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Post by Icctrombone on Jan 21, 2024 11:06:58 GMT -5
Since 2014 I have been trying to acquire every Thor book starting from his 1962 debut in Journey into Mystery # 83. Of course there are some books that are out of my price range but I still managed to get a straight run from 113-502. Even with the MCU releasing movies featuring the character, I was still able to get them pretty inexpensively. Well, I’ve been sitting on this run for about 3 years without actually reading what I bought. Along comes HoosierX and he expressed his desire to start a review thread of the Thunder God and I asked him if he wanted to join forces , so here we are. All credit goes to HoosierX for inspiring me to get off my butt and read the Thor books. Hoosier has some strong opinions of the Silver Age of comics , a few that I disagree with but I thought it might be fun to “ Do Battle” over the stories. The first cross road we reached was where to start the reviews. He wanted to skip issues JIM 83-96 because of the goofy stories and logic problems. I wanted to look at all of them, warts and all. Well, By the Bristling Beard of Odin, let us begin !
Journey into Mystery # 83
June 1962
Writer: Stan Lee
Script: Larry Lieber
Artist: Jack Kirby
Inker: Joe Sinnott
Plot summary
Dr. Donald Blake while on vacation in Norway, discovers an alien invasion fleet from Saturn, and while running away stumbles into a cave. He leans against a wall which opens to a chamber that contains a gnarled wooden stick. He attempts to use the stick to move a boulder blocking an area of escape and it turns into a hammer and transforms him into Thor. His knowledge of the Thor legend guides him to the use of the hammer and his newfound strength. He repels the invaders and decides to keep his new change a secret.
Comments
Silver age goodness has aliens leave fearing that all humans might have the abilities of Thor.
Blake discovers that he transforms back to normal if he stops touching the Hammer for what appears to be 60 seconds. The invaders have increased strength in earth's atmosphere like Kryptonians do in the Superman magazines. The issue has no credits.
Characters
Donald Blake is introduced and the aliens from Saturn are introduced. They are referred to as Stone men by a passerby and Blake, but never identify themselves with a name for their race. One of them is called Gorr. My research names other of the Stone creatures but the issue itself only names one of them as Gorr.
Cool MomentsThors use of his Hammer is visually exciting and the Kirby Sinnott combination is very nice. Silly momentsNothing Glaring in this issue, other than usual Silver age story tropes. We will see a lot more silliness in the following books. |
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Post by chaykinstevens on Jan 21, 2024 11:21:17 GMT -5
If Larry Lieber scripted the story, then I think Stan Lee should, at most, be credited as plotter and editor.
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,860
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Post by shaxper on Jan 21, 2024 11:23:33 GMT -5
By the wooly armpit hair of Fandrall, I'm excited for this!
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Post by Icctrombone on Jan 21, 2024 11:46:53 GMT -5
If Larry Lieber scripted the story, then I think Stan Lee should, at most, be credited as plotter and editor. Maybe. I just report the news , I don’t make it. I’ve seen credits divide the writer and scripter. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jan 21, 2024 12:27:43 GMT -5
Silly momentsNothing Glaring in this issue, other than usual Silver age story tropes. We will see a lot more silliness in the following books. I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. Don Blake hiking out in the woods in his suit, tie and homburg while on vacation...sure. The aliens deciding to prove how invulnerable they are by jumping off a cliff. The NATO pilots ditching their planes at a 3-D picture of a dragon instead of, you know, firing at it. It isn't nearly as silly as it will become, but it's still pretty silly, in that it's essentially a Silver-Age Superman story with long hair and a hammer. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Jan 21, 2024 12:43:01 GMT -5
Silly momentsNothing Glaring in this issue, other than usual Silver age story tropes. We will see a lot more silliness in the following books. I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. Don Blake hiking out in the woods in his suit, tie and homburg while on vacation...sure. The aliens deciding to prove how invulnerable they are by jumping off a cliff. The NATO pilots ditching their planes at a 3-D picture of a dragon instead of, you know, firing at it. It isn't nearly as silly as it will become, but it's still pretty silly, in that it's essentially a Silver-Age Superman story with long hair and a hammer. You have a point but I guess I'm grading on a curve to the really silly things that are to follow. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 21, 2024 13:04:12 GMT -5
Silly momentsNothing Glaring in this issue, other than usual Silver age story tropes. We will see a lot more silliness in the following books. I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. Don Blake hiking out in the woods in his suit, tie and homburg while on vacation...sure. The aliens deciding to prove how invulnerable they are by jumping off a cliff. The NATO pilots ditching their planes at a 3-D picture of a dragon instead of, you know, firing at it. It isn't nearly as silly as it will become, but it's still pretty silly, in that it's essentially a Silver-Age Superman story with long hair and a hammer. I first read Thor’s origin way back in the mid-1970s when it was re-printed in Origins of Marvel Comics, and I thought it was pretty cool. Probably. I sure don’t remember that I noticed nearly as much dumb crap as I noticed in Fantastic Four #1. It’s pretty good for an ad hoc superhero based on a Norse god that was shoehorned into a monster comic. Slam sums it up pretty nicely. Comic books are stupid. Just for some general comments about the first year or so of the series in Journey into Mystery, I want to add that I’ve had this Marvel Masterworks volume for a very long time, but I haven’t read these stories in years and years. Reading them again after such a long period, it wasn’t as wearisome a chore as I thought it would be. They’re not good but, with a couple of exceptions, they’re readable. It’s passable entertainment. It’s not near as bad as the worst Human Torch stories in Strange Tales. Things I’m looking forward to: LOKI! Things I’m not looking forward to: COMMIES! |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jan 21, 2024 13:06:15 GMT -5
Did they ever clarify Thor's relationship with Don Blake? Sometimes, they seemed to be the same character, and sometimes they seemed more to be two characters who switched place with one another. #83 is definitely the former, but it seems to go the other direction pretty quickly, if I recall correctly.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 21, 2024 13:14:56 GMT -5
Did they ever clarify Thor's relationship with Don Blake? Sometimes, they seemed to be the same character, and sometimes they seemed more to be two characters who switched place with one another. #83 is definitely the former, but it seems to go the other direction pretty quickly, if I recall correctly. The Don Blake persona was created by Odin to teach Thor humility. I forget which issue it was but I’m pretty sure it’s later in the 1960s, when Kirby was still the artist. Odin got fed up with Thor being such a butt so much of the time that he transformed him into Don Blake and placed him on Earth with no knowledge that he was ever Thor. Eventually Don Blake went on a walking tour of Scandinavia (as you do) and found an old stick in a cave. As far as where Thor begins and Don Blake ends, I think they have the same memories, but the transformation into Thor changes Don Blake’s personality substantially. |
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,860
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Post by shaxper on Jan 21, 2024 13:21:16 GMT -5
Did they ever clarify Thor's relationship with Don Blake? Sometimes, they seemed to be the same character, and sometimes they seemed more to be two characters who switched place with one another. #83 is definitely the former, but it seems to go the other direction pretty quickly, if I recall correctly. The Don Blake persona was created by Odin to teach Thor humility. I forget which issue it was but I’m pretty sure it’s later in the 1960s, when Kirby was still the artist. Thank you! Surprising that it took them so long to address the issue. And, considering our big debate in another thread right now, I wonder if that's how Kirby saw their relationship, or if it was just Lee writing that. Much as I ADORE the early to mid Kirby issues, the "umph" is certainly gone by the late 1960s for Thor. I'd rather know how Kirby and Lee saw the Blake/Thor relationship during their heyday, when they both seemed to be having more fun with the property. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 21, 2024 13:58:38 GMT -5
It’s Thor #159.
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Post by Prince Hal on Jan 21, 2024 14:32:54 GMT -5
Did they ever clarify Thor's relationship with Don Blake? Not that there's anything wrong with it. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Jan 21, 2024 14:57:05 GMT -5
Journey into Mystery # 84
July 1962
 Writer:Stan Lee
Scripter: Larry Lieber
Artist: Jack Kirby
Artist Inks Dick Ayers
Plot summary:
A group of doctors are sent on a humanitarian mission to treat the sick people of a South American country Called San Diablo. Dr. Blake takes along his nurse Jane Foster and they are all attacked by fighter jets at the command of a communist dictator called the Executioner while traveling by sea. Blake transforms into Thor and repels the fighter jets. When they all land at their destination, they are again accosted by the communist army and while Thor again defeats the hostile forces, Jane is captured and he’s forced to retreat. Thor becomes Blake and they are all to be shot until Blake takes back his cane which was in the Executioners possession. Thor defeats the executioner's army and the Executioner is killed by his own men when they catch him fleeing with the country's money after their loss. CommentsThe Communist bad guy is a story trope that Marvel used more than a few times in their inception. It’s used in Iron man and FF issues and it will be a while before it goes away. Eating a large chicken leg is ALWAYS a sign of a badguy  This is Jane Foster's first appearance and she's named Jane Nelson. This issue starts the attraction between Blake and Jane. Marvel seemed to have this forbidden love in all of their comics for the first few years. The Executioner is never given a name. He is not the Asgardian Executioner that is to appear in a few years. His motivation for keeping the doctors away from his country is that he wants his people to be weak and not have the strength to resist his rule. Flimsy , I know. Blake creates a rain storm without transforming into Thor or the cane turning into the Hammer. If you’re reading this as they came out you take it at face value , but the first issue indicates that the weapon is the Hammer not the stick.  When Thor appears , people seem to know of him like he’s a well known person. They comment on his whirling the Hammer of Thor. Why would anyone know of him ? Your common person seems to know a lot about Mythical characters in the MU. When Blake gets the cane away from the executioner right before he’s to be shot, he turns into Thor in front of everyone and no one bats an eye. It’s possible that the secret ID wasn’t a thing that an army in San Diablo would care about nor would they believe that a 98 pound weakling and a 300 pound 6’5” person could be connected , but you will see later on in the series that he takes pains to conceal his secret. Cool MomentThor transforms back to Blake while underwater   Creepy MomentThe Executioner will spare everyone if Jane " Marries" him. Yeah, Marry him all night long... 
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 21, 2024 17:47:53 GMT -5
I get the feeling that commies are bad.
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Post by The Captain on Jan 21, 2024 19:33:21 GMT -5
"San Diablo", huh? Guess Stan never took Spanish lessons and realized that's about the most contradictory name for a country ever.
The Communist bad guy trope was thankfully only used once in the Captain America ToS stories, IIRC. Issue #61 finds Cap in Vietnam fighting a sumo wrestling general of the Viet Cong, because Stan apparently didn't know that Japanese and Vietnamese cultures were two entirely different things.
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