odinsword saga – Coke & Comics

Thor #126, Story B

The Summons!

Featuring: Tales of Asgard
Release: January 4, 1966
Cover: March 1966
12 cents
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: V. Colletta
Lettering: Artie Simek
5 pages

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Thor #126	Reading order	Amazing Spider-Man #34
Thor #126	Thor	Thor #127

Thy mission is ended! The danger you have been seeking is here– in the City of the Golden Spires! Return then at once– to Asgard!

Thor and his crew sail to find an unknown foe, but keep facing random dangers. At present, Loki has been captured by Queen Ula of Thryheim, and Thor has come to save him.

Ula wants Thor to be her King. If he agrees, she will release Loki. Else, she will kill his crew.

It’s important to note that Ula had nothing to do with cracking the Odinsword. She is not the unknown foe they are searching for, just a woman who wants to marry Thor.

Journey Into Mystery #125, Story B

The Queen Commands

Featuring: Tales of Asgard
Release: December 2, 1965
Cover: February 1966
12 cents
None but Marvel’s Stan Lee could tell such a tale!
None but Marvel’s Jack Kirby could draw such a tale!
None but Marvel’s Vince Colletta could ink such a tale!
None but Marvel’s Artie Simek could be such a pussycat!
5 pages

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Journey Into Mystery #125	Reading order	Thor #126
Journey Into Mystery #125	Journey Into Mystery

We seek no needless battle– though we surrender to none!

“By the bristling beard of Odin”, says the Narrator. An oath Thor exclaimed in the first part of this issue.

Journey Into Mystery #124, Story B

Closer Comes the Swarm!

Featuring: Tales of Asgard
Release: November 4, 1965
Cover: January 1966
12 cents
How gallant, this script by: Stan Lee
How glorious, this artwork by: Jack Kirby
How gracious, this inking by: Vince Colletta
How come? This lettering by: Artie Simek
5 pages

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Journey Into Mystery #124	Reading order	Journey Into Mystery #125
Journey Into Mystery #124	Journey Into Mystery	Journey Into Mystery #125

Is it not passing strange that the Grim One– the taker of countless lives in battle–should be so eager to protect the single life of Balder?

Ah, the Odinsword Saga. I made the decision not to read the whole thing at once, but that means we need to remind ourselves where we left off. In theory, the impetus for the Saga is that an unknown enemy has cracked the Odinsword, and Thor is leading a voyage to find the culprit. Along the way, Loki schemes to kill Thor, and the voyage encounters obstacles unrelated to the main quest. They just resolved one, involving a Dragon and Balder blowing a Horn. This issue introduces another such obstacle.

Journey Into Mystery #119, Story B

Gather, Warriors!

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

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Journey Into Mystery #119	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #63, Story B
Journey Into Mystery #119	Journey Into Mystery	Journey Into Mystery #120

Third chapter of the Odinsword Saga. Loki and Thor are almost ready to begin their quest to discover who has broken the Oversword of Asgard.

Loki has more new recruits. His last recruit tried to assassinate Thor.

Journey Into Mystery #117, Story B

The Sword in the Scabbard!

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

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Journey Into Mystery #117	Reading order	Journey Into Mystery #118
Journey Into Mystery #117	Journey Into Mystery	Journey Into Mystery #118

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.