Journey Into Mystery #114

Featuring: Thor
Release: January 5, 1965
Cover: March 1965
12 cents
Written at white heat by: Stan Lee
Drawn with purple passion by: Jack Kirby
Inked with golden serenity by: Chic Stone
Lettered on a blue Monday by: Sam Rosen
16 pages

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Avengers #16	Reading order	Journey Into Mystery #114, Story B
Journey Into Mystery #113, Story B	Journey Into Mystery	Journey Into Mystery #114, Story B

“The Stronger I Am, the Sooner I Die!”

Well, damn. That’s maybe the most compelling title yet. It turns out to also make complete sense into the context of the story. I like it.

This is the issue Thor finally gets good.

Quality-wise, Thor’s been turning around since about a dozen issues back. It went from being the single worst title to a pretty decent one. The stories still haven’t been much to speak of, but the art and action have been excellent. There’s been great storytelling of late, even if not applied to many stories worth telling.

The great storytelling has been owed to the pairing of Kirby and Stone. We just bid farewell to Stone’s tenure on FF. Now we must bid farewell to him on Thor (recall we’ve jumped back in time, so this is a month before his final FF issue). Vince Colletta will graduate from the Tales of Asgard backups and start on the main strip. There are those who love Colletta’s work on Thor, and there are many others who… don’t. We’ll see what we think in the months to come.

We are jumping back in time a couple months. Thor is changing. It has so far mostly consisted of identifiable discrete stories, usually one or two issues long. No more. Stories will flow into each other; it will be hard to tell where one begins and ends. It will be hard to identify where Thor gets enough of a breather to go be an Avenger. (Though we know that soon won’t be an issue.) We’re already behind on our Dr. Strange and Hulk reading because they’ve started the “saga” approach to storytelling.

To that end, the plan is to read the next 6 issues of Thor basically together, pausing only to check in on Daredevil, because it’s relevant to the happenings in Thor.

Most of the issue is dedicated to Thor’s battle against the Absorbing Man, but it ends indecisively. It’s over for the moment, but Thor’s foe remains at large. Meanwhile, we get a second conflict in the final pages. Loki has kidnapped Jane and holds her in his stronghold. Thor must go battle Loki and rescue Jane. Next issue will pick up both of these plots, but the Absorbing Man story still won’t conclude, and it will bleed into the Trial of the Gods” arc, which has already been hinted at in our Avengers reading because we got 2 months ahead.

We’ll talk in more detail about chronology next issue, but my loose idea is that this story takes place between the pages of Avengers #15. After the first Thor scene but before the second. The MCP disagrees, placing this squarely after Avengers #16.

Let’s dive in.

It begins as usual with the schemes of Loki. His first attempt to interfere with Thor’s battle against a Communist race car driver fails, so he decides to endow a prisoner with powers. He chooses Crusher Creel.

We should pause to note that Loki has a cool new costume. He’s worn basically the same yellow horns since we met him, but he has a new hat now. The Asgardians are all about their headwear, though none moreso than Odin.

We see that when bullets are fired at Crusher Creel, he turns to steel, as though absorbing the properties of the bullets.

A reporter named Mr. Hobbs had to visit Dr. Blake with a broken arm. He’s looking to track down Creel, and Dr. Blake decides Thor can follow. Hobbs will become a somewhat regular side character.

In a shared universe with tight continuity, a question to always address is why not call on the other superheroes for help. Lee gives this a panel of thought, where Blake decides he doesn’t need to call the Avengers yet. This is almost superfluous, because he’s Thor. I get why he doesn’t think he needs anybody else to stop a con. He’s Thor.

A side effect of this dialogue is that it indicates there is nothing funny going on with the Avengers yet. They are still a team and Thor is still a member. So this is definitely before the ending of Avengers #16.

Apparently Thor’s hammer tingles when a supernatural threat is near. This is a first heard for me. I guess the hammer works sort of like Spider-Man’s spider sense. Presumably Thor’s hammer has done a lot of tingling over the course of the series, and it’s just never been pointed out to the audience before.

Creel absorbs the properties of substances he is near, like steel or stone, but also the powers of people he is near. By being near Thor, he absorbs Thor’s strength, and his ball and chain gain the powers of Thor’s hammer.

A pretty spectacular battle follows.

The battle ends indecisively, for Thor suddenly finds himself transported to Asgard. Balder tells him Loki has kidnapped Jane.

The issue ends with Thor riding off to battle Loki. A lot of plot threads will spin out of this issue. Stay tuned.

In the underappreciated Hulk (2003) film by Ang Lee, Bruce Banner’s father is played by Nick Nolte, and he gains super-powers seemingly inspired by the Absorbing Man. I really appreciated how deep they went with his powers, when most superhero movies have been content with a shallow understanding of a character’s powers. If he becomes the same substance of the floor, then where does he end and the floor begin? I appreciate that he turns into water and air and such in the film. We’ll see similarly cool uses of his power in the comic soon enough.

Rating: ★★★★☆, 70/100
Significance: ★★★★☆

I’m going to go ahead and call this the best Thor story yet. Great new villain, great action. I’ll miss Chic Stone.

You may notice this is the highest score I’ve given any Thor story by a good margin. I had given 61 to the introductions of Thor and Loki respectively. This is a testament to how much I like the Absorbing Man, but also to the fact that Kirby is stepping up his game (both here and with the Fantastic Four).

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol. 3. It is also available on Kindle.

• Thor/Dr. Don Blake
• Loki
• Crusher Creel/Absorbing Man
• Mr. Hobbs
• Jane Foster
• Balder

Story notes:

• Thor’s bucket racing adversary an enemy agent, who has committed treason.
• Loki tries to intervene and weaken Thor, but only Odin can strip Thor of his powers. (As he often does)
• Loki gives Crusher Creel power with a potion.
• When bullets hit Creel, he turns to steel.
• Dr. Blake treats Mr. Hobbs’ injured arm.
• Creel hiding in Black Mountain Swamp area.
• Blake calls Jane “Button Nose”.
• Thor’s hammer tingles when a supernatural menace is near.
• Absorbing Man absorbs: steel, rocks, wood, lightning, Thor’s strength, and the power of Thor’s hammer.
• Absorbing Man absorbs the powers of anybody he is near.
• Loki captures Jane; at least two arcs left unresolved.

Previous	#335	Next
Avengers #16	Reading order	Journey Into Mystery #114, Story B
Journey Into Mystery #113, Story B	Journey Into Mystery	Journey Into Mystery #114, Story B