Featuring: Thor
Release: April Fools Day, 1965
Cover: June 1965
12 cents
Regally written by: Stan Lee
Dazzlingly drawn by: Jack Kirby
Invincibly inked by: Vince Colletta
Lonesomely lettered by: Artie Simek
16 pages
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| Journey Into Mystery #116, Story B | Reading order | Journey Into Mystery #117, Story B |
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We’re still spinning out of the events of issue 114, when Loki kidnapped Jane. This led directly to last issue’s Trial of the Gods, a challenge which Loki won by cheating, right as last issue closed.
We pick up precisely where we left off. For continuity’s sake, Thor is still without his cape. He’ll get another one when they get home.
This issue, Thor finds himself entangled in the Vietnam war. Marvel heroes have been fighting Communists for as long as we’ve been reading, often in Vietnam. The nature of US involvement in Vietnam was changing drastically, as this comic was published just 7 months after the Gulf of Tonkin incident. Here, we see the civil war that ravages South Vietnam, as South Vietnamese farmers face the terror of the Viet Cong, guerilla forces supported by the North Vietnamese.
Before we get to Viet Nam, we have unresolved plot points from last issue. Who won the Trial of the Gods? Will Jane be rescued from Enchantress and Executioner?
As to the former, Thor tells Odin of Loki’s treachery. But Loki has hidden the Norn Stones. Odin now gives Thor 24 hours to find them and prove he is telling the truth.
As to the latter, Balder has decided he needs to “blend in” by wearing Earth attire, even though he is engaged in a battle with two Asgardians with no such fashion needs and surrounded by a sleeping city.
Once Jane is rescued and the city is awakened from Enchantress’ spell, Balder casts forgetfulness on Jane. Thor cast forgetfulness on her just a few days ago. I hear that spell loses potency if you overuse it, and could have other side effects. Consult your doctor before having forgetfulness cast.
The Queen of the Norns has come to reclaim her Stones from Loki, who does not have them.
We get perhaps our first genuine character insight into Loki, and what motivates him. At first he just seemed to cause mischief because he was the god of mischief. But we have since learned that Loki was the son of a king; he had been meant to rule. Odin slew his father and adopted him, but as Odin’s second son, so he would not rule Asgard.
Thor’s hammer detects the Norn Stones in Viet Nam. Once there, he immediately finds himself under assault by the Viet Cong. He is rescued by farmers, and finds himself drawn into their struggle.
As civil wars do, this one has torn a family apart.
Hu Sak, a commander of the Viet Cong must face his mother and siblings, and ultimately kills his mom and brother. It’s a rather upsettingly tragic turn of events. That’s the price of a civil war.
He comes to an insight: “It was Communism that made me what I am– that shaped me into a brutal, unthinking instrument of destruction!”
Only the sister Kim survives. Thor takes her away as Hu Sak sets off explosives, killing himself and his entire unit. Thor apparently approves of all this slaughter.
This is a lot more death than we usually see in these stories. None of the other Marvel superhero stories have had so clearly high a body count. The only comic with an implicitly higher body count was the one where Thor set off a nuclear explosion in China. And the killing of Cho and his mother was particularly brutal compared to what we’ve been reading so far.
What do we make of this issue? On the one hand, it’s pure propaganda. It touches closely on a current conflict, and takes a clear side, which happens to align with the position of the US government. That doesn’t mean it’s entirely wrong.
It’s much less racist than pretty much every other story set in Asia so far. The artistic depictions have improved greatly. But we also get to know several of the Vietnamese people. The Viet Cong are of course the villains and the South Vietnamese farmers and and those who fight against the Viet Cong are of course the heroes. Cho is portrayed as quite the hero, and we get to know Kim and their mother. The death of Cho and his mother is entirely tragic. Hu Sak, the villain, is still a villain with depth and character, and one who repents in the end, choosing to die rather than continue to be evil.
The propaganda is undeniable, but there is a higher quality, attention to detail, attention to character, and attention to current events than their previous propaganda efforts.
Back to Thor’s saga, we see again that nothing is ending anymore. Thor still has to get those Norn Stones to Odin. Hopefully there won’t be any more distractions.
Recall he only had 24 hours and presumably has used a lot of those hours going from New York to Vietnam, being unconscious, wading through a jungle in mortal form, and being a prisoner.
A note on spelling. My whole life, the English translation of the country’s name I’ve known has been Vietnam, and the people from there, I have always known as Vietnamese. Viet Nam is an also correct transliteration, which was more common in the 1960s, and what the comic uses. This is actually closer to the spelling in the modern Vietnamese language: Việt Nam. When talking about the comic, I try to line up my spelling with the comic’s. Other times in this same post, I used the more familiar spellings to me. I considered consistency, but the comic never uses the word Vietnamese, and I had no idea how else I would write that. In Vietnamese, I think Vietnamese people are simply referred to as Việt.
I also use the simplified spelling of Viet Cong as used by the comic to refer to the Communist guerilla forces. It is more properly written Việt Cộng, which loosely translates to “Vietnamese community”.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 52/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol. 3. It is also available on Kindle.
Characters:
- Thor
- Loki
- Odin
- Executioner
- Balder
- Enchantress
- Jane Foster
- Cho
- Kim
- Queen of the Norns
- Hu Sak
Minor characters:
- Minh Chu (Viet Cong)
Story notes:
- Loki hides the Norn Stones on Earth so Thor cannot prove he cheated.
- Valhalla is the name for Odin’s ceremonial chamber.
- Odin gives Thor 24 hours to find the Norn Stones on Earth before he passes sentence.
- Also just as we left off, Balder is attempting to protect Jane from Enchantress and Executioner.
- Enchantress suggests her spell last issue had put the entire city to sleep.
- Balder grants forgetfulness to Jane and the entire city.
- Thor’s hammer can detect Stones; draws him to Asia.
- Thor clarifies he can be slain by weapons, though would otherwise live forever.
- Thor attacked by Viet Cong in Viet Nam.
- Mortar shell knocks Thor unconscious.
- Vietnamese farmers think Thor has been sent by Buddha to destroy Viet Cong, who keep them from farming.
- Thor changes to Dr. Blake to get through the growth easier.
- Blake captured by Viet Cong.
- Hu Sak a Viet Cong commander; his brother Cho, sister Kim, and mother are opposed to the Viet Cong. They end up his prisoners. The father is long dead.
- Hu Sak kills own brother and mother, then himself.
| Previous | #342 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Journey Into Mystery #116, Story B | Reading order | Journey Into Mystery #117, Story B |
| Journey Into Mystery #116, Story B | Journey Into Mystery | Journey Into Mystery #117, Story B |
This is very cool. Im a 90s kid. At about 8 I started reading my dad’s comic collection. So all the amazing stuff from the 60s is where I cut my teeth on comic books and gain my passion for them. Though there was still some blatant propaganda and racism in comics. Their also was some amazing storytelling and groundbreaking artwork that came out of marvel comics at this time. Thanks for relaying these stories for the younger generation. Nuff said!
The Vietnamese characters in this story have names that sound more Korean than Vietnamese.