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Thor #284: Review

Jun 1979
Roy Thomas, Chic Stone

Story Name:

The City of the Space Gods!

Review & Comments

Rating:
4 stars

Thor #284 Review by (June 10, 2019)

Review: And so the saga begins in earnest—with a recap of the original Kirby ETERNALS, which is right up Roy Thomas' alley with its profusion of dialogue and exposition with John Buscema and Chic Stone doing a creditable echo of Kirby's art style. And a number of other Kirby characters are reintroduced. Plus fighting among the Humans, Eternals, Deviants, and an Asgardian. And Sersi would be a lot of fun as the longest-serving Eternal in the Marvel 616 world as she will eventually join the Avengers.

Comments: Part two of the Eternals Saga which spans issues #283-301. First appearances of Ajak, Daniel Damian, Margo Damian, Ikaris, and Sersi in Thor's book. First appearance (in her true form) of Ereshkigal.






 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Thor #284 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Having defeated Thor, the Celestial Gammenon enters the giant dome in the Andes, clutching the damaged airliner. Aboard the plane, the frightened passengers do not notice that there is a new person among them: Dr Donald Blake, Thor having transformed as he hit the plane (last issue). The Celestial puts down the crippled liner and goes on about his business, leaving it for the next Celestial to analyze. Two passengers, Johnson and Lisa, leave the plane along with Don Blake and they are met by long-lost archaeologist Daniel Damian, accompanied by the grim Eternal Ajak. Damian has a seizure so Ajak levitates him and Blake to a private area of the city where Don is able to examine him, while pretending that he hasn't already been here as Thor. It turns out that Damian was faking so that he could speak privately to Don and fill him in on the history of the Celestials: the First Host came in prehistoric times and it was then that the Celestials experimented upon an ape so that creature fathered the races to come: the godlike Eternals, the monstrous Deviants, and Humans, midway between the two. The Second Host came to find that the Devants had conquered the Humans and were a threat to the universe so they were destroyed. The Third Host came about one thousand years ago and Thor joined the Eternals in an adventure (THOR ANNUAL #7) and then they wiped Thor's memory but the Celestial Arishem stayed behind to await the Fifty-year Judgment of the Earth to take place in 2026. The Fourth Host is the one currently there and being studied by Dr Damian. Don Blake reveals himself as Thor, hoping to prevent that judgment from taking place. Ajak was watching and greets his old ally Thor and the Thunder God starts a debate—but they are interrupted by the arrival of Johnson and Lisa from the plane. Johnson reveals himself to be a SHIELD agent looking for three missing colleagues. Damian hands them over, or more accurately, the box in which their free-floating atoms are stored. Lisa then reveals herself to be Ereshkigal, Deviant Goddess of Darkness, sent to spy on the Celestials....

Meanwhile, in Manhattan, Ikaris and Margo Damian (the Doctor's daughter) are brooding over the fate of the planet while fun-loving Eternal Sersi tries to cheer them up by turning a chair into a dancing dog (and a confused postman briefly into a pig). Ikaris leviates Margo and they take off, still brooding about the situation. And then a dark shadow is cast over them....

Back in the dome, Ereshkigal refuses to let anyone leave. Agent Johnson tries to shoot his way out but is subdued by Thor, who is encased in a shroud (fired from a shroud gun) by Ajak. Thor tears free, clobbers Ajak, is frozen by Ereshkigal, bursts free, opens the dome and escapes with Johnson and the jet liner (Damian preferring to remain behind), while Thor whips up a storm to hide his doings from the eyes of Arishem. Heading to America, Thor vows to save the planet....


Preview Pages
Click sample interior pages to enlarge them:




Chic Stone
Chic Stone
Glynis Wein
Dave Cockrum (Cover Penciler)
Bob McLeod (Cover Inker)
? (Cover Colorist)
Layouts: John Buscema.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Thor
Thor

(Odinson)

Plus: Daniel Damian, Ereshkigal (Holly Steckley), Gammenon, Margo Damian.

> Thor: Book info and issue index

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