The back story, before the story starts proper is thus: The legend of the Disir comes back to haunt the Asgardians. Once valkyries of Bor, the Disir were cursed for eating the flesh of the dead. Now they can exist only on fallen souls, but not if those souls are safe in Hel where they are guarded by Hela, and neither can they eat the soul of one they have slain themselves. So Bor's curse leaves them with an endless existence with no way of satisfaction, but . . .
Hela has lost her place in Hel after the gods fell to earth, and now there is nowhere for the souls of the dead to be kept, and safely watched over by her. She intended to let the dead roam free. But Loki has convinced her of the truth to the lengend of the Disir who can now eat the souls of the dead since they are left to wander outside Hel. He offers her a place in Hel to keep the dead, a deal he did with Mephisto. As a price for the land, Loki gave Mephisto control of the Disir who he himself had controlled.
The Disir cannot be harmed by any, but a single weapon - Eir-gram - a sword crafted by Loki. He gives this to Hela incase the Disir should attack - and they do. Hela loses the sword in battle, and Kara, one of the Disir takes it to Mephisto in his realm of Hell. There she leaves it, hopefully unretrievable. And so with this weapon their only hope of defeating the Disir, Thor ventures into Hell via a portal made by Hela.
The story is a great romp in the true tradition of all those 80's sword and sorcery flicks. It would've made a great film, with or without the Thor mythos behind it. It may not be important in the overall scheme of the Thor title, but it's so much fun as a stand alone set. The artwork and layout have been given much thought. The framing for the panels that take place in Hel, and Hell are black, whreas the rest are framed in white. also the scenes in Hel all have an orange hue about them. These colour differences really help to add to the feel. It's always good to see that kind of consideration being given. The illustrations have a serious tone that helps to keep the story convincing. The look of the work is evocative of how the Draonlance sagas were done, perfect for this kind of story. It is stunning and extremely beutiful. The faces are consistently drawn with grim realism and never falter to the sometimes cartoonish, lipless, squashed nose faces that have often appeared. I think it worth noting also that like the previous reviewer I agree Mephisto comes off nicely here, and is performed well by both writers and artists. His dialogue and mannerisms are great fun. The dialogue throughout is brilliant. The whole book is written with a heavy tone towards old school fantasy and it works great here. There is a particularly good aspect to this story where Thor understands that Gaea, the mother of all earth has a place even in Hel. And that her pain in having a part of her there is a natural and nessasary part of her being. When things seem lost he prays, not to some random God, but to his father Odin, to aknowledge that he knows Odin cannot help him, but then he prays to Gaea, who is also mother and requests her help. This isnt done in some over the top, Hollywood fashion, but rather in a quiet humble way which made it seem much more personal and added another level to this character Thor. I think it worked very well.
Once again, this is a story with all the great trappings that sword and sorcery fans will love.
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