“What madness is this, Volstagg!!? I thought thou feared neither man nor beast!!” “In truth, I do not–!! But that is neither man nor beast– It is– my wife!!”
This is the fourth chapter of the Odinsword Saga. Let’s recap. The Odinsword was cracked by a mysterious enemy, so Thor is embarking on a quest to discover who is responsible. They are almost ready to leave.
Featuring: Thor Release: July 1, 1965 Cover: September 1965 12 cents Written in the fire of inspiration by: Stan Lee Drawn in the flame of dedication by: Jack Kirby Inked in the heat of devotion by: Vince Colletta Lettered in the other room by: Artie Simek 16 pages
There! It is done! My hammer can strike once more!
Continuity. How do these many titles all fit together? At present, Thor is the character making it the most difficult. It’s been over 6 issues since his title has given him a chance to breathe, yet we squeezed his last Avengers adventure in there somehow. We’re going to have to squeeze in a wedding somewhere. By the time of the wedding, his hammer should be intact, and he should have formally resigned from the Avengers.
At present, his hammer is broken and he is not yet aware of the new Avengers.
There will be difficulties and contradictions to come, so just remember where we are. Loki cheated in the Trial of the Gods. Thor must get the Norn Stones to Odin as proof. En route, he encountered the Destroyer, who destroyed his hammer. Loki has been punished and sentenced to serve Ularic for his role in awakening the Destroyer. Prior to the Trial of the Gods, Thor had defeated the Absorbing Man by turning him into helium and sending him drifting into space. Somewhere in all that, he also fought the Viet Cong and joined the Avengers against the Masters of Evil. He has not been in contact with the Avengers since that battle, and much has changed. He has not returned to Asgard since the Trial of the Gods.
We open with Thor at a Pittsburgh factory, repairing his hammer. I would have guessed more mystical means would be needed. With Dwarves or such. Maybe Pittsburgh is more mystical than I think. (I have at least one regular reader from Pittsburgh; perhaps he can tell me.)
Featuring: Thor Release: June 1, 1965 Cover: 1965 25 cents Mighty story by: Stan Lee Majestic art by: Jack Kirby Masterful inking by: Vince Colletta Mostly lettered by: Sam Rosen 15 pages
Thus, the Thunder God falls.. for time without end.. through a vast void of heavy nothingness… of shimmering energy barriers and mystic space disrupters…
This is the first Thor Annual. Your 25 cents is mostly buying you reprint stories. But you also get a 15 page new Thor story, which is perhaps more properly a Tales of Asgard story, focused as it is on an early adventure of Thor. In those tales, Loki is always scheming to kill him, but Thor seems blissfully unaware.
We’ve reviewed some early history of Hercules and Zeus. Marvel introduced a gigantic superhero named for Hercules then weeks later introduced a comedic hero named Little Hercules. A mythologically-confused version of Hercules gave his powers to Marvel Boy in 1940 and then to another Marvel Boy in 1943. Tommy Tyme witnessed the mythological Hercules’ legendary battle against Antaeus, which bore quite the resemblance to a Thor story we read where he battled Sigurd.
Jupiter was a recurring character in Venus, and the Jupiter of Roman myth is very similar to the Zeus of Greek myth. We saw Zeus unleash a Fury in a 1955 fantasy story. We know Zeus had given Pandora her box from a 1961 Tales of Suspense story. And that Pandora’s Box was later used by the Sorcerer to menace Johnny Storm. In the early days of our reading, we read a weird tale where Zeus came to Earth to prove his power, and was offered movie deals.
But those appearances of Hercules and Zeus are not necessarily part of our canon. This issue represents the proper Marvel Universe introductions of Hercules and Zeus.
Featuring: Tales of Asgard Release: June 1, 1965 Cover: August 1965 12 cents Written with gallantry by: Stan Lee Drawn with greatness by: Jack Kirby Inked with grandeur by: Vince Colletta Lettered with a straight face by: Artie Simek 5 pages
Featuring: Thor Release: June 1, 1965 Cover: August 1965 12 cents Who but Stan Lee could have written this tale? Who but Jack Kirby could have drawn it? Who but Vince Colletta could have inked it? Who but Artie Simek could be called Artie Simek? 16 pages
Interesting grid layout for the cover. Haven’t seen too many of those from Kirby. I’m guessing that’s because something went very wrong here. As all four cover panels are just taken from the interior art.
Either Kirby didn’t finish a cover or his cover was rejected. This looks like somebody scrambling at the last minute to get something, anything on the cover before the book got printed.
This is the June issue of Thor. We’ve read almost consecutively since January and are now 3 months ahead of the rest of our reading. We’re going to pause after this issue, despite the inconclusiveness of the ending. We need to check in on our other heroes. Because we’re mostly in March with our reading, I don’t want to worry too much about June things right now. Like, let’s not focus on the fact that “Marvel Comics Group” has apparently become “Marvel Pop Art Productions”. We’ll reflect on that when we reach June properly.
For now, a recap. Loki has helped an evil and unnamed hunter locate the Temple of Darkness, which housed the Destroyer, a mindless being imbued with the power of Odin who would one day defend Earth in its hour of need. The Destroyer took the hunter’s mind, and has awakened too early, and thinks Thor is who it’s meant to destroy.
It’s already destroyed his hammer.
But Thor really just wants to bring his bag of Norn Stones to Odin to prove Loki cheated in the Trial of the Gods. All-wise, all-seeing Odin is not aware of these Stones because he’s currently taking a nap.
Loki likes to torment Thor, but is afraid his latest scheme will result in Thor’s death. He doesn’t mind Thor being dead, but fears the punishment of Odin if he is blamed. He has thus attempted to wake Odin and save Thor, but was thrown in prison for it.
Whew. That’s where we left off.
Oh, and the Destroyer was moments away from killing Thor, and still is.
Featuring: Tales of Asgard Release: May 4, 1965 Cover: July 1965 12 cents Story by: Stan Lee the legend teller! Art by: Jack Kirby the legend maker! Inking by: Vince Colletta the legend portrayer! Lettering by: Sam Rosen the letterer! 5 pages
This is the second part of what I’ll dub the “Odinsword Saga”. Unlike most sagas which we’ll try to read all together, I’ve deemed this one reads best one chapter at a time, as the backups to the main Thor feature.
To recap, warriors of Asgard were getting restless, when Odin revealed the Oversword was broken, and directed Thor and Loki to go on a quest to learn who was responsible.
Now Thor is visiting Morduk the map maker.
Is that candle holder a monstrous hand? That’s cool.
Morduk warns Thor’s course will take him… into the unknown.
We are now 2 months ahead of everything else in our Thor reading because it’s all just flowing together. Thor still hasn’t returned to Asgard with the Norn Stones that will prove Loki cheated in the Trial of the Gods.
He is still flying with Kim, whose entire family was recently killed by her Communist brother.
In the early (generally awful) Thor stories (#83-100), the villains were pretty lame. Loki was the only real stand-out. A couple others, like Radioactive Man, had potential. When Kirby became the primary artist and the stories started to improve, we got some better villains: Executioner, Enchantress, and Grey Gargoyle.
Now that the series is kicking into high gear, we are getting great villains. We recently met Absorbing Man and now get introduced to the Destroyer.
Featuring: Tales of Asgard Release: April 1, 1965 Cover: June 1965 12 cents By: Stan Lee + Jack Kirby Inking: Vince Colletta Lettering: Artie Simek 5 pages
For 20 issues, these Tales of Asgard stories have been short stories that resolved in 5 pages. Now, a large saga begins. At least 11 parts, and even then it just rolls into the next saga.
For reading order, I like to keep story-arcs together. Based on that, I could read all 11 parts at once. This is what the CMRO recommends. It actually recommends reading the next 17 back up stories together.
But I also like to keep issues together. It seems weird to get out a comic, read half of it, put it away, then get it out again later to read the other half. Though we have done that sometimes in the name of keeping arcs together. For example, we read the last 5 Human Torch stories from Strange Tales without reading the corresponding Dr. Strange stories. We’ll have to get the comics back out of the box.
How to balance these two goals (keep a story together vice keep a physical comic together) is subjective, and I’m making a subjective call here: reading these Tales of Asgard stories together doesn’t improve the story in any way. I think they read best as they were published, as episodes in the back of the main Thor comic, to be read after that month’s Thor story. And that’s how we’ll read them. We’ll keep Thor story arcs together as best we can and let the main stories set the reading rhythm. That means it may take us a while to finish the Odinsword Saga. I think that will be okay.
We’re still spinning out of the events of issue 114, when Loki kidnapped Jane. This led directly to last issue’s Trial of the Gods, a challenge which Loki won by cheating, right as last issue closed.
We pick up precisely where we left off. For continuity’s sake, Thor is still without his cape. He’ll get another one when they get home.
This issue, Thor finds himself entangled in the Vietnam war. Marvel heroes have been fighting Communists for as long as we’ve been reading, often in Vietnam. The nature of US involvement in Vietnam was changing drastically, as this comic was published just 7 months after the Gulf of Tonkin incident. Here, we see the civil war that ravages South Vietnam, as South Vietnamese farmers face the terror of the Viet Cong, guerilla forces supported by the North Vietnamese.
Before we get to Viet Nam, we have unresolved plot points from last issue. Who won the Trial of the Gods? Will Jane be rescued from Enchantress and Executioner?
Featuring: Tales of Asgard Release: March 4, 1965 Cover: May 1965 12 cents Story: Stan Lee Pencilling: Jack Kirby Inking: Vince Colletta Lettering: Artie Simek 5 pages
Another early scheme of Loki. While Thor flirts with Princess Rinda, Loki schemes with King Hymir. Hymir issues two challenges Thor is honor-bound to accept. Those who fail Hymir’s challenges become his slaves.
