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Episode 724 - Jurgies Into Mystery #16: Gods and Men
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We finish up the Dan Jurgens run on Thor on this week's show, and it finishes pretty strong!
Covering Thor (1998) #75-79.
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Transcript
Introduction & Podcast Promotion
00:00:00
Speaker
This show is recorded using Zencaster. If you are a podcaster or you want to be a podcaster and you want to be able to record remotely, you can do so using Zencaster.
00:00:12
Speaker
They also have hosting options and you can let them know that we sent you. Follow the link in our show notes or in the episode description and sign up for an account on Zencaster now to start recording your own podcast.
00:00:28
Speaker
I'm bored. What plaything can you offer me today?
00:00:38
Speaker
He's got War Rocket Ajax to bring back his body.
00:00:53
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome to War Rocket Ajax. This is... The Internet's most explosive comic book and pop culture podcast. And we are your hosts. My name is Chris Sims, and with me as always is Matt Wilson.
Wrestling Personas & Inspirations
00:01:06
Speaker
Matt, if I had to have a professional wrestling gimmick based on a previous occupation that I've held in real life, I would be the freelancer. And the deal would be, like, he'd be he'd be a hired gun, right? Like, he's anybody who's got the money, he'll do the job. Right.
00:01:23
Speaker
But he's always out injured because he does not have health insurance. That's pretty good. I like that. There's a lot of, ah I'm thinking a lot of like Bret Hart in the wheelchair promos.
00:01:35
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like that. Matt, what would your occupational pro wrestling gimmick be? The fun expert. As I think listeners of this show, certainly listeners who have been listening for a while, know that when I was a teenager,
00:01:50
Speaker
in high school, and then a bit into college, I worked at KB Toys at the mall. This is also the, what I, that was going be the basis of what I was going to suggest for you.
00:02:03
Speaker
And at KB Toys, we had name tags, but they didn't actually have our names on them. They just said, fun expert. So you had to wear a tag that didn't even have your name?
00:02:18
Speaker
No, it just indicated that I was a fun expert. That's kind of, like, really depressing. Which is also not true. Well, I mean, look, Matt...
00:02:29
Speaker
we are We are both kind of, by nature of our occupations, we kind of are fun experts. We just don't always seem like we're having fun.
00:02:40
Speaker
That's true. We're experts at it, but we're not the best practitioners, I guess. I think it would be a sort of doink-style gimmick. Where um I would... i would But like instead of being like an evil clown, I would harm my opponents through um neglect and and dismissing them, which is what I often did as an employee of KB Toys.
00:03:06
Speaker
I... young customers would come up to me and ask me questions, I would do whatever I could to not answer them. love this because it is the exact gimmick I picked for you when I thought of this question.
00:03:20
Speaker
Except for the way I phrase it ah was, and he hates your fucking kids. I really did. ah I can't tell you how many times someone would come into the KB Toys at the Cleveland Mall in Shelby, North Carolina and be like,
00:03:37
Speaker
I gotta to go to Belk or JCPenney to do some shopping, watch my kids while I'm gone. Like, we were a fucking free daycare. And, like, that was not our job.
00:03:54
Speaker
Yeah, man. but Listen, that's grown-ups always going to Belk. They're always going to Belk. For those that don't know, Belk was a regional and remains a regional department store chain.
Comic Book Discussions: Thor & More
00:04:07
Speaker
Hey, everybody. We got a great show for you this week. It is the final installment of Jurgis Into Mystery. Now, there will be ah sort of epilogue ah in that we are also going to do the Thor Disassembled story that is part of this volume of Thor.
00:04:29
Speaker
But as far as the Dan Jurgens run on Thor, this is it. We're finishing it it up this episode. ah So with the story that's called Gods and Men.
00:04:40
Speaker
ah So stick around for us talking about the the final five issues of the Dan Jurgens run on Thor. ah But before we get to that, Chris, we do have some business to take care of.
00:04:52
Speaker
The first piece of business is thanking our supporters over on Patreon. That's right, Matt. Now, these are the people who would really want to get on the Gimmick Street Mass Transit Trolley and Streetcar Association trolley or streetcar and head down to 724 Gimmick Street for the latest in a in our Gimmick Street Preservation Society buildings.
00:05:24
Speaker
Revitalization projects. There we go. That's a good bit. that's a good bit Yeah. yeah the the The Gimmick Street Preservation Society is is what you're joining. We are the Gimmick Street Preservation Society.
00:05:40
Speaker
That's right. ah And if you are at the $15 level on our Patreon, you can get naming rights for a locale, for a location, for an address on Gimmick Street.
00:05:54
Speaker
Our preserver of this week is Michael Kosteva, who ah says, Since we know, deuterocanonically, the Gimmick Street contains portals to other times and spaces, I'd like to posit that somewhere along the street is a little slice of Clareton, West Virginia.
00:06:15
Speaker
It's the church with no front door, well-known remaining anyway, where Brandi Clark was set to marry Steve Jackson in ROM Space Night No. 15. ah Hell yeah. Hell yeah. this This is the kind of pull I want.
00:06:29
Speaker
Chris said it best on the old ISB.com. Rom Space Knight will straight up ruin your wedding. And maybe Rom said it best. Brandy, do not do this thing. i didn't even have to look it up. That's in the that's in the vault.
00:06:43
Speaker
That's in the bank. Brandy, do not do this thing.
00:06:49
Speaker
We love it. ah So that's what's there, the church that Rom interrupted a wedding in here at 724 Gimmick Street. We need a our own proprietary, copyrightable, marketable man thing.
00:07:09
Speaker
to Because Gimmick Street is a true nexus of all realities. That's true. That is true. ah So we got we gotta we got to figure it out, Matt. We gotta get it together.
00:07:22
Speaker
ah Somewhere on Gimmick Street is the swamp where our man-thing lives. okay Does he have to live in a swamp? Does he have to be swamp monster?
00:07:33
Speaker
Or can a man-thing be anything? Wow, this is a great question that I do not know the answer to. ah but Matt, i think I've got it.
00:07:44
Speaker
all right Actually, this might not be this might not be as marketable and proprietary as I thought, but you know who would be a good guardian of the nexus of all realities that is Gimmick Street?
00:07:58
Speaker
Tell me. Chambers. Fuck, he's got two bats. He's got two bats. He's the new Negan. I think we got it. I think Chambers, he's the Chambers of Commerce.
00:08:13
Speaker
and
00:08:17
Speaker
He's going to guard all the businesses on Giving Street in the nexus of realities. Yeah, you can go to that church and you can help support us here on the show.
Patreon Perks & Support
00:08:26
Speaker
ah people If people go to patreon.com slash warrocketajax, you can help save Gimmick Street. You can help preserve Gimmick Street.
00:08:33
Speaker
You can help us keep doing the show, keep doing all of our spinoff shows, side projects, comics catch-up, movie fighters, ah the Every Story Ever specials that are two hours every month where we talk about maybe five or six comics that we like. Yep. And most importantly, you can help us pay those gimmicks they keep sending in the mail call bills.
00:08:53
Speaker
That's right, Chris. Our newest Patreon supporter is Julia Kartalis. Thank you, Julia. If you would like to be like Julia and help us out, ah you can do what Chris said and go to patreon.com slash warrocketajax and kick in as little as a dollar a month to make sure that we keep doing all those shows Chris just said. As a patron, you get every single episode of all of those shows totally ad-free in a special feed on our website.
00:09:23
Speaker
Patreon. You get your own little RSS feed that is War Rocket Ajax and Movie Fighters, and you get all the episodes we do from both of those shows there.
00:09:34
Speaker
ah We are currently, Chris, at still at 429 paid Patreon backers. You'll love to see it. You do love to see it. um As a patron, you get...
00:09:48
Speaker
I talked about the ad-free episodes. You can also get ah bonus content. That is stuff that we record, especially for Patreon sometimes. We did the 420 special recently ah that was just for Patreon subscribers. Although you can buy that piece of bonus content for $5 on Patreon if you're so inclined.
00:10:11
Speaker
um But that's the only one you can just buy. There's lots of other bonus content that you have to be a Patreon subscriber. to be able to get So ah go check that out. It's not just stuff we record especially. It's sometimes stuff that I cut out of the show, outtakes that I'll put just on Patreon, things that were too much show, so I cut them out and put them up on Patreon.
00:10:34
Speaker
um There's also ah writing that Chris and I have both done, Chris a lot more than me, um and that is absolutely worth writing. ah being at that backer level. There's line-stepping privileges for our segments, which currently include Every Story Ever and One to Ten of Swords.
00:10:51
Speaker
There's Gimmick Street naming rights at $15, and then there's the t-shirt. I really have to get on the ball about the 2025 t-shirt, so I will do that and get back to you all about that as soon as possible.
00:11:03
Speaker
um Hopefully we'll have that shirt out by ah the summer, let's say. Well, it doesn't need to be out by the summer. but But I think it will be. it It should be.
00:11:14
Speaker
And we want people to start getting hype early. Yeah. so um That's usually the time we get it out. So I will try to make that happen as soon as possible.
00:11:26
Speaker
If you're unable to help us out monetarily, we do understand that there's stuff going on that is out of your control and ours as well. um So you can help us out in other ways. You can leave us five-star review on the podcasting app that you use, or you can just tell your friends and family about the show.
00:11:44
Speaker
Let them know that there's a podcast that you like and that they should listen to ah called War Rocket Ajax, and then maybe they'll listen. And hopefully they will kick in some cash ah for us here on the show on our Patreon.
00:12:01
Speaker
And then the cycle continues.
00:12:06
Speaker
With that, Chris, it's time for some checks and recs. What do you say? Let's do it.
00:12:14
Speaker
Chris, what would you like to check in with this
Personal Announcements & Events
00:12:16
Speaker
week? Matt, our – okay, I was about to say our national nightmare is over. That's not true. That's not true. Many of our national nightmares are ongoing.
00:12:27
Speaker
And I'm sorry. But one of our specific national nightmares is over.
00:12:37
Speaker
Our, like yours and my my specific national nightmare is over. And that's that I have a job. Again. Now, I know what you're thinking. Let me just go stop giving money to the Patreon. Don't do that.
00:12:50
Speaker
Don't do that. we Because, listen, we still need that money. There's still gimmicks. They keep sending in the mail call bills. yes ah But I am ah ah back to gainful employment ah this week. Thanks to everybody who did support the show, specifically while I was ah while i was out of work, especially those first couple of months. That was great of everybody. Thanks to you, Matt, for ah for being supportive and and helping me out.
00:13:19
Speaker
And thanks to the people who reached out with ah leads on jobs or or work that I got, like freelance, to type me over. Very much appreciated. Good to be back doing a project that i'm I'm very excited about and shan't be discussing on the show.
00:13:34
Speaker
Not because you don't want to, but because you cannot. Legally. Legally, yes. Yeah. But ah's it's it's fun stuff. I'm having a lot of fun. And I'm working with ah people that I've worked with before, and they're all great.
00:13:47
Speaker
I wish I was working with all the people that I worked with before because they were all great. But yeah, i'm having ah I'm having a good time getting back to it. I'm very tired because now I have a schedule again, which is makes me a different kind of tired from having a schedule, but it's probably a better kind of tired. Yeah. Yeah.
00:14:11
Speaker
Because the tired from not having a schedule is kind of all-consuming. Well, that's tired plus like this weird guilt. Yeah. and I fucking hate that.
00:14:21
Speaker
Yeah. um it's ah It's pits. That is what I have been up to this week, and kind of the only thing I've been up to this week for what are probably obvious reasons. Matt, what have you been up to? Well, Chris, ah I have a reason why people should not withdraw their contributions from the Patreon.
00:14:41
Speaker
I put down the money for my table at Rose City Comic Con. So yes, if you're in the Portland area, if you're on the West Coast, if you're... ah Look, look but but the two of us have not done cons in a very long time. I did one local con here in Asheville back in 2010.
00:15:03
Speaker
23, think. But aside from that, I have not done any cons post-COVID. And I surely have not done very many cons on the West Coast.
00:15:15
Speaker
The only time I think I've ever done one as a guest or or at a table was when we were in the Pozon at Emerald City. And that was, what year was that, 2017?
00:15:28
Speaker
Yeah, I think it was 2017. I don't think I was married yet. yeah That was a fun show. It was a fun show. and it It might have been 2018, because I know Rob was there, yeah but I don't think Bad Blood was out.
00:15:46
Speaker
Okay, so it might have been 2018, but whatever it was, that's the only time I've ever done a show like that. on the West Coast. So this will be the second time I've ever done that. And this is probably the only show I'm going to do in 2025.
00:16:03
Speaker
I tried to go to Heroes, but it was too late, I think. I'm i'm on a ah sort of wait list. If somebody drops out, I might end up being able to get a table at Heroes, but
00:16:20
Speaker
Barring that, I think Rose City, at least for right now, Rose City is the only con I have lined up for 2025. So, if you are in the area, i would highly recommend coming to see me ah September 5th through 7th.
00:16:40
Speaker
I do think that I'm going to make that trip a little bit of a vacation. i might actually go to Seattle. um I really want to go to the, uh, the double R diner for twin, from twin peaks, which I discovered is much closer to Seattle than I thought it was.
00:17:01
Speaker
Um, so I might go a little early and, and do some of that stuff. Uh, but I will be attending Rose city comic con. Uh, the tables paid for, but there's still, you know, plane tickets, accommodations, everything else to, uh, to get in order. So,
00:17:19
Speaker
patreon.com slash warrocketajax. Keep it going over there, folks, so that we can continue to travel. Chris also you know has put some travel expenses on on the the company account because we've done some recording while traveling lately.
00:17:36
Speaker
um So if you want to see us out in the world ah doing stuff, ah then then you're definitely... ah going to need to keep helping us on Patreon. um I will say also, there is a possibility that I'll be doing more cons in 2026. Stay tuned.
00:17:57
Speaker
ah But as far as I know, this is it for 2025. So ah that's it. i I made my decision. I got over... wallowing in whether I should do it or not and just did it.
00:18:11
Speaker
ah So that's that's what I got going on. Time for some recommendations, Chris. What do you have to recommend?
00:18:18
Speaker
Matt, you you know who you know who my guys are. I definitely know who your guys are. i I think I could name
00:18:29
Speaker
most of who I would call your top guys. yeah Okay, who are my top guys? Well, Batman. Batman, correct. He's probably number one. Number one top guy. but But a quickly ascending number two is Goku.
00:18:44
Speaker
Goku, I would say, is a strong number three. Oh, okay. i so I thought for sure Goku... You have a lot of recent enthusiasm for Goku.
00:18:57
Speaker
I do have a lot of recent enthusiasm for Goku. And that is not going to abate anytime soon. Yeah. I'm Goku for life. ah Jean-Luc Picard. um My dad, yeah.
00:19:08
Speaker
Both one of yours and my guys' is guts. guts Guts definitely probably like a solid like would round out probably the top five, I think. Yeah. Now, would Sailor Moon be one of your guys?
00:19:20
Speaker
Sailor Moon's definitely one of my guys. Okay. Who's number two? Number two? It's Matt Wilson. Oh, that's so sweet. You're not as high as Batman.
00:19:31
Speaker
I'm not on your shelf. i This week, I was thinking about buying ah Kevin Owens and Orange Cassidy action figure and that weird little wrestling figure-sized podcast desk.
00:19:48
Speaker
That's funny. Because that's the closest. like I was literally looking at this shelf and being like, that's all my guys. who Who's missing? Matt's missing. And I was like, maybe I should get the closest I could get to a Matt action figure, which would be Orange Cassidy.
00:20:05
Speaker
I think that is true, yeah. That is pretty on point. I mean, I've got Stone Cold. He's got the vest. And I have the vest as well. that's so i mean you know it's it's I haven't um run into any barricades and almost killed anybody. but ah Well, I'll tell you who is definitely...
00:20:23
Speaker
Probably a, he might not be in the top ten, but I definitely see him and I go, that's one of my guys. And that is Kazuma Kiryu. Oh, from from the Like a Dragon series of video games.
00:20:38
Speaker
From the Like a Dragon series of video games, which honestly should still be called Yakuza. It's a better title. Like a Dragon is not a great title. I'm sorry. That's simply true.
00:20:49
Speaker
But they are good games, regardless of title. yeah And i right after I say they're good games, I say this, Matt, and that's that um i I've been playing through them in chronological order, and I hit Yakuza 3, which is the oldest playable game.
00:21:14
Speaker
Because Zero, one ah zero Kiwami 1, and Kiwami 2 are the newest. Those are like, are those are remake, or Kiwami 1 and Kiwami 2 are remakes? Kiwami 1 Kiwami 2 are remakes of Yakuza 1 and 2.
00:21:29
Speaker
So in the main series, I believe those are the newest outside of like, Like a Dragon Gaiden, the man who erased his name. Which is, that's an incredible title.
00:21:40
Speaker
Great title, yeah. Uh... But I did hit three, and it's kind of old, and I was like, I'm going to skip. So I skipped to five.
00:21:53
Speaker
um And I've been having a great time with five. Now, you might be thinking, Chris, after four games of Cosmo Kiryu, what could this game have to offer? And Matt, I'll tell you, five playable characters.
00:22:07
Speaker
Great. You are Kazuma Kiryu for about 20% of this game, which is primarily focused on his new job. That's right, cab driver. Oh, interesting. I was going to say professional karaoke singer.
00:22:21
Speaker
You would think, but no. yeah ah He is a cab driving man. That dude fucking loves karaoke. Here's what that dude loves.
00:22:32
Speaker
Karaoke, slot car racing, baseball, And in this game, what I've discovered ah is that he loves Hatsune Miku. Oh, did that makes sense.
00:22:44
Speaker
Because a Hatsune Miku figure showed up in one of them UFO catcher machines, and you know I had to spend 50,000 yen getting it.
00:22:56
Speaker
ah But here's what's interesting. i'm I'm on the third playable character. ah First playable character, Kiryu, obviously. We love him. The Yakuza of Yakuza.
00:23:07
Speaker
Although, as ah as my buddy Ted Anderson is quick to point out, he's only actually in the Yakuza for like five minutes. the In the games. Totally.
00:23:21
Speaker
But ah he's the first guy you play as. You go through his arc, then you do Taiga Sejima, who is another Yakuza. So you know you wander around the streets, you get in fights, you know how Yakuza works.
00:23:33
Speaker
The third character that you play as is Kiryu's adopted daughter, Haruka, as she is on her quest to become and an idol. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is when the game turns into a rhythm game.
00:23:47
Speaker
The game, Like Dragon, Infinite like a dragon infinite wealth ah gets into her story quite a bit as well. yeah good well i'm I hope it all works out for her.
00:24:00
Speaker
hope she becomes an idol. Because i'm I'm really working hard at these rhythm games, which are very fun. And it's... The thing that really made me want to play the Yakuza slash Like a Dragon games to begin with was that Super Eyepatch Wolf video.
00:24:18
Speaker
And what really grabbed me was the bit where he talks about how you can't it's not Grand Theft Auto. You can't just run around do whatever you want, because that's not what Kiryu would do.
00:24:31
Speaker
And the flip side to that is that everything you can do is therefore something Kiryu would do
00:24:39
Speaker
So that was really intriguing to me and why I started playing the games. But now I'm playing as Haruka, who's like 16. And so like, I'm wandering around the city and like trying to go do all the stuff. And she's like, I'm not old enough to go into a cabaret club, dude.
00:24:57
Speaker
Like, I can't be, I can't be going in. i can't be going to the, the, the pachinko parlor. Come on, man. ah Which is very funny to me as someone who's like, well, then why did you put it on my map?
00:25:10
Speaker
Why is it purple? Why does it look like a building I can go into? But yes, I am really enjoying Yakuza 5. I'm very excited to get through it so that I can play Yakuza 6, The Song of Life.
00:25:21
Speaker
Because that is where all the New Japan wrestlers show up. ah Pretty great. Pretty great. Yes. Very exciting. I'm glad Cosmic Kiryu is one of your guys, because Ichiban Kasuga is one of my guys.
00:25:35
Speaker
And you could also represent you and me with figures of Cosmic Kiryu and Ichiban Kasuga. You... I mean... i don't i think their personalities might be...
00:25:48
Speaker
I think Cosmo might be one of your guys, or Kiryu might be one of your guys, and Kasuga might be one of my guys, because Kasuga's more like you, and Kiryu's more like me. yeah I was going to say, you're you're much more of a Kiryu. I'm a guy with a Dragon Quest tattoo.
00:26:06
Speaker
Matt, what do you have to recommend for the people?
Movie & Comic Reviews
00:26:08
Speaker
ah Chris, i I went to the movies this week, and I saw... A movie that, if you have not seen, i am highly, highly recommending that you see.
00:26:23
Speaker
Now, Chris, this is partially for you, but I know you're not going to go see it in a theater. but i do think But I do think when it is available to stream, you should absolutely watch it. It's a monster movie, but not a scary movie at all.
00:26:37
Speaker
um What it is, is a fucking great movie. That movie is Sinners. Holy shit, dude.
00:26:48
Speaker
What a great fucking movie. It's got two Michael B. Jordans in it. Two Michaels B. Jordan? That's right. Is one of them credited as Michael C. Jordan? Michael A. and Michael B. Jordan ah is the the joke everybody has been making. um but like i mean i would think Michael A. Jordan was the Space Jam guy.
00:27:07
Speaker
Oh, that's true. So he's B and C. Yeah. ah but just just because Just because the other guy was first. you know that's Well, and also, you know, the the best at his in his field.
00:27:21
Speaker
Although, Michael B. Jordan is is getting there. Is Michael B. Jordan the Michael Jordan of acting? He's getting there. He's getting there, man. I thought as I was watching Sinners, because...
00:27:35
Speaker
He plays twins in the movie, and they are two very distinct characters. It helps that one of them wears a blue hat and one of them wears a red hat.
00:27:47
Speaker
So you definitely can tell them apart. They're like the Mario Brothers? They're kind of like the Mario Brothers, but they're like former... they They were formally formerly part of like gangs in Chicago.
00:28:01
Speaker
They moved back to their hometown in Mississippi, and they buy this old mill that they're going to open and turn into like a nightclub juke joint kind of place.
00:28:13
Speaker
And so – And they they bring a bunch of stolen alcohol with them so they can open this place. And one of the brothers is very kind of like stoic and business-minded.
00:28:24
Speaker
And the other brother's like the people person. And their names are Smoke and Stack. That's pretty good. Which is fucking great. I mean, they're nicknames, but like I love that their name's Smoke and Stack.
00:28:38
Speaker
um Anyway... um The movie is ultimately about vampires attacking that nightclub. And I won't give away any more than that.
00:28:49
Speaker
um But it is so fucking good. And Michael B. Jordan is so fucking good in it. um And like I said, his two characters are very distinct.
00:29:01
Speaker
I actually thought, because do you know how there's that Tom Hardy movie where he plays twins? Venom? the I mean, kind of. But then there was ah there was another Tom Hardy movie where he played twins.
00:29:14
Speaker
Like Gangster Twins. i I forget what it's called. I think it's called Legend. I think it's called Legend. But I was like, as I was watching the movie, i was like, ah, is Michael B. Jordan doing like a Tom Hardy?
00:29:26
Speaker
And then he ran laps around Tom Hardy ah in Sinners, I feel like. um But the rest of the cast is all great. Yeah. And it's got like this ah very cool sort of kind of twist ending.
00:29:45
Speaker
The music is incredible. It's a very music-heavy movie. um Yeah. I think most everybody who wants to have seen it has probably seen it because it's a very, very successful film. But if you have not seen Sinners, go see that movie.
00:30:02
Speaker
I'm so happy I went to see it. And I went on like a Tuesday night, so the crowd was very low-key, and it was cheap. So, that's my recommendation. Go see Sinners.
00:30:18
Speaker
With that, Chris, let's talk about some comics. What do you say? Let's do it.
00:30:25
Speaker
The winner of the Texters Choice for this week is Supergirl. Supergirl. number one, which is by Sophie Campbell and Tamara Bonvillain.
00:30:37
Speaker
What a fun comic this was. i If I didn't say it on the show, I definitely meant to. But when I saw that this was happening, I literally said, oh, that book's going whip.
00:30:50
Speaker
but That book's going to kick ass. And ah guess what? As always, i was correct. Yeah, great. i I was a little surprised by the art style in this.
00:31:05
Speaker
Not to say that it's anything but great. It's a fantastic looking comic. But having read other Sophie Campbell comics,
00:31:18
Speaker
it's it's it does not have the kind of rough edges that I'm used to in Sophie Campbell's art. Not that I necessarily expected a Supergirl book to be like, you know, kind of rough-edged and violent.
00:31:37
Speaker
Yeah, like, you weren't going into this expecting glory. No, but glory is what I kind of know best, you know? And so i had a thought of like...
00:31:49
Speaker
that would be That would be a cool take on Supergirl. But that's not what is happening here. Instead, what this is is an extremely cute comic book. Yeah, I mean, I would say in terms of just her art, like, I think it's – in terms of line work, it's even cleaner than, like, Jem was.
00:32:08
Speaker
Yeah, I would say so, too. Yeah. It's a great-looking book. It's got that – I mean, it's it's got that, you know – Alex Toth, Bruce Timm, Marcos Martin, ah Javier Pulido-like quality of like being just... The art is crisp.
00:32:25
Speaker
It's very crisp, yes. And it it looks so good. And I love i love this dog. I'm trying not to get my hopes up about that Superman movie. Because I've been burned seven times.
00:32:37
Speaker
Sure. i mean, my hopes are up, ah for better or worse. but yeah But I do want it to do well. Because we're getting a lot of pre-movie release crypto content.
00:32:50
Speaker
huh And boy, I love that dog. Great dog. ah Especially this crypto that kind of looks like my dog. The one in the comic.
00:33:00
Speaker
The won the comic, yeah. Not the one in the movie. they're Not the one in the movie. The one in the movie doesn't really look like about my dog. Except my dog's also white. But this crypto kind of looks like my dog. Yeah, the one in the in the the movie is an adorable fucking dog. Holy shit.
00:33:15
Speaker
I mean, you you look at ah you look at that panel of Supergirl going into the bottle city of Kandor and tell me that's not ah that's not a little pitbull mouth on Crypto.
00:33:25
Speaker
What I really like about this book is like there's a whole opening sequence about Supergirl going into the bottle city of Kandor and And that being her responsibility now, because Superman's not allowed in there anymore.
00:33:42
Speaker
But ultimately, it's about Supergirl going back to her hometown, going back to Midvale, where her parents now live again.
00:33:53
Speaker
And she gets there, and there's all this like promotional stuff about it being the home of Supergirl. And so Kara is like, that'll look like me.
00:34:08
Speaker
but why why does this like Why is this so, like, you know... ah What she says is, look how busty they made me. Yeah, because the Supergirl that is on all the like advertising Supergirl stuff is like...
00:34:28
Speaker
is like a Guinea-Tartakovsky character. It's kind of like Dexter's mom, if you know what I mean. Like ah like ah ah the mom the the Incredibles' mom.
00:34:40
Speaker
Yeah. Whose name I forget. ah Wow. Sorry, I don't remember any of those characters' names. Helen. I have not seen the Incredibles in many years. Helen Parr.
00:34:51
Speaker
Her name is Helen Parr. Thank you. What's Mr. Incredible's name? Don't know.
00:34:58
Speaker
Norman? Might as well be. She's like, this is weird. like There's all this stuff about me here. Did my parents tell everybody that I was Supergirl? Because that's fucked. What's going on?
00:35:11
Speaker
But then she talks to her parents, and her parents are like, who were you? And this Jindy Tartakovsky-looking Supergirl shows up and is really here and is claiming to be the real Supergirl.
00:35:30
Speaker
And then she shows up and she's claiming to be Linda Danvers. She she shows so shows up as not Supergirl, claiming to be Linda Danvers. So, like... This is about a ah fake Supergirl who looks like Player 2 Supergirl because you're her skirt is blue. and Yeah, she has the kind of classic Silver Age Supergirl costume.
00:35:54
Speaker
Yeah. um I think this is a great concept for a story, and wherever it goes, I'm here for it. like If this is some kind of evil doppelganger Supergirl, if this is some other character who's just going to prove to be misunderstood, whatever it may be,
00:36:09
Speaker
I am very excited for it to play out. I do kind of hope it's not a continuity thing. Just because, like... this like a Supergirl from the past or something? yeah Or like ah like a Supergirl from an alternate universe, because, like, Supergirl continuity is complicated.
00:36:28
Speaker
This is Matrix comeback? um but Actually, now that you said that, if it's Matrix, I'm in. ah i also love that the fake Supergirl has a bunny rabbit.
00:36:40
Speaker
Yes. Yes. yes yeah but like that's kind of my only hope and only because like i don't want this to be that kind of complex as much as i want it to be ah a different i guess kind of complex and fun um i really like it when fake supergirl throws a weird chemical on ah the discombobulation generator ah liquid on her, and then it turns the S on her chest into a P for P-Girl.
00:37:17
Speaker
For P-Girl, yeah. Yeah, which is pretty funny. She calls her Phony Girl. that's That's good. It's a good comic, man. I'm excited about it. ah Two other things that I wanted to mention.
00:37:30
Speaker
One, um this comic is chock full of thought bubbles, and which I really like. ah thing that just was not in comics for so long.
00:37:43
Speaker
And this one's like, we're going to have a thought bubble, if not many, many thought bubbles on every page. Yeah, man. Look, Frank's been lost in the Bermuda Triangle for a long time.
00:37:54
Speaker
Yeah. it's time It's time to go back to thought bubbles. Narrative captions have have served us well. It's time to go thought bubbles. Second, I think it is worth pointing out, based on your continuity note, whether this is a continuity thing or not, at two different points in this comic, somebody says Supergirl and it's a logo.
00:38:18
Speaker
At the very start of the comic, there is a villain, a What is it? Princess Shark? Princess Shark, yes. yeah Who is is wearing a dress made out of an octopus. yeah That's one of the most incredible character designs i've ever seen. and So she says Supergirl's name, and it is the logo from the cover, which is a new Supergirl logo as far as I know.
00:38:46
Speaker
Later, the fake Supergirl says her own name And it is the old Supergirl logo that looks like the Superman logo.
00:38:56
Speaker
Yes. but I feel like there's definitely something there about trying to evoke that she's some prior or previous version of the character. ah But we'll see how it plays out, right?
00:39:11
Speaker
I'm excited. like ah yeah I'm definitely all in for whatever this book turns out to be. oh Great first issue, great dog. Great dog.
00:39:23
Speaker
Next up, we're going to talk about Absolute Batman number nine. ah This is the conclusion of the story involving Mr. Freeze.
00:39:34
Speaker
And um it's all about Mr. Freeze trying to like cryogenically preserve Batman by force.
00:39:45
Speaker
And ah Batman, batman don't don't let that happen. Matt, look, this is a great comic. Yeah. I really enjoyed it.
00:39:57
Speaker
Incredible art by Marcus Martine. Yeah. just scott like Scott Snyder and Marcus Martine are the ah creative team on this one. Incredible stuff.
00:40:09
Speaker
But here's the thing, is that it could have been better, and we know it could have been better, because Scott Snyder went on Blue Sky and posted...
00:40:20
Speaker
That the panel where Batman kicks in the door on Mr. Freeze's lab and goes knock knock, that it originally said knock knock, motherfucker.
00:40:32
Speaker
It sure did. And some some DC pencil pusher made him change it. Some suit.
00:40:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:40:45
Speaker
some suit said you can't say knock knock motherfucker even though Batman was covering up most of the letters we we always talk about how when we do like when we're ranking stories on every story ever and we're like we can't rank the comic that could have been you know we can't rank Batman R.I.P. lower because the Batman R.I.P. drawn by Chris Burnham or Frank Quitely doesn't exist right That's true.
00:41:15
Speaker
So, you don't have the comic that you don't have, except for Scott Snyder did post the page, so we do have the comic this could have been. ah i would suggest, if you have a hard copy of this comic, go on ah Blue Sky, ah get that post, print it out, and tape it onto that page of your copy of Absolute Batman No. 8.
00:41:42
Speaker
and And fix this problem yourself. tell Tell the suits where they can cram it. Oh, it is number eight. I said number nine, but it's number eight. God, I kind of, like, I want, I was thinking about getting that Yakuza Fat Bear tattoo.
00:41:58
Speaker
Yeah. But now I'm kind of thinking about a full back knock knock motherfucker piece. Ha ha ha ha ha.
00:42:08
Speaker
ah And it leads right into another story about, presumably, the creation of Killer Croc. ah ah Well, the the thing, it we do get some of that, but also the thing says, ah next, Bane.
00:42:22
Speaker
That's true, yeah. Which, hell yeah, let's get let's let's do it all. Let's get Bane in here. We're really speedrunning all these villains in here, and that's that's great.
00:42:33
Speaker
I love it. Scott Snyder Batman loves to cuss. He sure does. Like, I was reading through Zero year again recently, and like, man, that dude loves to cuss.
00:42:48
Speaker
I'm here for it. The splash of Batman jumping through the...
00:42:55
Speaker
it It's not a window, it's a wall. Batman is jumping through a wall out of a giant tower tall skyscraper ah to get away from Mr. Freeze and his like weird cryogenic zombies.
00:43:11
Speaker
um But just like that panel of him crashing through the wall, or that page, is absolutely fucking gorgeous. Yeah, it makes you... like Marcus Martin...
00:43:25
Speaker
One of the greatest Spider-Man artists of all time. this is like yeah like This one issue, you're like, oh man, is he also one of the best Batman artists of all time? Yeah. Probably. And yes, Batman does go from the window to the wall.
00:43:41
Speaker
He sure does. Last up, we're going to talk about One World Under Doom, number four, which um is just called, the title of the issue is Doom vs. Dormammu.
00:43:55
Speaker
Because all the all the heroes got dealt with, got defeated last issue. like Doom took care of all of them. And so now, Dormammu is here, and he's he's gonna give Doom what for? He's gonna put Doom in his place, because he can't have the Sorcerer Supreme just being totally in charge of Earth when Dormammu's got his own plans, right?
00:44:27
Speaker
This issue is mostly one big fight between the two of them. First, ah and there's a bit at the beginning where Doom is talking about how he casts three spells to try to deal with Dormammu's attack.
00:44:43
Speaker
First, it's just like a big protection spell. Second, he um does some some stuff to like essentially kind of be like... ah like the Super Skrull or some kind of like Marvel vs. Capcom character that has everybody's powers where he can do optic blasts. He does a bunch of different optic blasts. He flames on like Johnny Storm and then he has like Wolverine laser claws that go snicked.
00:45:16
Speaker
Well, he says snicked out loud.
00:45:20
Speaker
Great. Perfect. Yes. um But then Dormammu's like... all right, you know what? That was fun and all, but I'm going to remove your armor, I'm going to break your arm, I'm going to break your leg, and I'm going to throw you in the ocean, and then you've got to deal with my demons who are going to try to drown you.
00:45:43
Speaker
And by sheer force of will, Doom gets out of that. And ah the issue ends with... What I have to say is a pretty fantastic reversal.
00:45:55
Speaker
um Because one of the big questions about the series we've had the whole time is like, at what point are we going to learn that Doom is wrong? Right? Like, the heroes keep saying he's wrong, but then he's like, I killed Nazis.
00:46:08
Speaker
And you gotta be like, you know, is that so bad?
00:46:14
Speaker
um But this ends with reversal where
00:46:20
Speaker
Dormammu has the upper hand, and Doom brings all the heroes back, knowing that they're going to fight the greater evil, which is Dormammu. So by the end of this issue, they're all on his side.
00:46:33
Speaker
Which is a pretty fucking neat trick. That's pretty good. Yeah. ah I knew Ryan North was going to make it interesting for sure. And this is certainly an interesting thing that isn't just, you know...
00:46:49
Speaker
Oh, is doomed really bad because he's being too authoritative, even though he's doing good things. Also, R.B. Silva absolutely crushes it on the art in this issue.
00:47:03
Speaker
It's such a compelling, beautifully drawn, ah really well done fight comic for most of it. do love a good fight comic.
00:47:14
Speaker
Yeah. All right. That's it for our comic segment, Chris, which means it's time to talk about some jergies. Let's do it.
Thor Series Deep Dive
00:47:25
Speaker
The final jergies.
00:47:27
Speaker
It's the final jergies.
00:47:34
Speaker
DC high volume Batman. The Dark Knight's definitive DC comic stories. Adapted directly for audio for the very first time.
00:47:45
Speaker
Fear. Fear. I have to make them afraid. got motorcycle. Get after him or I'll have you shot. You mean blow up the building. From this moment on, none of you are safe.
00:47:59
Speaker
New episodes every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts.
00:48:12
Speaker
Thor number 75 is Gods and Men, part one. Which is weird, because I don't think there are any non-gods in this story. Like, I know why it's called that, but I i definitely don't think there are any.
00:48:33
Speaker
i guess... Dasak is not a god, even though he's a god killer. He has god power. He has power the equal of the gods.
00:48:47
Speaker
That's true. He's a man who became godlike, I suppose. yeah um The cover of this issue is pretty cool. It's a painting. I think it's Bill Sienkiewicz. That's what it looks like. It's certainly Sienkiew-esque.
00:49:00
Speaker
yeah um But it's Thor, there's lightning all around, and what looks like rain coming down. And he's holding up Mjolnir, which he can't do. a cool cover. It doesn't really have anything to do with the contents of the issue. but Well, this is also free pre- the reigning Thor. This is 2004 Thor.
00:49:23
Speaker
Yeah, he's got two arms and both eyes. And ah you are correct about that. That Bilson Kibbage cover. okay Looks good. It does. it looks It's a good-looking cover. ah So, the issue opens, the title of this issue is Realization.
00:49:37
Speaker
And we learn who Magni... went to go see back at the like the end of the last story. Who he went to go see is Sif, who there's ah there's a long bit of narration at the start of this about how she remembers the old days of Asgard and how they were so great and how you know everybody was unified and now they've thrown it all away.
00:50:09
Speaker
And so she regrets that. And what we're going to learn is she got banished from Asgard because she questioned Thor.
00:50:23
Speaker
And the only a person who ever comes to see her Magni. magni who has been coming to see her for some time.
00:50:34
Speaker
Yeah, because she used to sneak back into Asgard to give him Christmas presents, apparently. Yeah. ah But essentially, Sif's big question that got her banished was um after the destruction of Asgard and...
00:50:58
Speaker
It collapses on the city of New York. Thor is like, okay, we're going to build new Asgard here. And Sif is like, no, we should not do that. We should just rebuild Asgard and go back to where we were before and go back to the way things were.
00:51:14
Speaker
Because look what being here has caused. Enchantress is like, you got to do something about her. She's she's talking too much nonsense.
00:51:27
Speaker
ah Loki's like, arrest her and keep her in a dungeon. But Thor ultimately is like, I'm just going to banish her. so that I don't think she's right.
00:51:38
Speaker
Because she's like, oh, we gotta to leave. They tried to kill us. And then, and it's like, yeah, kind of, but also like, fuck them, though.
00:51:52
Speaker
okay Like, we weren't doing anything.
00:51:57
Speaker
I mean, sure. I think she's right, though, in that things were probably better before, when they just lived in Asgard and Asgard wasn't on Earth. Well, they probably weren't better for all those people who had all the cancer that got cured.
00:52:14
Speaker
I mean, sure. but That's true. By the Asgardians coming to Earth, Matt? That's a great point. and And, you know, they got good like ah good non-Earth-killing energy and all of that kind of stuff. Yeah, kind of important. um But I'm talking about for the Asgardians. I'm not talking about for the people on Earth.
00:52:34
Speaker
Okay. All right. If you want to split hairs like that, that's fine. That's what we're here for. with We're weird professional hair splitters. Yeah. Here's the thing. The Juergens run ends pretty strong.
00:52:48
Speaker
Gods and Men is kind of the best part of this entire, like, back third of the book, I think. Yeah, I agree. It's got actually really good stuff in it. But it still does not make me believe that Thor was ever wrong. Yeah.
00:53:07
Speaker
um The conversation between Sif and Magni continues where Sif keeps telling Magni the thing that everybody tells him, which is that he's like Thor used to be.
00:53:20
Speaker
And ah Magni's like, I can't believe it. And they're like, no, yeah. He used to be like you. He used to love humanity and and care about people.
00:53:33
Speaker
No, man, you should read those comics, Magni. Yeah. um Also, um the character Jordal, the human woman that Magni was kind of like falling in love with or had strong feelings for, um she is not seen. she Not in this comic.
00:53:55
Speaker
She's only discussed... ah And what is said is like, oh yeah, she's just totally changed forever because she got, she was at that like reprogramming camp of Loki's.
00:54:09
Speaker
And that is pretty much it. yeah That is a, everybody, that's a series wrap on Jordal. Yeah. Magni tells Sif, take care of Jordal. And that is it. um And Sif finally tells Magni like, hey, you gotta, you gotta to probably overthrow Thor.
00:54:25
Speaker
Like, This is an an untenable situation. You've got to go deal with Thor. um Why don't you work with T'Alfie on that?
00:54:39
Speaker
So, Magni goes back to New Asgard, only to learn that T'Alfie is dead, because he was killed when he tried to ah assassinate Thor. Yeah. I believe it's around this part...
00:54:54
Speaker
Where the Enchantress and Loki are like, Magni, they tried to assassinate your dad, we're going to have a public execution. Because like that's kind of what we've got to do with people who attempt regicide.
00:55:07
Speaker
Yeah, the the the they're going to publicly execute Kaia. yeah Who is the Scarlet Witch's daughter. or yeah scarlettitch's daughter And Magni says, it's wrong.
00:55:19
Speaker
Asgardians do not brutally murder criminals no matter what they did. And Magni, look, I'm no expert. I'm pretty sure that is primarily what Asgardians did.
00:55:35
Speaker
Well, I guess in Marvel continuity, maybe not.
00:55:42
Speaker
I don't know, In actual myth, absolutely.
00:55:48
Speaker
um no man I know, man. I feel like they probably did it a lot.
00:55:57
Speaker
feel like they probably did it a lot. That's all. That's all. ah So they set up the gallows for Kaeya. And Magni attempts to try to stop it and save her, but she says, don't do that.
00:56:18
Speaker
ah You must walk a different path. She she like talks to him like telepathically or appears to him. as like an astral projection. She's, she's kind of like a ghost.
00:56:30
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, and she says, instead of saving us, uh, just go down here to where, Mjolnir is and pick it up. And now you'll have Mjolnir.
00:56:42
Speaker
And so he does that. And, he, he is a worthy of it. So he is able to, to hoist it over his head. and And she goes, ah and may that fate be the restoration of man's freedom and the fall of a tyrant.
00:57:00
Speaker
Just as Magni picks up Thor's hammer, that like awakens Dessac on whatever planet he's on. And we see his eye open glowing red, and he like flies up two to go find Thor.
00:57:18
Speaker
It sure does awaken Dessac. it It awakens to sag, picking up that hammer.
00:57:26
Speaker
Thor number 76, Gods and Men Part 2. This cover is just Thor's face.
00:57:35
Speaker
it's It's pretty good. it's ah It's a pretty good drawing of Thor's face. It is current appearing in this comic Thor with one eye. okay It is an extreme close-up on Thor's face. that is That is the cover. I think this is...
00:57:50
Speaker
art by Scott Eaton, who also drew the last issue. I think he draws all five of these issues. I think so, too. And honestly, does a pretty solid job, I think. think these are well-drawn, for the most part, yeah. i didn't I didn't want to be rude by saying this, but I do think 79 should have been drawn by John Romita Jr. I think Romita...
00:58:17
Speaker
was gone from Marvel by this point. In 2004, he was he? this was when he was off doing his creator-owned book.
00:58:29
Speaker
Oh, what was that book called? The one with the guy in the suit? The Grey something? Grey something, yeah. ah but It might have just been called The Grey Man.
00:58:40
Speaker
The Grey Area is what that book was called. um And yeah, that that book was from 2004. It was... That was his one attempt to do a creator-owned comic. I mean, look, I'll say this. um I think this if he would have come back to draw out number 79, it would have been better than that book.
00:58:59
Speaker
I never read it, so I can't say. but it's You didn't miss much. This was this was part like during one of his brief respites from Marvel.
00:59:10
Speaker
Just as these issues were coming out, I think. ah But yeah, it would have been cool if he came back for... for the end of this story. Uh, anyway, the issue begins, this issue is called challenge.
00:59:24
Speaker
Uh, Magni, once again, we see him holding the hammer. He's talking about how powerful he feels. Uh, Kaya is telling him that, uh, he's the future and him having this hammer proves it.
00:59:39
Speaker
Uh, and so, uh, he sort of toys around with learning how to use Mjolnir. Use it to fly. ah So he he does a little bit of that and learns how to do that.
00:59:53
Speaker
Then we see that he's in the cave that Kaya and her group ah had as a hideout as a headquarters before. And it still has has those car and plane posters. but ah One of those posters is just a computer.
01:00:13
Speaker
It is. Yes. Yes. Boy, remember the Apple iMac? I do, fondly. ah's We long for those days.
01:00:26
Speaker
They love brands. They sure love brands. it it could have been and it could have been the Mona Lisa. Right. You know, it could have been anything that wasn't like Thor-approved artwork.
01:00:43
Speaker
and And we would have gotten it, but no, it's the fucking Ford Bronco and Delta Airlines.
01:00:55
Speaker
ah Remember what they took from you. Remember what they took from you. This computer. Gateway computers. ah So anyway, ah Thor, while Magni learns how to use Mjolnir...
01:01:13
Speaker
Thor has woken up from the Odin sleep. And everybody gathers around. They're so excited that Thor is waking up. I don't think he was asleep for that long.
01:01:25
Speaker
It doesn't seem like it, but it's not like... It's not super clear how much time has passed. it's It's the same year.
01:01:35
Speaker
That's all we know, because it's still 2170. There's a caption box that says it's 2170. Hogan wants to organize a banquet. The Enchantress wants to do it too.
01:01:48
Speaker
But Thor's like, we don't have time for that. We got other stuff we have to deal with. We got to crush this human rebellion because they tried to kill me. So ah that's – we got to deal with it. I'm going to use the Odin power to find anybody who would betray me.
01:02:06
Speaker
So everybody leave me alone.
01:02:10
Speaker
So I can sit down and use the Odin power to try to find anybody who is thinking of betraying me. While Thor does that, Magni goes back to Sif and says, hey, look, check it out. I got Mjolnir.
01:02:26
Speaker
And Sif's like, that's great. ah What are you going to do with it? ah and And Magni says, like I guess I'm going to start an uprising. And Sif's like, oh, great. You're going to be the new king. That's cool.
01:02:40
Speaker
um here's ah Here's a pro tip. um You can spin around the hammer and just go wherever you want ah through through like a portal. And Mighty goes, cool.
01:02:51
Speaker
why don't we Why don't we go somewhere that I've wanted to go for a long time? And so he spins around, he makes the portal, and he and Sif ah go to Old Asgard, which is still there.
01:03:05
Speaker
Yeah, which we get a a real comic book-y explanation for that. Yeah. ah Okay, here's the full explanation.
01:03:17
Speaker
Sif says, but I thought Thor transported Asgard to Earth? And Magni says, not entirely. He transported the people to Earth, but the city itself was actually more of a case of partial transportation and partial construction.
01:03:32
Speaker
I once heard my father tell Loki he came back here and Loki told him he should never do so again. He felt our future was on Earth and Earth alone. that is That is the comic book-y explanation for how old Asgard still exists, even though Asgard also got brought to Earth.
01:03:49
Speaker
Yes. um There's also something that I did want to um point out in this sequence, which is they're walking through. I'm i'm just going to send you ah this panel real quick, Matt. ah They're walking through and they see all the statues of the great heroes of Asgard.
01:04:03
Speaker
um Who's that? Who's that in that statue I just sent you? um that's That looks like Gandalf. That's Gandalf the Grey.
01:04:13
Speaker
That's fully just Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey. Those movies were coming out around this time. movie that was extremely popular at the time of the release of this issue with Glamdring the Foehammer.
01:04:35
Speaker
That's him, man. There's no getting around it. Not a traditionally Asgardian character. Is old Mithrandir. Look, you know, he got around.
01:04:48
Speaker
Gandalf, he got around. i mean, look, that's... I have to admit, that's true. Gandalf did get around. So, Magni and Sif, they're, like, touring around. They're like, let's see what else Asgard has to offer.
01:05:01
Speaker
But as soon as they say that, they are ah interrupted by Ulrich, who is, like, walking on a crutch, and And what Ulick tells Sif and Magni is that by taking Asgard out of where it used to be and putting it on Earth, even though it's still here, but by taking but by basically taking all of the gods out of Asgard, it has depleted the rest of the Nine Realms other than Midgard,
01:05:41
Speaker
Out of their resources.
01:05:45
Speaker
And so, like, all of their crops have died, and they don't have any food, and they're all dying off. It probably would have been good to know this before now.
01:05:59
Speaker
I mean, yeah. Because it maybe would have been an example of a thing Thor did wrong. Yeah, it might have been an example of Thor doing something bad, but it's only happening happening here. We're only finding out about it here and the at the very end.
01:06:16
Speaker
Seems like it could have been explored before now. We cut back to new Asgard. Loki and Enchantress are standing outside of Thor's door because he told everybody to leave him alone. The Thor door.
01:06:30
Speaker
The Thor door. They hear a big wabump inside the room. And so they come running in and find Magni and Sif in there, standing in there with with Thor.
01:06:44
Speaker
And Thor's like, I thought I told everybody to leave me alone. And Magni's like, even me? And Thor's like, well, I guess you're here, so what do you want? Sif's been talking a bunch of shit to you.
01:07:00
Speaker
ah So so what what do you got to tell me? And Magni says, Sif's right. We should leave. We should go back to old Asgard because everybody else in the Nine Realms is dying off because they don't have any food or anything. and And we're creating more problems here than we're helping.
01:07:21
Speaker
And ultimately, Magni says, you've disgraced us. and And Thor says, nobody talks to me like that. And so Maddy goes, okay, if you're still great, if you're still awesome, pick up the hammer. Pick up Mjolnir. I'll put it down on the ground.
01:07:39
Speaker
Pick it up. And I won't say anything else. Pretend you're a ska band, Deb. Yeah, pick it up, pick it up, pick it up. And ah before we can see Thor really react to that, we see a few more panels of Disak on his way to Earth.
01:07:57
Speaker
Thor number 77. is another cover where Thor is Thor from 20 issues ago. Yeah, mean this was the bad covers era of Marvel, where every cover was supposed to be a poster.
01:08:12
Speaker
I mean, it's a cool drawing. no the like Yeah, it's a cool drawing. It's a very cool drawing. But ah it was a it was a bad time for covers that would sell you on what was actually happening in the comics.
01:08:27
Speaker
Yeah, this whole comic this whole issue is about Thor not being able to pick up Mjolnir. Yeah, man. And on the cover, he's holding it with two arms, ah which which he has here.
01:08:40
Speaker
ah This issue is called The Reckoning. ah We start with a splash page that's just DeSac, ah his face. He's grimacing. He looks very Kirby-esque ah here.
01:08:53
Speaker
He's definitely like... You know how... You know how Keith Giffen did that Master of the Universe comic, that Hordok comic that was like, what if Jack Kirby created Master of the Universe?
01:09:05
Speaker
That secretly ruled, yeah. Yeah, the one that secretly ruled. DeSac is fully a what if what if Masters of the Universe created Darkseid. That's true.
01:09:15
Speaker
That is what he looks like. He's a fucking total justice Darkseid man. Ha ha ha.
01:09:22
Speaker
ah So he explains who he is, in case you didn't know. ah We see a full body shot of him on the next page, and he is looking toyetic as hell. He's looking fairy masters of the universe ah in that panel. He's got all of his accessories.
01:09:38
Speaker
Big, shiny ah shield with the red center. It should have a hologram of his face on it. Yeah. We get a little bit of a recap of how he you know he took it upon himself to kill all these gods.
01:09:58
Speaker
ah The spirit of the jewel gave him the jewel that gave him his powers that allowed him to kill gods because the gods were bad to him and his family. And he met the one god that he was like, okay, you're you're actually cool, and that was Thor.
01:10:15
Speaker
But he's he was a fool to have trusted him because Thor actually killed him. And he's he's been waiting this whole time, ah recovering.
01:10:29
Speaker
ah The spirit of the jewel has been helping him recover ah so he could finally get his revenge on Thor. And so that's that's what he's doing now. And he says, Thor, God of Thunder and Lord of Earth, must die.
01:10:44
Speaker
And we see him blast away toward Earth from the moon. ah Then we cut back to New Asgard, and Magni is once again ah challenging Thor to pick up Mjolnir.
01:10:59
Speaker
And Thor's like, I don't have to. You can't make me, and I don't have to. um It's the people who suck, not me. And so what would it even prove if I picked it up anyway? He's not wrong. He's correct. Yeah.
01:11:19
Speaker
Finally, Thor is like, look, i did I don't have to prove myself. I did everything to help mankind. I had good intentions.
01:11:31
Speaker
I disagreed with my father, but I never talked to my father like you're talking to me right now. And so like you can't make me do anything. And Magni bobby gets him here. He goes, ah with all due respect, your father, my grandfather, exalted and revealed by all.
01:11:49
Speaker
never aired as tragically as have you. And there's just this panel of Thor's face looking like he he's smelling a big fart. it's He looks like, Magni was like, was like it looks like he got him with a, well, I mean, I guess I could always go ask Bofa.
01:12:12
Speaker
And he got him. Like, that's what that's what Thor looks like. He's he's Cheesed off. Then Thor goes into, do do you know who the fuck you're talking to mode?
01:12:26
Speaker
um Where he starts using the Odin power to bring Mjolnir to him without having to pick it up. Which I think is at least partially a way to deal with the problem you discussed on the last set of issues, which is that the whole thing about having to be worthy to pick up Mjolnir was something Odin caused, created anyway. Yeah.
01:12:56
Speaker
Yeah. A thing that I think is funny about this is that, look, we all read comics. If you're listening to this show, this show is FHO. You know? It's definitely for heads only, yeah. Yeah, for heads only.
01:13:10
Speaker
You know what it says on Thor's hammer. Says, whosoever holds this hammer, if they be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor. Right. Right? You got that one.
01:13:22
Speaker
um Here's the thing.
01:13:26
Speaker
When Magni picks it up, shouldn't he turn into Thor? That does track. And shouldn't Thor not be Thor anymore?
01:13:39
Speaker
Well, that's that's interesting. Because when Jada Ray Bill picks it up, he turns into Thor, and Thor turns back into to Don Blake.
01:13:50
Speaker
Now, Don Blake and Jake Olsen no longer exist, so shouldn't Thor just be like ah guy? or I guess he should just be like, should still have the Odin power, I guess. Well, he he when Jane Foster becomes Thor, he just becomes the Odinson.
01:14:09
Speaker
Yeah, so I get i guess Magni should have Thor's power and Magni's power, which as we are about to hear him say several times, Magni is the god of strength.
01:14:22
Speaker
Right. So he should be able to whip Thor's ass at this point. But Thor still has the Odin power, so... I don't know. It's confusing.
01:14:34
Speaker
Yeah. ah But i there have been other stories later where so people picked up Thor's hammer, and he didn't cease to be Thor, but he ceased to have nearly as much power.
01:14:49
Speaker
I just think it would have been funny if Magni picked up the hammer and like Thor just vanished. Thor's not around anymore. ah So, as this argument continues, as Thor is about to pop off, an alarm goes off, and Thor knows exactly who this is.
01:15:11
Speaker
He knows that D'Sak is here. And everybody starts freaking out. Where like the Enchantress is like, oh fuck, he's here to kill you, you gotta leave.
01:15:25
Speaker
And Thor's like, I would never leave New Asgard. Yeah, which is already established when Sif was like, hey, maybe we should leave. And Amora was like, hey, fuck you for saying we should leave.
01:15:42
Speaker
and she's the one that's like, hey, maybe we should leave. yeah This guy's actually tough. Yeah. And Dasak is outside just wrecking dudes. There's this one panel that is a very Kirby-esque fight panel.
01:15:57
Speaker
where, uh, Desac is just like sending guys into the air. And there's this one guy in the foreground shouting for Asgard.
01:16:08
Speaker
um it's, it's pretty good. It's pretty good. Like again, disrespect to Scott Eaton, but like, because his work in this does kick a lot of ass.
01:16:21
Speaker
Yeah. Thor's like, Oh, we got to go out there and fight. And, uh, and, Magni's like, hey, pick up the hammer first. And Thor's like, you gotta to be fucking kidding me. You wanna go fight? Why don't pick up that hammer? That hammer's pretty good for fighting.
01:16:36
Speaker
Yeah. And Magni's like, look, man, if you can't pick up the hammer, maybe we deserve for this to happen. Like, maybe you're just wrong. um And that it gets to the point where Enchantress is, like, slapping Magni on the face.
01:16:51
Speaker
And Sif is having to, like, say, like, hey, don't slap him. And, you know, family turmoil. ah to it's It's very close to Magni going, I wish Sif was my mom.
01:17:10
Speaker
I mean, Thor basically says that later in a way that's very rude. it' Right in front of Enchantress. Right in front of her. Oof. ah So Hogan goes and tries to fight DeSac. That does not go well for him.
01:17:26
Speaker
um His neck gets broken crunk. ah in In fact, his head gets ripped off. Yeah, he ah he cuts his fucking head off with an axe, and then just like tosses it to Thor.
01:17:40
Speaker
And then we get like a very... There's a really good panel of Fandral cradling Hogan's dead body, which is like really good. Yes. um Sad.
01:17:52
Speaker
like Yeah, um you know There's emotion there. so Then we get Thor and Dasak fighting, which also includes a debate over who's more powerful than Where, like, Dissac is like, oh, your god power means nothing to me.
01:18:11
Speaker
And Thor's like, but I have the Odin power, which is the most power. And Dissac's like, that don't matter. i i God power won't hurt me. And so finally... Dissac would have been like, yeah, well, I've got the unipower.
01:18:26
Speaker
Yeah. And that turns me into Captain Universe, the hero that could be me, Dissac.
01:18:34
Speaker
The issue ends with Loki going to get that chained up box that he's been keeping hidden ah for a few issues now. I'm to be real with you. I did not remember anything about this chained up box. I did not remember seeing it.
01:18:48
Speaker
I did not remember that it was a plot element at all. ah There was just one time where he went and said, like good thing I've got this chained up box in case things go really bad. and Yeah, I'm not saying it wasn't there. I'm just saying I did not remember it.
01:19:08
Speaker
ah Thor number 78 has a very weird cover where this is definitely King Thor, but he's got both arms and he's holding Mjolnir. ah Floating over New Asgard.
01:19:22
Speaker
Uh, this is not a Thor from any point in time. It's kind of like, it's kind of the Superman number one cover, but with Thor, like not, it's not like an homage, but it is like a, it's like a vibes homage.
01:19:37
Speaker
Yeah, I can see that. I can see that. Uh, anyway, this issue is called slip stream. um At the end of the previous issue, Tessac got the upper upper hand on Thor, and Magni stepped in to stop him.
01:19:57
Speaker
ah But this starts with Tessac having the advantage over Magni. ah And Magni's like, i'm the I'm the god of strength.
01:20:10
Speaker
You can't do this to me. And Enchantress says, leave my son alone. ah And Tessac goes, oh, this is a prince. ah And ah Sif goes, yes, he's a prince who's protected every with every last measure Asgard can summon.
01:20:28
Speaker
And Dissac's like, go take a lot more than that. Yeah, Dissac is like, Dissac was not a, Dissac didn't get over the first time, i don't think.
01:20:41
Speaker
Not with me. He's more over here. Yeah, he kind of comes back and kicks ass. Yeah. Like, he kind of comes back and you're like, damn, alright.
01:20:52
Speaker
DeSac went to Japan. DeSac did some time on the indies. Yeah, this is DeSac after a tour of Japan, for sure. Yeah, this is Strong Style DeSac. Because there's like a really good thing where he's just, he's got, he's just holding Magni up and they they shoot at him with a bunch of arrows And then he just moves Magni in the way and Magni gets shot with a bunch of arrows, which would be a little bit more ah fun if we had not seen Magni get shot with a bunch of arrows and shrug them off like it was nothing, like, two issues ago.
01:21:26
Speaker
But, like... He holds him up, blocks all the arrows, uses him as a ah as a as guardian shield, and then he goes, we should go for something. Yeah, great line. That's cold.
01:21:38
Speaker
but It's so cold and so good, yeah. um Just before that, Thor tried to pick up Bjolnir and couldn't. And Tissac knocked him down.
01:21:51
Speaker
ah So now Enchantress is going to try to stop Bjolnir. deac And she's like, look, you're not going to kill me.
01:22:03
Speaker
I'm not a god. I'm a demigod. Like, you can't you can't really dislike me. And then in a pretty not great move from Desac, he like backhands her.
01:22:18
Speaker
And this makes Thor say, no one touches my woman. Not great all around. Not great all around. This is some toxic masculinity happening right here. And he blasts DeSac with the Odin power.
01:22:32
Speaker
and And it looks like he's maybe going to finally like have some advantage over DeSac. But DeSac says, ah I've seen better.
01:22:44
Speaker
And now they're having one of those battles where it's just like, energy
01:22:52
Speaker
ah for a little bit. It's very Dragon Ball filler episode. Parts of New Asgard start collapsing and Thor is like, alright, I really gotta bring out the real shit now.
01:23:08
Speaker
And I gotta make a pit in the ground ah to to fight you in. And it's again, it's very like shooting energy at each other.
01:23:19
Speaker
But then the the jewel, the amulet, around DeSac's neck starts floating in the air. And it's like he gets a second wind.
01:23:31
Speaker
He pulls a dagger out and he stabs Thor with it. And then he kicks it.
01:23:39
Speaker
Which is dope. As soon as that happened, Magni comes in, knocks DeSac back with the ah with Mjolnir. And he manages to beat up Dessac a little bit.
01:23:54
Speaker
um And then Thor's like, where the fuck's Loki?
01:23:58
Speaker
And we find out what was in Loki's box. It was the Destroyer. Destroyer! So the Destroyer comes out and is now wailing on Dessac.
01:24:12
Speaker
And Dessac's like, what is this thing? ah which This is a pretty cool callback to the start of the run. Yes. Which also involved the Destroyer.
01:24:24
Speaker
And also kind of set up a thing that I had forgotten about before that that first story in the Juergens run, which is that there has to be someone...
01:24:39
Speaker
animating theyre theyre the destroyer runs off someone's life force yes which i don't know if that was always the case but it was the case at the start of this run right and because we had that story where the like former army officer was inside the destroyer causing all that havoc yeah um So Thor's like, okay, did you really have to bring out the Destroyer?
01:25:09
Speaker
Because it's going to wreck my fucking kingdom. And Loki's like, what else what was I going to do? Loki's like, yeah, man. That's the fucking Destroyer. That's why we have it.
01:25:21
Speaker
Yeah. And Thor goes, well, whose life force is in there? Loki will not answer. ah but As D'Sac and the Destroyer continue to fight, D'Sac is like, oh, you don't actually want to kill me.
01:25:40
Speaker
I don't think you can kill me. There's something going on here. Actually, you know what? We're not enemies. We're allies.
01:25:52
Speaker
And he puts the the jewel around the Destroyer's neck. And Loki's like, what's going on? Attack the assassin. Destroy him.
01:26:03
Speaker
ah And by putting the jewel around the Destroyer's neck, he frees the life force that's in there. And who is it? Who is it that was in there? It was fucking Tareen, the designate, the whole time.
01:26:18
Speaker
yeah And I had been thinking for the last little while, what the happened to Tareen? Yeah, man. yeah man She's back in destroyer form.
01:26:32
Speaker
She's back in destroyer form. um And Thor is livid about this. Thor who forgot Tereen existed. Well, to be entirely fair, to be more fair than we should have, Thor thinks Tereen died 170 years ago.
01:26:56
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. But Loki was like, Loki's like, well, Thor says, why thank you what the yeah why the hell would you do this?
01:27:07
Speaker
And Loki's like, listen, man, Tereen's whole deal was that she was going to elevate mankind to the level of gods, meaning that they wouldn't need gods anymore.
01:27:18
Speaker
she would have turned people against us. She would have made it so that they didn't need us anymore. So, like, of course I trapped her, because i want to still be a god. I was protecting you and Asgard. And Thor's like, you motherfucking idiot.
01:27:35
Speaker
Yeah, man, don't we want to rule over the the humans? Isn't that the whole point of this? And then we get the big reveal the... the jewel keeper, whatever her name is, who created DeSac, was Tereen the whole time.
01:27:58
Speaker
Right. she Was Tereen's ghost. Right. Tereen came from the future
01:28:06
Speaker
to but as the spirit of the jewel because she eventually became well, she's the ghost, but she's also like the final form of the designate at this point.
01:28:18
Speaker
I think. She, well, she's whatever, she's, it's kind of unclear what she is because she Tareen is in a coffin, and her life force is animating the Destroyer, but also there's the spirit of the Jewel, which is Tareen's spirit, so it's kind of like she' like she's not the
01:28:49
Speaker
She's not whatever the designate was going to become because she was kind of split in two. Because she's been trapped in this coffin and locked in the Destroyer for 170 years.
01:29:02
Speaker
Right. So what she ultimately becomes is the spirit of the jewel, which is the creator of DeSac. And so now she and DeSac are a unified front here fighting against...
01:29:18
Speaker
Thor and Loki. And now DeSac is like a combination of himself and the Destroyer. Yeah, total justice DeSac, you snap on the Destroyer armor.
01:29:29
Speaker
And what's hilarious about this, I don't know if this is ah a Scotty Nahr thing or like a color thing or what, um he does not put on pants. yeah So he is fully covered head to toe, except for his upper thighs.
01:29:46
Speaker
Yep. Because he's wearing, like, wrestling trunks, like He-Man trunks, and thigh-high boots. Yep. Which is a wild look. I gotta say, it looks pretty cool. No, he looks cool as hell.
01:30:01
Speaker
I would have drawn, like, a couple lines on his thighs, just to make it clear that that he was had the Destroyer. Thor number 79 is Gods and Men conclusion.
01:30:13
Speaker
The end of the Dan Jurgens run on Thor. The cover is Thor on ah like a Viking ship.
01:30:24
Speaker
A longboat. A longboat. um Still, he has both arms on this cover too, and he's holding Mjolnir. I also think this might be a Scott Eaton cover.
01:30:37
Speaker
um But it looks kind of like David Finch. Yeah, I can see that. He's got kind of David Finch arms. Yeah. But I think it's a Scottie and cover. And that's like the, again, like, this is this is Lunchbox Thor circa 2004. Yeah.
01:30:53
Speaker
yeah This is just what Thor looks like. So it's not classic Thor. It's not ah new Asgard King Thor with one arm, one eye. It's just, you know, what Thor looked like before this story started like a year ago.
01:31:09
Speaker
So this starts with a big two-page spread where DeSac is like, you thought you were fucking me over by releasing the Destroyer, but you actually unleashed my greatest power because the spirit of the jewel is who made me.
01:31:21
Speaker
And here she is. And all the spirit of the jewel says is, indeed. ye ah This story is called Letting Go, by the way.
01:31:32
Speaker
um There's more arguing between Thor and Loki where Thor was like is like, what on earth were you thinking? And Thor's like, or ah Loki's like, I couldn't let the mortals evolve.
01:31:46
Speaker
Everything was going to change. So we go back and get a quick recap of DeSac's origin, which involved the spirit of the jewel. And this is where Loki is like, is it what you wanted all along to control the people, to be in charge of them, to like have dominion over them?
01:32:05
Speaker
And Thor just goes, I don't want to control people.
01:32:11
Speaker
and thor And Loki's like, then what the fuck have you been doing? Yeah, Loki's like, Thor, Thor, I know you said you didn't like him, but you know I've been operating re-education camps, dog.
01:32:25
Speaker
Yeah. Like, what are we doing here, Thor? Like, I kind of sympathize with loki a little bit in this moment. yeah like Like, yeah, he's bad, but it's also like, hey, Thor, what were we doing?
01:32:39
Speaker
Yeah, like, even if even if you make the argument that Thor never did anything wrong, at minimum, he allowed other people to do wrong things and didn't stop it.
01:32:51
Speaker
yes But I feel like i feel like the Loki-Thor conversations for 170 years at this point have been Thor going, hey,
01:33:02
Speaker
Loki, I don't like the re-education centers. I don't like messing with people's brains to to pacify them. But i don't I don't want, you know just see, do what you can to keep Asgard safe.
01:33:16
Speaker
And Loki's been like, got it. You don't like the re-education centers. I get it. yeah You don't have to worry. Those are not your thing to worry about, Thor. Don't even sweat it.
01:33:31
Speaker
Or, like, when something goes bad, he's like, I know you don't like him, but I guess we gotta make more of those re-education centers. Yeah, i mean, like, they have that conversation in this story arc where Magni's like, hey, you know that's just gonna piss people off.
01:33:47
Speaker
Yeah. And make more rebels. And Loki's like, man, we're not, like, torturing anybody. we're not but We're not violent. We did get that reveal that that's been Loki's whole plan the whole time, of, like,
01:33:59
Speaker
Make more rebels so he can have more re-education camps. Yeah, which, honestly, though, like, it it's been 170 years.
01:34:11
Speaker
Like, Loki's up to shit, like, every two months. Yeah. Like, if he's been keeping it relatively chill for ah almost two centuries, I think, you know, he's fine.
01:34:25
Speaker
It's Thor's fault for not fucking watching him. So Magni, Desac continues to destroy new Asgard. And Magni's like, look, I got big disagreements with my father, but i am not going to let this guy destroy my home.
01:34:42
Speaker
So get ready to fight me. And Desac is like, you don't know what you're getting into, buddy. Magni jumps at Desac to start fighting him.
01:34:55
Speaker
And before he can even get going, the spirit of the jewel says, desist, and shoots him with what looks like an Omega beam. Yeah, it's it's the fucking Omega effect.
01:35:08
Speaker
She hits him with the Omega sanction, the death of his life. And he and he he gets x-rayed. You can see his skeleton and for a second. yeah um ah And the spirit of the jewel says...
01:35:22
Speaker
None of this had to happen. Unfortunately, your own actions made it necessary. Nothing must detour me from my destiny. And...
01:35:33
Speaker
Loki then tries to make an argument to DeSac, saying, like, you're being used.
01:35:39
Speaker
Uh... And DeSac says, no, no, no, I want i want what she wants. She's going to elevate mortals, and I like that. i' i'm I'm on her side, completely. You know, I like, I i hate existing gods.
01:35:53
Speaker
Yeah. New gods, fine. I mean, let's see what she does, you know? hey man, if it goes bad, I'll just kill them gods, too. So then DeSac makes some more people into bones.
01:36:09
Speaker
I don't even know who those people who are getting made to but into bones are, but there's a panel of people getting made into bones. I mean, it's, it's, it's a Volsag and Fandral. Oh, okay. Yeah.
01:36:19
Speaker
You can see Fandral's little hat or a Volsag's little hat. Oh yes. I see that now. Yeah, man. How did you not know? How'd you not know those dudes who became bones? I, now I see the little hat and I know who it is. Uh, oh, right. They're in the panel right before that too.
01:36:36
Speaker
They are hiding. They got made into bones. so Um, Thor is like, ah hey, I gotta go.
01:36:46
Speaker
Disax destroying everything, i gotta to go. And Enchantress is like, ah let's all go somewhere safe. Let's get out of here and go to a safe haven. And Thor's like, ah there's there's not one.
01:36:59
Speaker
ah i i just i just I think I gotta sacrifice myself. ah So he he and Loki make... ah One last stand. And there's a big blast, another big blast from Tessac, that makes Loki into bones.
01:37:16
Speaker
And thats that skeleton's got the the the horns from Loki's hat. The skeleton is still wearing the hat, even though it's bones. Yeah. um but thor does Sometimes you get turned into a skeleton and it knocks your bones off.
01:37:30
Speaker
That's true. It knocks your hat off. Sometimes you keep your hat. Sometimes you keep the hat. Sometimes... You know, it's it's a real roll of the bones. but It would be wild to become a skeleton and have your bones knocked off.
01:37:45
Speaker
I mean, if there's nothing holding them together, that's probably what happens if you just get turned into a skeleton real quick. That's true, but then you're not a skeleton anymore. Then you're just a pile of bones.
01:37:55
Speaker
I mean, Kenshiro can do that move where he makes your whole skeleton jump out of your body. That's true. Which is like knocking all your bones off. ah So Thor, we can tell Thor is very serious now because he takes off his armor.
01:38:11
Speaker
and And now, in one panel, he's wearing, like, his undershirt. He's wearing, like, a t like a t-shirt. Yeah.
01:38:22
Speaker
And then, immediately after that, he's wearing no shirt. um But... He's got his mojo back. He's he's got his... Worthiness.
01:38:34
Speaker
Worthiness and moral bearings back enough that he can pick up Mjolnir. Yeah, because he is now like, hey, I was wrong. He says, ma well Odin, curse me for a fool, for they were right and I was wrong.
01:38:47
Speaker
And as much as my errors can be corrected in whatever way possible, this I shall do, once you are dead. That's what he says to to old Dasak as he's throwing Mjolnir at him.
01:38:58
Speaker
um And when he does throw Mjolnir at him, he falls down. Dasak falls down. ah Yeah, man. Fucking cracks his head open. Yeah. Yeah, he's like... That's right. He doesn't just knock him down. like the The face mask of the Destroyer armor gets busted open.
01:39:19
Speaker
And there's like... energy coming out of it. And so he's down for the count. And Thor says to Tareen, the spirit of the jewel, why would you ever create such a monster?
01:39:36
Speaker
And Tareen says, how might I ever elevate their so the servants when their masters would not allow it?
01:39:44
Speaker
And ah Thor once again says, I never wanted to be anybody's master. I wanted to help people. And they ah fucked up.
01:39:58
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't do anything wrong, actually. And Tareen says, your goals were noble, but you took the wrong path. And he says, well, what am I going to do now? What do you want me to do now?
01:40:11
Speaker
And she says, oh, um you got to go back. You got to go back in history to the point where things like went totally wrong. So they go and they find Zarko the Tomorrow Man's remote control that he used to go back to the past.
01:40:32
Speaker
ah They call it a temporal compass. Yeah, it's ah it's like a it's it's a remote control. Yeah, it is absolutely a remote control. And ah they use it together to send Thor back to...
01:40:48
Speaker
the, the moments just before Asgard's destruction, just before Asgard, um, got blown up and rained down on New York. And so Thor goes back to that time. He stops the destruction of Asgard.
01:41:03
Speaker
And then he finds Jake Olsen and reunites himself with Jake Olsen to become ah whole Thor again. And,
01:41:16
Speaker
ah He says, the now this is on the very last page, he says, The knowledge of what you might do, what I did, will make you mightier than ever, for it will strengthen your resolve to do right.
01:41:29
Speaker
It is time for me to leave this world, and for you to embrace tomorrow. And the last panel is just a restored Thor, as he was, you know,
01:41:42
Speaker
twenty five issues ago ah in New York, which is back to the way it was. It's Thor looking up at the sunrise in the same way that Big Boy looks up at the rain in the Miss Jackson video.
01:41:56
Speaker
It is exactly like that.
01:42:01
Speaker
He also has a little bit of an expression on his face like, what the fuck happened? Yeah, man. Wouldn't you?
01:42:09
Speaker
oh This is the best story we've gotten in a while, because it does kind of like bring a lot of threads together. yeah and
01:42:22
Speaker
Magni becomes a kind of active character, and it's it's kind of a cool way to have present-day Thor... deal with future Thor who's gone wrong without actually doing that by having Magni as a stand-in.
01:42:41
Speaker
And, ah like, the fighting is good, the stuff with the Destroyer is good. The stuff with Tureen is... It's wild, but I like it. Like, it's wild, but in a way where it's like, right, she's a ghost and also went back in time.
01:43:00
Speaker
And made this guy? But also, i think it it it speaks to the original purpose of Tareen. Like, she was going to be the designate, she was going to elevate humanity, which she ultimately attempts to do in her own way.
01:43:19
Speaker
And so, it you know, i think we spent a long time wondering, like, where is this going to go and how are they going to land the plane? Here. How is Juergens going to land this plane?
01:43:31
Speaker
Yeah. And I think he he ultimately did. like Yeah, I think it it ends actually pretty strong. I am very curious. ah Okay, I'm sure we'll talk about this when we do our epilogue.
01:43:45
Speaker
But A, it's wild that the very next thing that happens is Thor dies. Like, immediately after this, Ragnarok.
01:43:56
Speaker
Yeah, it's also wild that the Thor book that immediately follows this, yeah which is the JMS book, yeah is like, what if Asgard came to Earth? Yes, like that is also wild.
Thor Arc Reflection & Future Speculations
01:44:12
Speaker
And that that story comes to an end in Siege, where a bunch of people attack Asgard and try and destroy it. Yeah, it's the same story over again. What what I find most fascinating about the Jurgens run...
01:44:26
Speaker
And like I feel like we can do a little bit of an autopsy on the Jergens run here. Like, is it great? I don't know. There are great parts of it.
01:44:39
Speaker
It's definitely ups and downs. Definitely ups and downs. Definitely has a lot of stuff that i was not excited to get through. Yeah. there's there's There's peaks and valleys in here.
01:44:54
Speaker
I think I don't hate that we re-read it. i i don't think it led lived up to my memory of it, unfortunately.
01:45:06
Speaker
But the good parts are still really good. What's really interesting to me is how much
01:45:15
Speaker
these ideas get revisited again in later stories. Yeah. Like, Sack. dissec Is kind of sort of what the God Butcher ends up being.
01:45:30
Speaker
Like, almost like almost completely. like yeah There's so many echoes of this run, and part of me wonders if like that is a kind of built-in thing about Thor,
01:45:47
Speaker
Because, you know, in a lot of ways, it's like retelling extant mythology. Like, 90% of these characters, not Dessac, but, you know, Thor, Sif, Odin, all them.
01:46:01
Speaker
Like, those are kind of characters that this is a modern take on extant mythology. And, again, the next thing that happens is not just Ragnarok, but introduces the idea of, like, the cyclical Ragnarok.
01:46:14
Speaker
Where it's like, oh, this has all happened before... like you're Thor, but you're very much a like this version of Thor. And so I wonder if that's kind of built into the character that like the same shit happens over and over.
01:46:29
Speaker
And I know that in a lot of ways that's true for um all comic book characters. Hush 2. oh but But like, this shit, everything in this run happens again immediately after this run, kind of continuing to today.
01:46:47
Speaker
Yeah, well, ah like like we said, the JMS thing is immediately like, isn't it a new cool idea to bring Asgard to Earth? Yeah, I mean, that's yeah that's a lot of JMS stuff.
01:47:01
Speaker
I remember when that happened. I remember when that run got announced, and I read the first issue, and I was like, this just fucking happened. like At the time, because I had read this run when it was coming out, I was like, this is not a new idea. This just fucking happened. What are we doing?
01:47:18
Speaker
Yeah, man. ah like But also, like I would love to talk to Jason Aaron about whether he ever read this run, or whether it's just parallel thinking, because The God Butcher is very similar to DeSac.
01:47:32
Speaker
it's it's It's the same idea executed better. Just like... the Aran run also has the three Thors from the three different time periods. The three Thors, yeah.
01:47:46
Speaker
It's got you know modern, current Thor, it's got King Thor, and then it's got young Thor, who's very similar to Magni. And that King Thor also has one eye.
01:47:57
Speaker
Yeah. Because obviously. but Obviously, yeah. yeah But like it's it's very interesting. It's very interesting to see the ideas from this run come back in...
01:48:08
Speaker
you know i don't think it's hard to say that the Jason Aaron run is better. No, the Jason Aaron run is extremely good. But it's these same ideas, just with a more careful and planned out and better kind of setup execution. Yeah.
01:48:28
Speaker
It's fascinating. i i I'm not disappointed or upset or sad that we read this run at all. I'm glad we did. Matt, the Jason Aaron run even has Thor having a secret identity of a medical professional.
01:48:46
Speaker
Oh, yeah. That's true.
01:48:50
Speaker
i'm i'm I would be very curious to know. because like I remember... um Steve Epting used to shop at the store where I work. And this was when, uh, Ed Brubaker was doing, ah his X-Men stuff, and also writing Captain America that, uh, Steve Epting was working on.
01:49:06
Speaker
And I remember mentioning, i was like, man, it's wild that Brubaker keeps doing all this ninety stuff. Like, like having the third summer's brother show up and, like and like,
01:49:22
Speaker
And I talked about, like, Bucky, and I was like, yeah, and Bucky has, like, ah robot arm. Like, it's all, like, very 90s stuff, but nobody thinks of it as that. And Steve was like, yeah, Ed Brubiger does not know any of that shit.
01:49:38
Speaker
Ed Brubiger does not know about how Adam X was going to be the third Summer's brother. i guarantee you. And so I'm wondering if it is just, like, parallel thinking, or if it's, like... I would really like to talk to Jason Aaron about this run.
01:49:50
Speaker
I'd really like to talk to ah Dan Juergens about this run. yes i Especially given that like it ends and then another creative team comes on and does a big kind of last Thor story and then the Thor book ends.
01:50:11
Speaker
And Thor's not around for a while. ah
01:50:17
Speaker
So like i what I wonder if... if this all went to plan, if this was what Juergens wanted to do and how he wanted to do it, because you know like that was kind of determined by Avengers Disassembled and Civil War.
01:50:31
Speaker
And I know that Juergens would have been like at least a part of making... you you know in the meetings where those decisions were made. Seems like it, yeah. But i'm I'm very curious to know the circumstances, but yeah, like it ends pretty strong.
01:50:45
Speaker
It does, and... I know Tom Brevoort has already answered a question about Demetrius, but I would love to hear from Dan Jurgens about what he originally had in mind. Y'all goofed that one.
01:51:00
Speaker
You goofed it, yeah. Y'all goofed it. Y'all forgot what you were doing. Or it got changed in midstream because of some kind of... sensitivity and consideration, which fine, but I, I just want to know what happened.
01:51:15
Speaker
Yeah. Because like maybe Thor's only black friend should not be a secret drug dealer. Like that's, that's a, that's a good call. I mean, it's also wild to make him an undercover cop, but, uh, you know,
01:51:30
Speaker
I enjoyed reading it.
Conclusion & Contact Information
01:51:32
Speaker
I enjoyed discussing it. ah Ups and downs, for sure. But, you know, the Margroomal run had ups and downs as well. Yeah. um We do have one more story to read. it is the Thor Disassembled story, ah written by Mike Avon Aming.
01:51:49
Speaker
ah We will do one more of those, and then um It's on to Hickmania, which I have to really sit down and figure out what we're actually reading for that. ah So ah stay tuned for that.
01:52:03
Speaker
you would like I think we're ending Secret Wars, right? Yes. it would have to It has to end with Secret Wars. i just don't I'm not sure where to start.
01:52:16
Speaker
so i mean i I really just want to start with His Avengers run. We gotta start with Fantastic Four. God, that's so many comics.
01:52:29
Speaker
And look, it's a lot of comics. At least I'm not making you go back to S.H.I.E.L.D.
01:52:35
Speaker
I'd be all for it. I mean, I read S.H.I.E.L.D. when it was coming out. I like knowing what we're going to be talking about for the foreseeable future. I like being able to see the end, which is what we're very close to on this right now.
01:52:50
Speaker
ah If you would like to email us, folks, you can do it at our email address, which is warrocketpodcast at gmail.com. You can also ah send us listener questions and messages on Blue Sky.
01:53:03
Speaker
We're there at warrocketajax.com. you can hit us up on Tumblr, warrocketpodcast.tumblr.com, or you can contact us in any of those places to ask us for an invitation to our Discord server, ah which you do have to be invited to be a part of, but if you ask us nicely for an invitation, ah you can have one of those and join the Discord there and be part of that ah community of WarRocket Ajax fans who are very cool and fun and nice.
01:53:35
Speaker
Our website is warrocketajax.com. It has every episode of the show we've ever done.
01:53:41
Speaker
warrocketwiki.com is the fan-run repository of all the information you could want or need about this show, War Rocket Ajax. If you want to find me and my stuff, go to mattdwilson.net to find links to my comics, my books, my other podcasts, and my social medias. Chris, where can people find you?
01:53:59
Speaker
Everybody can find me by going to the-isb.com. That is my website, and it's got links to stuff that I do. You can also find me on Blue Sky. And every now and then, i will answer some questions in ah in in the Discord.
01:54:14
Speaker
If you want to get in that Discord and talk to me about them throwing glass books and how i'm a boy my dog, Kale Westfall, got done real dirty, then ah then drop by. Send me a message.
01:54:27
Speaker
We'll talk.
01:54:31
Speaker
Thanks for listening, everybody. Thanks for listening. That does it for this episode. We will be back next week, maybe talking comics, maybe talking swords. Until then, do not forget that Black Lives Matter.
01:54:45
Speaker
Trans rights are human rights. As are abortion rights. Drag is not a crime. Diversity is not the problem, and cops aren't your friends. But we love you. We love you. Yeah!