Thor #292: Review

Feb 1980

Roy Thomas, Keith Pollard

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Story Name:

If an Eye Offend Thee...!

Review & Comments

Rating:

Thor #292 Review by Peter Silvestro (August 21, 2019)

Review: Yes, I wrote “a giant disembodied eyeball that shoots fire” and I'm not ashamed of it; at last this comic book gets as weird as it could be, though I didn't expect it to be in a story written by Roy Thomas. And said giant eye speaks of itself in both the first and third persons, namely “eye.” And there are a bunch of weird imaginary monsters, and a teaser that shows the Eye of Odin must have read a lot of comic books: “you will never again be the same!” One goofy issue, hinting at more to come.

Comments: Part ten of the Eternals Saga which spans issues #283-301. First appearance of Odin's eye (though it was seen in flashback in #274). The title is borrowed from Matthew 5:29 in the Bible but with a completely different application.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Thor #292 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

In Olympia, home of the Eternals, Odin stands over the fallen Thor, his spear Gungnir at his son's throat, wondering at the Norn-fates that brought him to this point. He proclaims that he will not slay his only son again and hurls the spear away. Thor asks for an explanation for why Odin led the Greek gods there—but especially what he meant by not slaying his son “again.” The All-Father refuses to answer, leaving him instead with the riddle “If an eye offend thee, pluck it out. It shall ne'ermore be part of thee—yet it shall e'er be part of thee. For it has known what thou knowest—seen what thou hast turned to see.” He stalks off to where Hercules and others are trying to pluck Gungnir from the wall in which it is embedded, summons it to him and vanishes, leaving the Greeks and the Eternals whom he set against each other in a bit of confusion. After a bit more trash-talking, Zeus concedes that he doesn't care anything about the Celestials and only came to the fight out of old resentments. With that, Zeus leads his stunned follower back home. The Eternals likewise decline an alliance with Thor, preferring to pick up the pieces of their city and go their own way....

Thor goes his way pondering Odin's riddle—and then recalls that Odin plucked out an eye to gain wisdom from Mimir. The Thunder God asks Mjolnir to show him where that eye went and hit conjures a vision of a fantasy land inhabited by dwarflings. They are terrorized by a giant disembodied eyeball that shoots fire. Thor commands the hammer to take him to that land and there he confronts the eye which blasts him with fire for his arrogance. Thor calls down rain to douse the fire so the eye calls up a herd of oddball monsters; the hero fights them only to learn they are all illusions—all except the last, a green-spotted lump of tentacles. Thor blows it apart and realizes that his foe must be the Eye of Odin and he pursues it, capturing it by means of a mighty tornado. Thor demands to know of the imprisoned eye what Odin meant when he said he had slain his son once and would not do it again. The eye agrees to tell him—but warns he will never be the same afterward....

Zuras, Ikaris, and Ares also appear.