Featuring: Thor
Release: August 4, 1964
Cover: October 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee, the monarch of the Marvel Age, at the pinnacle of his power!
Illustrated by: Jack Kirby, the prince of pageantry, at the height of his titanic talent!
Inked by: Chic Stone, the dean of line design, at the peak of his prowess!
Lettered by: S. Rosen, the sultan of spelling, at the little table in his studio!
18 pages
I don’t know what to make of these Thor stories since Kirby returned to the title. The art is certainly improved. This is very iconic Kirby, especially with Stone on inks. Everything very melodramatic, especially the posing.
And it’s cool that Thor meets Magneto. The battle between them starts off pretty well. Again, Kirby on that dramatic action depiction.
But the weaknesses of the story increasingly detract as the issue goes on. That battle which had been going well then moves to the now familiar trope where Thor loses his hammer and becomes Dr. Blake mid-battle, luckily just out of view of the villain. How did he lose it? He dropped it, then forgot about it.
After 60 seconds, the hammer turns into a walking stick. Sometimes that is what happens, and sometimes it is not.
Then the X-Men (almost) show up and I don’t know what happens there. Magneto and his Evil Mutants had been searching for the X-Men, and then when they find the X-Men, they immediately retreat.
First the Evil Mutants, all quite powerful, just seem to scatter in terror because the X-Men are a half mile away.
Then, Magneto himself immediately retreats when the X-Men approach him. Why? You were looking for them. You wanted to fight them. Magneto escapes in the magni-sub.
We don’t quite see the X-Men. We see an energy ray, and ice wall, a shadow of a winged figure, and two large hands.
This all began because Magneto had pinpointed the location of the X-Men to a 50-mile area in Manhattan. That’s over twice the size of Manhattan, itself an island of 1.7 million people. Within that area, he’ll also find the Fantastic Four and Avengers and Spider-Man and Daredevil and Dr. Strange…
One thing caught my attention. I’ve been rather confused since the series began about the relationship between Thor and Blake. Are they even two different people? To what extent? We get a quote that sheds more light on that question than anything so far. “Dr. Blake has no idea, but the part of me which is the mighty Thor knows…”
Notably, the reproduction quality in the digital edition here is much worse than in the Masterworks. It’s unusually bad for the digital versions.
It’s August of 1964. Let’s take our customary (when I remember to do it) peek around the newsstands. Detective Comics #332 begins a long-running tradition where Sue Dibny gives Elongated Man a mystery for his birthday. It’s also got a relatively famous Batman story, “Joker’s Last Laugh”, a name which will get reused for an episode of the Batman TV series as well as a 2000s graphic novel. Superman meets the surprisingly enduring Bizarro Jimmy Olsen. Archie launches another long-running spinoff series, Archie and Me, which will run for over two decades. Warren tries less successfully to capitalize on the success of their Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine with the short-lived Monster World.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 50/100
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
- Magneto
- Toad
- Mastermind
- Scarlet Witch
- Quicksilver
- Jane Foster
Story notes:
- Thor statue for proposed “Hall of Heroes” at the fair. Other statues based on Avengers, FF, X-Men, Spider-Man, and Daredevil. Sculptor not mentioned. It could be Alicia.
- Dr. Blake has Jane redirect patients to Dr. Carlson.
- Dr. Blake has to cancel date with Jane to investigate Magneto’s attack. She is not pleased.
- Magneto offers Thor alliance, and is rejected.
#251 story in reading order
Next: Journey Into Mystery #109, Story B
Previous: Fantastic Four #31
