Thor vol. 2 #17Thor vol. 2 #17
Title: “The Eighth Day- part 1 of 4”
Writer: Dan Jurgens
Penciller: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Klaus Janson
Colors: Gregory Wright & Matt Hicks
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Stephan and Courtney sit at a table in an outside diner. Stephan is stumbling over his own words and then finally manages to ask Courtney to marry him. Courtney says that this is such a surprise she starts to make an analogy, and Stephan finishes it for her and says that it is like a “thunderbolt from heaven”. Suddenly Thor falls from the sky and smashes into the ground by Stephan and Courtney. Stephan asks Courtney if she believes in omens. Courtney says that she guesses so, and asks Stephan why. Stephan says that the wedding is off and makes a run for it.
Enrakt stands on his floating chunk of sky. He tells Thor to enjoy the sun and sky because this is the last day he will be able to see them. Enrakt says that right now his brothers are on the verge of tearing Odin’s heart out, and that only their deaths will the Enchanters have their vengeance. Thor swears that no matter how powerful Enrakt is that the Enchanters will not prevail. Enrakt says that Thor is the subject, and that he is the master. Enrakt commands Thor to kneel. Thor stands and hurls his hammer at Enrakt. He says that Enrakt will think far less of himself when Mjolnir knocks him unconscious. Enrakt asks Thor if he has already forgotten that Mjolnir was his home, and that it bends to his will. Enrakt palms Mjolnir. Thor says that this is madness. Enrakt hurls Mjolnir back to Thor. He says that if Thor thinks madness a prelude to death that he will soon have his fill of that. Thor says that Enrakt doesn’t scare him, and that as long as Enrakt’s heart beats that he will rise to oppose him “to the last”. Enrakt says that will be coming soon. He says that his brothers want to take part in Thor’s death just as he wants a part of Odin’s. Enrakt says that he has to go now so that he can watch Odin take his last breath. Thor asks if Enrakt really expects to depart without Thor following him. Thor flies back up to Enrakt’s floating platform. Enrakt says goodbye to Thor until he and the other Enchanters return. He disappears in a flash of green.
Thor starts swinging Mjolnir around, preparing to follow Enrakt, when he spots massive damage to one of the streets below and a bus flying through the air. Thor finally sees Juggernaut as he smashes through some wreckage. Thor says that he suspected the Hulk or Mangog, but that Juggernaut is no less a danger. Thor spots a child trapped under some rubble and a police officer running in to aid. Thor asks himself if he can show less courage. Thor decides that no matter how much danger Odin is in that he would understand that when mortals are in peril that he must be found there.
Thor strikes
Juggernaut with a bolt of lightning. Juggernaut looks up at Thor
and tells him not to bother him because he has somewhere to be.
Thor says that it is at the cost of many and so the battle
begins. Thor hits Juggernaut with Mjolnir, but Juggernaut
isn’t phased at all. He says that he can’t let anyone
stop him. Thor says that because Odin is in danger that the
Juggernaut must be dealt with in haste. Thor starts pounding and
pounding on Juggernaut, but Juggernaut doesn’t even move.
Thor says that it is as if Juggernaut is more powerful than ever
before. Juggernaut punches Thor and says that he is right about
that. Juggernaut says that something is making him more powerful,
and that it is drawing him somewhere. Juggernaut says that he
feels like he can really cut loose and crush anyone… even
Thor. Thor asks Juggernaut why he is attacking the city.
Juggernaut screams that Thor is making his head hurt. Thor looks
at sees the insanity in Juggernaut’s eyes as Juggernaut
punches Thor’s shoulders and drives the Thunder God into the
street like a peg. 
The police
officer yells to Thor that he and the child are clear as he runs
away. Thor tells him to hurry, but Juggernaut tosses Thor into
wall and causes the wall to collapse on Thor. Juggernaut says
that there is too much talking and too much thinking. Juggernaut
walks on. Thor gets up and wonders where there is enough power to
defeat the undefeatable.
In Asgard, Loki watches Thor’s fight against Juggernaut. Loki says that Thor is not undone yet, and that he wouldn’t want it so because he is not done with him. Loki says that he does want to know more about the Juggernaut’s beserker rage and tells the Flame of Truth to reveal his secrets. The Flame tells Loki of how Cain Marko gained the power of the Juggernaut through a gem that gives its possessor the power of the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak. Loki says that it has been a long time since he has heard the name Cyttorak. Loki asks the Flame if Cyttorak and his brethren have human followers as well. The Flame says that they do, and that the call has gone out and the Eighth Day has arrived. It says that a new Exemplar has emerged in Northern Ireland. It says that all of her life Bridget Malone has fought against the harshness of poverty and prejudice. Seeking the peace that was denied her she fled to a desolate area. She found herself drawn by a psychic summons to a long hidden area where she found the Kestrel Key of Krakkan. Just as Cain Marko became the Juggernaut so has Bridget Malone become Conquest, the living embodiment of battle. Loki says that Krakkan is a “droll, wearisome, and particularly malodorous entity”. He asks if there are any others. The Flame says that in Kenya, an Exemplar of the mind has been born. Days ago, Olisa Kabaki was just a girl that was to be “avoided by her fellow villagers”. A disorder of the mind caused Olisa to give up her youthful search for knowledge. Her life was a lonely and solitary life, and she would have been in an asylum if not for the miracle of medication. One day, an intense mental call cut through the medication and led her to the great rift valley where she found the Ivory Idol of Ikonn, and just as Juggernaut and Conquest had she became Bedlam, avatar of mind and madness. Suddenly Tarakis is behind Loki and calls out to Odin. Loki immediately assumes the form of Odin, and yells at Tarakis for intruding on his ponderings. “Odin” tells Tarakis to get out. As Tarakis goes he thinks to himself that it looked like Loki for a second there, but that it is unthinkable that Loki would show his face in Asgard, much less the royal chamber. Loki smiles as Tarakis goes.
Juggernaut smashes a cab as the driver and passenger run for it. Mjolnir bounces off Juggernaut’s back. Thor repeats that the situation Odin is in demands that Juggernaut be “vanquished immediately” so he can rush to Odin’s side. Thor commands Juggernaut to fall and hits him with a mighty blow. He hits Juggernaut again. Juggernaut is momentarily stunned, but he grabs Thor up in a bearhug and shouts that he has to follow the call, and that nothing can stop him. Thor finds that he can’t breathe, and that he might die in a moment. A flash of light reveals the new Avatars Bedlam and Conquest. Conquest says that it seems their brother is occupied, but that time is short and they have a long way to go. Bedlam blasts Thor, and his mind reels in pain. Bedlam sends Thor hurtling away. Thor says that “few hath rendered such assault” on him. Conquest says that he should consider himself lucky, and that next time he will face her. Conquest, Bedlam, and the Juggernaut disappear. Thor wonders if he should go fight for Odin or on mankind’s behalf.
Continued in Iron Man vol. 3 #22
Lightning Crashes rating: 8 out of 10
As a Juggernaut fan I enjoyed this issue very much. Thor sure does get beat up in his own book a lot lately. Eighth Day is a very cool concept, but I can’t help but feel there is a better place that this story could have fit into Thor’s book. I’ll admit that I don’t know as much about Thor and Odin as I do about the Hulk, but I was always under the impression that Odin was always angry with Thor for defending Midgard before his own home. Thor must have been hitting the mead pretty hard to think that Odin would be fine with fighting three Enchanters in a weakened state because Thor had to throw down with Juggernaut. Romita does a good job with the fight, but I wish there were more of it seen.