Journey Into Mystery #124

Featuring: Thor
Release: November 4, 1965
Cover: January 1966
12 cents
Story by: Stan (The Man) Lee
Pencilling by: Jack (King) Kirby
Delineation by: Vince (the Prince) Colletta
Lettering by: Artie (Sugar Lips) Simek
16 pages

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Daredevil #14	Reading order	Journey Into Mystery #124, Story B
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“Those arms of his can crush concrete! And yet!–“
“He’s holdin’ that kid as gently as if she was made outta egg-shells.”

Stan has a different nickname for the creators every issue it seems. But this is not the first time he’s referred to himself as “The Man” and to Jack as “King”, and these nicknames are the ones that will stick with them across the decades. Despite its rhyming qualities, “Vince the Prince” will not stick. I have no comment on the prevalence of this nickname for Artie.

The newsstand is selling the latest issue of Strange Tales, emphasizing what I’ve noted before: just how great a month for comics this is, perhaps the best in Marvel’s history.

Thor is reading a newspaper which is reporting on the Demon. As we’ve noted, there are no really clear stopping points in Thor’s saga anymore. Most ongoing threads resolved last issue, except last issue also began this Demon story, which is still just getting started; Thor and the Demon will finally meet in this issue’s final panels. That story involves a Vietnamese Witch Doctor finding a Norn Stone, so ultimately still traces back to the Trial of the Gods from issue 116 and Thor’s battle with the Viet Cong in issue 117. Jane remains in the hospital from smoke inhalation after being kidnapped by Harris Hobbs, as we saw in issue 122. While the Demon saga will resolve itself next issue, this issue, as the cover notes, also introduces Hercules to the mix, and a story which will continue on. The last year of Thor tales have covered a very short span of time.

Dr. Strange also has an enemy called the Demon showing up in his concurrent comics. Don’t confuse the two. Definitely don’t confuse either with the Demon of the Diamonds or the Demon of the Mask.

A modern reading undercuts a touching moment. The dialogue about Thor’s strength against the image of him gently hugging the young girl is a good one. It’s even cute that Thor refers to her father as her “daddy”. However, with the benefit of hindsight, it’s hard to see Thor’s claim that soldiers in Vietnam are “holding aloft the lamp of liberty” as anything but false propaganda.

In fairness to Stan and Jack, people even today tend to see World War II exactly that way, as a fight for liberty in Europe. And that’s the war they’d both fought in. It’s perhaps natural they wouldn’t be too critical and interpret the next generation’s war in the same light.

A police officer tells Thor he can’t start swinging his hammer to fly on a crowded city street. Which is actually pretty sensible, Thor agrees. So Thor takes the lift to the top of a tall building. We get a funny shot of Thor in a crowded elevator.

The oddball in an elevator seems a common gag, as people in an elevator just need to stare in awkward silence for a long period of time and not interact.

Kirby uses a full page to give us an iconic shot of Thor.

Jane remains sick, though she should be recovered from her smoke inhalation by now. It turns out her problem is psychological. Don claims to love her, but then always disappears for long stretches of time. And she knows he keeps some terrible secret from her. Just as Betty knows Peter is hiding something. (Karen and Pepper seem pretty clueless.)

For Jane’s mental well being, Don sees only one choice, even though it means defying his father. As an aside, notice that Don thinks of Odin as his own father, rather than Thor’s father.

Thor at last reveals his true identity to Jane. Which means there is finally some forward motion in the annoying status quo of their relationship. Of course Odin is angry and vows a reckoning.

“Thus has it ever been,” says Thor, meaning that he has always been Blake. You mean for a year or so now, right? Ever since Don found that cane in the cave which transformed him into you.

He promises Jane to never leave again, but then realizes he can’t keep that promise. Not when there’s freedom to fight for. So he heads off to Asia to fight the Demon.

We’ve met Hercules before in Journey Into Mystery Annual 1. That was like an extended Tale of Asgard feature set in the past. And we’ve seen the character of legend pop up here and there in Marvel. We reviewed his history in that same annual. Most notably, a version of Hercules appeared in Avengers #10, conjured by Immortus to battle the Avengers.

But this is the proper introduction of Hercules into the modern Marvel universe, not as a generic character of legend, but a major Marvel character, ally to Thor, eventual member of the Avengers. Played in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by Roy Kent Brett Goldstein.

Notice how serious Hercules seems here. Respectful and obedient to his father. No mention of wine or women in his dialogue. We seem him jousting with Atlas, and then accepting a mission from Zeus.

“We hear and obey, Supreme One.”
“But give it voice, Father–and it shall be done.”
“I hear and obey, venerable Lord!”

If Atlas is here jousting with Hercules, it’s not clear who is holding up the sky and the heavens. In classical myth, Hercules and Atlas did have an encounter during Hercules’ legendary labors when Hercules was collecting the Golden Apples.

Fittingly, I worked on this post over the weekend while visiting St. Abbs, home of the Norse Gods in the Marvel films. I sat atop some cliffs somewhere near where Thor and Valkyrie talked about who will rule New Asgard in Avengers: Endgame, and wrote this post.

Rating: ★★★½, 60/100
Significance: ★★★★★

Significance rating for properly introducing Hercules and for Thor revealing his identity to Jane. That and some great art incline me toward a pretty high rating. Discomfort with Stan and Jack’s depiction of Asia generally pulls it down some.

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol. 4.

Characters:

• Thor/Dr. Don Blake
• Demon
• Jane Foster
• Odin
• Mr. Wilkins
• Zeus
• Hercules
• Atlas

Story notes:

• Thor reads newspaper headline about the Demon. The crowd urges him to fight the Demon.
• A girl whose father is fighting in Vietnam asks Thor if he has been there.
• Police officer won’t let Thor fly off from a crowded street without a permit; Thor agrees it may injure someone, so takes a lift to a tall building instead.
• Bank manager hopes Thor will apply for a job as a bank guard.
• Demon is invulnerable and strong; his army grows.
• Jane is suffering from a fit of depression caused by Blake’s frequent disappearances.
• To save her from heartbreak and hysteria, Don reveals his secret, despite his father’s ban.
• Jane asked him to stay, but his duty is to stop the Demon.
• Zeus is monarch of Mount Olympus; he calls on his gods to turn their attention to Earth.
• Weary of his rivalies in Olympus, Zeus dispatches Hercules on a mission.
• A centaur thinks it will be glorious now that Zeus has again taken note of Earth after centuries.
• Demon conquering Asia.
• Ends with Thor facing off against Demon. Thor recognizes the Norn stone around his neck.

Previous	#461	Next
Daredevil #14	Reading order	Journey Into Mystery #124, Story B
Journey Into Mystery #123, Story B	Journey Into Mystery	Journey Into Mystery #124, Story B