Journey into Mystery #111
December 1964
"The Power of the Thunder God!"

When last we looked in on the series known as GET JANE FOSTER!, the Cobra and Mr. Hyde had got Jane Foster. As a matter of fact, they had gotten her pretty darn good! A flipping house collapsed on her! But fast-thinking Thor remembered that he has a temporary app recently installed on his magic hammer, and it stops time in a limited area, about the size of a house. So he uses this one-time function and installs a field where time stands still. So even though Jane is on the verge of DEATH, stopping time allows her to linger in this desperate state until Thor can defeat Cobra and Mr. Hyde and figure out what to do next.

But this will not be easy! Loki has involved himself in this particular episode of GET JANE FOSTER! and he has greatly increased the powers of Cobra and Mr. Hyde. Cobra is at least ten times as cobra-y as before, and Mr. Hyde is much stronger, probably as strong as one and half Things!

Thor brushes the bad guys away with the hammer's wind powers and runs out of the room, grabbing Jane and looking for a place where she will be "safe" while he whomps the poo out of his foes and the very evil secondary colors of their sinister costumes. But the house has been equipped with a bunch of traps, possibly salvaged from Magneto's secret HQ from the previous issue and sold to Cobra and Hyde by some sketchy dudes in an alley on Staten Island. (It would be irresponsible not to speculate.) There's some metal tentacles and a collapsing ceiling and various other hazards and perils.

Meanwhile, up in Asgard, Odin is watching in a magic bowl or something, but he says he won't interfere. Balder offers to soothe the All-Father's worried brow with a song, and he spins a tale of long ago when Odin himself did fancy a mortal woman! Who has no name! And is never mentioned again!

Loki sees what Balder is trying to do, so he rudely interrupts and accuses Balder of being a schemer who is trying to trick Odin into lending aid so that an innocent woman placed in mortal danger isn't killed because of Loki's cruel and dangerous plotting.

Oh Balder! Who would have though you would turn out to be such a fiend?

Back on Earth, the thunder god has found a safe place for Jane on the floor next to a huge block of stone that just fell from the ceiling. He runs off to find Cobra and Hyde, and they all mix it up for a few pages, with lots of hitting and punching and slithering and shouting insults. The Cobra releases some gas darts (or something) and escapes into a vent while Hyde and Thor must protect themselves from the deadly vapors. Hyde tears through a wall to get away and Thor runs after him.

Meanwhile, Odin has decided that Jane Foster is indeed an innocent human and should not die just because she's an employee of Dr. Blake, who just happens to be Thor, and thus poor Jane works in the most dangerous doctor's office in all fiction. So Odin draws up a message to be taken to Hardol the Healer, telling him to come up with a magic potion that will save Jane's life if it is administered IMMEDIATELY after Thor's time-stopping app wears off.

And then Odin gives the message to Loki. Because Odin is all-wise and all-knowing and ... yeah, I got nothing.

Loki is cornered by Balder and a bunch of other Asgardian warriors. "You know what, Loki?" says Balder. "Why don't you take a rest and go torture some pixies or something and let the grown-ups handle this?"  

And so Balder rides across fiery chasms and fights a monster made of wind and bravely covers his face (and his horse's face) as they wander among some giant, stinky mushrooms and tiptoes across a canyon full of sharp swords pointing up. (I assume these will soon be harvested and sold to the trolls or the giants on the Asgardian black market.)

Meanwhile on Earth, Mr. Hyde is electrocuted by one of the traps in the house, and he's not just struck unconscious. He's stiff as a board. Thor props him up against the wall and goes looking for Cobra. The thunder god messes around with the control panels and somehow sends an electrical shock wave through the maintenance vents (or something) and Cobra pops out of a pipe, eager to give himself up to get away from the painful jolts of electricity. Thor ties him up and goes off to tend to Jane, who he left on the floor somewhere in the house that he just flooded with waves of electrical force.

Thor knows he cannot keep the time-stopping force in place forever. It will cause a catastrophic disruption in the time-space continuum (or something) and what do you think this is? A modern super-hero movie where all the multiverses must be at risk in every installment? Thor is going to remove the time-stopper field and then turn into Dr. Blake and use all his doctoring skills to save Jane. (Where is Granny Clampett when you need her?)

But the second he removes the field, Balder's sword comes flying down from Asgard and lands nearby. Hardol's lifesaving potion is attached, along with a note from Balder, saying that Odin has ordained that Jane Foster shall live!

Balder's sword flies up into space and goes back to Asgard and flies into Balder's hand. Thor administers the potion and Jane comes out of her coma complaining of an awful nightmare. Jane falls into a deep but restoring sleep and Thor thanks Odin for saving Jane's life.

THE END

Commentary: I've said before how much I love these Thor stories from 1964 and 1965. But I have to admit that sometimes, I do realize that some of that affection is just pure nostalgia, from a time when I would save a few dollars to go buy 10- to 15-year-old comics books (like this one) for $3 or $4 (or maybe a little more if I had some birthday money) and read them in front of the TV with some root beer and a candy bar.

I still love this one, of course. The Chic Stone inking over Kirby looks so nice! I would like almost any random panel from this comic re-created in stained glass on a table! But there are a few things that I wish weren't so dumb.

Like Thor's never-seen-again power to stop time! We should be past that! That was something from the first year and a half of the comic that readers had come to expect, but we're heading into 1965 and the Marvel Universe is slowly becoming a cohesive world. There should be rules! And Thor's powers should be a little more consistent.

And then there's Odin! One thing you will notice is that you can generally expect the All-Father to do something stupid in almost every issue. Or maybe he's just testing everybody! Just so it isn't TOO easy! And Loki always fails the test! Every damn time!

Tales of Asgard: The Secret of Sigurd!: Thor, Loki and Balder encounter a big bruiser named Sigurd who likes to wrestle everybody he meets on the trail. He's hard to beat because he just seems to get stronger and stronger as you fight him. Balder remembers that Sigurd is descended from earth sprite and draws strength from the ground. So Thor grabs him and throws Sigurd into outer space and he doesn't come back and they don't have to worry about him anymore.

So I guess this is a thing that happened. 

That was a scene in one of the Steve Reeves Hercules movies. (Just lifting him off the ground, not the space part) So I can easily see one or the other getting it from that.

First off, this is a picture of my actual copy. It's pretty beat up. 



Comments:

 I really liked the second part to this adventure. It has great fantasy elements from Asgard and Balder takes front and center as a great character on par with Thor. The battles are great and action packed. I have commented on my love for Colletta's inks but I will add that Chic Stone does a great job on the series and particularly this book.


This panel jumps off the page 




 Also, those that say Kirby doesn't draw nice women, take a look at this splash page.
 



Cool Moments:

 Balder traveling the dangerous lands to reach Hardol the healer finds himself in the valley of swords. This is such a cool concept. The horse wearing his cloak to survive is just a wonderful visual.




 Balder and the others put a stop to the evil Loki. Just a great scene. 



Thor learned electrical from Iron man. It's a nice touch.




Tales of Asgard


Comments

I liked the story. It's filled with panels that look iconic and I think I remember seeing them as posters or just pin ups.



This panel looks familiar or maybe it's a stock pose that Kirby has used a few times.






 







 

Journey into Mystery # 112

 "The Mighty Thor battles the Incredible Hulk"





Writer Stan Lee  Artist: Jack Kirby Artist Inks: Chic Stone


Plot summary: While flying by above the city, Thor overhears a bunch of kids arguing over who is stronger, the Hulk or Thor.  Thor stops and sits with the youths and recounts an unknown battle between the two. It seems that during the battle of Gibraltar that occurred in Avengers #3 Thor found himself separated with the Hulk and asked Odin to give him 5 minutes without the separation from the hammer turning him into Don Blake to see if he was indeed stronger than the Hulk. So Odin agrees and strips the hammer of its enchantment. What follows is 8 pages of beautifully choreographed pages of macho fisticuffs. This is ultimately a fight issue but comic fans like fight issues. During the tussle, Thor stops himself as he's crashing against a wall and caves them both in, stopping the contest without a clear victor. This was a fun issue, and one that I haven't yet acquired for my collection. 


Comments:  I like the testosterone oozing off the pages of the book. The blurb on the cover might be the first time the hype is justified. This WAS the battle fans were waiting for. The kids holding placards of faces of the Hulk and Thor is funny. Did they sell them I the stores? Thor eavesdropping on their argument must be another of his super powers. Moments like Thor sitting down on the sidewalk with the kids makes comics fun. 



Thor communicates with Odin again, but  Stan explains it like it's more detailed and complicated than in previous issues. We've seen Thor and Blake just pray and Odin could hear them . In this issue, they imply that the Hammer bridges the gap to Asgard. 



Macho moments:

After the Hulk see's he can lift the hammer he attempts to snap it in half and Thor retrieves it. 
He puts it on his belt and tells him , come get it. 



The Hulk lunges at Thor and the visual of his ferocity is awesome



Thor lands hay makers showing him who's his daddy !



For those that think Stan Lee didn't;'t add anything to the stories, enjoy the dialogue on this page.



Even Odin is watching ( And enjoying ) this on pay per view




Does this fit into the original story ? 


The comparison of the original Avengers pages from #3 and this book show the time when the fight took place. This might be the very first time Marvel gives a " hidden" story that was untold. It supposedly happens between page 22 and 23.

Avengers #3



JIM #112



In his last moments with the kids Thor implies that he did fight the Hulk again. Maybe this was Stan's way of leaving the door open to another " untold" tale. 


Cool Moment:

Odin makes a remark when the contest is over that Thor has learned more about humility after not winning. It's important to note that his origin highlighting his need to learn humility has not yet been written. 



Tales of Asgard

Lee/Kirby/Colletta

Plot:  

Odin leads the forces of Asgard against the Warriors of Jotunheim and after defeating them , discover a baby. He takes him as his own son and proclaims that he will be an Immortal of Asgard. Is Immortality something that Odin can grant?

But, but, but, Colletta was just being economical,  he never did anything that changed what was happening. He made those Kirby panels less crowded and cleaner.
AND where was the editor,  whose job was to catch such glaring mistakes?