Danville, Texas, 1875. A loser cowboy named Sundance, whose aim with a gun is as good as his card cheating (for his disgrace) is going to be the key player in one of the gods' little games.
This little story is fun, quick and has plenty of that mythical stuff that makes a Thor tale worth reading. It has mystery at every turn, and it is full of wrong choices, second chances and of things that will never change, like the eternal battle between good and evil, between the good god and the trickster...between good trolls and bad trolls...
Nonetheless, there's a lesson on every classic, and today's is that no matter how bad things are for you or how bad you're doing; there comes a time when you've got to take everything you have inside, stop and do the right thing.
Sundance learned this lesson at the proverbial last moment, when Thor was surrounded by evil trolls, buried beneath them, and without his enchanted hammer to fight them with. He managed to get all his bravery together and, after defeating Fagan the troll, managed to hurt Loki and handle Thor the victory, in the form of a golden magic apple. And the trolls surrounded him no longer, for Thor broke free.
Magic apples? Yes, the apples of the goddess Idunn, which gods must eat from every given number of years, so they can preserve their eternal youth and live forever.
Magic apples? Yes, the ones that Loki, god of mischief and Thor's step-brother, stole from the goddess Idunn long ago, so that his accursed brother would go old and die, like any normal human.
Apples? ...yes, the ones that the troll that Loki trusted them with, hid on Earth, after adopting a human form and going to Danville, Texas.
So Loki became old, but finally found the troll and the golden apples...restoring his youth with just one bite!
But a white clothed man on a white horse had another ideas...to save the gods of Asgard from a certain death by bringing back the magic apples.
And here is where we started; Loki getting his due thanks to a brave shot by Sundance, and Thor succeeding in defeating the horde of trolls and going back to Asgard with some very special apples.
So, even the tiniest of men can be key to help the gods live and breath for some more centuries, even if he doesn't understand the scope of his acts.
Sundance started this tale as a kid, but ended it as a man.
Sam
2 comments:
I read this story here at this site. I knew it was the reviewer's favorite Thor story. I was surprised that Christopher Priest was the writer. For some reason, I thought Jim Shooter was the scribe.
This is why I like fill-ins. You have a good writer that spins a yarn for me, a non-Thor fan. I don't need to have read X amount of back issues to understand the story.
Priest writing a story I like, amazing! I say we limit him to Thor and erase his run on Black Panther!
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