Death Week: Skurge, he stood alone at Gjallerbru

[proteus_lives]

Greetings True Believers!

As my final post for Death Week, I thought I'd re-post one of the finest comic book deaths of all time.

These panels shake me every time I read them. This is a story of bravery, redemption, dignity, unrequited love and destiny. It is the final battle of Skurge, The Executioner.

Look to his tale, look to Skurge.



Suggested Tags: char: skurge the executioner, char: thor odinson/donald blake, char: balder the brave, char: enchantress/amora, char: hela, title: thor, creator: walter simonson, publisher: marvel comics, series: death week



Skurge was an old-school Marvel villain. Primarily a Thor villain, he fought most of the Marvel universe at one time or the other. He was also the thrall of the Enchantress whom he loved desperately but she always used him and tossed him aside.

While Thor and his allies prepare to travel to Hel to free some unjustly trapped souls, Skurge seeks out the Enchantress once more.





Ouch. That is awful.

Thor, Balder and the Einherjar prepare for their journey.



The Asgardian force makes it's way through Hel when they come upon a radiant field inhabited by those who have died.

Skurge is tricked by an image of the Enchantress who promises to finally love him.


Thor uncovers Hela's trick and challenges her to a duel, which he wins. They recover the stolen souls and come upon Naglfar, a ship made of the fingernails of dead men and will be used in the destined fall of Asgard.

But Hela isn't done with them yet.



I like Skurge's deep respect for Balder





Truly awesome. With one move, Skurge destroys Hela's plans.

She is enraged and attacks but Balder and Thor hold her off. The party rides to the Bridge Gjallerbru as all of Hel rises against them.

The Einherjar use automatic rifles from Midgard to blast a hole through to the bridge.

But the day is not won yet.



Skurge's assessment of his life is tragic and honest. Beautiful words from a stoic warrior.



Perhaps the most important line, "Perhaps he has waited all his life for this one moment."









There are no words epic enough to describe this scene. It staggers me every time.

This entire storyline was so wonderful, find it if you can.

Comments

[neuhallidae]

This is easily one of the best deaths ever. No matter how many times I see that last page, I cry every. goddamn. time. ::raises lighter::

[proteus_lives]

Such motto.

::raises torch::

[okkult3000]

The last sequence is my favorite scene in any comic ever. Walt Simonson's run on Thor was filled with greatness, and it still stands above everything else.

[digicom]

HEL YEAH!

[joysweeper]

Dayum.

[filkertom]

I had these when they came out, and I don't have them any longer, and I WANT THEM AGAIN. Time to check Amazon for reprints....

[digicom]

Walt's entire run has been reprinted as "Thor Visionaries"

[arilou_skiff]

And it stuck, didn't it?

That said, the entire thing sounds really narmy to me, mainly due to various examples of redundancies ("The Bridge Gjallarbru"?)

[icon_uk]

Not necessarily, the name of the place does not define the bridge, simple says there was one there when the place was named. Look at Oxford and Cambridge... both have several bridges in them, despite their name making that apparently redundant.

[cmdr_zoom]

The thing is, that's the way a lot of the old sagas sound - because it was an oral form, and people would say the same things over and over in different ways, as a mnemonic aid and (let's be honest) filler.

[arilou_skiff]

No. I've read them. don't. This is solely an issue of translation (well, and general rhytm, but that's a different ballgame)

The sagas *do* repeat themselves in certain ways (by the use of kennings, by generally repeating structures...) but they don' repeat themselves like this.

[goblinthebamf]

(applaud.gif)

[shanejayell]

*claps*

Damn cool.

[starwolf_oakley]

SKurge's death stuck. However, Skurge's ax keeps showing up to cause trouble. It did in the THUNDERSTRIKE series and I *think* it appeared in one of the YOUNG AVENGERS series, but I'm not certain.

[icon_uk]

Damn, that gets me every time... the power of the death, the fact that after all else, Hela bows her head to him out of pure, 100% earned respect, the poetry and rhythm of the final pages, the art... flawless.

[geooco.blogspot.com]

That there is an awesome piece of comics storytelling.

[joasakura]

This is really an shining example of how amazing comics as a storytelling medium can be.

[terrykun]

Looks like the hordes of the undead.....

*sunglasses*

Are resting in pieces.
http://www.epiconeliner.com/

Bravo Skurge. Bravo.

[scenesaroundjackson.wordpress.com]

pure epic!

[geoffsebesta]

A death so great that he actually stayed dead.

[proteus_lives]

Another rare mark that adds to the perfection of this story.

[bradhanon]

I actually sometimes use this scene as a slang term for scenes of intense dramatic climax, particularly of a heroic-sacrifice sort.

Usage:

"It's good, but I'm not getting that stood-alone-at-Gjallerbru feeling."

"This isn't our stood-alone-at-Gjallerbru scene, we can keep it small and human."

"See, now that's some stood-alone-at-Gjallerbru shit right there."

Personally, I think this term should be in wider parlance.

[tavella]

A classic. Still stands up after all these years.