Appearing in "One Life to Give"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- ⏴ Absorbing Man (Crusher Creel) ⏵ (Main story and flashback)
Other Characters:
- Loki (Mentioned)
- Kamo Tharnn (Mentioned)
- Hela (Mentioned)
- NYPD
- Judith
- three village bullies (Unnamed)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- New York
- California
- small coastal town (Unnamed)
- Vermont (Only in flashback)
- Rutland (Only in flashback)
Items:
Synopsis for "One Life to Give"
After battling fiercely for twelve minutes, Thor and the Absorbing Man have paused for a moment, but then that moment ends and they begin fighting again. Thor gets in two good blows, knocking Creel down, but then the villain trips Thor and clobbers him while he's down, knocking him out. To celebrate the fact that he's beaten Thor, the Absorbing Man starts rampaging. Having watched the battle from Jane Foster's hospital room, Hercules wants to help Thor but Sif insists that she needs his help to save Jane's life now, before it's too late.
Elsewhere, in a small California coastal town, Judith and Orrin arrive to do some shopping for the commune. While Judith shops for groceries, Orrin remain with the truck and is hassled by a trio of thugs who object to the idea of an "old geezer" hanging around with a "young broad." When they try to physically assault him, Orrin casually disposes of them all, including swatting away the one who hit him with a billy club with such force that he flies across the street and through the window of the store where Judith is shopping. Realizing what he's done, Orrin is shocked speechless by the implication.
Back in New York City, the Absorbing Man has decimated two square blocks of Midtown Manhattan during the half-hour that Thor has lain unconscious. However, once he regains awareness, Thor pulls himself to his feet and gets back in the fight.
Meanwhile, in the hospital room, the Grand Vizier and Hercules watches as Sif uses the Runestaff, reciting an ancient chant to control it.
In the street below, Creel gets a good hit on Thor and says that he's going to hurt the thunder god for what he did when last they fought, revealing that he would have died when he turned to water if he hadn't passed a rock when the river moved him downstream. Hearing this, Thor punches Creel in the face before declaring that he has no choice but to flee. Seeing Thor running away from him, the Absorbing Man pursues him into a department store where he confronts the thunder god in the toy department. As Thor holds out Mjolnir in an attempt to fend him off, Creel reminds him that he can absorb its power and does so. However, when Creel then punches Thor in the face, his arm collapses like cardboard, which it now is. Thor then knocks Creel out with a single blow and then picks up the Mjolnir whose power Creel had just absorbed, revealing that it was actually just a cardboard toy replica of Mjolnir.
Later, the police load a large cardboard box containing Creel into a paddy wagon, reasoning that the Absorbing Man will be unable to escape because touching the box will make him as weak as cardboard, a guy who really can't punch his way out of a paper bag. When Thor suddenly sees a glow from Jane's hospital room, he fears that some evil has befallen her and flies to the brightly-lit room. However, when he enters the room and demands to know what's happening, Jane answers him, finally conscious again. Overjoyed that Jane doth live, Thor asks if Sif has seen but, when she doesn't answer, the Grand Vizier reveals that Sif is gone. Since Jane Foster's life-force was ebbing as she died, Sif had to transfer her own living energy into Jane's corporeal form in order to revive her, and the transferal was total. As a result, Jane Foster lives and Sif lives within her.
Notes
- In this issue, Orrin recalls that he's been living with Judith's "family" at their commune for almost a month, and a footnote states that Odin first appeared at the commune in Thor #233. Similarly, Sif states that Jane Foster has trembled on the verge of death for many weeks, implying that it's been that long since Thor discovered that she had been hospitalized in Thor #231. However, the time that seems to have elapsed during these six issues seems to be much less, only a matter of a few days. This is due, in part, to the fact that the main storylines featuring Thor are forced to occur close together in time by Sif's secondary storyline, as when, in Thor #234, Sif and Hercules arrived on Kamo Tharnn's planet at the same time that Thor was trapped by Loki's diamond-spell.
- This issue is broken down into three chapters:
- Chapter One: Crisis
- Chapter Two: Lo, This Hidden Mystery
- Chapter Three: Resurrection
- In this issue, Sif and Jane Foster are seemingly merged into one being. Exactly what happened is actually a bit more complicated, as will later be revealed in Thor #335. For now, Sif will not be seen again until Thor #249 when Jane, while in Asgard, holds Sif's sword and accidentally strikes it against a wall, causing herself to vanish and Sif to appear in her place.
- This issue contains a letters page, The Hammer Strikes. Letters are published from Mike Iacampo, Bruce Dowaliby, Jack L. Bannon, Gary Sabshon, and Paul Hickey.