Thor vs. the Greek Army

cover art by Keith Pollard

As we've seen before, Roy Thomas' love for Golden Age superheroes would cause him to drop those heroes into a story at the drop of a hat should he have the slightest opportunity to do so.

He was also quite a fan of ancient mythology, so when presented with an opportunity to incorporate that bit of his personal fandom into a story, he would not hesitate to do so. And, since he was a good writer, the end result would often be a fun story.

We see this in the Thomas-penned tale in Thor Annual #8 (1979), a tale set in Thor's younger days, which happen to coincide with the Trojan War. Thus, the story is in many ways a retelling of the Iliad, with Thor given a guest-starring role.

John Buscema did the breakdowns for this issue, with Tony DeZuniga stepping in to do the finished art and the inking. I love the work of both men and the finished product here is beautiful, but there is a part of me that suspects that it would have looked even more awesome if Buscema had done the finished art himself.

The story opens with Thor and Loki fighting a skirmish with some frost giants, in an area that Thor recognizes as an area that once contained a rift that led to Olympus. The battle with the giants reopens that rift, which Loki quickly decides to investigate. Thor goes after him, but the tunnel branches off in different directions and the two gods are separated. A mist in the tunnel also gives them both temporary amnesia.

But amnesia doesn't keep Thor from being able to kick butt. Or in this specific case, kick giant boar butt. He saves Aeneas, an ally of King Priam of Troy, from a wounded beast.

Aeneas had sneaked out of Troy, currently besieged by the Greeks, to go hunting, so Thor accompanies him back to the city. Thor, in the meantime, gradually regains his memory.

What follows is essentially Cliff Notes version of the Iliad, with a flashback bringing us up to speed on the Helen of Troy thing, followed by highlights of some of the important action, such as Aphrodite saving her wounded son Aeneas and Diomedes (wth a power boost from Athena) wounding two of the Greek gods.

Thor, since he's befriended Aeneas, jumps on on the Trojan side when the young man is wounded.

 But Zeus objects to an upstart god from another pantheon interfering in the war. He and Thor end up in an epic fight that lasts for days, while the events of the Iliad play out back on Earth.

Thor is outmatched by Zeus, but the Thunder God refuses to quit. He's afraid that his defeat will lead to a destructive war between Asgard and Olympus.

Zeus, though, has an ancient non-aggression pack with Odin, so Thor has no reason to be concerned. Consequently, he and Zeus eventually shake hands, call it a draw and agree that the gods from both pantheons simply need to leave both the Trojans and the Greeks alone. (Actually, Asgard and Olympus did eventually get into a tiff, as was recounted three years earlier in Thor Annual #5.)

cover art by Jack Kirby

But, in a twist that is somehow both predictable and cool, Thor finds Loki and discovers the trickster god had given the Greeks the idea for the Trojan Horse.

Earlier, I called this story a Cliff Notes version of the Iliad and that might have sounded like a put-down. It wasn't. This retelling of a classic myth is well-written, well-illustrated and entertaining. I think that tossing a superhero into an ancient myth can be seen as a tribute to those myths, without which the superheroes they inspired would likely never have existed at all.

Next week, we'll take a look at another story from my favorite comic book of all time: Dell's Indian Chief.