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| The Mighty Thor #425 (OCT 1990) |
Today we come to the ninth appearance of Leir in the Marvel canon. Not surprisingly, once again we find our crimson-maned champion within the pages of The Mighty Thor. This particular issue tries to wrap up a number of threads. First, we see the resolution of the impending threat of Ragnarok. Ragnarok was supposed to be the final battle between the powerful Elementals Surtur (the Fire Demon) and his counterpart Ymir (the Frost Giant). In previous issues is was revealed that Odin had possessed Surtur the Fire Demon in an attempt to use his power to forestall the prophesied End. As this story begins, the two Elementals are engaged in a ruinous battle in Asgard.
Meanwhile, Thor, Hercules, and Eric Masterson are wrapping up a cosmic sojourn in which they witnessed the birth of a new celestial, met the High Evolutionary's New Immortals, saw Hercules "restored", the High Evolutionary made comatose, and Thor and Eric finally separated. After everyone has said their obligatory goodbyes, the poignant moment is interrupted by a dimensional warp out of which comes Lady Sif, Caber, and our man in Avalon--Leir!
After updating Thor on the current threat to Asgard, Sif and the Celts transport Thor & co. back to the Realm Eternal.
While the Asgardians fight a futile rear-guard action to save their home, the Vizier tells Thor the last remaining hope--isn't there always just "one last chance"?--to save Asgard will be for the Prince of Asgard to retrieve the Twilight Sword from the Dimension of Death.
Naturally, the attempt to do so will threaten Thor's very life, but he doesn't hesitate to go. At this point we have the dramatic "I'm going off to war" scene between Thor and Lady Sif. Given their passionate kiss and Leir's obvious distaste for the spectacle, I can only assume that the good Lady finally admitted to Leir that she'd just been using him all along and wouldn't really marry him. (Regardless of how arrogant Leir can be at times, ya gotta feel some sympathy for the guy here. He basically went on an inter-dimensional jaunt and got roped into fighting Elementals for a girl who dropped him like a hot potato for her old flame.)
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| Not cool, Sif...not cool at all. |
After breaking the seal between his lips and Sif's, Thor heads into the Dimension of Death where he promptly gets old and has to fight a bunch of bat demons...or something. Meanwhile, back in Asgard, Leir doesn't get much opportunity to lick his emotional wounds. Fortunately for him, Leir is more 1930s alpha male than 2000+ hipster. Does he sit around crying in his mead? Heck no! He picks himself up, dusts himself off, and jumps right into the middle of life-threatening battle!
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| This page gave me an epiphany about why Leir may not have caught on. Essentially, he was Hercules' classic character, mixed with Thor's power, a few extra inches, and a handlebar moustache. I guess it made sense when Marvel was trying to "mature" Hercules. |
Despite their bold (or foolhardy?) actions, fortunately for Herc and Leir someone on the battlefield had the sense to recognize, "the better part of valor."
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Thor and Eric successfully retrieve the Twilight Sword and return to Asgard. The Sword turns out to be little more than a macguffin, as it really isn't the mechanism for defeating Ymir and Surtur that we've been led to expect (but I won't spoil that aspect of the story for you, in case you want to read it yourself).
Everything wraps up nice and tidy, complete with the obligatory celebration panel.
(On a side note: I think this was a missed opportunity to make the otherwise annoying Eric Masterson a compelling and sympathetic character. Allowing Eric to die in order for Thor to complete his mission would've made a nice wrap-up...but that's a topic for another day).
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