Left Crying at the Altar: Leir's 10th and Final Appearance

 

The Mighty Thor #426 (NOV 1990)

In my last post, I wrote of the way that Leir's most recent story arc, which began with his effort to marry Lady Sif (way back in Thor #....) got more or less leap-frogged.  We wound up in the previous issue with Sif finally seeing Thor (her beloved and the only real reason she'd been entertaining Leir's advances in the first place) and immediately engaging in some good ole' Asgardian lip-wrestling.

I can only suspect that someone at Marvel back in the day noticed this and said, "Y'know...we really need a better resolution than just Leir slinking off like the band nerd who got rejected by the head cheerleader who'd been stringing him along, only to surprise him in front of the whole school by saying, "Later nerd!  I'm going to prom with the quarterback!"  And so...as the cover of #426 suggests, we finally get some resolution here.

Having defeated Ymir and Surtur and forestalled Ragnarok, Asgardians are due for a little downtime.

Odin, like any old man, chooses to take a nap.  (Sorry...I guess I should call it an Odin-Nap).

We get a bit of a political plot twist next.  In Odin's absence, the Father of Asgard will not be leaving Balder the Brave in charge, but instead...Heimdall!!  Perhaps this is appropriate, since the first action of Asgard's interim liege lord is to rebuild the Rainbow Bridge.

In the midst of such multi-hued reverie, Hercules informs Thor that he's going to make a quick round of the Asgardian ladies before heading to Olympus for his own homecoming.  Thor muses about how he's always all alone, but his cognitive pity party is interrupted by...

Having announced his intentions, Leir proceeds without further ado.

In response to Thor's natural question:  "Ummm...why're you hurling lightning bolts at me, again?"  Leir provides a quick run down of how they got to this moment.

First of all, I went back and re-read The Mighty Thor #417 (MAY 1990) wherein the attempted wooing of Lady Sif began.  There is nothing in there about Leir having to "defeat a champion of Sif's choice."  In fact, what is there is this little announcement:

"The Lady Sif has accepted [Leir's] chivalrous
proposal!" (Does that sound like she's putting any
conditions on the acceptance?)

So we have a pretty blatant plot hole here, created (I assume) to prevent acknowledging that Sif has straight up used Leir for over half a year of publication.  Hold onto your seat, though, because the humiliation of Avalon's premiere warrior is just beginning.

Now, understandably, Thor's still pretty ticked at being attacked while standing by a rainbow bridge, minding his own business.  I think we can all understand Thor's desire to take Leir down a peg or two.  His next statement, however, is...well... You decide.

"thy foul and loathsome touch"?!  Really, Thor?  I mean...the guy did just
help save Asgard from destruction, after the good Lady strung him along
under false pretenses. 

Despite Thor's unbecoming trash talk--Remember, Goldlilocks, this guy did just help you fight off a fire demon and an ice giant--he will not be the one to face Leir in combat. 

 

Instead, Sif herself is going to add injury to insult.

 

An an observer, I'm really beginning to feel sympathy for Leir.  The dude has done everything that was asked of him, and his reward is getting slandered, beat up, and now mocked by his wing man!?

 

And with that, Leir (lord of lightning and god of the spear) vanished from the Marvel universe.  Despite his arrogance, Leir still proved himself a loyal hero.  He deserved a better send-off than this.

[SIDENOTE:  Reviewing Warlock and the Infinity Watch #1 (FEB 1992), I was reminded that yet another of my favorite Marvel characters also tried to wed Sif.  What was the deal?  Is she that irresistable?]

et tu, Warlock?