Thor #14

[lordultimus]

For the past few issues, an insane Donald Blake has been attacking the Asgardians for revenge of his life essentially being a lie. Thor defeats him but doesn't want to kill him as he views Donald as a brother. However, as he notes, he's not above teaching his brothers a lesson and strikes him down.

Comments

[cypherfdp]

"No Odin, how dare you suggest killing him! Instead I'll give him to Loki who will condemn him to eternal torment"

[donnblake]

Oh good, you've bound him to eternal torment, Loki. Historically, that's never been a decision that's been fated to come back and bite Asgard in the Ass, Loki. What a clever idea, Loki.

[shadowpsykie]

that said..... Loki took that path, and t hat path changed him..... for the better.... maybe that's what Donald needs. *shrug*

[whatsmoothbeast]

Gross.

[shadowpsykie]

i mean. snake boarding bad, but well i guess loki is a convoluted character because I keep thinking of "His journey" having traught him to be better...

[silicondream]

It really didn't, though? Mythologically speaking. It made him much, much worse. Before his torture, Loki was an occasionally homicidal trickster with a potty mouth. After his torture, Loki was an implacable enemy of the entire Nine Worlds, and a crucial game piece that let Team Surtr win the Ragnarok Bowl and nuke the universe (including Loki) in their victory celebration.

Snakeboarding turned Loki from Silver Age Lex Luthor into Dark Age Thanos. Esssthentially.

Everyone would have been better off if Loki had been executed for his (*beatboxing*) penultimate crime. Or...exiled. Or...permanently crippled. Or...forgiven and welcomed back to Asgard (with a stubbly Sif side-eyeing him down the feasting table.) Or...rehabilitated and given a job in a convenience store. Or...anything, really. Anything! But the Norse gods are stupid, sez Snori Sturluson, and so are their elected representatives.

[cainofdreaming]

I dunno about killing him. Wouldn't he just have continued scheming, only now with his daughter in tow?

[donnblake]

That's... hmm. In the comics, where Hel is generally one of Thor's big bads, probably. If we're going back to the myths it's a little hazier. No one was *crazy* about Hel, being as she was a death god and all, but she comes off notably better than her two full-siblings. Jörmungandr gets tossed in the ocean where Thor occasionally tries to lure him to the surface for a murderin'. Fenris gets tied to a tree 'til the end of the world in one of the sadder "Man and Pup," stories, and Hel gets a whole realm to rule, complete with mansions, halls, servants and a wide portfolio of powers- granted, none of the above being particularly comfy or cheery, although it's not entirely clear whether Hel created these or they came with the gig.

Her role in the death of Baldr (she says she will return him to life only if everything in the world weeps for him. Loki, in disguise, refuses to do so) *could* be her teaming up with her dad to screw the gods over, but it just as easily could be her honestly testing whether the grief over Baldr's death really was the unique event sufficient to justify overturning the usual rules of life and death she'd been assigned to rule over. There's also the possibility of some greater mystery involving Baldr's death, concerning the words that Odin spoke into his ear on his funeral pyre, and the possibility that he's fated to return to the land of the living in the aftermath of Ragnarok (disclaimer here that most of our sources on Norse mythology are written down post-Christianization, so if something looks a little Jesus-y, that might be why).

On the other hand, she does mention at one point that she intends to bring all her people to Loki's side during Ragnarok.

[silicondream]

Possibly, but assuming that death at least [i]weakened[/i] him, he would still have lost to Heimdallr at Ragnarok. Anyway, he was free to keep scheming as it was, although I'm sure the snakeboarding messed with his concentration a bit.

[nyadnar17]

Its super clever.

The nature of stories dictates there must be a god of lies, this is just one more barrier between Loki and having his character reverted to from.

Its not merciful and it is selfish, but its super clever.

[donnblake]

I'm just saying, when Blake breaks his chains* and kills Heimdall** during the next big reality-quake, you know who to blame.

*I guess he didn't have any kids handy to disembowel.

** Which, actually, Loki might not consider a downside, per se...

[silicondream]

"D'oh! Why didn't I predict th--oh, right.. Wow, I am staring into the backs of my own eyeballs right now."

--Odin, probably

[erikred]

Ball. Eyeball, singular. Just saying.

(Speaking of which, Odin gave Mimir one of his all-seeing eyes in exchange for a drink from Mimir's well; what ever happened to the eyeball after the Vanir lopped off Mimir's head? Now that's a loose (optic) thread....)

[donnblake]

There was a webcomic with Thor, Baldr, Loki and Hodr as rambunctious youths that had the eye come back as a recurring villain. In between Valkyrie based cheesecake and everyone playing the "Let's throw stuff at Baldr," game, that is.

[cainofdreaming]

Brat-Halla. Unfortunately it hasn't been updates for ages.

[gnarll]

Its shown up. It has a very different account of Odins youth than Odin does.

[silicondream]

Fair enough. One retina, one empty socket.

[mesmiranda]

I'm just saying, when Blake breaks his chains* and kills Heimdall** during the next big reality-quake, you know who to blame.

It feels so obviously like it's setting up his return to commit (more) supervillainy that it's kind of hard to take it seriously, in a way. Like, sure, this'll stick.

[megaspork]

And as Loki noted... he fits everything about old loki in terms of his story. I believe Loki thinks this is a way to protect everyone from himself. As now there is an archetypical god of lies with an archetypical God of stories to counter him.
And to protect everyone from blake by making himself the one he'll come after.

[starwolf_oakley]

Back in November 2020 I said, "Donald Blake going Full Superboy Prime? You *never* go Full Superboy Prime!"

It is weird, even for a long-running Marvel comic, how things go for Donald Blake. They did "Blake was based on Keith Kincaid, who later married Jane Foster." THOR #477-483 had another Donald Blake show up saying "Hey, where are those Stone Men from Saturn and how long was I in that cave?"

[tinygaylaura]

That story sounds more fun

[starwolf_oakley]

It was written by Roy Thomas, and he's usually a lot of fun. It actually started in THOR #475.

[tinygaylaura]

I'll check this out on Comixology :)

[dcbanacek]

In some ways this is worse..

According to the myth Loki's wife held a cup over him to collect the venom that dripped onto him until it filled and when she turned to empty it and the venom fell onto Loki and when he writhed in agony the very ground shook...

That reminds me, have they done anything with Sigyn in these newer more recent stories? Seems a wasted opportunity if they haven't.

[mesmiranda]

That reminds me, have they done anything with Sigyn in these newer more recent stories? Seems a wasted opportunity if they haven't.

She deaded. Avengers: Roll Call #1, Kid Loki's entry.

[chalicother]

I know Donald did some bad things, but was this really the answer for him?

I guess, I mean I like Anti-Hero Loki, but you would think that the situation with Leah would make him be a little bit more sympathetic to Donald...

Ehh...See ya Donald in the end of this run or in the next Crossover Event.

[shakalooloo]

The Donald did the worst of things, and has now been exposed as the God of Lies. But The Donald shall return.

[gnarll]

I don't think Donald actually did any bad things. That he is responsible for, that is. He was driven insane by ages of torture, and then he had a dragon poured into his mind. I don't think he can be held responsible for his actions after that.

He actually started to calm down when he got into a familiar environment, with people he knew.

[beyondthefringe]

Respect for the old school punishment.

[luxshine]

I'm not... quite happy with this. I mean, I loved Don Blake. He was Thor for me, and his personality as a disabled doctor was quite interesting and I hated when they went "Don Blake never existed". But this? While I get why Loki can't be the God of Lies anymore, and Thor needs a new villain... I am not sure why it had to be Don. At least he's no longer in limbo, I guess?

[beyondthefringe]

I think the real problem is that Thor hasn't been Donald Blake since the '80s, which means he's spent roughly twice as long without that identity as he did with it. (1966-1984 vs 1984-2021) So the only ones who really associate Thor with Donald Blake are fans of a certain age or older... (and creators, of course)

So the poor guy keeps getting dragged out every so often as the writers try to find a purpose for him, and yet he never just gets a happy ending where he's allowed to wander off and be a doctor and a real person.

I'm not a fan of this particular reinvention, but given how the Norse gods have been written as cyclical and bound by narrative structures, maybe this will either allow Donald to evolve into a more compelling character, or he'll get a better deal with the next go around. (And maybe Red Norvell will come back to life so he can get killed a third or fourth time...)

[starwolf_oakley]

Don Blake showed up at the end of Iron Man's "World's Most Wanted" arc during DARK REIGN. He was also in "Stark Disassembled" in the lead up to SEIGE. Admittedly, I am not sure if "Thor is Donald Blake again, or vice versa" was explained.

[beyondthefringe]

I think he and Thor merged again during the whole "Asgardians have been resurrected" storyline post Civil War, when many of them were living on Earth unaware of their true identities, leading to the Asgard over Oklahoma thing. (The JMS run, which totally explains bringing Blake back after two decades...)

But for the life of me, I can't remember at what point that was undone again.

[bruinsfan]

The last I remember Blake made some kind of deal with the Enchantress to become a Real Boy independent from Thor. I didn't see the end of that story, but it didn't look like it was going to end well for him. It might be a better explanation for Blake's heel turn than the current story of him just going crazy in Fake Heaven.

[deh_tommy]

Having grown reading the original issues of Avengers and my only real exposure to Thor at the time being the movies, I was really confused about whatever happened to Donald Blake. I think that’s also why I was more accepting of Jane FosThor than others, as that was how I thought the mantle worked.

[rainspirit]

I felt the exact same way about Ben Reilly. I feel your discomfort.

[gnarll]

Well, this is... something. I think I can safely say that.

Donald Blake is an interesting character. He was not created by the Abrahamic god, and he is not a son of Adam. His creator was not a god that brands himself as forgiving, or loving his creations. And he was not created to name all the things of the earth.

He was created as a humiliation to Thor. He was explicitly made to be humiliated. Small where Thor was large, disabled where Thor was hale, weak where Thor was strong.

And did he rebel against this purpose? Did he Fall? Did he fail in the task set him by his creator? No. No original sin for Donald Blake. No fall from grace. He not only completed his the task he was created for, he excelled at it. He transcended his limitations. Where he was weak, he relied on his mind, becoming a healer of others. When it was needed, he went to war, and acquitted himself well. Something the Norse would admire.

The Thor that was forged in the crucible of Donald Blake was everything Odin wanted, and more.

So he completed the work he was created for, unfallen. Was he not owed paradise?

What he got was a sensory deprivation torture lasting for...thousands of years? Millions? Until his mind broke and he went insane. As he must, the god that designed his eternity was the same one that crafted every strength and flaw in his soul. Insanity was something that was done to him. Blake never had a choice.

Then his mind was violated by an alien Asgardian dragon of destruction and malevolence. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that Odin did not take proper care with the security of the space where he stored Blake.

I don't really think Donald Blake has any responsibility for his actions after that. He has been broken by torture and had his mind invaded. I doubt you could argue Mens Rea.

And after all that Donald Blake is just begging for death and unmaking. Oblivion. Instead the man who never failed the god who made himr is sentenced to eternal torture.

This is a man who would envy Job.

He has cause to envy the most wretched and pitiful of Adams line. After all their suffering and tribulations, they were made by a god who claims to love them, forgive their trespasses and promises justice and comfort at the end.

I would not guess at what Donald Blake would think if he walked past a Midgard church with such simple signs as "God forgives" or "God loves you"


Honestly, this story sort of reads like the worst internet torture porn, with a big dash of Gnosticism. I don't really see that Donal Blake has done a thing wrong in his entire existence.

He is even innocent of original sin.

[longboxingwhileblack]

I mean. To be fair. Blake did commit genocide against every living creature in that paradise realm he was in. He's kind of getting off easy.

[gnarll]

After he had been tortured to insanity and had a dragon poured into is damaged mind. I don't think he can be considered responsible for any of that.

Frankly, I think Odin is legally and morally responsible for everything Blake did.

[silverhammerman]

Seems like a bad idea to put the guy who became evil because he was trapped in a hellish existence into an even more hellish existence.

On a less glib note, Donald Blake really does occupy such a weird place in Marvel history, doesn't he? He's an artifact from an earlier era of the Marvel Universe, the experimental days of the early Silver Age, back when everything was in flux (remember when Iron Man couldn't take off his armor and the Hulk was briefly a mindless brute controlled by Rick Jones?), rendered even more outmoded by the fact that the Marvel Universe as a whole has largely abandoned secret identities since, like, 2005. This whole arc has been a decidedly strange way to bring him back, and I can't say that I love his fate here. Gnarll, above, makes a convincing case for Blake as a victim, and there's a sentimental part of me that feels weird about this artifact of headiest days of early Marvel being sentenced to eternal torture.

There's a certain kind of sense to Blake being forcibly cast as the god of lies, after all, his whole existence is a complex and endlessly retconned series of lies, and he's literally the opposite number of the (current) All-Father, but still, seems a bit harsh to do an ending with one of the original Marvel protagonists getting poison dripped into his eyes for eternity, or at least, until he inevitably escapes.

[every_spiegel]

When does Cates run end, does anybody know?
Can we have something good happen this year, please?