“Thor” #600 begins with Loki resurrecting Bor, his adopted grandfather. When Loki pulled off some time travel shenanigans in previous issues, we have already seen that the trickster played some role in Bor’s death, only to be the cause of his return. Bor arrives in New York, thousands of years after he fell on the battlefield next to Odin. Loki makes it so that Bor perceives a more terrifying modern world than what is real. Bor senses that Odin is missing and rages through the city looking for the people responsible for Odin’s death. Jane Foster sees the mayhem Bor is causing and calls Donald Blake so that Thor can come to the rescue.
Thor arrives and unable to recognize his grandfather, engages him in combat. Coipel turns in some of his best work on the series in these pages and we really feel the weight of the battle unfolding. Unable to best his grandfather, Thor calls upon the Avengers, now the Dark Avengers who attack both gods. After an arduous battle Thor kills Bor and discovers too late that he was fighting his grandfather, the rightful king of Asgard. Loki uses this to banish Thor from power and put Balder on the throne. Reluctantly, Balder follows Asgardian law and banishes Thor.
This being an anniversary issue, includes a story by Stan Lee and David Aja that shows Thor’s camaraderie with the Avengers. The issue also has several classic tales about Balder and Loki written by Stan Lee with art by Jack Kirby.
The next issue sees Marco Djurdjevic return to take over as the main artist on the book. I like Djurdjevic, though I feel like the inkers don’t serve him well as these later issues are very dark and heavily inked. It’s not my favorite bit of art, but it’s not like the people aren’t rendered or unrecognizable. Though I wish the art was more consistent, I don’t think the book suffers much from Drurdjevic taking over.
We see Balder and Loki confer with none other than Dr. Doom, as Loki feels that the Asgardians will never be free if they stay in America. Balder orders the Asgardians to Latveria so they can live in peace and freedom. Finally, the master plan is revealed. These next issues focus on the fallout of Thor’s actions. During the fight with Bor, Mjolnir is partially destroyed. Since Mjolnir is responsible for Thor and Blake’s shared body, the two are concerned that there may be permanent damage. Though Blake and Thor are still able to use the hammer, it takes a trip to Dr. Strange to repair the damaged piece of Uru.
Meanwhile, one of Broxton’s finest, Bill takes the spotlight in the Asgardian drama. Loki, returned to his body, teams with Dr. Doom and gives the monarch a “new army,” and Bill tries to convince Balder that Doom has nefarious plans for his people. Bill tells Kelda that he loves her, but must be his own man. Kelda gives Bill a warrior’s sword and Bill goes to investigate some of Latveria’s secrets.
Elsewhere, Thor finds that Lady Sif has been hidden in Mrs. Chambers, Jane’s comatose cancer patient. Now that Dr. Strange has restored Mjolnir, and with Loki back to his original form, Thor is able to revive Sif the same way he did the other gods. Bill discovers a terrible truth, Dr. Doom is using Asgardian blood to try and prolong his life by cutting some of the gods open. Loki finds bill out and sends some gods after him. Bill valiantly defends himself and just as it seems that he, a mortal from Oklahoma, bests three powerful gods, he is stabbed and the issue ends.
Now I’ll get into this more when I discuss the final Giant-Sized issue, but it’s clear that Stracyznski had more story to tell. However, this is Straczynski’s final issue on the main book. It’s a weird place to end. We’ll see if it’s nicely wrapped up, but knowing that this series would eventually lead into the “Seige” event, I’m guessing that I’ll end up disappointed. There’s only one way to find out, so join me next week as I recap the final issue of J. Michael Stracyznski’s “Thor” omnibus.
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