Summary

• The latest issue of Al Ewing's Immortal Thor explores the nature of storytelling and mythmaking by reimagining a classic Thor adventure.
• Thor and Loki revisit their past adventure in Utgard, where they faced a powerful being, who challenged their understanding of their own power.
• The storyline in Immortal Thor #6, which incorporates Thor #272, explores the idea of losing control of a story and hints at the idea that Thor is no longer in control of his own narrative.

The latest Marvel has taken some wild, enchanting swings through its first several issues. Writer Al Ewing continues to extrapolate deep-cut details from the God of Thunder's lore, turning them into a spell-binding commentary on mythmaking, and the nature of storytelling. The latest issue takes this to the next level, as Thor and Loki re-live the tale of an adventure they went on decades ago.

Thor #272 – written by Roy Thomas, with art by John Buschema, ink by Tom Palmer, color by George Roussos, and lettering by Joe Rosen – is presented as a story being told, as the Asgardian hero recounts the time he and Loki visited the Utgardhall, and encountered the being known as Utgard.

Al Ewing's current Immortal Thor run reimagines Utgard as a realm, inhabited by the Elder Gods, depicted as proto-versions of Asgard's deities. More than just source material, or inspiration, in Immortal Thor #6, 1978's Thor #272 becomes an integral, direct part of the story.

Thor's Earliest Adventure In Utgard Becomes Central To His Latest Arc

As the God of Thunder relates the tale in Thor #272, he and Loki left Asgard and ventured to the mysterious Utgardhall, where they encountered Utgard, whose powers proved to be far beyond even their own abilities as gods. Utgard put the pair through a series of trials that seemed designed to make them understand that they were not the highest power in the cosmos. Though Utgard ominously indicated he could be a danger to Asgard, had Thor not impressed him, ultimately he sent the pair on their way.

In Immortal Thor #6, Loki retells this story to Thor, but not before noting: "a tale retold may not go as you ed." As it turns out, this is more than caution about the faultiness of memories; Loki and Thor enter into the story directly, not only reliving it, but rewriting it. In this way, writer Al Ewing directly incorporates the beats of the decades-old story from Thor #272, using them to contextualize Thor's evolution as a character in the years since, for both the reader, and the Asgardian All-Father himself.

Thor Is No Longer The One Telling His Own Story

Speaking of readers, the final page of Immortal Thor #6 shows the God of Thunder's adversary, the CEO of Roxxon Dario Agger, clutching a copy of Thor #272. "The story's changing as I read it," Agger notes. The villain Enchantress – reading over his shoulder – notes that this is Loki's "scald" magic, or storytelling power. "But two can play at that game," she says, "and the prize is the Mighty Thor." With Thor and Loki's adventure through the pages of this back issue left unfinished, it seems clear that the story won't play out exactly as they .

With the announcement of the in-universe "acquisition" of Marvel Comics by Roxxon, and the Roxxon Presents: Thor series, Al Ewing's current work with the character is increasingly set to become a meditation on what it means to lose control of a story. In Thor #272, the God of Thunder tells his own story; in Immortal Thor #6, Loki is the storyteller, and soon, the nefarious Roxxon Corporation will exert influence over the tale as well. What this means for Marvel's Thor, and what other elements of his back catalog will inform the character's future, only time will tell.