Before I write the review of Journey into Mystery #103, I would like to say a few words about how important this particular comic book is to me personally, and the story about the copy of JIM #103 I owned as a teenager.

When I was a kid, we went to Indianapolis several times a year. It was about an 80-minute drive, and we would stop by the shopping area where the comic-book shop was located. This is the late 1970s, and comic-book shops were just starting to pop up in a lot of smaller towns, but the one in Indianapolis had been around for quite a while at this point. They had a pretty good selection of 1960s Marvels.

I had usually saved up around $15 to $20 between trips, and I would usually buy old Daredevil or Tales of Suspense for $1 or $2 each. But sometimes, I might spend all the money I'd saved on just one comic, like the time I spent $25 on a mid-grade Spider-Man #6.

On one trip, I spent most of my money on Journey into Mystery #103 and #104. I just couldn't resist #103 with the red background and the Enchantress and the Executioner! And I picked up #104 because it was the next issue in the box and it looked pretty cool and it was a little beat-up and thus cheaper. I think I paid $5 for #103 and $3 for #104.

My copy of #103 was very nice and bright and it was probably F or VF. At least that's how I remember it. I read it when I got home and I was very careful with it because I noticed that it was in such good condition. I read it again the next time ... and this time, I noticed there was something a little off about it. I couldn't quite figure it out at first.

And then I realized that the Enchantress had cleavage. A little "v' could be seen just above the neckline for every drawing that showed the Enchantress from the front. And I realized that it looked weird because Kirby almost never drew cleavage.

I looked at the cleavage a little closer and it had been drawn on the comic. Somebody had used a very sharp pencil so the lines would look very dark, like comic-book lines.

Nowadays, I would laugh and think it was pretty cool. But at that point, I was very strict about condition. I took en eraser and erase all the cleavage marks, and ended up making the comic look a lot worse because of the smudges between the Enchantress's breasts all through the comic. I immediately realized I had made a mistake. Ever since then, when I discover something on a comic that might need fixing, I think about it for a few days. I occasionally put a little bit of tape on comics that are falling apart just so it doesn't get any worse, but that JIM #103 was the last time I tried to get rid of a pencil mark.

Within a year, I had collected most of the issues between #103 and #111 (and #112 was reprinted in a Marvel Treasury Edition). I think I was missing #110, but I had all the others. And for a very long time, that was 1960s Thor to me, aside from a handful of scattered issues (I remember I had JIM #94 and Thor #146). I really love those issues! Chic Stone inking! Hyde and Cobra several times! The Grey Gargoyle! Loki! Magneto! The Doctor Strange cross-over! I read them repeatedly.

I also bought Marvel Treasury Edition #10 when it first came out. It reprints the first Mangog story, where Ulik releases the Mangog and he's going to unsheathe the Odinsword and cause the end of the world! (I don't think I had it very long. I don't remember reading it over and over again, but I've always remembered it pretty well. It made quite an impression.)
 
About 1990, I bought some low-grade copies of #101 and #102 (and I finally bought #110), so I had a nice little tun that I read a few times. About that same time, I bought a very cheap copy of Marvel Treasury Edition #3, reprinting Journey into Myster #125 and Thor #126 to #130, with Hercules, and Odin taking Thor's powers away in the middle of the fight, and Thor's amazing showdown with the hordes of Hades to save Hercules.

That's another one I read a lot.

Little by little, mostly over the last six or seven years, I've read all the Kirby issues of Thor, but there's a lot of the saga that I've only read once. It's nice to now have a reason to review the whole thing in order, to read some great comics that I've read over and over again, and at the same time, to take another look at those parts of the run that I've pretty much forgotten.

Journey into Mystery #103
April 1964
"The Enchantress and the Executioner!"

Thor returns from his adventure in the future, flies to roof of his office building and, because he knows where the story engine is, he turns to Don Blake and goes to the lab in his office suite and falls asleep cuddling a microscope. Nurse Foster finds him and makes him take a regular nap on a couch ... without the microscope. It turns into Nurse Romances for a couple of panels as Jane dreams about how nice it would be to take care of him like this all the time, if only Don would propose marriage.

In Asgard, Odin is still BIG MAD because Thor continues to defy him in this matter of Jane Foster. So Loki, as always a devoted and helpful son, suggests that maybe Thor would forget Jane Foster if they could distract him with a really hot Asgardian woman. And Loki has somebody in mind!

He visits the Enchantress, who writhes around like a happy cat on her divan while Loki discusses his plan. She sees through Loki's bullshit excuse that it's the will of Odin. She senses that that it is really Loki's wish to mess with Thor by any means possible. But she's game for the plan because she has long wished to conquer the heart of the handsome thunder god. (That's almost a direct quote.)

So the Enchantress does her homework and and dresses like a glamorous model or starlet and finds out how a story engine works and shows up at Dr. Blake's office complaining about an allergy. She pretends to faint and falls into Blake's arms just as Nurse Foster enters the room. Oh no! Now Jane is BIG MAD and she runs from the office. Blake pretty much drops the Enchantress on the floor and runs after Jane.

The Enchantress is now very committed to the project. And she realizes that Blake will never notice her while Jane Foster lives. So she thinks maybe Thor (or Blake or whatever) will fall in love with her if she can persuade the Executioner to kill Jane Foster. Yeah. She's brilliant, this one. He'll totally fall in love with you if you get another Asgardian to kill his girlfriend. (The Enchantress is so vain and so personally offended that Blake snubbed her that her immortal Norse brain is not working very well.)

So the Enchantress goes to visit the Executioner at his Asgardian hillbilly shack and persuades him to go abduct Jane Foster and, in return, she promises to try very hard not to find him utterly repulsive. This is more then good enough for the Executioner, so he grabs his horned bucket hat and hikes down the Rainbow bridge to Midgard.

In this issue, the villains did their homework and they know the real name of the series is GET JANE FOSTER! 

Don Blake is looking for her too. The landlady has no idea where she went. Jane moved out of her apartment FAST! He turns to Thor, perhaps thinking that the Mjolnir has some kind of heretofore unmentioned "Find Jane Foster" function. But no. We're a bit past the period where the hammer could be counted on to have new powers every two or three pages.

Meanwhile, the Executioner is passing among the crowded throngs of New York City, and he sees Jane Foster passing by and he grabs her wrist. Jane has that "Oh Poop! Not this again!" look on her face as the Executioner uses his magic axe (or maybe it's his magic horned bucket hat) to place her in Limbo.

Thor shows up and they mix it up for a few pages. Thor pretty quickly gets the better of the Executioner, but the Executioner has an ace in the hole! He knows where Jane Foster is, and only he can bring her back! He demands that Thor give him his hammer in exchange for the return of Jane. 

Thor agrees. He puts down the hammer and starts counting off the next sixty seconds. One Jormungandr, Two Jormungandr ...

The Executioner gloats for a few seconds and then brings Jane Foster back from Limbo. The Executioner struts over and tries to pick up the hammer, but he can't ... because he's not worthy. Maybe he'll be able to pick it up when it turns into a stick.

Thirty Jormangandr ...

But then, the Executioner turns into a tree! It's the doing of the Enchantress. She's BIG MAD that the Executioner brought Jane Foster back from Limbo just to trade her for a hammer!

It really is just a weird romance comic with gods and goddesses, nurses and doctors, and complicated love triangles.

Thor uses the Mjolnir Express to deposit the Enchantress and the Executioner back in Asgard. Then he turns back into Blake and rushes off to find Jane. She acts like she's not glad to see him. She asks him how his blonde love-goddess girlfriend is doing, and it's surrounded by one of those drippy word balloons that indicates that her delivery might be a bit chilled. Don Blake tries to explain about that, but Jane pretends to be rather dismissive of any explanation. In any case, she doesn't tell him to buzz off or anything, and she admits to herself that she's glad to see him, and she adds that she's going to try to make him jealous with Thor.

Up in Asgard, Odin is looking down He's BIG MAD that another scheme didn't work, and Thor is still in love with Jane, and I guess we'll have to wait until next time to see the latest plan to GET JANE FOSTER in NURSE ROMANCE COMICS #104.

Tales of Asgard: "Thors's Mission to Mirmir!"

Thor is one a mission to see Mirmir. He starts in the kingdom of the dwarfs, where King Sindri gives him a tiny boat called Skipbladnir. It's small enough that you can lose it in your pocket. (It's kind of pointy. I would think you would keep it in a case or it would poke holes in your pants.) You can change it into a large boat that flies through the sky. Thor is using it to find Mirmir.

Thor flies to the Land of Mirmir and figths a flying dragon and then Gullin, who isn't just a Boar God! He's the mightiest of the Boar Gods! 

(I love Gullin! He's only in four panels, and I don't think he ever appeared again. If I was writing Thor, I would bring back Gullin and maybe make him a regular character for a while. Maybe the other Boar Gods teamed up and cast him out of his own kingdom! So now he's hanging out with Thor and Hogun and Fandral and Volstagg.)

Thor finds Mirmir and gives him a splinter from the World Tree. Mirmir swirls it around in his magic pool and it overflows and drips on an alder and an ash, and these two trees become a man and a woman, Norse Adam and Eve. Or something.

Commentary: This is just an all-around great comic. It just gets better from here on for a while.

I never realized there was a 'y' in cleavage.

I’m reading ahead, and then going back whenever it’s my turn to write the review. And I read a lot of 1960s Thor over the long weekend.

Right now, I’m staring at the cover of Thor #136. I’ve read the previous ten issues or so - #125 to #135 - a bunch of times. But I had never read #136 until a few years ago when I purchased the digital version of the Thor Epic Collection titled The Wrath of Odin. And I have only read it once.

It’s the end of an era! Odin gives in and says Thor can marry Jane, but only if she can handle the process whereby she becomes an immortal! And it’s the last we see of Jane Foster for a while.

The GET JANE FOSTER run is over! No more Nurse Romance Comics! It’s like the conclusion to a romance story called “I Became Immortal for My Thunder God Boyfriend!”

To be honest, I kind of like what they did with Jane in the last year or so. She starts playing the field and dating other immortals. She shares her flat with a colonizing Rigellian with a big head. She takes a position with the High Evolutionary’s organization as a tutor to beast-headed New Men in Wundagore.

I’m going to miss Jane Foster.

sorry for the delay.

Comments:

 My understanding was that Loki was imprisoned somewhere in Asgard, but here he is walking around and suggests the plan to stop Thors love of Jane to Odin. 

Dr. Blake remembers The Enchantress when she visited his office. Stan is moving further away from just a person who just found the hammer. I think back in the 60's, no one would have made a fuss , but if this story was written today, readers would have seen that there was a mystery unfolding. 

 Jane is sent to Limbo by the Executioner and Limbo appears again in Avengers #2. Apparently there is no relation, or none is established at this time. The Executioners axe appears to have the same powers that Thors hammer has. It can send people to other dimensions, it has the power of exploding suns and can "slash " through space to bring ice from the storm Giants lair. When I first read this, I wondered how Stan could have another weapon on par with the Hammer. It is dealt with in the next story involving him. 

 The Executioners Unrequited love for The Enchantress is introduced here. Man, who of us hasn't been in the friend zone one time or another. 

Very enjoyable story. 

Is this just a normal thing Thor could do with his hammer??

It had the time travel ability but Odin had stripped him and the hammer of half its strength.