Featuring: Thor
Release: March 4, 1965
Cover: May 1965
12 cents
Written by imperial Stan Lee
Illustrated by impregnable Jack Kirby
Inked by implacable Vince Colletta
Lettered by impossible Artie Simek
16 pages
| Previous | #340 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Daredevil #7 | Reading order | Journey Into Mystery #116, Story B |
| Journey Into Mystery #115, Story B | Journey Into Mystery | Journey Into Mystery #116, Story B |
Colletta graduates from inking the backup stories to the main Thor feature. He will be the Thor artist for a very long time to come. For better or worse. In fact, he will ink the next 52 consecutive Thor stories, and a good many of the next 50 after that over the course of an 8-year run.
We’ll reserve commentary on the his style for now. Let’s spend a few issues taking in this new art style before we try to see how we think Colletta compares to Chic Stone.
Another compelling Thor title. “The Trial of the Gods!”
We’ve known the phrase since we read Avengers #16, which was actually published a week after this, but took place earlier. At least, Thor’s appearance in the story took place before this issue.
Kirby seemed to use the same concept for cover and first page.
I’ve never really understood Odin and never will. Everybody seems to agree he is wise, but his wisdom must be too much for my mortal intelligence to grasp. Thor claims Loki kidnapped Jane to Asgard; Loki claims Thor brought Jane to Asgard because he loves her. Who is lying? The God of Thunder or the God of Lies?
Only one way to find out, says Odin. The Trial of the Gods!
Thor and Loki will travel unarmed to Skornheim and race back to Asgard. Skornheim is an unhappy place, apparently.
Thor surrendered his hammer, but Loki brought a bag of enchanted Norn Stones. This is cheating. But wise Odin had no way of predicting Loki might cheat or of preventing him from doing so.
Loki also thinks Thor will be distracted when he learns the Enchantress and the Executioner have captured Jane. This is only a day or two after Thor’s last encounter with the pair, when they escaped the Avengers.
The first trap in Skornheim is quicksand.
I always thought that quicksand was going to be a much bigger problem than it turned out to be.
It’s a pretty good comic. Thor and Loki have to face all these dangers. Loki keeps cheating and Thor keeps powering his way through without cheating.
Balder thinks he should save Jane since Thor can’t and goes to tell Odin, even though it’s forbidden to disturb Odin in the bath. Probably the most sensible law Odin’s ever passed.
Before we continue reading, we must all pause to admire Odin’s bathrobe. Please take a couple minutes. Or all the time you need. Just be filled with awe.
We come to something we’ve seen before, but that’s going to start coming up more and more. Loki, Enchantress, Executioner… these are all bad Asgardians up to bad things. But they can’t kill anybody. Odin won’t allow it and they’re all afraid of Odin. So they cause a lot of mischief, but never more mischief than they think Odin will tolerate. Thus Jane is never in real danger from these Asgardian villains.
We then get a peek at the happenings in the surrounding universe. When two super-villains menace Jane, one must ask why won’t any superheroes help. A member of the Teen Brigade asks just that and gets some answers.
Unfortunately, when Stan tries to tie too much continuity together, flaws result. We’ll have a hard time explaining at least two things in this issue.
Notice they rarely name the other Teen Brigade members. We’ve met several but still really only know Rick Jones. Sometimes we learn a first name in passing. Bill or such, but not for any recurring characters. This could be laziness on Stan’s part, but it could also help with reader identification. Stan and Jack seem to be struggling with the idea of teen sidekicks. They were always popular and had their place in superhero comics of decades past, but lack a certain realism, and may encourage children to do dangerous things. The Teen Brigade allows a place for young readers to see themselves in the story. If they can’t be Robin, then they can be on the alert for danger, and can contact their favorite heroes when they spot it.
The Avengers don’t notice the danger because they are in the middle of a priority meeting. Present are Iron Man, Giant-Man, Wasp, Captain America, and Rick Jones.
This is the first huge continuity headache. When did those characters have a meeting? We know that Thor departed for the Trial of the Gods prior to page 6 of Avengers #16. So this must be after that. Captain America was in South America at the time with Rick. It took him a while to get back. Long enough for the other Avengers to decide to resign, for Hawkeye to pass his security checks, for Namor to reject their offer, for Iron Man to send out an ad, for Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch to see that ad, apply, travel to America, and get accepted.
Whereas the Trial of the Gods was supposed to start 48 hours after it was declared.
So Captain America really should not be at that Avengers meeting.
Say he is. Say the Trial got delayed a bit and we didn’t learn about it. Or say the Avengers recruiting process went really fast. Still, Captain America didn’t return until after Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver all arrived. And Iron Man left very soon after. So you have to assume this meeting is right after Captain America got back, and the new Avengers are just in the next room. Though it would make more sense if Captain America just weren’t there.
Of course, you can always try to get creative about trying to explain things like this. Maybe that’s an impostor Captain America trying to infiltrate the Avengers, and there’s a whole untold adventure there. Then that would also need to be an impostor Rick. It doesn’t seem worth anybody’s trouble to impersonate Rick Jones. Scratch that story idea. No prize for me.
What else is going on? Daredevil can’t help because he’s trying to track down Sub-Mariner. Why we made sure to pause our Thor reading to read Daredevil #7. Namor was also just nearly recruited by the Avengers, presumably just before this fight, certainly before Captain America’s return from South America.
The Fantastic Four are not home. We know they got caught in a nuclear explosion in the middle of the ocean and are lost at sea. The Frightful Four have come to loot their headquarters.
Trapster claims their battle with the Fantastic Four was a month ago. I wish he hadn’t said that. That doesn’t make sense. We need this all to happen in a much more compressed time frame. Sandman backs up the assertion by noting they went into hiding to make sure the FF didn’t return.
Now they’ve worked up the courage to invade the empty headquarters. They flee when they see Human Torch and learn the FF are not dead.
However… it wasn’t the Human Torch. Balder transported to Earth amidst some flame. They mistook Balder for the Human Torch. That is a fun bit of continuity. Using the events of Thor to explain a plot gap in the events of FF. Why didn’t the Frightful Four loot the FF headquarters? Well, because of the Trial of the Gods…
Speaking of the Trial, Thor does really well for a man without his hammer, beats all kinds of traps and baddies.
But he is just not as fast as Loki with his Norn Stones. And Loki wins the race.
What will the judgment of wise Odin be?
Notice how the “Trial of the Gods” story is almost over, but not quite, and it had blended in with the Absorbing Man story. We’re 3 issues in without a breather, and none is coming soon. Thor’s story just keeps getting propelled forward, so we will keep reading.
We’re reading these things in such chaotic order that I’m losing track of when it is. But this is the March issue, so it’s probably a good time to take our monthly peek around the newsstand. In hindsight, I probably should have done it when we read the March issue of X-Men, but I forgot.
In Marvel milestones for the month, Patsy and Hedy reaches its 100th issue! With a story entitled “When a Girl Becomes a Woman”. That “Career Girls” tagline has been there since issue 96. After all, it’s 1965. In these modern times, girls can focus on their career.
There are only 10 issues left of Patsy and Hedy. Superhero dominance is starting to set in at Marvel, even for characters like Patsy Walker, whose adventures have been told by Marvel since 1944. She currently has two titles, her solo title, and this one she shares with Hedy Wolfe. Millie will endure a little longer.
With that, let’s take a glance at what other publishers are up to this month.
- Archie’s Girls Betty and Veronica #113, Archie
- Hot Rod Racers #3, Charlton
- Sea Devils #23, DC
- Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane #57, DC
- Flash Gordon #1, Gold Key
- Marge’s Little Lulu #176, Gold Key
- Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge #57, Gold Key
- Friendly Ghost Casper #82, Harvey
Rating: ★★★½, 61/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol. 3. It is also available on Kindle.
Characters:
- Thor
- Loki
- Odin
- Jane Foster
- Executioner
- Enchantress
- Yagg the Slayer
- Balder
- Iron Man
- Rick Jones
- Captain America
- Wasp
- Giant-Man
- Daredevil
- Wizard
- Medusa
- Sandman
- Trapster
Story notes:
- Challenge is for Thor and Loki to go to Skornheim unarmed. First to return to Asgard wins.
- Thor yields hammer to Odin.
- Skornheim a deadly realm beyond Asgard; forbidden realm; land of dark mystery and undreamed-of danger; land where the gods fear to tread.
- Loki uses stone to show that Enchantress and Executioner accost Jane.
- Norn stones: project vision of events on Earth; turn lava into a solid path; turn Loki intangible; allow Loki to levitate; create magical whirlwind; plant repellent.
- Threats of Skornheim: burning sun turns hill to quicksand; impenetrable field of spiny plants; Yagg, the slayer; withering heat of the glowing boulder road; carnivorous plants.
- Odin commands Balder to keep Jane safe.
- Executioner afraid to kill mortal for fear of Odin’s decree.
- Enchantress uses spell to put crowd to sleep. (Or maybe whole city?)
- Member of Teen Brigade seeks help; unable to contact Rick Jones.
- Avengers in the middle of priority meeting: Iron Man, Giant-Man, Wasp, Captain America, and Rick Jones present.
- Daredevil ignores plea from Teen Brigade, as he is searching for Sub-Mariner.
- Teen Brigade tries Baxter Building, but the FF are lost at sea, having just been caught in an atomic explosion.
- Frightful Four mistake Balder for Human Torch.
| Previous | #340 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Daredevil #7 | Reading order | Journey Into Mystery #116, Story B |
| Journey Into Mystery #115, Story B | Journey Into Mystery | Journey Into Mystery #116, Story B |
