We've posted a lot of teasers and things this week, but I want to spotlight my favorite bit of minutia lest it fall through the cracks forever. Marvel has reissued an old cross-section of the universe. Oddly enough it looks like we exist in a terrarium. But this is more than just a bottle city (Pardon my Kandor). This is the whole universe, replete with rainbow bridges and chutes and ladders and there's even a tree in there. This is where Thor lives. It's where Jane and Odin and all the pandas and crickets and skrulls live too. And presented in a matter-of-fact diagram suitable for posting in a fifth grade classroom.
Volstag probably had to memorize this once so he could fill in the proper runes on ye olde scantron test.
Verily cool.
Where would you want to live? Do you suppose giant squirrels live in that tree? I think they do. I'm losing sleep over it.
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“Pardon my Kandor” broke my brain.
I remember this from the Handbook to the Marvel Universe when I was a kid (I forget which version, Grunwald was editing). I got issue #1, just because it was a #1, and it was in there and I thought it was so awesome. I was all like, “there are EVEN WORSE places than Hell!?”
Eliot Brown! His OHOTMU technical specs were some of the highlights of my childhood. What 13-year-old doesn’t need a full cross-sectional diagram of the Wrecker’s crowbar?
The note at the bottom about the relative scale absolutely kills me. Just keeled over, pulseless.
I love making up facts about the places with no description.
“Alfheim – home of the cat-eating aliens”
This is poppycock! Where is the giant turtle!!!???
Paul there is a similar cross section is this weeks Loki #2 issue. Check it out!
If I’m remembering my Vikings class correctly, I’m reasonably sure there is a giant squirrel that runs through Yggdrasil
@deezer: Ratatoskr
Valhalla!
Hey, I remember this image! It’s from the 80s and reflects changes from the Walt Simonson‘s run on the Thor book. You can see that the Rainbow Bridge is broken — cut into two by a 1000 feet tall Surtur. Man, Walt was great on Thor.
@PaulMontgomery Lovin’ that Kandor joke!
I think they put this into those Jack Kirby Thor reprints from last year because I remember seeing this not too long ago. Still very cool
I just wanna live forever. it sux that cannot happen. =( What is that Midgard Serpent?
@excalipoor I found two good wiki pages on summarizing the Midgard Serpent (a.k.a. Jörmungandr) one on the actual Norse Mythology, and the other on the various Marvel stories in which the Midgard Serpent appears in.
In short, it is known that the Midgard Serpent and Thor are destined to fight a battle at the start of Ragnarök, in which Thor will kill the enormous serpent, but then Thor will succumb to his wounds and also die. In the comics all the gods know this as prophecy, and a few Thor writers introduce/play around with “loop holes” in the story so the two can face off from time to time. (The way this is handled in the Thor comics reminds me of the Orion and Darkseid prophecy from the Jack Kirby’s Forth World / New Gods comics.)
Personally I remember in the Simonson run Thor fights Jörmungandr, vanquishes the beast, but Thor doesn’t die because Hela had previously put a curse on Thor making his bones weak, he’s unable to heal, and he’s unable to die (THE LOOP HOLE). So at the end of this battle Thor lies helpless on the ground, his bones dust, and his body a big mass of pulp inside his armor — kind of like some comical Gary Larson boneless chicken.
See for more details:
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midgard_Serpent_%28Marvel_Comics%29
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B6rmungandr
Suddenly everything makes senses…
@JesTr Yes! i knew I wasn’t going insane!
Also, having finally gotten a chance to look at this, it’s absolutely wonderful, I never knew I needed this until right now. The fine print is hilarious
Paul Montogomery Dominating the boards.
Article – Machine Man.
Good. I needed this with Thor and Hella showing in X-Factor.
Paul is the pun master. Shakespeare would be jealous.
Odin bless the OHOTMU.
Damn this is just awesome, i hope something like this pops up in the movie