Featuring: Avengers Release: January 10, 1967 Cover: March 1967 12 cents Edited for everyman by Stan Lee Scripted for somebody by Roy Thomas Penciled for posterity by Don Heck Inked for immortality by Geoge Bell Lettered for a living by Artie Simek 20 pages
Nuts! Those creeps yell “Avengers Assemble” every time somethin’ goes wrong with the pop-up toaster!
Goliath and Hawkeye are fighting because Hank doesn’t want Black Widow to join the Avengers. He doesn’t quite say why. Because she’s Russian? Because she’s a woman?
The other male Avengers join the fray. Because.
Goliath finally admits he doesn’t know why he’s so opposed to her joining. This is a concept known as unconscious bias.
Ay! The gladness in his heart doth make mine own regal soul rejoice! Too long hath he been brother to sorrow! Too long hath grim duty o’ershadowed his days! Yet, a feeling of unease lies within my heart! I fear that happiness may still be denied to the so-richly-deserving, most noble Thor!
Thor’s comic has become one ongoing saga to the point where it’s hard to figure out where to cut. We obviously did cut after the last issue, which basically ended the Hercules/Pluto saga. But here we are picking up right where that left off, with Thor and Hercules returning from the Netherworld to Olympus.
We’re just going to plow through the next 6 issues of Thor, getting a bit ahead in time of the rest of the Marvel Universe. There are probably 3 distinct arcs among them, but they all just flow together. Really, the main plot of this issue has been building for a bit now. Jane has had a strange roommate named Tana Nile, who’s up to some stuff. It’s been in the background, but now comes to the foreground. And Jane’s encounter with Tana Nile will be the springboard for the next two arcs.
Of course the other springboard is Thor’s decision to marry Jane, even though a god and a mortal may not marry. Thor is ready to surrender his immortality for this.
Featuring: Thor Release: May 3, 1966 Cover: July 1966 12 cents Stan the Man Lee, Writer Jack King Kirby, artist Vince the Prince Colletta, delineator Artie Pussycat Simek, letterer 16 pages
” Let there be no further battle! Only the weakling seeks to prove his strength at every turn!” “Thy words have wisdom, Thor– even as thy limbs have power enow to make Hercules pause! Henceforth, I shall call thee friend!” “And I thee!” “What riotous revels we shall enjoy together! What battles we shall share, at each other’s side!” “Alas, Olympian– revels are not for such as me– And, my hammer swings only for justice– never for the thrill of battle alone!” “But, what good then to be a god?” “Thy careless query, Hercules, is far more profound than you suspect!”
Stan the Man Lee. Jack King Kirby. Every issue Stan’s had new nicknames for the creative team. We’ve seen this particular set of nicknames before. And we’ll see it again. These are the nicknames that will stick for Stan and Jack. The Man and The King.
The issue’s title is “Thunder in the Netherworld”. Seems like a missed opportunity to call it “Thunder Down Under”.
Hercules had stupidly signed a contract saying he’d rule the Netherworld and let Pluto free. Hercules thought it was a movie deal. Zeus is enforcing the contract. Hercules’ only way out is for a champion to fight in his stead, to challenge Pluto and the armies of the dead to win Hercules’ freedom.
I have received plaudits and accolades from the highest and mightiest of mortals, yet, the words you have spoken shall gladden my heart for as long as memory endures!
Thor and Hercules have beaten back Pluto in Los Angeles, but Pluto escaped, and still has Hercules’ signed contract, which will condemn Hercules to rule the Netherworld in his place. Thor has returned to New York.
People usually credit the turnaround in the Thor stories to Kirby taking more control and bringing in his interest in mythology. But Stan also pulls his weight. I actually have to make a hard choice to get a pull quote out of the issue. I found at least four good options. The first I considered was the most humorous, where Thor shouts to the New York crowd: “The endless prattle of thy voices proves wearisome to mine ears!” Stan seems to have Thor’s Shakespeare-lite dialogue down now.
This unnamed taxi driver is a favorite character of mine. Thor’s sentimental words to him are what I chose for the pull quote above. The cabbie had been a soldier, and thus Thor finds a kindred spirit. He’d fought in World War II, and been wounded in Anzio, Italy, which would have been in 1944.
Featuring: Hulk Release: February 3, 1966 Cover: April 1966 12 cents Hulkish story by: Stan Lee Hulkable layouts by: Jack Kirby Hulking artwork by: Bill Everett Hulksome lettering by: Artie Simek 10 pages
Even he cannot suspect that Bruce Banner’s gamma rays have miraculously given Hulk the power to grow stronger, rather than weaker, so long as his rage keeps mounting!
As Richard recently pointed out in the comments, this is a great cover of Hulk battling Hercules, courtesy of Kirby and Everett. I fear the issue itself won’t quite live up to the image.
There is some pretty tight continuity on display. When we last saw Hercules, he and a casting agent had left New York bound for Los Angeles. Here we see them on a train from New York to LA. We’ll next see them arriving in LA in Thor #128. The casting agent doesn’t know this is the real Hercules. He’s been cast to play Hercules, so the agent assumes he’s method acting.
Note how little time there has been to breathe in these stories. Hulk’s battle with the Leader led right into his battles in the future, which have led right into his battle with Dr. Zaxon. There’s been no room to breathe. Cliffhanger after cliffhanger. Not so much one long story, as a bunch of story threads that don’t respect issue boundaries.
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
“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.
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.
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
“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.
Geez! Am I dumb! Here am I wishin’ for sumpin’ right in me mits! Let’s go Clock! I’m gittin’ me a ringside seat!
That loin cloth better hold; this is a children’s comic.
No credits are visible. The GCD credits the art to Charles Nicholas and Al Bellman.
We’ve read two appearances of Marvel’s first characters namedHercules. We then sort of met the “real” Hercules in his reincarnated form as Marvel Boy. But now we meet the actual Hercules of myth.
I admit to trepidation when learning that his introduction was in Young Allies, and I was so relieved to learn I didn’t actually have to read the Young Allies story. Give me Tommy Tyme any day. Tempted to give extra points to this story for not being Young Allies.
This story adapts a famous Hercules legend, the defeat of Antaeus the Giant. In the classic story, Hercules’ labours were in the service of Eurytheus in penance for killing his own wife and children. On his quest to find golden apples, Hercules battled Antaeus. The comic leaves out these details and just shows the battle.
We sort of met Tommy Tyme once before. I’d wanted to see the original Marvel versions of Merlin and the Black Knight, though had been reluctant to bother to read the issue. So we talked about it here.
I’ve apparently since grown less picky about what Marvel stories to read. Little Hercules. Tommy Tyme. It’s all one big soup.
Tommy Tyme stories tend to have a similar structure. His “wonderful Clock of Ages” takes him back to some famous time and place to meet some famous people, like Robin Hood or Benjamin Franklin. Think of the series as a precursor to Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.
