Issue(s): Thor #248, Thor #249, Thor #250
Cover Date: Jun-Aug 76
Title: "There shall come... revolution!" / "The throne and the fury!" / "If Asgard should perish...!"
Credits:
Len Wein - Writer
Marv Wolfman - Plot Assist on #248-249
John Buscema - Penciler
Tony DeZuniga - Inker

Review/plot:
Odin has replaced the Vizier with Igron, seemingly acting as a Wormtongue type of adviser...

...and he's been acting very strangely.

Thor, Balder, Jane, and the Warriors Three fight their way into Asgard and free the Vizier, and join a group of rebels organized by Hildegarde and Krista.

It turns out that when holding Sif's sword, Jane actually becomes Sif (at least when in Asgard), similar to the Donald Blake/Thor dynamic.

That's one way to resolve a love triangle! After recruiting Karnilla the Norn Queen to help balance Odin's magic...

...Thor fights his way to Odin, but it turns out that Odin is really Mangog.

It turns out that when Igron was last thrown into the Asgardian dungeons, he found a tiny Mangog scurrying around, and they formed an alliance.

Igron used his magic to restore Mangog and then disguise him as Odin, and after "Odin" was on the throne he had Igron released.

Despite my dislike of constantly using "Odin acting funny" stories, it's a good plot. You might also think that it's a bit subtle for Mangog, but he's still in a weakened state now that he's self-powered instead of drawing energy from the hatred of the billion billion beings that Odin eventually freed.

Initially only Thor learns about Mangog, and the other Asgardians assume they are still fighting a crazy Odin...

...but eventually Hildegarde guesses the truth and Mangog reveals his true form to everyone.

However, without the "belief" of the other Agardians to sustain him, Mangog suddenly disappears.

As always, John Buscema's art is very nice.

This will be Jane Foster's last appearance until Thor #334.

And now, some fun with the Warriors Three:

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - development in the Jane Foster/Sif dynamic

Chronological Placement Considerations: This arc begins with Thor and Jane returning from Costa Verde, so no Thor appearances between Thor #246-247 and this entry (the Warriors Three, on the other hand, appear in Marvel Spotlight #30). The MCP places Thor's appearances from issue #240-255 between his appearances in Avengers #151 & #159.

References:

• Thor was banished from Asgard in Thor #242.
  
• Jane Foster was previously in Asgard - and failed to win immortality - in Thor #136.
  
• Igron was put into the dungeons where he found tiny Mangog after Thor #217.
  
• Mangog was supposed to have consumed himself in Thor #198, but "the spark of my fury lived on".
  
• Igron restored Mangog to size by draining the life-force from the other Asgardians. This resulted in the lethargy we saw in Thor #240.
  
• What allowed Igron and Mangog to get away with all of this was the fact that Odin had been amnesiac on Earth since Thor #233. But he didn't return to Asgard after getting free from the Egyptian Gods' mind control.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Mangog (rightly) will not be seen again until the "Heroes Return" era, over two decades later. The question of how Mangog could still exist if he was only a living prison for his race, created by Odin and then later dissipated to allow Mangog's people to live again, is never answered. My head canon answer is that Odin was young and inexperienced when he cast the spell, and called upon external forces he could not fully control, so the spell took on a life of its own. I've been rereading the original Mangog saga, and in addition to being comprised of "a billion billion" beings, Mangog's race is said to have occupied "a thousand, thousand" worlds, and to have "brought death to a thousand galaxies," making them much vaster and more deadly than the Kree, the Skrull, or any other Marvel aliens. I can only assume this interstellar genocide took place long ago and far away, which is why we have never heard of it again.

He appears in Marvel Fanfare #51.

I stand corrected. Though, as fnord notes, that story isn't in continuity.