Journey Into Mystery #113

A World Gone Mad!

Featuring: Thor
Release: December 3, 1964
Cover: February 1965
12 cents
A tale told with gusto by: Stan Lee
A drama drawn with grandeur by: Jack Kirby
An idyll inked with gallantry by: Chic Stone
A legend lettered with glee by: Artie Simek
16 pages

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Daredevil #6Reading orderJourney Into Mystery #113, Story B
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Jack opens the story with Odin and Thor leading Asgardian soldiers aboard a giant sky ship into battle against the “demon men” of Jotunheim.

And Stan basically apologizes for that, assuring readers that Thor will soon be on Earth fighting a super-villain that’s no match for him and pining over Jane.

Stan and Jack are not on the same page with the direction Thor stories should take. I’m with Jack.

While it’s true that Stan is basically joking, he carries on with it for two pages while neglecting to actually script or provide real narration for the epic battle he seems somewhat embarrassed by. He offers us only, “For Asgard– and freedom!”

Nice sentiments, but I’m not convinced that “freedom” is a key value in Asgard, where an absolute monarch has ruled for millennia according fickle whims that must be obeyed without question, while seeming to exist in a state of perpetual war with all their neighboring realms.

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Journey Into Mystery #106, Story B

The Brave

Featuring: Tales of Asgard
Release: May 5, 1964
Cover: July 1964
12 cents
Written with passion by: Stan Lee
Drawn with pageantry by: Jack Kirby
Inked with power by: Vince Colletta
Lettered with pride by: Art Simek
5 pages

We recently met Vince Colletta over in Daredevil. This issue begins Vince Colletta’s long relationship with Thor, spanning almost a decade. He will be the regular inker on “Tales of Asgard” from here on out, and soon graduate to the main title. He will be the inker for over 60 consecutive issues and remain a frequent inker on the title thereafter.

Contrasting his work with, say, Chic Stone, we see more hatchings to represent shadow and shape than we have been seeing, yet less crispness. The features are often softer and less defined. I’ve seen it described as “atmospheric”.

The next two chapters of “Tales of Asgard” will focus on Balder. Let’s review his history.

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