Featuring: Thor
Release: October 1, 1963
Cover: December 1963
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Illustrated by: Don Heck
13 pages
Yes, we are jumping back in time a week. This begins a two-part story, so I wanted to get #99-100 together. The CMRO actually puts the Thor stories from each issue together, and then goes back to the “Tales of Asgard” stories from 99-100. I think I’m going to treat reading a whole issue at once as the more important consideration. Of course, I will eventually break that rule. So the plan is to read the whole of Journey Into Mystery #99 followed by the whole of #100, even though that inserts a Tales of Asgard story in the middle of Thor’s battle with Mr. Hyde.
Marvel’s already had a few characters inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s story, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Hulk is the most famous one, but his character arc has so far been a rambling mess. Lizard did it well, though it made the character of Curt Connors far more sympathetic than Stevenson made Dr. Jekyll.
Now, we get an explicit reference with a villain named Mr. Hyde. Calvin Zabo is written as even less sympathetic than Dr. Jekyll. He is a straightforward super-villain who transforms himself into Mr. Hyde to commit crimes.
Mr. Hyde wants revenge on Dr. Blake for rejecting his job application. Plantman had a similar motivation; he was a gardener and one of his clients let him go, so he wanted revenge.
Mr. Hyde will become a mainstay villain, a regular foe of Captain America, Spider-Man and Daredevil.
The Thor/Jane status quo has slightly evolved. At first, he was afraid to ask her out for personal reasons. Now, he can’t ask her out because Odin forbids it. They repeated the original status quo in each issue for a while, and now seem ready to repeat the new status quo. It’s almost storytelling.
We do get a new element here, one which will last until next issue, that if Jane can prove herself worthy, Odin might make her an immortal and allow Thor to marry her.
Faced with Mr. Hyde, she faints, so we have a ways to go on that.
“…because she is a female…”
My fascination with Thor’s hammer and what is going on with it continues. Here, we see it’s the hammer that makes him the god of thunder. The suggestion is that his power to control storms comes from the hammer. However, his strength is his own, as he needs to be strong enough to lift the hammer in order to wield it. Even after lifting it, he must be worthy enough to use its powers.
The issue ends with Thor turning evil for some reason. We’ll have to see what comes of that next time.
Rating: ★★★★½, 40/100
Significance: ★★★★☆
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol.1. It is also available in Thor Epic Collection vol. 1: God of Thunder. Or on Kindle.
Characters:
- Thor/Dr. Don Blake
- Mr. Hyde/Calvin Zabo
- Odin
- Jane Foster
Minor characters:
- Clark (officer)
- Joe (officer)
Story notes:
- Mr. Hyde 12 times as strong as a normal human.
#134 story in reading order
Next: Journey Into Mystery #99, Story C
Previous: Strange Tales #116, Story B
