor was last seen — the interior highlands of the United States — and hunt him down. Seth assures them that Thor is at his weakest and will be a simple kill.
At that moment, Don Blake — Thor’s mortal alter ego — has relocated to an isolated cabin in the wilderness. Thor assures him that this is necessary to give them time to step away from life and determine their next move following Thor’s exile from Asgard. Blake doesn’t understand why they have to be in such a remote location but Thor assures him that it is necessary. Suddenly, Don gets a weird feeling, like someone just walked over his grave.
This is because Grog and his cohorts have arrived in the area and in searching for Thor, they slay every human the cross paths with. Grog in particular slaughters people staying at a vacation lodge. When Seth calls in for a progress report, the self proclaimed “god-slayer” is slow to respond, leading to recriminations from his master, who thinks that Grog is still sore over his last defeat at the hands of Thor.[2]
By this time, Don Blake has gotten so antsy that he comes up with an excuse for going into town. This bothers Thor becuase he wants them to stay, and he complains that Blake relies too much on beer. However, once they are outside, Blake hears the rumbling of a rock fall and sees smoke in the distance. While Thor worries that this might be foes tracking down, Blake convinces him to swap places with him so they can help anyone who might be injured. Thor protects a driver imperiled by a rockslide and — switching back to Don Blake — provides first aid until paramedics arrive. Next, they put out a fire at a cabin that has exploded. While Thor is certain that they have been discovered, Blake thinks it was nothing more than a gas main explosion. Thor hopes that Blake is right.
When they return to their secluded cabin, Don watches a new report about the various accidents. Don decides to call the woman he helped earlier. Thor suggests that they go to the hospital instead, as he worries that if these were attacks meant to draw them out, those they helped might be targeted again.
Sure enough, Grog has arrived at the hospital and begins badgering one of the patients to learn where Thor went after his rescue. By this time, Don is in the room of Beatrice, the woman he saved from the avalanche. The two get to talking and it turns out that she came out here four years ago to get away from it all after a messy divorce. It was supposed to be a few months, but she stayed indefinitely and wonders if she is less taking a break and more running away from her problems. This strikes a chord with Don Blake. That’s when they hear screams from outside and both rush outside to see what the commotion is.
There, Don sees that Grog is attacking other patients and urges Thor to do something about it. Thor reluctantly agrees and they swap places. However, a hospital isn’t the best place to fight, so Thor allows Grog to tackle him through a window so they can fight outside. When Thor tosses Mjolnir at first, it harmlessly bounces off Grog who boasts that Thor will be an easy kill. Witnessing the battle from the sidelines Blake realizes why Thor is doing so poorly in battle. After killing Bor in battle, he’s afraid to fight at his full strength for fear of killing someone else. It takes Don calling Thor a coward to make the thunder god stop holding back and he quickly trounces Grog in battle. That’s when Seth arrives with the rest of his team. Thor then single handedly beats each one in combat, prompting Seth to order a retreat. As they teleport away, Seth blames their failure on Grog and that next time he will vanquish the thunder god once and for all.
When Seth returns to Hem-Net-Jer, he tells him that there will be no gold payment for his failed prediction. In stead, he provides the severed hand of Grog as a warning of what will happen for failures in the future.[3]
Recurring Characters
Thor, Don Blake, Seth, Gog, Magog, Grog the God-Slayer
Continuity Notes
Loki manipulated Thor into a battle with Bor. Thor only learned that his opponent was his grandfather after he landed the killing blow. See Thor #600.
Grog has fought Thor on two past occasions and was defeated in both cases. See Thor #390 and 396-400.
Despite what a poorly researched crowd-sourced website suggests, Grog isn’t confirmed as dead here. In fact, if you look up this issue in Official Index to the Marvel Universe: Thor, it does not specify that Grog was deceased. A severed arm is not proof of death since that is something you can survive from. Anyone who says otherwise is an idiot. As of this writing (July, 2023), Grog’s actual fate remains unrevealed.
Topical References
One of the injured people tells reporters that he previously saw Thor on Fox News. This should be considered a topical reference as this is a real world television network. That this person is trash for watching Fox News should be considered factual.
