Thor #483: Review

Feb 1995

Roy Thomas, M. C. Wyman

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Story Name:

Armor and the Man-God I Sing...

Review & Comments

Rating:

Thor #483 Review by Peter Silvestro (February 6, 2024)

Review: Wait, what? After only four issues (#479) they are already retconning Don Blake’s history? Usually they don’t do this for a decade or two and never by the same writer. But it’s definitely Roy Thomas penning both issues. What happened? Did Thomas come up with two explanations and couldn’t decide which one was better so he used both? I joke, the two parts do belong together as the second one would make no sense without the first. But it is rather startling.

The issue has a couple of interesting points: Sigyn actually plays a serious part in a Thor tale; usually she’s Loki’s weepy wife stuck in the background or omitted altogether. She has nineteen appearances spread over 44 years, which tells us something. But here, because of her strong loyalty toward her husband, she takes an extreme action, giving her something positive to do. Plus, encasing Loki in the Armor of Invincibility actually makes him a formidable opponent for Thor and the fight is exciting. On the negative side of the ledger, there’s the jealousy factor, with Thor suspicious of Red Norvell with Sif and Sif cold toward Blitziana, until both parties are assured that the other one is “just a friend.” Yes, jealousy is real but it just seems like it could have come from a 1950s or ‘60s sitcom, rather than a 90s comic book featuring gods.

Comments: Part one of two parts. The title is a play on the first line of The Iliad, “Of arms and the man I sing.” Heimdall is mentioned as present in the narration but is not seen. Michael Higgins contributed to the lettering.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Thor #483 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Thor faces Loki, wearing a green and gold armor, in front of the latter’s home. Thor demands answers and Loki refuses, as Loki’s wife Sigyn and Blitziana of the Godpack look on. Sigyn accuses Thor of having broken the promise made to her husband to leave him alone so long as he did not seek to harm Midgard. And Loki reveals he is wearing the Armor of Invincibility and wielding an enchanted battle-axe. And Thor find himself taking a serious beating….

Earlier, Thor was full of indignation over the fact that Odin had deceived him about the matter of Don Blake whose body was revealed to be an artificial construct. He desires to learn what happened to the real Blake; the High Evolutionary grants him leave while he has put the rebellious New Immortals into stasis while the lab at Mount Wundagore is being repaired after the attack of the Stone Men (last issue). Thor goes down to the cave where “Don Blake” was imprisoned, with Blitziana and Riger of the Godpack tagging along. With his enhanced senses, Riger discovers a ring which Thor recognizes as Loki’s wedding band. He flies to Asgard to confront the villain with Blitziana literally taking hold of him to see the Golden Realm as well. They arrive at Loki’s castle and are met by Sigyn. Thor asks about the ring and Sigyn claims that it was stolen long ago. Thor insists on asking Loki directly and that’s where we came in….

So, the brothers fight. Blitziana is attacked by a giant and she carries him over the side of a cliff into the sea. Sif shows up, carried by Thor (Red Norvell) and after Thor (Odinson) understands that they are not romantically involved, he returns to the fight and smashes Loki’s armor to pieces, only to discover it empty. Loki and Sigyn explain that his physical form is gone and she created the armor to encase his spirit form. Thor asks about Don Blake’s body but it is Sigyn who answers: it was her ring they found. Angry with Odin for imprisoning Loki, Sigyn followed him into the cave and saw him deposit Blake. Planning to steal Blake and use him as a hostage against the All-Father, she did not have the power to carry him off and accidentally obliterated him. Panicking, she whipped up a replacement, and a pretty good one, too, as it considered itself the real Don Blake. And the construct sat there until Thor showed up. Loki concludes that the construct wore out and imploded, affecting Thor in space. Thor accepts this. Blitziana climbs back up the cliff, having vanquished the giant. Blitz assures Sif that she and Thor are just friends and as Thor prepares to take off, Sif asks to go with him so Thor flies off with a woman warrior in each hand and it’s Red Norvell who wonders how he will explain this to Odin….