WHAT HATH COME BEFORE: Thor has been having difficulty in his transformations from Jake Olsen. In a battle between he and the Absorbing Man, he nearly missed the 60-second time limit, and nearly returned to Jake Olsen, even as the transformation grew less and less certain...

PRELUDE:

On the Watcher’s World (for, if it ever had another name, it has long since been lost in the mist of time), Uatu, the Watcher assigned to the Earth’s sector, arrives amidst a sea of onlookers. In a huge convention hall, with walls as high as the eye can follow, Uatu materializes, seemingly out of thin air. As he looks around, he notices without any showing of emotion the sight of countless others of his kind seated and standing amid the great hall. One such Watcher, Emmu, approaches him.

“Greetings, Uatu,” Emmu states almost mechanically, his emotions not changing, as he motions for Uatu to step forward.

The Watcher looks at Emmu and then at the others. He is standing on a platform that he remembers well. It has been quite some time since he was here. If the memories of his trial* bother him at all, he does not show it in his face, as his cape drapes behind him.

[*Back in Captain Marvel #39 (July, 1975).] 

“I received your summons, Emmu,” Uatu replies, looking at Emmu for a moment, but seeming more interested in the greater spectacle around him. It is not often that his people get together like this, and it is quite a sight to behold. Indeed, such a council of Watchers is a rare thing, and it is his duty to observe significant events, even though he may be part of that event himself.

“Yes, so have the others,” Atul states, stepping forward to where Uatu and Emmu have been holding their conversation. Uatu nods a slight greeting to his fellow Watcher, but says nothing. “So have we all.”

“Yes, Emmu,” Ignu comments absently. He is standing beside Atul. He too looks around at the gathering of Watchers with some degree of interest. “Do you intend to inform us about the purpose of this gathering now?” Uatu raises his eyebrow slightly, somewhat surprised by the sound of irritation in Ignu’s voice, but thinks no more of it.

“Indeed I do,” Emmu replies dryly. “Now that Uatu, the last of our number, has arrived...we shall begin.”

“This is most unusual,” Uatu comments, as he walks with Atul and Ignu over to what will be their position. Emmu walks past them, up onto the stage, and stands behind a large podium.

“Yes, it is, Uatu,” Ignu agrees. “And, at a most inopportune moment. I was preparing to observe what appears to be the beginning of the next galactic war in my sector—between the Gorians and the Ulranians.”

“As with my sector,” Atul adds. “I am certain that a new race is preparing to evolve there. It will be most interesting see this unfold.”

“My brothers,” Emmu comments, as all take the seats in the large hall, preparing to hear what Emmu has to tell them. “We are here today to discuss a grave problem...a problem that involves us all. We are here today to discuss the unthinkable. One of our own—Kraktu—has broken the prime directive.”

With those words, a hushed silence comes over the crowd. They have seen many wonders in their centuries of life, but the concept of such a grave transgression can surprise even the Watchers!

END OF PROLOGUE

On a street in New York, Thor has been battling the Absorbing Man.* He has been having trouble with his transition from Jake Olsen to Thor**, and he has just found his hammer, even as the Absorbing Man starts to flee.***

[*As seen last issue...Jeff]

[**See #1-4 for the details...Jeff]

[***Again, a brief recap of last issue...Jeff]

When Thor finds his hammer, the sixty seconds have just expired, and he is caught in transition from Thor to Jake Olsen. An amazing event occurs at that very moment, as the two beings—Jake Olsen and the mighty Thor—split in two! Jake Olsen, weakened from the transition, falls to the concrete, catching himself with his hands and elbows. Thor, however, stands, looking surprised by the event.

At that very moment, a black sedan races by, as a figure dressed in dark clothing and sunglasses fires bullets from an automatic rifle in the direction of Thor and Jake Olsen. Jake Olsen is hit in the chest, even as he was starting to stand once again, and he falls back on his back, writhing in pain. Even though Thor was in transition, and his powers are only a fraction of what they will become in mere seconds, the bullets bounce harmlessly off his face, his chest, and his legs.

Thor quickly recovers from the shock of the transition, and throws his hammer at the black sedan. His hammer rockets underneath the car, striking the axle. It rips the axle from the frame, and sends the frame crashing onto the road, separated from the axle and the tires, which continue down the road for fifty feet from the impact of the hammer, which circles back around to return to its master’s hand!

Thor stands transfixed. Crusher Creel has stopped for a moment to observe the spectacle, but Thor is concerned for the welfare of Jake Olsen, and wants to insure that the shooters are disabled. Mere moments later, two police cars race onto the scene. One of the cars stops in front of Thor, and the passenger gets out of the car, running to Thor, who now holds his hammer in his right hand.

“Verily, 'tis good to see thee,” Thor offers, gesturing to the badly injured Jake Olsen. “This man is in need of medical attention, but the Absorbing Man seeks to flee.”

“You take care of Absorbing Man, Thor,” the officer offers, as he bends down to help stop Jake Olsen’s bleeding. “We’ll take care of things on this end.”

As Thor takes to the air, he looks down, noticing that the passengers in the black sedan—or what is left of it—are being escorted out of the car. Only one is conscious, and he is too dazed to offer any resistance to the three officers who are on the scene in the second police car, which pulled to a stop slightly in front of the first.

“I do not understand how Jake Olsen and I can be separate,” Thor thinks to himself, as he flies towards Crusher Creel, who has a frustrated look on his face, as he continues to run, while looking up at Thor’s approach, “but there will be time to speculate on that later. Now, ‘tis time to capture Creel ‘ere he does more damage.”

Creel reaches into the moneybag, finding a nickel. He quickly absorbs its property...just before Thor’s hammer slams into his stomach, driving him back against an old building! “Oh great!” the villain thinks to himself, shaking his head. “I thought I’d managed to ditch Thor, but no such luck!” The impact from the blow doubles him over and knocks him through the brick wall, as mortar and bricks fall down on him and around him, and the building shakes in protest. Fortunately, the building is currently unoccupied, the last tenant having moved out the week before.

As Creel gets to his feet, the god of thunder stands in the gaping hole Creel created a moment before, as his hammer returns to his outstretched hand. “Surrender, Creel!” Thor commands. “I have no desire to needlessly endanger more innocents.”

“You’re tellin’ me?” Creel angrily retorts, squinting his eyes at the sunlight showing through the hole, highlighted against Thor’s body. Irritated at this turn of events, he grabs a brick in his hand, growing to 12 feet, even as his body takes on the property of the brick he absorbed. “I was happy to leave with the cash, but noooo...!” He slams his fist forward to strike Thor, but Thor ducks under the blow, and delivers a punishing blow of his own to Crusher Creel’s mid-section, staggering him and sending him crashing back against an oak desk, shattering it!

“Thine affection for money impresses me not!” Thor responds, as he throws his hammer once more, striking Creel in his jaw, jerking his head back violently, and causing him to stagger backwards, reaching for something to break his fall. He finds nothing, however, and lands hard on the ground once again, causing cracks in the concrete. The hammer makes its circular journey back to its master, as Thor reaches out and grabs the hammer out of the air, not even looking for it, once again. “I do not want to prolong this battle,” Thor thinks to himself. “I will not allow him the opportunity to absorb Mjolnir’s properties, as he has done in the past.”

Creel quickly gets to his knees, as he bends over, absorbing the concrete with a touch of his hand. “I’m tired of yer interference, goldilocks!” Creel complains, as he leaps at Thor, tacking him around the shoulders, sending them both crashing to the ground outside the building, and taking down more bricks and mortar with them as they make the hole Creel crashed through earlier much larger upon impact with their powerful bodies. When they reach the outside, they do not notice that a crowd of spectators had gathered outside. The spectators, however, have seen other such battles, and realize quickly that perhaps their curiosity is not worth their lives. They move back quickly when they see the two combatants much closer than they were prepared to distance themselves.

Thor lands hard on the concrete sidewalk, shattering it upon impact. However, in one fluid motion, he leans back, kicking up with his knees, and grabbing Creel around the shoulders as he does so, flipping the stunned Creel off his body and sending him flying through the air behind the thunder god, heading for the street directly behind where they landed upon leaving the building! Creel lands on state-operated white Plymouth, utterly destroying it, and grievously injuring its sole occupant, a middle-aged woman with a perpetual grimace on her face!

Before Creel has time to recover, even as he tries to right himself atop the smashed hood of the car, which buckles inward, Thor is upon him with one leap. As Thor continues his upward motion, Thor grabs him by the ankle, causing Creel’s face to smash against the hood of the car, as his lower body arches upward, and flies him through the air at great speed! Creel can only look up in wonder, as they are soon miles above the surface of the Earth, rocketing past the clouds!

“What’re ya doin’?!” Creel asks, mystified by Thor’s actions, even as he realizes that he has reverted back to normal again...a realization that does not please him, given his current location! “Have ya gone crazy!? Why’re ya takin’ us way up here?!”

“As I told thee, I do not want thine actions to endanger innocents, such as the one who was badly injured during our conflict,” Thor returns. He holds Creel by the ankle, looking down at him. They have stopped some distance above the Earth. Although the view is spectacular, Creel cannot appreciate it, given that the oxygen is starting to get thin. He knows he is running out of time to act.

“I don’t care what you want!” Creel responds sharply. He has allowed his powers to absorb Thor’s super-hard skin, and he smashes his fist against Thor’s knee, causing Thor to drop him from his grasp! “And I ain’t gonna get captured...not by you or anybody else!” Creel starts to free-fall towards the clouds. “I’ve spent my last days in the big house!”

Thor turns and starts to fly after Creel, just as Creel reaches a cloud! Thor reaches out for Creel, but Creel has absorbed the properties of the cloud itself. “Heh, heh!” Creel says mockingly. “I told ya... I’m out to stay!” At first, he appears as a vapor, but he is soon completely mixed in with the cloud and lost even to Thor’s advanced eyesight. Thor scans the clouds for any sign of Creel, or anything out of the ordinary in the cloud formation, but soon realizes that, despite his efforts, Creel has made good on his escape.

“Hear me, Creel!” Thor proclaims, as he floats above the clouds, his hammer still tucked into his belt. “I will find thee! Thou may have kept thyself from me for now, but not forever! I will bring thee to justice, as I have many times before! Prepare thyself, for that day will soon return!”

With that, the mighty Thor turns and starts flying back to the earth, even as the New York skyline becomes ever more visible in his flight. “Although I had hoped to capture Creel,” Thor silently considers, “I must now return to the streets to insure that no great damage was wrought by my brief battle with Creel!”

When Thor is still hundreds of feet above the largest spires of the city below, he is stopped in his tracks by the ethereal form of Odin, who appears before him.

“My lord Odin,” Thor says respectfully. “What brings thee here?”

“I have rid thee of thy mortal coil,” Odin replies in a voice that speaks of his power, but still shows reverence for his son.

“I thought ‘twas thy doing, father,” Thor responds. “Although the timing was inopportune for Jake Olsen.”

“Thou hath always cared too much for the mortals, my son,” Odin replies, a trace of irritation in his voice. “This one...this Jake Olsen...he is unworthy to share your spirit. The mortals who shot him were no different than he, when he did pollute the lives of many with the drugs he did sell to children and those too weak to resist its lure. ‘Twas not my decision to subject thee to such*. Once, thou were in need of humility. That lesson has long since been learned by thee.”

[*That’s right. It was Marnot who did that dirty deed. See Thor, vol. 2 #2 for details...Jeff]

“My thanks, father,” Thor replies with respect. “In truth, I am well pleased to be rid of the limitations such a mortal coil did cause.”

“Well-spoken, my son,” Odin says, nodding his head with pleasure. “And now, the mortal courts will deal with Jake Olsen as they do see fit. That is not a matter for our concern.  Marnot’s decision to so limit thee has been o’erturned. We will speak no more of it.”

“Aye, father,” Thor agrees. “But thou doth seem troubled?”

“Aye, my son,” Odin agrees, his countenance showing concern. “There are trying times ahead... both for Asgard and the universe entire. Thou doth need to be at thy fullest capacity in the days to come.”

‘Be there a need for my presence in Asgard now, father?” Thor asks, troubled by his father’s cryptic words.

“Nay, my son,” Odin responds. “Thy presence will be required soon elsewhere. There is much trouble in the universe. Then, I will have need of thee. Now, though, thou must be prepared for a task that will have an impact on an entire sector of space... if not the universe itself. Be ready, my son. Be not a stranger in Asgard, my son. Thine presence is always desired.”

With that, Odin’s ethereal form disappears, leaving Thor to consider his cryptic words. Thor flies down to where he was minutes before. He sees that clean-up has already begun, as he lights down on the street below.

“Ho, officer,” Thor offers, walking up to one of the police officers on the scene, even as a flat-bed wrecker is hoisting the remnants of the car Thor’s hammer destroyed. “How fares things here?”

“Fine, Thor,” the officer replies. “I really appreciate your help. Those hoodlums in the car were making a drug-related hit. We got the word via an informant, but we didn’t get here soon enough to stop it.”

Thor’s face betrays his surprise, as he weighs this against what Odin had said mere moments earlier. “The victim,” Thor asks, “what is his condition?”

“Olsen?” the officer asks. “It was a pretty nasty wound, but I’ve seen worse. I’m sure he’ll be okay. When the DA’s office is through with him, he might wish he hadn’t made it, though.”

Thor looks around, noticing that things are returning to normal. The destroyed property is being roped off so that no one gets injured trying to enter the building.  The other damaged car has been taken away, and there is an officer directing traffic so that the wrecker can do its job without interference, even amid the curses and complaints of the various passersby.

Thor takes to the air, realizing that there is no further need of him. “I bid thee well, officer,” Thor comments, as he flies through the air, away from the scene of destruction.

EPILOGUE

In the clouds, a vapor starts to form, revealing the countenance of Loki, god of evil. Loki floats through the clouds in the form of a mist, as his eyes survey the clouds themselves, looking for a familiar energy signature. His eyes light up with satisfaction as he comes across that which he seeks.

“Creel!” Loki calls out. “Show thyself!”

Directly in front of Loki, Crusher Creel materializes in the form of water vapor. “How’d you know?” he asks, surprised that anyone could find him.

“Foolish mortal!” Loki admonishes him. “Dost thou think thou could hide thy energy from the one who gave thee thy powers?”

 “Careful who ya talk to like that, Loki!” Creel retorts. “I don’t care who ya are! I ain’t nobody’s whippin’ boy!”

Loki rolls his eyes, then looks at Creel, and speaks to him in a softer tone. “Nor did I suggest you were, Creel,” Loki replies in a more civil tone, but still has an underlying condescending quality—one that, Loki is pleased to discover, Creel does not catch. “However, I can certainly detect my own energy—regardless of how well it may be hidden.”

“Yeah, well,” Creel replies, as his entire form is shown, but as a mist, and his lower body trails off into the clouds. Loki stands in front of him, his arms crossed. “What do you want anyway?”

“I have an offer that might interest you,” Loki replies. “A plan that will bring about the downfall of our mutual hated enemy.”

“Yeah, I’ve been on the receiving end of some of your cockamamie plans!” Creel responds sharply. “I ain’t interested.”

“Perhaps thou wouldst do well to consider thy position, Creel,” Loki admonishes. There is an unmistakable hostility in his condescending tone. “Thou art miles above Midgard—and thou art speaking to he who gave thee thine powers. How easily they can also be removed.”

Creel looks at Loki, then at the ground. He thinks for a moment if Loki can indeed take away his powers so easily, but decides that he’s not ready to take that kind of chance. “All right, Loki,” he reluctantly agrees. “I’m listenin’.”

END OF EPILOGUE

Ü the hammer  returns! ~~ 

Welcome to my first issue of Thor. I’d like to first take a moment to thank Will and Russ for giving me this opportunity, and for having the confidence in me to do this title. So, I suppose if you don’t like my take on Thor, they might get to share the blame. :)

I am a long-time Thor fan, and probably about as big of a Thor fan as you’re going to meet. So, rest assured, if you like Thor and aren’t too happy with the way he’s been handled for the past few years, you’ll see a very different Thor here. I plan to return Thor to his glory days and showcase him at the power level he should enjoy.

I apologize in advance if this first issue seems a bit awkward. It’s not always easy to finish off someone else’s story, but there were elements in Thor #4 that fit in exactly with some things I intended to do with the character, and allowed me to get rid of Jake Olsen immediately. For that, I am thankful. I’m not into killing off characters, but I have been opposed to the very concept of Jake Olsen from the beginning. He has made his last appearance in any Thor issues I write. If anyone else wants to write him—so long as they keep him away from Thor—they have my blessings. I hereby relinquish any dibs on that character. Don’t all jump on the opportunity at once. :)

I do have some plans for Thor that harkens back to decades ago for the mighty thunder god. If you like the Silver Age Thor, this might be the title for you. At any rate, I hope you do enjoy this title. I look forward to everyone’s comments at jx2melton@hotmail.com. There will be a letters page, so feel free to make comments, suggestions, and ask questions.

Jeff Melton

NEXT ISSUE: More on the Watchers’ meeting! And what’s all of this have to do with Thor anyway? Find out next issue!