COMIC DETAILS
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Comic Description:
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Thor 344 Signature
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Grade:
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9.8
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Page Quality:
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WHITE
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Certification #:
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3743373011
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Owner:
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Thorseface
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SET DETAILS
Owner's Description
Thor no. 344: “Whatever happened to Balder the Brave?”
Publication date: June 10, 1984
Signed by Walt Simonson on 11/12/20.
Census: As of 6/20/23, 202 copies in 9.8 (up by 11), of which 20 are signed (up by 2). There is 1 unsigned Canadian 9.8
Writer, penciler: Simonson
Letterer: Workman
Inker: Terry Austin
Colorist: Christie Scheele
Favorite line and some thoughts:
"An excellent jest. Well worth the price of a stiff neck for a day or so."
-Loki, as he reattaches his head to his neck.
At the beginning of this issue we find Balder at Nornkeep with Karnilla (I've always dug Karnilla, the wicked medieval Cher of Marvel Comics whose fascination with Balder has always seemed to me as weird as Cher's marriage to Sonny Bono, but I digress). Geri, one of Odin's wolves (a creature from Norse mythology, like Odin's Ravens Hugin and Munin), makes a fun appearance here as Odin's messenger to Balder.
This issue features the first appearance of Malekith, lord of the Dark Elves. Like Bill he was Walt's creation (i.e. not directly drawn from Norse mythology and a brand new Marvel baddy), his purpose to serve as harbinger of approaching doom (or "DOOM!!!" to be more precise). The dark elves are referenced in the Poetic and Prose Eddas (the oldest written sources we have for Norse mythology) but not with great frequency, so not much is known about them. They do live underground, and Walt accordingly located their stronghold beneath the earth in subsequent issues. Malekith, for his part, looks rather like a jester / hair metal god from the planet Cheron. I wonder if he was partially inspired by the description of Hel, the daughter of Loki, in the Prose Edda, where we are told that her flesh is half black and half white (or lighter). I always found Malekith extremely disturbing and was disappointed by the dry representation of the character in 2013's "Thor: The Dark World" (I was also "ravenous" for another Walt and Weezie cameo and didn't get one. Grrrrrr, as Geri would say).
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