Featuring: Tales of Asgard
Release: August 4, 1964
Cover: Ocotber 1964
12 cents
Author: Stan Lee
Illustrator: Jack Kirby
Delineator: Vince Colletta
Letterer: Sam Rosen
5 pages
I think the Mountain Giants are a new set of villains. They seem to be careful naming the groups of giants. We’ve met the Frost Giants and the Storm Giants. Now, we meet Mountain Giants. Their queen is Knorda, a normal-sized woman.
We also get a new villain, Arkin the Weak. If I were nicknamed “the Weak”, I would also be tempted toward treachery. For love of Knorda, he betrays Thor and Asgard.
Arkin is described as Loki’s cousin. Does that make him Thor’s cousin as well, since Thor and Loki are brothers? Perhaps there is more to the Thor/Loki relationship. I think we’ll get the origin of Loki in a few issues. Maybe that will clarify the Thor/Arkin relationship.
That’s the last we’ll see of Knorda for about 35 years. But somebody obviously read this story and thought she’d make a great villain for an epic Avengers/Fantastic Four crossover: Domination Factor.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 53/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol. 2. It is also available in Thor Epic Collection vol. 1: God of Thunder. Or on Kindle.
Characters:
- Odin
- Thor
- Arkin the Weak
- Knorda
Story notes:
- Set long ago when Thor was not yet 20.
- Thor banished from Asgard for fighting a duel against Odin’s wishes; really a ruse to ferret out a traitor.
- Mountain Giants at war with Asgard.
- Arkin is Loki’s cousin.
#252 story in reading order
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