| Sssthgar is the leader of an alien lizard race from a far away planet. He proceeds to tell Thor and company (over a mug of Asgardian mead) his sob story about how a race of (ahem) "technologically advanced ants" called Vrellnexians came and conquered his planet and enslaved his people. He then tells Thor about the Vrellnexians coming to Asgard and enslaving the entire godly empire, taking them to sell as slave stock on their homeworld, the Golden Star. I have no idea how a bunch of hi-tech ants managed to kick Odin's ass, but Gerry Conway wrote it, not me! (Ok, settle down, Gerry's still one of my favorite writers, and this is one of my favorite Thor stories of all time, so no disrespect meant to Gerry). Anyway, Sssthgar and his lizards team up with Thor long enough to open a 55-gallon drum of whoop-ass on the Vrellnexian ant people and free Odin, only to then turn on Thor and his friends. That'll teach them to trust a freakin' race of cold blooded reptiles, huh? | |
 | After a suitable ass kicking by Thor and company for being so treacherous, Sssthgar reveals to Thor that his lady love Sif and the Norn Queen Karnilla were sold to miners from the Dark Nebula, a dangerous and forbidden galaxy (Thor had been searching for them for months already without success). So Thor takes with him one serious posse of pissed-off Asgardian powerhouses...Odin the All Father, Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg (the Warriors Three), Hildegarde the Valkyrie (one heckuva woman...she's about 8' tall!), and Hiemdal (the guardian of the Rainbow Bridge), along with Tana Nile (a Rigellian Colonizer) and Silas Grant, her friend. They fly to the Dark Nebula in the Asgardian ship Starjammer (a cool vehicle way under-used since the good old days), leaving poor Sssthgar to fend for himself against the now-freed slaves of the planet Golden Star. This ending just begged for a re-appearance by Sssthgar in the future, but unfortunately it never came about. So Thor and company journey on to the Dark Nebula. When they arrive, they question the few miners left concerning the whereabouts of Karnilla and Sif. Apparently these guys are mining an asteroid containing a huge mountain-sized ruby crystal. The miners suggest that it might be a crew of rivals who bought Karnilla and Sif as slaves. |
| Before anything can happen though, they're attacked by our second forgotten character, Mercurio the 4D Man, accompanied by a few dozen warriors from his homeworld! Mercurio is another alien villain, coming from a planet on the far edge of Earth's galaxy. He has the power to shoot blazing flames from one hand and intense cold and ice from the other, a nasty combo that brings to mind a souped-up Human Torch/Iceman hybrid! Cool looking costume too, huh? (Love the blue skin!) Mercurio knows about the existence of the ruby crystal, and he knows a few secrets about it too. ;-) So he wants to steal it to help save his world (which is on the verge of destruction due to some disaster). Of course, Thor's posse wipes up the asteroid with Mercurio and his band. But suddenly the ruby crystal rises out from the asteroid, and lo and behold...Sif and Karnilla are trapped inside, like flies in amber! Which will soon lead us to the introduction of the third character of this forgotten saga, and my favorite of the three...Xorr! |  |
 | Mercurio is a really neat character. He only appeared in 4 issues of Thor (# 208, 214-216), and his final appearance (that I know of) in Captain Marvel # 51. I wish they'd have used him more. Maybe have him team up with Equinox! ;-D (Forgotten character aficionados will get the joke!) |
| Anyway, back to our story, and the introduction of Xorr! Apparently, the ruby crystal is alive and sentient, and feeding off the life energies of Sif and Karnilla. A bit of trivial Marvel history here, sure to send a True Believer into a frenzy of nostalgia, but likely to draw a blank stare from others...the crystal was originally a race of people whose sun went nova 6 million years ago. This advanced race spawned all other humanoid races including the human race, the Kree, the Skrulls, etc. Hey...Gerry wrote it, it's canon, 'Nuff Said! So this race had 200 years to prepare for the impending nova. The race was so attached to their world, they decided to build immense, moon-sized machines that encased their planet in a shield of pure nuclear force. The nuclear shell saved the planet, but wrapped it in a radioactive cocoon as it was blasted into space. Over the eons, it contracted until it reached its current mountainous size, turned into a giant ruby crystal. It landed on an asteroid in the Dark Nebula and has lain dormant until now. The crystal's name is the same as the planet that formed it...Xorr! Xorr, the Spawner of Worlds as it now calls itself, manifests part of itself as the God Jewel, an immense ruby giant. Xorr's goal? To conquer the universe beyond the Dark Nebula, and create "...a new order to the structure of living things, an order which will favor Xorr..."! |  |
 | Claiming himself (itself?) more powerful than even Galactus (I'd take issue with him over that, Galactus is my absolute favorite, but I'll give him a draw just to be fair), he begins to construct a recreation of the original home-planet called Xorr, and just for good measure starts sucking in dead planets and dying stars from the galactic rim. Ok, so he'd give Galactus one hell of a fight, I'll go that far! ;-) To wrap things up, Thor and Mercurio manage to free Sif and Karnilla while Odin leads the God Jewel Xorr to a far away star that is ready to go supernova. As Xorr tries to absorb that energy, he ends up overloading and blowing himself to bits. Mercurio salvages the shards of exploded crystal and will use it to save his world, Thor finds his beloved Sif (I like Karnilla more myself), and everyone goes home happy (except Xorr who is now destroyed). A truly great epic! |
| We skip ahead now a few issues, to Thor # 218. Odin has sent Thor and a few of his Asgardian allies to Rigel, homeworld of the Rigellian Colonizers. You might recognize the Colonizers of Rigel as the race to which belongs Tana Nile, a Rigellian friend of Thor's (and a forgotten character in her own right). Here's a picture of her from Thor # 211. |  |
 | So anyway, Rigel is in trouble. Why? Because of the approach of the Black Stars. The Black Stars are a group of five planets, each being three times the size of Jupiter, all connected and travelling around an even more immense star. This planetary system moves throughout the universe, devouring whole galaxies! (And people complain about Galactus!) ;-) As Thor's group approaches Rigel, they find out that it's been destroyed, and the Rigellians have all abandoned their planet in a fleet of ships. Not being one to ever back down from a fight, Thor leads his team to confront the Black Stars and hopefully find a way to stop them, since they still threaten Asgard. As they make their way towards one of the planets of the Black Star group (the one called Rhun), they're attacked by a giant made of living metal. His name? Avalon! After a short battle, we find out that Avalon's attack on Thor's posse was simply a test. He hopes that Thor will agree to help him free his people from the masters of the Black Stars. He explains how the masters of the Black Stars created his race from living metal in order to serve them, mainly by repairing the machines running the planet, and by being guardians against attacks on the planetary system. |
| Of course, Thor being so noble and whatnot, agrees to help Avalon's people. So they make their way to Rhun, one of the Black Star planets. As they're about to land, they're attacked by another one-shot character, called the Protector! He's not that impressive, just another alien robotic pwerhouse who makes his one appearance here in Thor # 219, but still kinda cool because he reminds me of Galactus's Punisher lackey. |  |
 | After Thor readily trashes the Protector, he and Avalon arrive on Rhun, and find themselves standing on a platform. As they look out, they finally lay eyes on one of the masters of the Black Stars...Kragonn! Yup, those are Thor's and Avalon's voices you see emanating from the front of that tube platform...the masters of the Black Stars are giants! Actually, Kragonn is a little underwhelming as a character despite his size. None of the giants are very interesting actually. For a race so advanced that they were able to link up 5 planets each 3 times the size of Jupiter, they seem a little too human and riddled with human frailties. Avalon is by far the most interesting forgotten character in this 3-issue Blackstars saga. |
| Finally, we come to the last of the forgotten characters of this saga...Dracus. Dracus is boring, I admit. He's the stereotyped sniveling lackey with ulterior motives. Kragonn has given him a machine that actually holds the microscopic sized (to them) Thor and Avalon prisoners. To sum up the issue, Thor and company escape the container, a battle breaks out, and Thor convinces Kragonn to accompany his team to another of the Black Star planets because he and the others believe that the other Black Star planets are dead. Sure enough, it turns out they are. Kragonn allows Thor and Avalon and their friends to go free. No longer does the Black Star system need to devour galaxies because they only need to support one planet now. I know, not the greatest story ever, but we did get four really obscure one-shot characters out of it...Avalon, Kragonn, the Protector and Dracus. |  |
 | Well, if you want a tragic forgotten character, a literal throw-away, then you almost can't beat the next one. This odd issue (Thor #231) showcases the story you see on the page to the left. We see a seance in progress, run by a woman who's an obvious fraud, making money off the tragedies of innocent people. Shame on her! Her mousy son Arnold is in on the game too. They bilk people out of money by preying upon their desire to contact deceased loved ones. Well, this time, karma kinda catches up with them! ;-) Arnold whispers to his nasty mommy about feeling another personality. Mommy brushes him off as over-playing his role...until something starts to happen! |
| This time, they really DO make contact with the spirit world...and little whiney Arnold begins to transform into a neanderthal-like monster! He's possessed by the spirit of Armak, the First Man! Well, at least that's what he tells us. He snatches up an innocent woman and runs off. Apparently Armak believes he is the first "man" that ever lived. If he's supposedly the first man, then what happened to Adam and Eve? And if this is what Armak (or Adam ) looks like, I'd be afraid to see Eve! =:-o Apparently man has become much weaker over the course of evolution, because Armak meets up with Hercules and does a decent job of tossing the Olympian god around. Unfortunately for Armak, Thor sees Hercules's plight on tv and comes rushing over. Thor had to leave the bedside of his beloved Jane Foster, who is dying. I sure would hate to be in Armak's shoes now! True to form, Thor starts to unload some whoop-ass on Armak, and the battle leads to a construction site. |  |
 | As the combatants tumble into an elevator, their arms flip the switch and up they go, into an unfinished skyscraper. Armak/Arnold's mother is below on a police bullhorn, trying to reach her son and ask him to stop fighting and come down. Well, he does come down all right! Thor about shatters the "first man's" jaw, and sends him tumbling down to the street below. We find out that while man was much stronger when he was first created, he was never able to fly, because poor Arnak floats about as gracefully as granite, and plunges head-first into the cement. So much for the "first man". Check out that impact scene. Pretty gruesome, huh? Hey, karma's a bitch, but I still felt kinda sorry for Armak. Especially when, a few issues later, Loki informs Thor that it was his magic that transformed Arnold into Armak. Hey, they don't call Loki the god of evil for nothing! ;-) |
| OK, on to more pleasant things. The next character is a real favorite of mine, and I almost dread finding out what travesty they've committed on him in the 90's. His name is Kamo Tharnn, the Possessor! According to his first appearance (Thor #235), Kamo Tharnn is a godlike being (godlike as in Asgardian or Olympian). He possesses the Runestaff, which supposedly holds the power of life and death. Sif and Hercules are travelling to his world in order to obtain the Runestaff so they can heal Thor's dying beloved, Jane Foster. Not much info is given on Kamo Tharnn, just a notation from Hildegarde the Valkyrie (more on her later) about how the Runestaff has the power of life and death. As Sif and Hercules arrive on Kamo Tharnn's world, they encounter the odd Elder of the Universe (as he is later classified). Note the mention of "since he came...an eternity ago". |  |
 | The Runestaff is one of those great artifacts in the Marvel Universe, up there with the Evil Eye, Mjolnir, and the Cosmic Cube. Hmmm...I'm going to add a section on artifacts later too! What a cool weapon, huh? Eventually, they bring the staff back and it heals Jane Foster. I don't know what happens next with Kamo Tharnn (I'm missing the next issue right now), but if anyone knows, drop me a line? Thanks! |
| Thor seems to have had lots of cool one-shot characters popping up in his mag in the 70's, huh? Ok, let's move ahead a few issues. Once again, our favorite troll, Ulik, has gotten into battle with Thor (Thor # 238). He's managed to kidnap Jane Foster, Thor's love, and is using her as leverage to get Thor to help Ulik claim rulership of the troll underworld from Gierrodur, the King of Trolls. They go underground and eventually do meet up with Gierrodur and his new bad-ass enforcer, Zotarr! Kinda makes him sound like a Space Ghost villain, huh? ;-) Anyway, here he is....Zotarr! |  |
 | Despite Zotarr's immense strength (he seems to overpower Ulik pretty easily), Thor manages to take him out licketty-split! Don't you just love this page? Thor just kicks royal ass! Can you tell I'm a huge Thor fan? ;-) Thor not only manages to chop the big lug apart, he also has time to administer some godly Asgardian advice as well! Too bad Zotarr took a powder in this one, never to return. He had some cool armor. And...a secret! |
| His secret? He was a construct! Yup...created in the same forge that Thor's hammer Mjolnir was forged in millenia ago! Too bad Zotarr didn't hold up as well. ;-) Oh well. Easy come, easy go! |  |