Thor (1998 series) #46

A man named Gary Lesgeti has died and as mourners are leaving the graveside, one stops to ask why. He recalls an incident from their boyhood in France, when Paul and Gary had great dreams but now Gary is dead and Paul lays a rose by his grave, a stone rose….

In Manhattan, Thor Girl is swinging her hammer, smashing robotic drones sent to rob a bank. Deciding there are too many of them, she unleashes a blast of power, destroying them all but also causing injury and property damage. Jake Olson, at the scene, rebukes her for saying that stopping the robbery was the most important part. Jake explains that Thor would have made protecting the humans his first priority. Then they notice that the bank is now on fire so, following his advice, Tarene calls down a major storm to put out the blaze and deciding she has a lot more to learn both to be Thor Girl and the Designate. Jake defends her when his old partner Demitrius Collins criticizes her lack of judgment, including her failure to track down the human villain behind the drones. Demitrius then asks where his sister Christine, Jake’s EMT partner, is. Jake says it’s complicated….

Amora the Enchantress (a/k/a Christine Collins) arrives in Asgard via the Rainbow Bridge, hypnotizing Heimdall into not warning Thor she is coming. King Thor sits on the throne of Asgard, irritated that he must adjudicate disputes between farmers over grazing land for goats. Thor tells them to settle it themselves and one unwisely calls Thor a coward for abandoning an issue Odin would gladly have settled. So Thor settles it, confiscating the disputed property for the site of an orphanage for the children of the warriors who died fighting Surtur. He then ejects them all from his presence. Balder questions whether Thor was a bit harsh; the new king agrees but expresses his frustration and boredom with the role of ruler. He asks Balder and Thialfi to leave him alone. And then Amora enters, showing great affection while he tries to rebuff her. She offers to be the guiding hand his kingdom needs, if he would only ignore Midgard…

…where Thor Girl lands on the high school roof and transforms into her human disguise of Tara and heads downstairs…where the Principal catches her and accuses her of sneaking off to smoke a cigarette. Tarene denies it and moves on to talk to her pal Amanda Fairmont who wants to know how Tara maintains a perfect academic score while being absent more than anyone she knows. As they walk along the hall, Tarene notices that the walls are now made of gray stone. She dashes into the girl’s restroom to find it also petrified. She transforms into Thor Girl and flies into the sky to confirm the entire school building is now stone and she investigates a petrified security guard on the roof, thereby falling victim to the Grey Gargoyle, who turns her to stone, takes her hammer and uses it to smash her to pieces….