A Tale Of Two Ragnaroks

If you're a longtime Mighty Thor reader, you've been witness on more than one occasion to the Asgardians having to deal with the coming of Ragnarok--the prophesied twilight of the gods when their world will end in savage conflict and conflagration. In every instance, the Asgardians have managed to survive their foretold doom (even the genuine Ragnarok); but there was nevertheless a time when the threat of world's end hung heavy over their realm and their very existence, a day of destruction which Odin himself thought it best to draw back the curtain on and bring perspective to in order to strip away the pall of doom associated with it, which up until that point had the Asgardians collectively on edge and often feeling as if they were walking on egg shells.

To accomplish what he had in mind, Odin would make use of his seer, Volla, bequeathed by the All-Father with the gift of prophecy, to reveal to all of Asgard's warriors visions of the future which would leave no doubt as to the coming of Ragnarok, yet also have them come away with more than just the inevitability of the cataclysm that would result in their deaths. Curiously, that story by writer Stan Lee would be chronicled in Mighty Thor not just once but twice--first, in 1966, with artists Jack Kirby and Vince Colletta, and again six years later with John Buscema and John Verpoorten. Both stories are essentially the same--though both Kirby and Buscema would naturally offer different interpretations of Asgard's fate, which is something of a treat for readers.

Unfortunately, Odin being Odin, there is deception on his part at work in the Lee/Kirby story--first, to open the door to the looming threat:

...followed by Thor and Loki, along with a hand-picked group of warriors, being sent on an expedition to find "the forces of evil" which are responsible for the alarming damage to the Odinsword of Asgard, which, if left unchecked, could bring about the end of everything.

Yet the expedition is nothing more than a wild goose chase conceived by Odin*, a "quest" to assuage warriors who had fallen into fighting among themselves out of boredom (only in Asgard, folks), as Thor finally recognizes: "We had been too long without battle--too long without purpose! Our tempers were frayed--our sword edges blunted!" And so when Odin feels that goal had been accomplished, the men are recalled, to join those assembled in order to hear the dreaded and dire words of Volla--words and, for us, images which will reveal a day when even immortals will perish!

*A ruse which presumably included the "graffiti" on the "royal wall," as well as the apparent damage to the Odinsword. Exactly why Odin vandalized his own wall is anyone's guess. If the goal is to allay the Asgardians' preoccupation with their ultimate fate, what's the point of stoking suspense here and implying that Ragnarok is imminent?

Volla's presentation is concise and succinct, mincing no words and making no effort to soften the blow for those who are being told of the end of their world, an end which appears to be both inevitable and inescapable. Imagine a warrior race, eager and willing to fight any foe no matter the odds, being told of a day when their realm will face its doom.  Harsh omens... resignation and hopelessness... sudden, civil war... the final struggle of the valiant... all coalesce into a perfect storm of unstoppable armageddon for all of Asgard.

No doubt Loki's presence in leading an army of Asgard's enemies (which includes those warriors who have lost their faith in Odin and shifted their loyalties to the prince of evil) comes as no surprise to those who rush to defend the realm--particularly Thor, who is well acquainted with his half-brother's ruthless and ambitious nature.

But there is far more scope to this destructive conflict than Asgardians pitted against one another--there is also the fated destruction of Asgard itself, and that end arrives at last with the appearance of the Midgard Serpent, and a final, devastating explosion that not even the gods have the power to survive.

How ironic, then, to discover that Surtur--the fire god who has more than once sought Asgard's utter destruction--would be the reluctant instrument of this land's eventual rebirth, even as he himself passes into death.

And yet, even with all they've seen--that Ragnarok is fated to come, and the destruction of Asgard is inevitable and beyond anyone's control--Odin inexplicably assigns guilt for the catastrophe in the form of Loki, who for once in his life may have a point when he declares himself to be blameless, at least as far as being the "cause" of Ragnarok. Nonetheless, he is condemned by Odin to an indefinite period of imprisonment.  (Though if the punishment was to fit the crime, he's probably getting off easy.)

Yet, as happened occasionally when Lee and Kirby worked together on a story which Kirby invariably completed before Lee stepped in to script, Lee appears to have decided on a different resolution than what Kirby had in mind--which, judging by the panels, came at the point when Loki angrily took issue with the veracity of Volla's vision. There's no doubt that Odin reacts with anger at the choice that Loki made in the final conflict to turn against Asgard; but it seems clear that Kirby has Odin accusing Loki of only that, and acting accordingly to discipline him, while Lee goes a step further with having Odin convinced that Loki actually brought on Ragnarok. Granted, Loki is capable of so acting, as we'd see in a later Roy Thomas story, but there's no indication of such machinations here.

In 1972, however, Lee seems motivated to adhere to Kirby's (again, presumably) original intent when he joins with Buscema to reproduce this story, which becomes the centerpiece of Mighty Thor's 200th issue.

This second version of Volla's prophecy of Ragnarok adheres closely to the first, though you may end up thinking that Lee treats it as "a do-over" after having had time to reconsider what he'd established in print six years prior. There is also some question as to exactly when Lee, Buscema, and Verpoorten produced this story, bookended as it is by pages of a story in progress from Gerry Conway, Buscema, and inker Vince Colletta. With an existing Volla/Ragnarok story already on the books, there would have been no justification for recreating and publishing the same story, by the same writer, as if the first version never happened--and without an opportunity of some sort to make use of it, its status would have likely been relegated to that of an inventory story to be shelved until it could be used as filler somewhere (say, an Annual).

That's not to say that Lee and Conway didn't arrange for something special for Thor's 200th issue (Conway had taken over the book's writing from Lee in late 1971)--and the scenes from Conway's story featuring the three Fates intervening to save Thor from Pluto, in order for Thor to meet his true fate at the time of Ragnarok, fit quite well with Lee's revised tale. To begin with, there's no need for the pretense of a mission for Thor and his comrades to undertake, so they're simply summoned to the royal presence, along with a host of other warriors and Loki:

The warning signs which Volla reveals are just as ominous, the prospect of the coming doom turning Asgardian against Asgardian just as unnerving to those who are hearing their grim fate play out before them. Buscema's sequence is virtually indistinguishable from Kirby's in these initial panels, though his presentation is a well-crafted variation that helps to avoid the overall feeling of déjà vu for any readers familiar with the original tale.

But when our attention is drawn to Thor, and it becomes clear to all that this is indeed the day of Ragnarok, Lee makes a startling turnaround when he begins to take steps through Volla's narrative to absolve Loki of any blame for the holocaust--even as Buscema treats us to a more involved (and ultimately futile) struggle against the Midgard Serpent, the final enemy whose massive form causes untold destruction to befall the realm and precedes the last, deafening explosion which brings an end to everything, and everyone.

The aftermath, with Surtur performing his final, designated task, is similarly tragic and riveting, with Lee taking care this time to establish that it's the gods of Asgard we see in a new age of creation, something which is likely meant to give meaning to Volla's closing words and bolster the spirits of Asgard's current-day warriors while also appealing to their nobility.

But it's Odin's words on the subject that are truly meant to strike home for his subjects--for, thanks to Lee changing course on Loki, it's now Odin who assumes responsibility for Ragnarok, while painting the event with a more broad brush that serves to link its reckoning to a man's soul as well as his world.

Though Odin may wish otherwise, his final words to his warriors may eventually be lost on Loki, a god who remains free and not unjustly imprisoned.  But for today, at least, his adopted son perhaps realizes that he will spend the rest of his immortal life knowing that he'll face Ragnarok as reviled as he ever was, forever in a prison of his own making.