Featuring: Thor
Release: May 5, 1964
Cover: July 1964
12 cents
Written fairly well by: Stan Lee
Drawn not too badly by: Jack Kirby
Inked kinda nice by: Chic Stone
Lettered pretty fair by: Art Simek
18 pages
This issue picks up less than 60 seconds after the last issue ended. Cobra has stolen Thor’s hammer with a machine and Thor is about to revert to Don Blake.
I can’t believe we have another 18 pages of Thor fighting Cobra and Mr. Hyde.
This idea of spreading a story over multiple issues is becoming a thing. We made it through over a year of stories without it ever happening. Not only were stories resolved in an issue, but they were usually resolved within a dozen pages, leaving room for other stories. It takes a hefty 36 pages to conclude this battle. The famous origin of Spider-Man took only 11.
The first hint of change was the Fantastic Four battle with Dr. Doom taking place over Fantastic Four #16–17. But even that was really two distinct stories; the first just ended with Doom’s escape, so they had another Doom story right after. Amazing Spider-Man #11–12 is a similar flavor; each issue tells a complete story, but Dr. Octopus remains the villain across the issues. We’ve had the one big story, the Hulk story in Fantastic Four #25–26, which itself tied into plot threads from Avengers #2-5. But that was epic enough to justify its length. Giant-Man and Wasp inaugurated the pointless two-parter with their battle against the Human Top. Thor’s title has gone all in on the idea, as his battles with both Mr. Hyde and Tomorrow Man took two issues for no particular reason. Iron Man recently followed suit with his battle against Mandarin, also stretched over two issues.
The multi-part story will soon become the rule rather than the exception, including two giant upcoming epics. These multi-part arcs make deciding on a reading order difficult. In general, I’ve been trying to go month by month, but I’d also like to keep these multi-part stories together, which is going to require some shifting around.
Anyways, Cobra has used a machine to steal Thor’s hammer. Thor has to hide in a crowd so nobody sees him change into Blake. His hammer changes back into a cane. Sometimes it does that when they separate and sometimes it doesn’t. Mr. Hyde of all people should really be able to figure out how Thor seemingly disappeared. It’s the same way he always does, including in this very issue.
Dr. Blake pretends to betray Thor in exchange for his cane. It’s the second time in two issues Blake has offered to betray Thor in exchange for his cane. The crowd is very upset with him. They support Thor being allowed to hide from Hyde. Jane will also be very cross when she learns of this.
Look, this is what I’m talking about. Hyde just took his potion to transform. Soon, he’ll change back into Hyde to surprise Thor. He’s using the same trick Thor keeps using, yet seems oblivious to how Thor might keep appearing and disappearing.
At one point, Thor drops his hammer. Last issue, he just summoned the hammer to him. Sometimes it seems like he can do that, and sometimes it doesn’t. Maybe he could have now; he just wanted a sporting match.
It is now May of 1964. Over at the Distinguished Competition, Lex Luthor has devised a fiendish plan to travel across time and space to Krypton, there to seduce and marry Superman’s mother Lara in the past, which will make him Superman’s father. Apparently that’s the way it works.
Unfortunately for Luthor, true love wins out and Lara leaves Lex at the altar and runs off with Jor-El.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆, 39/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol. 2. It is also available in Thor Epic Collection vol. 1: God of Thunder. Or on Kindle.
Characters:
- Thor/Dr. Don Blake
- Cobra
- Mr. Hyde/Calvin Zabo
- Jane Foster
Story notes:
- Full title may be, “The Cobra and Mr. Hyde Feel Thor’s Mighty Rage, When The Thunder God Strikes Back!”
- Recap of previous issue.
- Thor’s hammer turns back into cane when he is separated from it.
#210 story in reading order
Next: Journey Into Mystery #106, Story B
Previous: Journey Into Mystery #105, Story B
I kind of like that Hyde and Thor both use the both trick, and Hyde still does not get it. It reflects the hubris that many bad guys have. It happens in politics also.