journey into mystery – Page 7

Journey Into Mystery #96

Defying the Magic of… Merlin the Mad

Featuring: Thor
Release: July 2, 1963
Cover: September 1963
12 cents
Story plot: Stan Lee
Script: R. Berns
Art: Joe Sinnott
13 pages

Merlin, again. Soon, we’ll meet the new Black Knight, and this will lead us to look back on the great Black Knight stories of the 1950s, which prominently feature Merlin. He was a heroic figure in those stories.

Surprised England was so willing to let so important a piece of their history go.

In our Marvel Age reading, we first met Merlin in Tales of Suspense #27, there to give a corrupt magician his just rewards. In Incredible Hulk #5, we learn he had once banished the evil Tyrannus beneath the earth. Then, Strange Tales #108 told a tale of King Arthur’s court, where Merlin clashed with Sir Mogard. It is not clear whether any of these are meant to tie together.

I’ve harped on this a few times now, but a lot of these weaker comics really fail to tie all their threads together, as compared with how Ditko tells the Spider-Man stories, where each story has a singular flow that juggles and intertwines its threads. Here, we get 3 pages of Thor rescuing a bus and it leading to drama with Jane. Then we move on completely to the Merlin story, which has nothing to do with any of that. They only have 13 pages to fill, but still seem to need to pad the story. Thor and Merlin finally meet on page 9.

Journey Into Mystery #95

The Demon Duplicators!

Featuring: Thor
Release: June 4, 1963
Cover: August 1963
12 cents
Story plot: Stan Lee
Script: R. Berns
Art: Joe Sinnott
13 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol. 1.

In going through the results of a recent poll on favorite Marvel/DC characters, my friend Brian Cronin talked about the idea of a “MARVEL science” degrees for his entry on Beast. He notes that Beast is a MARVEL scientist, and

From Brian:

Marvel Universe science is a lot more diverse than regular science. You see, Hank eventually gained a PhD (done while the rest of the X-Men were vainly trying to complete their GEDs) in biophysics and genetics. However, he achieved these PhDs in MARVEL science, so this made him an expert in engineering, medicine, time travel (yes, time travel), etc. It is like how one of the most highly-developed robots of all time, Ultron, was built by Hank Pym, a biologist. It is because Hank is a MARVEL biologist. Very different than normal biology. It’s like “How would you best describe a cell membrane? Also, how would you build a device that could negate Magneto’s powers?” All in the same class!!!! And MARVEL scientists always have multiple doctorates by the time they’re 22. It’s a rule.

Now, we’ve seen a pretty clear counterexample to that. Dr. Pym turned down a request for help from Wasp’s father because it was outside his area of specialty. He claimed he was only an expert in “molecular cell transition” (i.e. making people shrink) and “cell specialization” (i.e. making people grow wings). As of where we are in our reading, he has not yet built any robots.

Dr. Don Blake is a surgeon and a very good one. Surgery is a hard thing to master. It takes a lot of time to study. It’s a demanding job, always being on call. He’s also always on call as a superhero.

Yet somehow he built an android in his spare time.

Journey Into Mystery #94

Thor and Loki Attack the Human Race!

Featuring: Thor
Release: May 2, 1963
Cover: July 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: R. Berns
Art: J. Sinnott
13 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: Thor vol. 1.

Robert Bernstein has become a more frequent scripter of late. And Joe Sinnott has basically become the regular Thor penciller over Kirby, who only returns to the title intermittently. In general, Sinnott will not do a lot of full art for Marvel. But he spends decades as one of their most reliable finishers.

I think the above cover reference is the first time I’ve seen them use the phrase “Marvel Age of Comics”. But as I’m often reading reprints, I may be missing some internal notes. Anyways, that’s what I’ve been calling these tales, differentiating them from the comics the company published in decades prior, the “Marvel Age”. Now, the cover suggests they are just ushering it in. I’ve been describing comics thusly going back to Fantastic Four #1 two years earlier. Before the word “Marvel” was really anywhere to be seen. When there was just a discreet “MC” on the covers. This is part of a new marketing push. A similar phrase will show up on other covers and in house ads over the next month or so.

Still no particular evidence Thor ties in with any of these other stories. Not until the Avengers form. And again, we see everybody acting like Thor is the only superhero out there. When a missile loses control, everyone on earth seems to agree Thor must be tracked down. Nobody seems to consider contacting Iron Man or the Fantastic Four.

Maybe people are also trying to reach Iron Man, and we just don’t see it.

In their first encounter, Loki hypnotized Thor pretty easily. This time he has a much more convoluted plot. He manipulates a complicated series of events to ultimately get Thor to turn his head so his hammer hits him in the chromosomatic gland. And getting hit in that particular gland hard enough changes one from good to evil. Of course, Odin resolves the situation by hitting him again in the same spot.

Journey Into Mystery #93

The Mysterious Radio-Active Man!

Featuring: Thor
Release: April 2, 1963
Cover: June 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: R. Berns
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
13 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol. 1.

Another Cold War story, but this one tying itself closely to current events, seeming to be set during the Sino-Indian War.

Thor takes quite the interest in particular geopolitical concerns.

This allows us to align the comic’s timeline with our own. The Sino-Indian War mainly took place October-November 1962, about 6 months before this comic came out. And since it takes some number of months to go from concept to the comic being finished, printed, distributed and appearing on stands, they were drawing from pretty current events.

Journey Into Mystery #92

The Day Loki Stole Thor’s Magic Hammer

Featuring: Thor
Release: March 5, 1963
Cover: May 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: R. Berns
Art: Joe Sinnott
13 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol. 1.

The somewhat awkward title of this story underscores they haven’t yet decided that Thor’s magic hammer should have a name.

I look forward to the first battle with Loki where he doesn’t steal Thor’s magic hammer.

Now, the title also sounds pretty ominous. For we know that if Loki were to steal Thor’s magic hammer, the thunder god would be helpless within 60 seconds. Indeed, that is what happened in both of Thor’s previous encounters with Loki, both of which involved Loki stealing his magic hammer.

Journey Into Mystery #91

Sandu, Master of the Supernatural!

Featuring: Thor
Release: February 5, 1963
Cover: April 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Larry Lieber
Art: Joe Sinnott
13 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol. 1.

Joe Sinnott is best known as an inker. We’ve seen him twice so far in that capacity, inking Kirby for the introductions of Thor and Dr. Doom, respectively. This is the first time we see him as the primary artist.

This event was teased already because I chose to read the last Fantastic Four slightly out of chronological order and because I accidentally read the last Strange Tales out of chronological order.

But this is one of three comics released February 5 to sport the spiffy new Marvel logo. The others are Tales to Astonish and Patsy Walker. We are not currently including the Patsy Walker stories in our Marvel reading, not until she becomes more intertwined with the superheroes than she currently is.

There’s a lot going on that will become a feature of Marvel covers for years. The first is that there’s a little box with the picture of the lead character. Now, Journey Into Mystery is still an anthology title. There are two other scifi/fantasy tales within this very issue. But Thor is the star, now. And that little box makes that clear.

Then we get the price, 12 cents. That’s been the price of all the comics since Fantastic Four #3 raised the price from 10 cents. Usually, the price has been in a circle somewhere on the cover. Now it’s in this new logo box.

And then the phrase “Marvel Comics Group”. Previously, there had been the letters “MC” in a little box on the covers.

Here’s how it all looked on the cover of Fantastic Four #1.

Journey Into Mystery #90

5th alien invasion. 2nd by shape-changing aliens. But who’s counting?

Trapped by the Carbon-Copy Man!
Featuring: Thor
Release: January 3, 1963
Cover: March 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Larry Lieber
Art: Al Hartley
13 pages

I read this comic in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol. 1.

As has been the theme of recent posts, Jack Kirby seems to be on a bit of a break, letting Al Hartley fill in on this Thor story. As far as I can tell, this is Hartley’s only credit for Marvel superheroes. He’d been working with Stan Lee for at least 14 years at this point, in a variety of genres. Most notably, he’d been working on Marvel’s Patsy Walker since 1958. He’s quoted as saying he was more comfortable in the humor and teen drama genres than the superhero genre.

Journey Into Mystery #89

The Thunder-God and the Thug!
Featuring: Thor
Release: December 3, 1962
Cover: February 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: L.D. Lieber
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
13 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol. 1.

Ray Holloway is credited as the letterer. First credit we have seen for him. Art Simek has been doing most of the lettering when it’s been credited.

As with his battle against the Soviets, fighting mobsters is unworthy of Thor’s power. They really don’t stand a chance. The only trick that works is taking a hostage, usually Jane.

Journey Into Mystery #88

The Vengeance of Loki!
Featuring: Thor
Release: November 1, 1962
Cover: January 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: L.D. Lieber
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
13 pages

Loki is Thor’s first repeat villain. Coming up with new villains every month is exhausting, so it’s worth repeating the best ones. Loki was the best one. (His competition is: the Stone Men from Saturn, the Executioner, Zarrko, and some Soviet soldiers.) The Fantastic Four have now fought Doom and Sub-Mariner three times each. Human Torch has faced off twice against the Wizard. Ant-Man hasn’t had a repeat villain yet, but I suspect we’ll see the return of Egghead soon enough. Hulk has a persistent nemesis in Thunderbolt Ross, but otherwise hasn’t encountered any actual villains twice. I think repeating villains is good, unless it’s overdone. It is how you develop good rivalries and get an arch-nemesis. But once Joker appeared in the old Batman comics, he started showing up in every single issue of Batman. It’s a balance of having some variety in the foes while giving a chance for a proper rivalry to develop. So far, these comics are doing well enough on the variety side.

We see Heimdall at his post for the first time, guarding the Bifrost. Loki is forbidden to leave Asgard, so he must somehow sneak past Heimdall. He does so by disguising himself as a snake. I really thought of Heimdall as being better than that.

Journey Into Mystery #87

Prisoner of the Reds!
Featuring: Thor
Release: October 2, 1962
Cover: December 1962
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Larry Lieber
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
10 pages

It seems overly sanctimonious to sit here almost 60 years later and dismiss comics like this as propaganda, though it’s evident that’s what it is. Thor, God of Thunder, refers to a Soviet stronghold as a “citadel of evil” and calls upon Odin to smite it. No, it’s a military facility, just like the ones the US has. And the Russian citizens depicted are sympathetic to America and its cause of freedom. That part at least allows it to rise above the propaganda comics of the ’40s, as it demonizes the enemy’s government and military, but not its people.

Why does Thor need Odin’s help to summon a storm?

But really it’s just a story of its time. Stan and Jack are looking for enemies. Twenty years earlier, during the last wave of superhero comics, the Nazis made convenient targets. In 1962, the Soviets seem a natural extension. I think it was a scary time in America, with nuclear war a barely understood but terrifyingly likely reality. Moreover, it’s October of 1962. This comic reached the shelves just 2 weeks before the Cuban Missile Crisis.