It Hides Under the Ground!
Release: February 25, 1957
Cover: June 1957
10 cents
Credits: Carl Wessler and Syd Shores
4 pages
The story offers no credits. I took the above from the Grand Comics Database.
We just met Odin in Journey Into Mystery #85. That was his Marvel Age introduction. But of course the company had been publishing all sorts of fantasy tales for decades, often drawing from mythology. The CMRO reckons Odin’s introduction into its “expanded order” as Adventures Into Terror #26. I fear I have not read that issue.
I will give us a glimpse of an old Odin story, from 5 years earlier in the same Journey Into Mystery series.
This tale follows a pretty standard format. There is a less-than-reputable lead engaging in immoral activity, and a fantastic twist which serves him justice, often an ironic form of justice.
This is the tale of Otto Kranz, a draft dodger from an unnamed country. He is terrified of violence. Now, the comic seems to see no gray area here. Draft-dodging is immoral, and we are to immediately recognize Otto as a bad person. Today, it’s less clear. 10 years after this comic, Muhammad Ali’s refusal to fight in Vietnam in the name of pacifism and religion was cheered by many. 60 years after this comic was published, a notorious draft dodger was elected president of the United States.
But Otto’s schemes go beyond disguising himself as an old man to dodge the draft. He also decides to swindle two people by pretending to find the chariot of Odin.
In a twist, he finds the real chariot of Odin, and it takes him to Valhalla, where he must fight alongside Odin in endless battle.
Rating: ★★½, 45/100
Characters:
- Otto Kranz
- Odin
Minor characters:
- Oskar
- August
Story notes:
- Kranz offered diggers 5000 Kroner each to find Odin’s chariot in Norway
Next: Tales to Astonish #37
Previous: Journey Into Mystery #85
