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Thor #126

Whom the Gods Would Destroy!

Featuring: Thor
Release: January 4, 1966
Cover: March 1966
12 cents
Stan Lee the literary lion!
Jack Kirby the pencilling pussycat!
V. Colletta the delineating dragon!
Artie Simek the lettering looks it!
16 pages

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Journey Into Mystery #125, Story B	Reading order	Thor #126, Story B
	Thor	Thor #126, Story B

“By the cloven hooves of Pan!! What doth it take to defeat the Son of Odin!??!” “A stronger arm! A stouter heart! A nobler soul! And none doth Hercules possess, thou blabbering, blustering, boastful buffoon!”

This is the first issue of Thor. It’s also the 126th issue of Thor.

Which is a little confusing. Last month (well, last week for us), we read Journey Into Mystery #125, which starred Thor, as it has for the last 40+ issues. Now the comic will just be called Thor.

Why not call it Thor #1?

For complicated and probably shady legal and financial reasons, they found it more sensible to keep the numbering of the old magazine.

Thor’s name has been prominent on cover going back to issue 104. But it’s no longer “Journey Into Mystery with the Mighty Thor”. It’s just: “The Mighty Thor”. The official title as seen in the indicia is simply “Thor”.

Starting a new superhero title that keeps the numbering of the horror title will become a common practice… though not soon. We’ll talk more at the end of this post about Marvel’s history of naming comics. Let’s get into the comic, starting with the title.

Journey Into Mystery #125, Story B

The Queen Commands

Featuring: Tales of Asgard
Release: December 2, 1965
Cover: February 1966
12 cents
None but Marvel’s Stan Lee could tell such a tale!
None but Marvel’s Jack Kirby could draw such a tale!
None but Marvel’s Vince Colletta could ink such a tale!
None but Marvel’s Artie Simek could be such a pussycat!
5 pages

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Journey Into Mystery #125	Reading order	Thor #126
Journey Into Mystery #125	Journey Into Mystery

We seek no needless battle– though we surrender to none!

“By the bristling beard of Odin”, says the Narrator. An oath Thor exclaimed in the first part of this issue.

Journey Into Mystery #125

When Meet the Immortals!

Featuring: Thor
Release: December 2, 1965
Cover: February 1966
12 cents
Bombastically written by: Stan Lee
Brilliantly drawn by: Jack Kirby
Beautifully inked by: Vince Colletta
Bashfully lettered by: Artie Simek
16 pages

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Journey Into Mystery #124, Story B	Reading order	Journey Into Mystery #125, Story B
Journey Into Mystery #124, Story B	Journey Into Mystery	Journey Into Mystery #125, Story B

But even a Thunder God has the right to love!

We come to Thor’s final adventure in Journey Into Mystery, the series concluding after 125 issues. We’ll see next month what they have instead. Such a finale would be a good time for an overview of the series as a whole, but I gave a summary to celebrate the 100th issue, so I’ll just point to that. It may even spoil what’s coming next month.

“By the bristling beard of Odin,” Thor exclaims. We’ll start hearing that oath a lot. Have we heard it before? I failed to note it if we did.

Thor’s battle with the Demon concludes pretty readily and Thor takes the final Norn Stone to return to Odin.

Journey Into Mystery #124, Story B

Closer Comes the Swarm!

Featuring: Tales of Asgard
Release: November 4, 1965
Cover: January 1966
12 cents
How gallant, this script by: Stan Lee
How glorious, this artwork by: Jack Kirby
How gracious, this inking by: Vince Colletta
How come? This lettering by: Artie Simek
5 pages

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Journey Into Mystery #124	Reading order	Journey Into Mystery #125
Journey Into Mystery #124	Journey Into Mystery	Journey Into Mystery #125

Is it not passing strange that the Grim One– the taker of countless lives in battle–should be so eager to protect the single life of Balder?

Ah, the Odinsword Saga. I made the decision not to read the whole thing at once, but that means we need to remind ourselves where we left off. In theory, the impetus for the Saga is that an unknown enemy has cracked the Odinsword, and Thor is leading a voyage to find the culprit. Along the way, Loki schemes to kill Thor, and the voyage encounters obstacles unrelated to the main quest. They just resolved one, involving a Dragon and Balder blowing a Horn. This issue introduces another such obstacle.

Journey Into Mystery #124

The Grandeur and the Glory!

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
Journey Into Mystery #123, Story B	Journey Into Mystery	Journey Into Mystery #124, Story B

“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.

Daredevil #14

If This Be Justice…!

Featuring: Daredevil
Release: January 4, 1966
Cover: March 1966
12 cents
Story: Stan Lee
Pencilling: John Romita
Inking: Frankie Ray
Lettering: Artie Simek
20 pages

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Daredevil #13	Reading order	Journey Into Mystery #124
Daredevil #13	Daredevil	Daredevil #15

There it is– the most valuable ore of all time!

The kids are growing up. After two issues with Kirby layouts, Lee is ready to let Romita stand on his own feet and draw the comic from scratch, which likely means a lot of the plotting for this issue is also owed to Romita. Frank Giacoia is brought in to finish.

This will wrap up the Ka-Zar saga. Bit of a recap of the key points. Ka-Zar and the Plunderer are brothers. Ka-Zar’s original name was Kevin Plunder. Their father Lord Plunder had been an explorer who discovered a Vibrating Ore with strange and powerful properties. The secret of the mound lies in having the completed medallion that he gave half of to each son.

Plunderer has brought Ka-Zar and Daredevil to his castle in England, and called the local authorities on them, taking advantage of his nobility to accuse them of murder.

Sgt. Fury #26

Dum Dum Does It the Hard Way!

Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Release: November 11, 1965
Cover: January 1966
12 cents
Written with block-buster force by Stan Lee!
Drawn with machine-gun power by Dick Ayers!
Inked with dive-bomber impact by Carl Hubbell!
Lettered with bloodshot eyes by Artie Simek!
20 pages

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Tales of Suspense #76	Reading order	Daredevil #12
Sgt. Fury #25	Sgt. Fury	Sgt. Fury #27

Sweet dreams, Master Race!!

We last saw Dum Dum two issues back. He was wounded in America and sent to the hospital. The Howlers couldn’t wait for him because they were urgently recalled to base to battle (maybe) the Red Skull. Dum Dum was in for a worse fate, because his wife and mother-in-law were going to visit him in the hospital.

This will be Dum Dum’s chance to shine in a largely solo feature.

We see the rest of the team in the beginning for a mission brief that fills us in on what Dum Dum has been up to since his recovery.

Tales of Suspense #74, Story B

The Final Sleep!

Featuring: Captain America
Release: November 11, 1965
Cover: February 1966
12 cents
Blazing story: Stan Lee
Burning layouts: Jack Kirby
Blistering artwork: George Tuska
Burnt-out lettering: Artie Simek
10 pages

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Tales of Suspense #74	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #75
Tales of Suspense #74	Tales of Suspense	Tales of Suspense #75

Nazism, and all the evil it stood for, are dead! They must never live again!

Solid cover design.

This arc opened pretty strong. Red Skull vowed that his revenge would come 20 years after the day of his death on “Der Tag” when the Sleepers awakened. And the Sleepers turned out to be giant robots that combined together to make an even bigger robot. Solid premise. But hasn’t done much with it. We met one robot, then another. In the finale, we meet the third.

This is the brain, shaped like Red Skull’s head.

Tales of Suspense #74

If This Guilt Be Mine–!

Featuring: Iron Man
Release: November 11, 1965
Cover: February 1966
12 cents
Story: As only the fabulous Stan Lee can tell it!
Art: As only the fantastic Adam Austin can draw it!
Inking: As only the flamboyant Gary Michaels can delineate it!
Lettering: As only the frantic Artie Simek can scribble it!
12 pages

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Tales of Suspense #73, Story B	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #74, Story B
Tales of Suspense #73, Story B	Tales of Suspense	Tales of Suspense #74, Story B

Somehow– I feel as though my whole world is crashing down around me–!

Jack Abel returns under the Gary Michaels pseudonym. He’ll be the regular inker for a period of time.

Recall Happy had been badly injured during the battle with Titanium Man in issue 71, and last issue he was kidnapped from his hospital by the Black Knight. Iron Man rescued Happy and the Black Knight fell to his death, but now Iron Man is out of power.

To add a bizarre but strangely common wrinkle to the relationships, Pepper now decides she loves Iron Man and hates Tony. It used to be the other way around. Tony loves Pepper but can’t be with her because he has a bad heart, so he’s been intentionally cruel. Happy loves Pepper, but Pepper couldn’t love him back because of Tony, but now she’s over Tony and in love with Iron Man.

Tales of Suspense #73, Story B

Where Walks the Sleeper!

Featuring: Captain America
Release: October 12, 1965
Cover: January 1966
12 cents
Spellbinding script by Stan Lee!
Spectacular layouts by Jack Kirby!
Sensational pencilling and scintillating delineation by George Tuska!
Stereophonic lettering by A. Simek!
10 pages

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Tales of Suspense #73	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #74
Tales of Suspense #73	Tales of Suspense	Tales of Suspense #74

I’ve seen the First Sleeper– and this is the Second! What can the Third be like??

Part 2 of a 3-part saga. 20 years to the day since the death of the Red Skull amidst the fall of Berlin in World War II. Red Skull’s revenge is 3 giant robots that will awaken and destroy the world. Last issue, the first one awoke. This issue… the second.

This one flies! Even though the story’s title is ironically, “Where Walks the Sleeper”.

And the two Sleepers join up to form an even bigger robot!