The Vengeance of Loki!
Featuring: Thor
Release: November 1, 1962
Cover: January 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: L.D. Lieber
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
13 pages
Loki is Thor’s first repeat villain. Coming up with new villains every month is exhausting, so it’s worth repeating the best ones. Loki was the best one. (His competition is: the Stone Men from Saturn, the Executioner, Zarrko, and some Soviet soldiers.) The Fantastic Four have now fought Doom and Sub-Mariner three times each. Human Torch has faced off twice against the Wizard. Ant-Man hasn’t had a repeat villain yet, but I suspect we’ll see the return of Egghead soon enough. Hulk has a persistent nemesis in Thunderbolt Ross, but otherwise hasn’t encountered any actual villains twice. I think repeating villains is good, unless it’s overdone. It is how you develop good rivalries and get an arch-nemesis. But once Joker appeared in the old Batman comics, he started showing up in every single issue of Batman. It’s a balance of having some variety in the foes while giving a chance for a proper rivalry to develop. So far, these comics are doing well enough on the variety side.
We see Heimdall at his post for the first time, guarding the Bifrost. Loki is forbidden to leave Asgard, so he must somehow sneak past Heimdall. He does so by disguising himself as a snake. I really thought of Heimdall as being better than that.
Don’s nurse Jane is referred to as Miss Foster. For the last several issues, she’s only even been called Jane. In her first appearance, she was called Jane Nelson. Not sure how to reconcile that. Her romantic thoughts have been entirely focused on Don and Thor, so it’s unlikely she got married in the time period. Perhaps a divorce went through? Perhaps she had some other reason for changing her name? Perhaps it’s just a mistake on the writer’s part; maybe they just forgot her name was Jane Nelson, and referring to her as “Foster” is a simple mistake. It’s also at least plausible that Dr. Blake has somebody else on his staff named Miss Foster, but it seemed clear to me he was referring to Jane.
Loki turns people into “nothings”, blank people. I wonder if this is a bit of a joke about the medium, as the “nothings” are simply undrawn people. They are white space on the page in the outline of a person, but no person is drawn.
Loki for most of the issue seems like a harmless prankster. He turns people into “nothings”, but then changes them back; it makes it seem as though he really means no harm. He turns a neighborhood into sweets, cars, signs, etc. This seems more playful than malicious. These don’t seem that different than the types of things Impossible Man was recently doing in the pages of Fantastic Four.
These Thor comics are frustrating because they keep hinting at this cool mystery, but it’s not even clear the writers are doing it intentionally. What is going on? Why is Don Blake transforming into Thor? The more we see and get to know the Asgardians, the more it demands explanation.
Loki refers to Thor as Don Blake’s “true self”. What? At first it seemed like he was Don Blake with the form and powers of Thor. Then it kind of seemed like the two were somehow trapped in a single body they had to share. Now Loki is suggesting that Thor is the true form. Then who is Dr. Blake?
In the first issue, even in Thor form, Blake/Thor only spoke about Thor as a character he’d read about in high school. But soon he was talking like Thor, referring to Odin as his father; he knew how to transport the hammer to Asgard, and knew how to call upon Odin for help. And Odin keeps referring to him as his son. So it really seems like this is Thor, who has been missing for centuries. Given that he’s been missing so long, his return to Asgard should be a great moment of triumph. The issue ends with Thor’s first return home in what seems like centuries. Odin says he’s pleased to see his “favorite son”, but then the issue ends.
The next issue will have Thor battling a mobster back on earth with no mention of his momentous return home.
Other tales of mystery featured in this issue are: “Behind Locked Doors” and “Long Live the Queen.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 53/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
Characters:
- Loki
- Dr. Don Blake/Thor
- Odin
- Heimdall
- Jane Foster (Nelson)
Story notes:
- Begins in near past, picking up where issue 85 left off, then showing what Loki was up to concurrently with 87 before catching up to the present.
- Loki refers to Odin as “Father”; no mention of that relationship in previous appearance
- Loki uses strange leaves and sap from a sacred tree to spy on Thor
- Loki learns Thor is Don Blake
- Loki describes Thor as Blake’s “true self”.
- Loki must cross Bifrost to get to earth; Heimdall won’t let him past; Loki passes disguised as a snake
- Loki hypnotizes Jane, as he did to Thor in last encounter
- Jane referred to as Miss Foster. Second time a surname was given. The surname was “Nelson” last time.
- Thor and Loki meet at “Center Park”
- Loki transforms tree into tiger
- Loki creates magical force field around hammer
- Loki turns people into “nothings”
- Loki turns everything into sweets, cars into ice cream, etc.
- Loki makes Soviet atomic bomb a dud
- “How can we face Nikita now?”–Soviet soldier. A reference to Khrushchev
- Reaction shot from floating disembodied heads. The first we have seen?
- Thor fools Loki with double–Thor does things like this a lot.
- Thor discovered pigeon-Loki because he wouldn’t eat a peanut
- Thor travels to Asgard for first time; no hint is given this might be important
- Odin refers to Thor as his “favorite son”.
#43 story in reading order
Next: Tales to Astonish #40
Previous: Incredible Hulk #5, Story B
