Prisoner of the Reds!
Featuring: Thor
Release: October 2, 1962
Cover: December 1962
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Larry Lieber
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
10 pages
It seems overly sanctimonious to sit here almost 60 years later and dismiss comics like this as propaganda, though it’s evident that’s what it is. Thor, God of Thunder, refers to a Soviet stronghold as a “citadel of evil” and calls upon Odin to smite it. No, it’s a military facility, just like the ones the US has. And the Russian citizens depicted are sympathetic to America and its cause of freedom. That part at least allows it to rise above the propaganda comics of the ’40s, as it demonizes the enemy’s government and military, but not its people.
But really it’s just a story of its time. Stan and Jack are looking for enemies. Twenty years earlier, during the last wave of superhero comics, the Nazis made convenient targets. In 1962, the Soviets seem a natural extension. I think it was a scary time in America, with nuclear war a barely understood but terrifyingly likely reality. Moreover, it’s October of 1962. This comic reached the shelves just 2 weeks before the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Part of the rationale for fighting Soviets was rooted in Stan’s ideas to make these comics real. As he incorporated real-life problems like poor stock market performance and financial problems in Fantastic Four, so he wanted to put real-world threats like the Soviet military into the pages of Thor.
Ultimately, the problem is that the threat of the Soviet military is unworthy of Thor. They don’t stand a chance. Admittedly, not many have stood much of a chance against Thor. He has thus far been depicted as unbeatable. We have seen exactly three lines of attack work:
- Use hostages
- Get him to drop his hammer
- Hypnotize him
Not much advancement in Thor’s subplots. He still mostly talks and acts like Don Blake, but does call Odin his father and speak in old english when talking to Odin. He still can’t tell Jane how he feels about her, and she still gushes over Thor.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆, 32/100
Significance: ★☆☆☆☆
This story is mostly just a historical curiosity redeemed by Kirby’s art and a single panel with sharks.
Characters:
- Dr. Don Blake/Thor
- Jane Nelson
Minor characters
- Sylvia (wife of John Blandings, missing scientist)
- Colonel Edward Harrison, US Army Intelligence
Story notes:
- Scientists defecting behind iron curtain; Dr. Blake thinks Thor can help
- Dr. Blake’s bum leg kept him out of Korean war
- Jane fantasizes about Thor
- Dr. Blake repeats reasons he can’t tell Jane his feelings
- Jane’s last name not given. She was called “Jane Nelson” in her first appearance.
- Dr. Blake pretends to develop new virus for germ warfare
- Fake photographer sprays Blake with hypnotic gas, makes him write defection note
- Red soldier notes Thor’s hammer looks like a Soviet emblem
- Electronically treated chains can hold Thor
- Red soldiers cannot lift hammer
- Again, Thor speaks in Shakespearean to talk to Odin, but in modern english otherwise
#33 story in reading order
Next: Tales to Astonish #39
Previous: Tales to Astonish #38
The artwork is amazing