Within The Andes Wait... The Celestials!

 

It feels appropriately belated to make this admission fifty years after the fact, but I really had no substantive knowledge of or exposure to Jack Kirby's astounding concepts from his series The Eternals until a little over a year after that series had folded--because it was then when Roy Thomas crafted a two-part story published in Mighty Thor which served to usher in those concepts to the more mainstream Marvel universe which Kirby had kept at arm's length. (Though technically I'd say that my education began when I picked up the 1978 Thor Annual, where Thor was a witness--or, rather, not a witness--to the arrival of the third Celestial host.) My reason for giving The Eternals a wide berth had solely to do with the problem I had with Mr. Kirby's style of writing, thoughts that I've shared elsewhere in the PPC--a caveat which didn't apply to Mr. Thomas's handling of Kirby's characters, though a moot point when it comes to the Celestials since they aren't exactly verbose.

Thomas's 1979 saga involving the Celestials and the Eternals would also come to include the Olympians and the Asgardians, and would culminate in the 300th issue of Thor (though Thomas had by that time left the book)--a span of eighteen issues in all, which arguably extended the story perhaps longer than necessary and, in the case of several of those issues, digressed unnecessarily. But it had a promising beginning in those first two issues which saw Thor committed to investigating the current-day activities of the Celestials on Earth following Asgard's survival of a false Ragnarok and yet another falling out with his father, almighty Odin.

Which leads us* to Thor finally making tracks for the South American Andes mountains, and a meeting with "space gods" who would regard the Thunder God and his ilk as borderline inconsequential to their affairs.

*After, that is, a four-issue pause of filler stories (strange detours to make, considering how crucial Thor considers time running out on the impending judgment of the Celestials), featuring work by writers Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, Peter Gillis, Don Thompson, and Maggie Thompson, with artists Alan Kupperberg, Pablo Marcos, Wayne Boring, Tom Palmer, and Keith Pollard.  One of the four, co-scripted by Thomas, I still consider to be the most unreadable Thor story ever to see print (though there's another story which features Thor that comes in a close second!), and, to this day, have yet to summon the fortitude to review it for the PPC.

 
 
Once he's cleared Mexico City, however, Thor feels compelled to make one last stab at seeking answers from his enigmatic father on just how much he knows about the Eternals and the Celestials. The segment mostly recaps Thomas's faux Ragnarok story as well as the events of the '78 annual before Thor finally gets to the point--but given Odin's response, the reader can come away from the scene wondering why it took over four pages to essentially achieve little to nothing, storywise.

Now officially on his own, Thor heads further south, overtaking a passenger jet as his hammer propels him at over the speed of sound and continuing on until his eyes spot a structure which could well house the objects of his quest. Yet Thor won't be the only uninvited visitor who descends for a closer viewing.

This jet is certainly turning out to have a few unexplained mysteries of its own. Aside from the story's peculiar focus on three of its passengers, and the fact that one of those passengers has impossibly, accurately identified the flying figure who would otherwise be little more than a minute speck to the naked eye while traveling at such a speed, it's never explained in the story why the plane suddenly loses altitude, enough of course to make it vulnerable to the reach of Gammenon.

For what it's worth, the two other passengers whom we've seen will figure more prominently in the story as it continues--but for now, they share whatever fate awaits their fellow travelers on board, unless Thor's efforts have successfully brought an end to the threat of Gammenon. Regrettably, it's the fate of Thor, rather, that lies in question.

The fears of the plane's crew may be justified, as they and their hapless passengers fall victim to whatever awaits them within the dome. Hopefully none of them are depending on Odin to shed some light on what lies in store.

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