30 Days of Winter: Day 24 - Last Stands - Skurge at Gjallerbru

[proteus_lives]

Greetings True Believers!

Any day of Last Stands must begin with the greatest of them all....the Tale of Skurge, the Executioner who stood alone at Gjallerbru.

Walt Simonson gave Skruge an ending so epic, so metal that the warriors and the skalds of the world unite in respect and honor.

His name was as Skurge! Say it, damn you, say it loud!




Hela, goddess of the dead and Hel stole mortals that were not hers to take in Midgard. The Thunderer and his warriors cannot allow this. So Thor, Balder and a crew of M-16 toting Einherjar travel to the realm of the dead to get them back. Skurge the Executioner. Ever the enemy of Thor and Balder travels with them. For he is tired of defeat, the mocking laughter of others and the way the Enchantress toys with his heart.

The battles are long and difficult but the forces of Asgard win back the stolen souls. They flee the underworld with the armies of Hel hot on their heels. At the end of Hela's kingdom is the Gjallerbru. A stand must be made here to delay the armies of evil.













"He stood alone at Gjallerbru...and that is answer is enough."

Comments

[pyrotwilight]

Truly an epic moment though I've never read that era of Thor. I say thee awesome.

[mistervader]

The one time I didn't mind seeing a mythic figure actually using a gun. So 90's, but timelessly badass all at the same time.

[arysteia]

I still don't know who these people are (well, except Thor, *g*) and I still don't care. I was waiting for you to post this. Awesome.

[polarisnorth]

I'd seen some of these scans before, but I just finished reading the whole arc for the first time, and it was so awesome. ♥ Walt Simonson. I also like that everyone seems to have agreed that it was so awesome that it should never be undone -- I think Skurge is possibly the only person in the Marvel Universe besides Uncle Ben who's actually stayed dead.

[charlottesmtms.livejournal.com]

*tear*

[hawkmoondirge]

This is brilliant example of how to kill off a character. No fuss no big deal. The character does what they do and freaking loives it, and dies for a cause they appreciate. This strikes both an emotion and no emotion, for it doesn't make you sad, it makes you appreciate how complez a character Skurge was, and how under-used he truely was. Beyond that has anyone ever noticed supporting cast deraths are superior 99% of the time

[aaron_bourque]

I do not hope to die violently, but if I must, I can only hope my death is 1/100th as cool and badass as this.

[icon_uk]

Trouble with posting this is as the master post is, what the Hel can anyone else post which is a tenth as powerful or cool a moment.

[korvarthefox.livejournal.com]

Still get chills when I read this - and I first read it when it came out originally!

[valtyr]

This is magnificent, but my favourite bit is Skurge saying that Baldur is too kind to laugh at him.

[jlroberson]

I remember this as when I started gradually not being as excited to buy this and a few months later, my last issue of it was my last Marvel till about 1999. The reason was this was when I noticed Marvel trying to insert freaking guns, bigger and bigger all the time, into their comics, even in a place where people have magic hammers that can bring down the sky. I wondered why Marvel spent so much time promoting guns and other weapons. Some of the Punisher stuff then was even worse--there was some HANDBOOK type special which detailed each and every one of his weapons, not all of which were fanciful. That's a fetish I associate with Larry Hama, Marvel's answer to John Milius.

[amaniwolf]

I remember this,....all i could think was...wow. I had hated Skurge and then he was gone. I recall Thor speaking with i think Balder about Loki's death and he said something that fits this completely. He lived poorly, but he died well.

[halloweenjack]

Simonson's run has many crowning moments of awesome (as I'm sure most s_ders know by now), but I love this issue so hard it's not even funny.

It also reminds me of someone I read about recently, who made his stand and lived:

One grenade fell on the lip of Gurung’s trench. He quickly grabbed it and hurled it back at the enemy. Almost immediately another grenade came over. This one fell directly inside the trench. Again Gurung snatched it up and threw it back.

A third grenade landed just in front of the trench. Gurung attempted to throw it back, but it exploded in his hand, blowing off his fingers, shattering his right arm and severely wounding him in the face, body and right leg. His two comrades were also badly wounded and lay helpless in the bottom of the trench.

The enemy, screaming and yelling, now formed up shoulder to shoulder and attempted to rush the position by sheer weight of numbers. Gurung, regardless of his wounds, loaded and fired his rifle with his left hand and kept up a steady rate of fire.

The attacks came in wave after wave, but the Japanese were beaten back with heavy losses. For four hours Gurung remained alone at his post, calmly waiting for each new onslaught, firing into his attackers at point blank range, determined not to yield an inch of ground. His comrades could hear him shouting: “Come and fight a Gurkha!”

[nezchan]

This whole day is going to make me cry, I know it.

Oh damn, and there's an entry about Eddy.

[bewareofgeek]

I feel I have to defend the guns in this case, as the crown of a long subplot in this Thor era.

Basically, when Surtur invaded Earth, everyone and his uncle came out to help, including the 82nd Airborne. And they met up with the armies of Asgard (the Einherjar) after it was all over, and (as soldiers are wont to do) did some "horse trading".

In other words, the Einherjar ended up with a couple of cases of M-16s. And when the time came to invade Hel, they took the new weapons along, leading to an earlier scene in this issue where we see Harokin, leader of the Einherjar, give this immortal command:

"This is our moment! The weapons we took from Midgard shall speak to Hela in a tongue she can understand! Close up the ranks... and on my signal-..."

"OPEN FIRE!!!"

Bad. Ass.

[badficwriter]

"Whenever they laugh, I hurt inside."

Love emo.

[pallas_athena]

It is impossible that anything should be more epic or metal than this. NONE MORE METAL.

Mind you, I end up saying that about a lot of Simonson Thor.