Journey into Mystery 115: more changes to the art
(Marvel Database details)

I think the "awake" Jane Foster was added after this story was submitted. I don't think she was in the original version. Perhaps even the "asleep" Jane Foster was added, but on balance I think Jack had her sleeping through the whole thing.

EDIT: some pictures...

Jane was supposedly kidnapped. This is how Kirby draws an attempted kidnapping, from the very same issue:

Note the artistic composition of each frame: the subject (the woman) is large and prominent, near the center. She is always doing something, not just standing around. There is space around the essential art for word balloons to be added. This is just comic art 101, and we should expect nothing less from any competent artist.

Now look at Jane at the start of the same issue: the kidnapping is not shown, and she is squashed into the corners. Look at the art style: the main characters are clearly Kirby art, but who drew Jane?



In previous posts I made my case that (1) Jack Kirby plotted these stories, (2) Jane Foster was not important to the plot, and (3) Stan wanted more Jane. (I hope that's not a euphemism for something.) This issue is the clearest case yet of Jane being added as an afterthought. Here is the evidence:

The evidence
Look at every picture of Jane in this issue (other than her final page). Notice anything odd? If you have read previous Kirby comics you will. Heck, if you know anything about artistic composition or storytelling you will. If you don't see it, then compare the last few pages of this story: it also features a woman in distress. Like any competent artist, Kirby places her large and center on the frame. Now look back on the Jane pictures. See the difference? I'll discuss each one. The worst examples are later, so please look at them all before making your judgment.

In general: the story is supposed to be about Jane being kidnapped. But we never see her kidnapped. In fact we never see her as the subject of a frame at all, until the end where she is asleep. Before that she is squashed into spaces that are usually left blank. 

The splash page: Jane is squashed into the corner of the page that is normally left blank (or has art that can easily be pasted over) so the letterer can add whatever text is needed. Compare other splash pages: I'll wait. They have one major image at the bottom, with either blank space each side, or details that can be covered without losing the general shape. I also wonder if Loki here has been cut out and repositioned, perhaps even rotated (except for his left arm): the layout is odd, with spaces where his body would be if he was drawn in a more normal fashion. The story is about Loki on top of a tower, suggesting it is about his triumph over Asgard, a much more satisfying story than just another hostage situation. By the way, I think it's brilliant how Kirby shows Loki both at the top and at the bottom simultaneously. This is a reminder that Kirby is a pro, and not the kind of artist who would just squash major characters in as an afterthought.

The next frame: Jane is squashed onto the side. My guess is that the main action has been cut out and shifted left. The space occupied by Jane would make more sense as a reminder of the distant ground. The composition just looks wrong to me. Plus, Jane is in such a generic helpless pose. Compare the other woman in the story (and why have two helpless female subplots?): that woman actually has interesting poses, she DOES things. Kirby's women always do. Kirby is not one for passive characters.

The bottom of page 2: This is a bad one. Can anybody pretend that Jane was supposed to be in that frame? Who would compose a frame like that? 

The bottom of page 4: THIS IS THE SMOKING GUN. I challenge anybody to look at that picture and not conclude that Jane was added later.

Middle of page 5: again, Jane is tiny, squashed into a gap at the side of the picture.

Page 5, panel 4: the framing is all wrong. A major event - Jane faints - is squashed into a corner. This is the first time that the art shows that Thor even knows she is there. I see two possibilities:
(1) If I had more time I would go back and see if this was cut from a previous issue, or drawn by someone else from a similar pose. But then again, this was a time when Jack still lived in New York, so Stan could have had him make the change.
(2) This is the first time Jack had her in the story. Then the small image size makes sense: she is not doing anything new here, Thor is just picking her up. See next point for why.

Page 6: finally, for the first time, Jane is clearly a part of the art. Possibility 1 is that this page was added after the others, replacing some (now lost) art. But on balance I think it's more likely that Jack intended Jane to be asleep for the whole thing. Why? Because she does not fit in the story, but Stan's dialog in the previous issue means she had to be there. Solution? have her asleep, and rescued at the end.

Why does Jane not fit the story? The cover and the splash page both show that this is about Loki triumphing over Asgard. This is a bigger threat to Asgard (and hence a better story) than simply kidnapping a mortal. The art shows Thor and Loki in combat, ignoring Jane completely. Then Odin returns and takes his rightful place as ruler. Then the art is "oh yes, Jane is around here someplace, asleep". 

The dialog version makes no sense. Even in Stan's dialog, Odin does not care much for Jane, so why pluck Thor out of a serious battle just to rescue her? Stan's compromise explanation, that Odin just wants her removed, does not work. Because even in Stan's dialog we see that he does not believe Loki's claim that Thor invited Jane there. Nor is there any art showing Jane being kidnapped, arriving, or doing anything active at all. She is just irrelevant to the story.

Why asleep? Stan said Jane was there. So she had to be there. But she plays no other role in the story, plus a mortal in Asgard is a big thing, and not an opportunity that Jack would miss. When a mortal first sees Asgard we should expect dazzling art. Not this non-event. Solution: she sleeps while the real action (defeating Loki so Odin can return) takes place. 

The last page: here we see Jane as Jack usually draws her: a decent size, part of the layout. Being asleep is important to the story. Because this is a big event: Thor has passed the test, defeated someone as powerful as he is. Jane is now history (or should be, if Stan would allow it). So Thor says goodbye to her sleeping form, and the final frame show Thor crossing the threshold in the hero's journey: finally worthy to walk across the rainbow bridge enter Asgard!!!!! Goodbye, Jane. Hello, destiny!

Tales of Asgard: Stan slips up again

I don't have time to examine the ToA in any detail (sounds of cheering), except to note Stan's comment at the start: "once again, more of the early life of Loki". This suggests that the previous story was not about Loki. Except that it was: Stan seems unaware that Fenris is Loki's son, and that Loki was the star of the original Apples of Idunna story. Maybe Stan meant "that was the LATER life of Loki"? No, because he began the previous story by saying "we interrupt our biographies in depth series of the life of Loki". No, Jack was simply jumping forward in Loki's life, but Stan did not realise that Loki was central to that story.

Conclusion: Stan Lee did not know the Norse legends. But lucky for him, Jack Kirby did.