Featuring: Tales of Asgard
Release: June 1, 1965
Cover: August 1965
12 cents
Written with gallantry by: Stan Lee
Drawn with greatness by: Jack Kirby
Inked with grandeur by: Vince Colletta
Lettered with a straight face by: Artie Simek
5 pages
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|---|---|---|
| Journey Into Mystery #119 | Reading order | Tales to Astonish #63, Story B |
| Journey Into Mystery #119 | Journey Into Mystery | Journey Into Mystery #120 |
Third chapter of the Odinsword Saga. Loki and Thor are almost ready to begin their quest to discover who has broken the Oversword of Asgard.
Loki has more new recruits. His last recruit tried to assassinate Thor.
Hogun, the Grim. Fandral, the Dashing. Kroda, the Duellist. Magrat, the Schemer.
And, of course, Volstagg, the Enormous.
I think Hogun is supposed to be Asian as Kirby depicts him. He seems to be channeling a stereotypical Mongol warrior for inspiration. [UPDATE: Or maybe not. See comments for discussion.]
Some of these new recruits will become friends to Thor, and others his foes. But which?
Thor seems to trust Volstagg, though is concerned he has a tendency to bluster, and that he has eaten well. Thor suspects this quest may really be a chance for Volstagg to take a break from his wife and 15 children.
Meanwhile, someone has etched “Ragnarok is Coming” into the wall of Odin’s palace. Ominous.
At the risk of spoiling who will not betray Thor, Three of these Warriors made it into the 2011 Thor movie.
Even though the story is clearly just about to get started, we are going to pause it there for the time being. After we’ve checked in with Hulk… And Giant-Man and Wasp… And the Avengers… And Sgt. Fury… And Iron Man… Well, let’s just say we’ll continue the Odinsword Saga after we’ve checked in with the rest of the Marvel Universe.
I did just go through a big move, which hopefully won’t slow down my reading. After all, the next comic I have to read is in one of these boxes, I’m sure.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 55/100
Significance: ★★★★★
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol. 3. It is also available on Kindle.
Characters:
- Thor
- Loki
- Balder
- Hogun, the Grim
- Fandral, the Dashing
- Kroda, the Duellist
- Magrat, the Schemer
- Volstagg, the Enormous
- Odin
| Previous | #347 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Journey Into Mystery #119 | Reading order | Tales to Astonish #63, Story B |
| Journey Into Mystery #119 | Journey Into Mystery | Journey Into Mystery #120 |
Is that 33 bankers boxes? Yikes! I’ve moved so often and survived several floods, that I’ve ridden most of my dead tree comics. By the time the movers arrive tomorrow (Yes, another move) I should be down to only five boxes.
I still prefer physical comics; it’s all I am reading for this blog (though I steal pictures from the digital versions). In total, I have just under 200 long boxes worth of comics. Half are in storage. I think I count about 70 white long boxes in the picture. Brown boxes also full of comics, of course.
Hogun looks more Imperial Russian than Asian to me, which makes sense with Russia’s historic links to Scandinavia and the Vikings.
Well, shoot. I used some hindsight and a cursory google image search to make that Mongol assertion. I’ll do more research into the matter before Hogun’s next appearance. You may well be right.
Wow . . . 200 boxes . . . my 20 or o longboxes pale in comparison!