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Thor (1998 series) #21

Mar 2000
on-sale: Jan 5, 2000
Dan Jurgens | John Romita Jr.

Thor (1998 series) #21 cover

Story Name:

As Turneth The Tide

Synopsis

Thor (1998 series) #21 synopsis by Rob Johnson
Rating: 4 stars
OK, we know that Thor has been given the mortal personality of Jake Olson who died during 1 of Thor's battles. And we know that the real Olson may have been a shady char, and some of Thor's activities have made his 'Jake' also seem dodgy. But in the last issue Loki resurrected the real Jake and made him try to kill someone in front of CCTV. And Thor and Jake met, and the Thunder God followed him up onto a roof where Loki spirited him away.

That issue ended with Mangog stealing the Chalice Of Ruins from Orikal and handing it to his unrevealed master who declared that when he drinks a tear of the Designate from the cup he will gain the power of all-prevailing death. But 1st they must find the Designate before they can unleash Armageddon.

But Thor knows nothing of this last and is about to transport himself to Asgard to seek help/advice on the Olson mystery. However Jane Foster and Jake's fiancee Hannah Fairmont have followed *him* to the roof and stop him. Hannah is convinced Jake's not guilty of anything and accuses Thor of wanting to arrest him, or maybe even throwing him off the roof. Thor says he knows that Jake is innocent of recent things he's been accused of (because of course *he* is Jake). Hannah runs off to tell the police that Thor can vouch for Jake.

Jane knows about Thor being Jake and they both know that the earlier Jake *might* have been crooked so she criticises him for giving Hannah false hope. And now she tells him about the video evidence of Olson trying to suffocate a hospitalised cop. Thor finds all this too confusing and whirls Mjolnir again to create a vortex to take him to Asgard. But Jane leaps in to follow him.

They arrive on the Rainbow Bridge and Jane is once again overawed by Asgard's splendour. But they find it's guardian Heimdall beaten unconscious. They follow a trail of equally fallen bodies including the Warriors 3 and then Sif who is still able to call out to Thor to warn him of someone whose name begins with M. He tells Dr Foster to look after her while he goes to find the threat. But the threat comes to him in the form of the giant Mangog with the power of an entire alien race who were killed by Odin. His anger is reignited at the sight of Odin's son and they battle mightily while Jane carries Sif to safety. Thor asks if Mangog's intent is as before to unsheathe the Odinsword and usher in Ragnarok? Mangog claims that his master's intent is much worse than that, and that master has gone to deal with Odin.

The hooded master is led by Odin's current Grand Vizier Tarakis to Odin. On the way the Vizier reveals that the daily potion he's been giving the Lord Of Asgard to recover his strength (after the battle with the Dark Gods in #4-12) has instead been draining it. Now Odin is too weak to resist giving the villains the Map Of All-Ending hidden in his sceptre, which will lead them to the Designate. The hooded one reveals himself as Thanos (what, you didn't look at the cover, or last issue's next-issue box?) who gloats that last issue's Chalice and this Map give him the power of life and death. He also says this makes up for Odin having defeated him once before. The 2 villains teleport away.

Mangog seems to have beaten Thor and now turns on the 2 females. But of course the Thunder God summons up reserves of willpower and fires a bolt of anti-force from his Uru hammer powerful enough to shatter mountains. Mangog falls. But then he too gets up again to meet Thor's onrush and knocks him down again. He's about to crush the life out of him with his boot when Thanos and Tarakis port in and call him off. Mangog protests but Thanos says they have more important things to do, and all 3 leave.

Odin manifests next to his son and helps him up. He reminds him of the ancient prophecy about the Chalice and the Map, hidden by Orikal and himself. He confesses that both are now in the possession of Mangog ... and Thanos. Thor realises that this danger trumps all and he tells Jane that he must lay aside his mortal life. Which strangely means that he must take time off to use his 2000 Annual to tie up all the loose ends of the Jake Olson story before returning to continue this storyline next issue. 


Characters
Good (or All)
HEIMDALL
JANEFOSTER
ODIN
SIF
THOR
WARRIORS3
Plus: Hannah Fairmont.

Enemies
MANGOG
THANOS
Plus: Tarakis.

> Thor (1998 series) comic book info and issue index


Thor (1998 series) #21 cover

::: click cover to ENLARGE it :::

Excelsioring your collection:
statue
Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Main/1st Story Full Credits

John Romita Jr.
Klaus Janson
Gregory Wright
John Romita Jr. (Cover Penciler)
Klaus Janson (Cover Inker)
Additional Credits

Editor: Tom Brevoort. Editor-in-chief: Bob Harras.



Review / Commentaries

Thor (1998 series) #21 Review by (May 31, 2025)
The cover was coloured by Richard & Tanya Horie.
Richard Starkings and Wes Abbott shared the lettering.

Jane Foster has been in Asgard several times before. Most significantly when she failed to attain godhood in #136, and merged with Sif (#236-335).

Mangog 1st appeared in #154-157 which ended with Odin restoring his slain alien race. But this didn't lessen his hate and power and he returned in #195-198 and #243-250. And now here.

The list of Thanos apps continues in this storyline after Ka-Zar (1997) #4-11 and the 1998 X-Man/Hulk Annual. But Jim Starlin will consider those apps and this storyline not befitting the char he created, and in the Infinity Abyss mini-series he will declare them clones called Thanosi. His quibble with this story is that after the Infinity Gauntlet event his Thanos stopped seeking ultimate power and mass destruction and became an anti-hero, fighting alongside heroes as well as against them. This clone is known as the Higher-Powered Thanosi.
The status of Thanosi has been accepted by Marvel. But this Thanos still seems to remember his defeat by Odin in Warlock & Infinity Watch #24 during the Blood & Thunder event when Thanos was aiding heroes to cure Thor of a madness. In fact Odin didn't conclusively defeat the Titan because he backed off when he realised what was actually going on.

The Chalice Of Ruins is incorrectly called the Chalice Of Tears here.

The story continues in the 2000 Annual whose main story opens with Thor making the same decision he made at the end here to temporarily put aside the Thanos problem and go to Earth to bring an end to his Jake Olson mortal identity. Loki and the real Jake are involved and the dual identity does indeed end.
There is also a short backup where Thanos and Mangog raid Rigel to get the Fire Jewel that will enable them to read the Map Of All-Ending. Thor learns that the 1st place on the Map is M'Hass.

Then the Thanos tale resumes next issue.

There's part 3 of a Human Torch/Spider-Man anti-drug story Fast Lane included in this and many other titles.

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Thor

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