Tag: jotunheim

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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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 #112, Story B

The Coming of Loki!

Featuring: Tales of Asgard
Release: November 3, 1963
Cover: January 1964
12 cents
Majestically written by: Stan Lee
Magnificently drawn by: Jack Kirby
Masterfully inked by: Vince Colletta
Magnanimously lettered by: Artie Simek
5 pages

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We see this story described as the start of a new biography in-depth. There won’t be that much depth. What’s meant is that we have had sequences of this series devoted to Heimdall and Balder respectively. It’s now Loki’s turn to take the spotlight for the next few issues.

This story is set when Thor is a young child, and the universe as well is young. Odin is solidifying his rule and Asgard is at war with Jotunheim. Jotunheim is a land of giants and Laufey is their king. Odin seeks to end Laufey’s rule.

We have before met Frost Giants, Storm Giants, Rime Giants, and Mountain Giants. The inhabitants of Jotunheim are here just referred to as giants. Later comic stories will suggest Laufey is actually a Frost Giant, but he looks nothing like Ymir.

Odin is wielding what appears to be the uru hammer he would later give to Thor.

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