Thor - The Legend Years: Part 1

BACK WHEN THOR FIRST APPEARED IN 1963 he wasn't actually a god. Just a disabled American doctor who, through pure chance, acquired the powers of the mighty Norse god. And over the next twenty issues of the title, that concept would evolve as mortal Doctor Don Blake became Thor ... without any explanation as to how that happened. Those issues were covered in an earlier trio of entries in this blog, When did Don Blake become Thor?

Journey into Mystery 103 was the first for a while where Jack Kirby made a significant contribution. The two new villains, though Asgardians, are not figures we're familiar with from mythology.

Though Jack Kirby had been back on Journey into Mystery with issue 101 (Feb 1964), the two-part story in this and the following issue felt very much like a script that had been intended for Don Heck to draw. It wasn't until Journey into Mystery 103 (April 1964), that we really felt this was the Lee-Kirby machine back in action.

Chic Stone's exceptional inking over Kirby pencils works both ways - it does make for an uber-gorgeous Enchantress, but also gives us a polished, less-brutal version of The Executioner.

This was the issue that would introduce two of Thor's greatest foes - The Enchantress (later to be named Amora) and The Executioner (Skurge) - neither of whom were based on actual figures from the pantheon of Norse gods. And though both seek to harm Thor and Jane Foster is a variety of ways, we shouldn't forget that it's Odin, Thor's loving father, who signs off on the plan.

Beauty and The Beast: Loki drafts in The Enchantress to make Thor forget Jane Foster ... and The Enchantress brings on some muscle in case persuasion doesn't work.

It should come as no surprise that neither Don Blake nor his alter ego would be likely to fall for the wiles of a brazen hussy like The Enchantress. When her first plan fails, The Enchantress engages the services of The Executioner to abduct Jane Foster. Quite how this will help the sorceress to seduce Thor isn't made clear. But the Executioner isn't really to be trusted and happily brings back Jane from Limbo, where he's stashed her, in exchange for Thor's hammer. The Executioner's made two crucial blunders here. None who are unworthy can wield Mjolnir, so Thor's hammer is useless to him, and secondly, he's double-crossed The Enchantress, who doesn't take it well and turns him into a tree.

It's such ramshackle plotting that I sometimes wonder why certain sections of fandom argue endlessly over who plotted what in Silver Age Marvel comics. This isn't one I'd expect either Lee or Kirby to raise their hand to. But it's carried along by the exuberance of Lee's dialogue, which somehow sellotapes it all together and adds a veneer of credibility.

Loki recklessly releases Skagg the Storm Giant and Surtur the Fire Demon to attack Midgard. It doesn't occur to him that someone might notice.

The following month, Journey into Mystery 104 (May 1964) gave us an all-Asgard slug-fest, orchestrated through Loki's wily machinations. Following up on the idea that Thor is forbidden to love a mortal, Loki plants the idea that if Odin were to go to Midgard himself, he could soon sort out the unruly Thor. Odin thinks that's splendid idea and sets off for Earth, leaving Loki in charge of Asgard. And Loki's first order of business is to turn Skagg the Storm Giant and Surtur the Fire Demon loose on Midgard. But Heimdall senses the release of the evil beings and alerts Balder to travel to Earth to aid Odin and Thor. Odin temporarily transports the human race to "a dimension beyond the ken human mind" and the three Asgardians engage Skagg and Surtur in a five page battle. But for all the sound and fury, nothing is actually resolved, and Odin leaves his son on Earth to pursue his forlorn hope of marrying Jane Foster.

Like last issue, the plotting leaves some gaping holes unaddressed. Odin on Earth allows for a couple of comedy sequences, but that's about it. He could have just as easily summoned Thor to Asgard for a good telling off. And transporting humanity to a parallel dimension? Why not just a spell of forgetfulness? Then on the last page Don Blake thinks to himself "Of the billions of mortals, only I know what transpired here while time stood still." Except, Don, you're not a mortal, and time didn't stand still.

It's an enjoyable romp if you don't think about it too closely, but it doesn't compare with the later Asgard-based stories we'd see in issues like Journey into Mystery 116 (May 1965) a year later.

This issue of JiM would have been on sale at the same time as Avengers 5 (May 1964), so Stan wanted to promote the new team title by including a scene with the other Avengers at the start of the story.

Journey into Mystery 105 (Jun 1964) brought back to Midgard with a bump. Thor was facing not one but two villains from earlier adventures, The Cobra and Mr Hyde, introduced in Journey into Mystery 98 and 99 respectively. Both debuted during the Stan Lee-Don Heck era and very much have the feel of Lee baddies ... but under Kirby's expert pencil, they seem all the more menacing here.

Yup ... wasn't imagining it. Mr Hyde really did live in a castle, in Journey into Mystery 100 (Jan 1964).

After a two-page intro, establishing Thor as a member of The Mighty Avengers, the sneaky Cobra attacks the Thunder God as he flies past. But ploy fails and The Cobra flees the scene, entering the nearby apartment of scientist Calvin Zabo (didn't he used to live in a spooky old castle?). This is when The Cobra makes the second mistake of the day. Thinking a "mere scientist" easy pickings, the slithery villain is about to demand money when Zabo gulps down some of his serum and transforms into Mr Hyde. There's a two-page scuffle before the pair realise that they had both battled Thor recently and would do better working together. Fortunately, Mr Hyde has a plan and a Time Reversal Ray. He just need to point his invention at a victim and the device records that person's recent history.

Isn't it lucky that The Cobra and Mr Hyde aren't smart enough to figure out that if Thor can be seen leaving the office of Dr Don Blake via the window then he might just be Don Blake?

Staging a robbery to lure Thor out, Mr Hyde has his partner stationed nearby with the Ray. Thor's recent actions are recorded and the gloating pair watch as Thor flies backwards through the window of Dr Don Blake. Figuring there must be some sort of connection between Blake and Thor, they burst into Blake's surgery and demand he tell them where Thor is. Blake is able to transform into Thor, with the lightning flash blinding the villainous pair preventing them witnessing the transformation. Rather than fighting Thor, the duo just run away. Not much of a plan, really. But Hyde has another play. He leads Thor to an industrial machinery convention where the Cobra uses an "atomic-powered hydraulic hoist" to pluck Mjolnir from Thor's fingers. Which leads us into the cliff-hanger, in which Thor has sixty seconds to recover his hammer, or else.

This was the issue of Journey into Mystery where Stan jettisoned the five-page fantasy back-ups and expanded the main Thor feature to 18 pages. It definitely benefits from the extra space, and this story is a two-parter ... positively luxurious for Marvel series of this era.

The Treacherous Hyde allows his partner The Cobra to be captured by police, but that leaves him to battle Thor alone and it's pretty much a one-sided affair.

The leisurely pacing continues the following month where, in Journey into Mystery 106 (Jul 1964), Don Blake doesn't get his walking stick back until page 8. There's another four pages taken up with a hand-to-hand battle between Thor and Mr Hyde, but such an uneven contest isn't really worthy of the space given to it. It's almost like there wasn't enough story for the remaining 18 pages so Stan and Jack eked it out to fill the mag. Five pages could easily have been trimmed without hurting the tale one bit. But 18 pages was the length of the main Thor story now and Stan was committed.

It's worth noting as an aside that, after a revolving door of inkers since its start in Journey into Mystery 97, the back-up feature "Tales of Asgard" got a new regular inker Vince Colletta who would, for better or worse, become the principle inker on the backup and later the main strip until Kirby's last issue of Thor, 179 (Aug 1970).

The villain in Journey into Mystery 107 was a variation on the Gorgon legend of ancient Greece, whose look could turn a man to stone. It was a theme that Stan Lee had used many times in the pre-hero fantasy titles, so I'm inclined to attribute Stan the creator credit.

Journey into Mystery 107 (Aug 1964) gave us another enduring Thor villain, The Grey Gargoyle, whose odd power is to turn his victims to stone with just a touch (and to spell his name UK style, it seems). Another mad scientist, frenchman Paul Duval accidentally stumbles on a formula that turns anything to solid stone, even people. Fortunately for all, the effect wears off in 60 minutes. Why 60 minutes instead of 57 or 63? Who knows? And another mystery is why Duval himself can move about as The Grey Gargoyle but his victims become stiff as statues.

I wonder if the splash page to the story was created by Kirby well in advance of the other pages, as The Gargoyle's design is different here. Also, how do we feel about Don Blake - a doctor - apparently killing Thor's foe?

The villain's plan is to wrest Thor's hammer away so he can become immortal himself ... which kind of dissipates the suspense for the readers because we all know that's not going to work. And because he can't get within arm's length of The Gargoyle, Thor devises a convoluted plan to lure his foe to the docks using a motorcycle, a "TV 3-D-Type Projector" and his Don Blake identity. The lure works and The Gargoyle overshoots the end of the dock, plunges into the river where he presumably drowns.

Of course, The Grey Gargoyle would be back, when he's dredged up from the bottom of the river in a later issue ... but Don Blake doesn't know that.

The September 1964 issue of Journey into Mystery co-starred Marvel stablemate Doctor Strange, who would play a minor but pivotal role in this battle between Thor and his adopted brother Loki.

By contrast, Journey into Mystery 108 (Sep 1964) returns Thor to the more familiar battleground of immortal vs immortal, when Loki comes up with another plan to make his brother's life a misery. It has a neat guest-starring role for Doctor Strange and allows Thor's alter ego Dr Don Blake a moment to shine.

Bringing The Master of the Mystic Arts in to the story sort of sets up the resolution to the problem before we even see the problem. Thor receives a mental summons from an unknown source and follows it all the way to the sanctum of Doctor Strange in New York's Greenwich Village. There, he finds Strange barely conscious after a battle with his arch-enemy Baron Mordo. Thor has the injured mage rushed to hospital where he can be treated by Thor's mortal self. So focussed on saving Dr Strange is he, that Don Blake ignores a summons from Odin to aid Asgard in an imminent battle. Taking advantage of the confusion, Loki sneaks off to Midgard and once again menaces Blake and his love-interest/nurse Jane Foster.

Loki finds yet another way to part Thor from his hammer. It's not hugely original, but it does mean Don Blake has to ask Doctor Strange to find the walking stick for him.

Depriving Dr Blake of his walking cane (itself the mortal alter-ego of Thor's hammer), Loki is able to snatch Jane Foster and imprison her in Limbo - I think this is the second time Jane has visited that sinister dimension, and it won't be her last. Only Doctor Strange can help Blake now ... using his mystic powers, he is able to locate the missing walking stick and help Blake regain it. Once transformed into Thor, that's it for Loki's plan. In the past, Loki has always attacked Thor through proxies, or via wiles and machinations. This is the first time we've seen them actually fight. And though Loki boasts of his godly strength and speed, he is still no match for an angry Thunder God.

The scene bothers me a little. It seems out of character for Loki to attempt to fight Thor physically ... and anyway, hasn't it already been established that Loki is of Giant parentage, not Asgardian, and therefore not actually a god?

The story also includes a brief cameo with The Avengers, who offer to help Thor, but are rebuffed - quite rudely, in my opinion.

Stan also shoehorns The Avengers into the story by having them offer to help Thor battle Loki. It's an unnecessary scene that's there only to promote the The Avengers title (issue 8 would have been on sale the same month). Inexplicably Captain America is missing, despite the fact that in the following few weeks, he would be promoted to his own feature in Tales of Suspense 59 (Nov 1964).

I can't see any other reason to pit Thor against the severely out-matched Magneto, unless it's to plug The X-Men ... which Stan doesn't do.

Journey into Mystery 109 (Oct 1964) was another promo issue, though perhaps a little more low-key (no pun intended) than the preceding ones. This time, Thor was up against the X-Men's arch nemesis, Magneto. When you think about it, this is pretty much a no-contest. Magneto might be all big and tough in the mortal world but he is in no way a match for a god.

So, predictably, the fight is fairly brief, with Magneto having to resort to trickery and Thor inevitably being parted from his hammer once again.

Hey, where's my hammer? Thor loses his mallet and another villain wonders where the walking stick came from.

The X-Men almost make an appearance ... I'm not really sure why Stan was being so coy about showing them, as X-Men 7 would have been on sale at the same time as this issue. What's more, there's no plug from Editor Stan, not even a mention that "the X-Man can be seen in their own comic, on sale now". Weird.

JiM 109 also includes a new letters page, "The Hammer Strikes", which replaces the obligatory text stories Publisher Martin Goodman insisted on to allow his subscription copies to qualify for second-class postage rates.

With their powers boosted by the wily Loki, Mr Hyde and The Cobra are now more than a match for Thor. And with Jane Foster as their captive, Thor's future looks dark.

After what was pretty much a filler issue, Journey into Mystery took a turn for the darker, and pit Thor against Mr Hyde and The Cobra again ... only this time, they'd had their powers amplified by a suitably low-key Loki. Coincidentally, issue 110 was one that I missed at the time as it was caught up in the Great T&P Distribution Snafu of 1964. I came in during the second half of the adventure ... but more on that later.

Loki directs Hyde and The Cobra to seize Dr Don Blake's nurse, as this will be the key to defeating him. Though the pair don't understand, they obey their new mentor regardless.

How will Thor protect Jane and battle two dangerous foes whose strength has been boosted by his adopted brother and arch enemy, Loki? We'd have to wait a month to find out.

Thor returns to Asgard to confront Loki about his malevolent machinations, but the God of Mischief denies all knowledge of any plots against Thor and just as the argument is turning physical, Odin shows up and hurls Thor back to Earth, where he lands near the remote mansion where Jane Foster is captive and a devastating battle ensues, with Jane seriously injured in the melee. Thor's only recourse it to use the power of his hammer to set up a dimensional warp around the house, causing time to stand still, and preventing Jane's condition from deteriorating ... which is a heck of a cliffhanger to end on.

Interestingly, Stan (or possibly Martin Goodman) cut the story pages in Journey into Mystery 110 down to 16 from 18, which would be the new page count for the main story going forward. Still, there's a nice Kirby/Stone Thor pinup to end on, so it's not all bad news.

Straight from the get-go, we're in no doubt about the kind of pressure Thor is under in Journey into Mystery 111 - two hyper-powered foes, a house filled with deadly traps and an ailing Jane Foster to protect effectively convey an atmosphere of panic.

Even though I think Journey into Mystery 111 (Dec 1964) was one of the earliest - if not the earliest - issue of the title I remember having back in the 1960s, it's considered scarce in the UK. Coming into the midst of this breathless action knowing very little about the main character, it still didn't take me long to understand that Thor was deeply concerned for Jane Foster. But the single thing that caught my attention was the uncanny scene in which we see the effects of the time-warp that Thor placed around the house to keep Jane from dying while he battled on against Mr Hyde and The Cobra.

Stan and Jack make it pretty clear here that no one likes Loki and everyone likes Thor. It's these more human touches that separated Marvel from rivals DC during these formative years.

Bear in mind that this issue doesn't so much as mention Dr Don Blake, my introduction to Thor was as the actual God of Thunder, the son of Odin and heir-apparent to the throne of Asgard. The scene in which Odin relents and orders Loki to deliver a request for a remedy to Hardol the Healer was especially effective. The other Asgardians gather around and "relieve" Loki of his task, sending the far more trustworthy Balder to deliver the message instead.

Balder battles against spectacular challenges to reach the healer and deliver the cure for Jane's injuries to Thor, while Thor fights doggedly on against almost overwhelming odds. Of course, the cure is delivered, Jane survives and Thor emerges from the battle triumphant. But that wouldn't be the last we'd see of Loki ... and I'm not talking about the Marvel Masterwork Pinup that rounds out JiM 111.

In the second part of this look at the early adventures of Thor in Journey into Mystery, we'll look at how the stories become even more Asgard-based, and how the more earthly menaces like Mr Hyde and The Cobra become assigned to other Marvel heroes ...

Next: More Mythic Thor