thor – Page 10 – Coke & Comics

Fantastic Four #26

The Avengers Take Over!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: February 11, 1964
Cover: May 1964
12 cents
Unforgettably written in the grand manner by: Stan Lee
Powerfully drawn in the heroic manner by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: George Bell
Lettered by: Art Simek
23 pages

Thing stands alone no longer.

The Avengers and Fantastic Four team up to battle the Hulk. If there’s a better issue that serves as a microcosm for what the Marvel Universe is all about, I don’t know what it is.

I think this is perhaps the best comic cover we have yet come across. It’s very atypical of the Kirby covers in a number of ways. Likely stemming from having to cram an atypical number of characters in. But we see the full figure of each character, each taking up a small amount of cover real estate. He usually likes characters on his covers to be bigger. He also shows less concern about perspective than usual, since we see neither the floor nor any overlapping characters. He allows the action to be basically 2-dimensional and each character to be small, while overlapping none of the characters. He wants us to be able to see each character and their pose clearly. I’m reminded more than anything of posing action figures.

The whole of the scene with its 11 characters still fills a small amount of the cover. Kirby gives a lot of top real estate to word balloons. He could have zoomed in more if he wanted to. He didn’t. He wanted what is probably the widest cover shot we’ve seen yet.

This concludes a two-part Fantastic Four story, the best Fantastic Four story yet, but it’s also part of a bigger saga. It’s been building since Hulk quit the Avengers in Avengers #2, carried over into the Avengers’ battles with Hulk and Namor in Avengers #3 and #4 and will have an epilogue in Avengers #5, where the Avengers have one last encounter with Hulk, at least for now.

Still, it doesn’t really end there. Events at the end of Avengers #5 lead directly into issue 6, which itself ties in with Sgt. Fury #8. And the Hulk’s story continues, with the toll these events have taken on him leading indirectly to his upcoming battles with Spider-Man and Giant-Man. These two issues are at the center of a giant interconnected web of stories, which revolve around Hulk being (justifiably) upset with how the world’s been treating him.

It’s all part of the long build-up to Hulk finally getting his solo adventures again. He was the first superhero of the new Marvel Age to have his title cancelled and will be the first to be revived.

Fantastic Four #25

The Hulk vs. The Thing

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: January 10, 1964
Cover: April 1964
12 cents
Sensational story by: Stan Lee
Astonishing art by: Jack Kirby
Incredible inking by: G. Bell
Lighthearted lettering by: S. Rosen
22 pages

I have no idea why it took us so long to get to something like this. It seems like such an obvious superhero story to me: a good old-fashioned slugfest. Take two very strong characters and just have them duke it out. Thing and Hulk are perfect for a brawl. They met before, but it wasn’t a brawl. There was a mystery and a Commie plot and all this stuff. This time, the rest of the team is quickly taken out of contention. And it’s up to Ben Grimm to hold his own against the Hulk.

Worth the wait.

We get some preamble. Hulk has returned to New Mexico with the Avengers in pursuit. Unbeknownst to them, he turned around suddenly and went to New York to find them. He read in the paper that Captain America had replaced him and thought Rick had betrayed him. He is off to finally destroy the Avengers. Of course, Rick never betrayed him. And the Avengers only replaced him because he quit.

Avengers #4

Captain America Joins… The Avengers!

Featuring: Avengers
Release: January 3, 1964
Cover: March 1964
12 cents
Gloriously written by: Stan Lee
Grandly illustrated by: Jack Kirby
Gallantly lettered by: Art Simek
23 pages

No inker is given in the credits for some reason. The GCD suggests the inker is George Roussos, who has been doing a lot of inking lately under the pseudonym George Bell. I don’t think we’ve yet seen a single comic where Kirby has done his own finishes. Probably because he’s drawing a half dozen comics each month.

There’s something that troubles me about these credits, and it’s the type of thing that makes Stan Lee a controversial character to this day. Look to the acknowledgement on this first page. Stan notes that Jack drew the original Captain America comics. That’s true and good to point out. But that massively understates Kirby’s contribution. Kirby and Simon created Captain America. The box should say. “Jack Kirby is one of the creators of Captain America.” Now, this may have been mere thoughtlessness on Stan’s part. Kirby used to draw Captain America and now is drawing him again; Stan used to write Captain America and now is writing him again. That may be the only point he wanted to make, and perhaps no other thoughts occurred to him. But the phrasing seems careful, and reflects the longtime legal stance of the many companies that have owned Marvel, that people don’t create characters, companies do. You can read an article from Brian Cronin on a piece Stan Lee had written in 1947 crediting publisher Martin Goodman with the idea for Captain America. The piece is basically fictional. Joe Simon came up with the character independently, and Kirby helped him flesh out the details. Stan’s failure to credit them for that goes back a long ways.

Journey Into Mystery #103, Story C

Thor’s Mission to Mirmir!

Featuring: Tales of Asgard
Release: February 4, 1964
Cover: April 1964
12 cents
Masterfully written by: Stan Lee
Magnificently illustrated by: Jack Kirby
Majestically inked by: Chic Stone
Meritoriously lettered by: Art Simek
5 pages

This is how it all begins. Quite literally.

The story of Thor’s early days continues. He is now an adult and wields the magic hammer. We see now the story of the dawn of humanity on Earth, and Thor’s role in the tale.

The tale begins in the mountains of Asgard, where the dwarfs dwell. We are told the dwarfs forge all the weapons of Asgard. However, not quite all. We learned in the main story of this issue that Odin himself forged Thor’s hammer. That fact is affirmed in this very story.

Sindri is the king of dwarfs and has built the magical ship, Skipbladnir. It’s a tiny ship that magically grows to full-size when needed. Skipbladnir will transport Thor to Mirmir.

Journey Into Mystery #103

The Enchantress and the Executioner!

Featuring: Thor
Release: February 4, 1964
Cover: April 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee, master of fantasy
Illustrated by: Jack Kirby, master of picto-drama
Inked by: Chic Stone
Lettered by: S. Rosen
13 pages

The phrase “feature-length” clearly means nothing to Stan. 13 pages is the same length the Thor stories have always been. It’s only half a comic.

I had some trouble deciding where it was best to read this story. I had originally posted it a little early, I decided, and moved it to where it fits in terms of publication dates, after the introduction of Black Widow. I’m not sure when it best takes place chronologically.

We start with Thor returning to the 20th century from the future, so there’s no time gap between the beginning of this story and Journey Into Mystery #102. Dr. Blake needs a nap, and we do have a short time gap before the main action of the story begins.

Journey Into Mystery #102, Story C

“Death” Comes to Thor!

Featuring: Tales of Asgard
Release: January 3, 1964
Cover: March 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Illustrated by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: Paul Reinman
Lettered by: Art Simek
5 pages

Anybody else feel like this title would be more dramatic without the quotation marks, which seem to imply that death is not actually coming for Thor.

This completes a trilogy of stories of the Boyhood of Thor. The focus has been on his attempts to earn the right to wield Odin’s magic hammer. We learn from the title that Thor is now 18, a little older than in the last adventures. This is the tale of how Thor finally lifts his magic uru hammer.

Journey Into Mystery #102

Slave of Zarrko, the Tomorrow Man!

Featuring: Thor
Release: January 3, 1964
Cover: March 1964
12 cents
Cunningly conceived by: Stan Lee
Daringly drawn by: Jack Kirby
Ingeniously inked by: Chic Stone
Lovingly lettered by: Art Simek
13 pages

Well. It’s 1964. Welcome.

But not for Thor. He’s trapped in the 23rd century.

This is our first exposure to Chic Stone. He’s been working in comics since the 1930s, including on Marvel’s own Blonde Phantom, but has spent the last several years doing art direction for assorted magazines. He recently returned to doing occasional jobs in comics, and now has found his way to back Marvel. I think he and Kirby make a good team.

Journey Into Mystery #101

The Return of Zarrko, the Tomorrow Man!

Featuring: Thor
Release: December 2, 1963
Cover: February 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: G. Bell
Lettered by: S. Rosen
13 pages

We are one week late reading this comic because it begins a two-part battle against Tomorrow Man. How this comic fits in with Thor’s appearances in Avengers is pretty complicated, and we’ll be addressing that in a later post.

I’ll remind readers that the Avengers really do have some urgent business to get back to. Both Hulk and Namor remain at large. It should also be noted that Giant-Man recently fractured his ankle, but seems better now.

Jack Kirby is back and here to stay. Perhaps he’ll be able to turn around what up to this point has been one of the worst comics. Perhaps not, as he was there for the earliest issues of Thor and they were still of low quality. But Stan Lee was also farming out the writing to a variety of people. Now, for the first time, Stan and Jack will be the team on this book, just like on Fantastic Four and Sgt. Fury. They’ve also reached the point in their working relationship where their “coplotting” of the stories likely involves Stan less and less. Kirby will be taking greater control of the storytelling going forward. We’ll see how it goes.

Now that Lee is scripting, there is a detectable difference in Thor’s speech patterns. Under other writers, he had slowly evolved from talking like he was Don to talking like he was Thor. Now, there’s a certain haughty regality to the language. Words like “naught”.

The Avengers #3

Sub-Mariner!

Featuring: Avengers
Release: November 5, 1963
Cover: February 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Illustrated by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: P. Reinman
25 pages

We see a new cover box. Acknowledges that Hank is now Giant-Man and that Wasp exists.

Welcome to a special Mothers Day post. What makes this a Mothers Day post? Well, today is Mothers Day. Also, my mother likes the Sub-Mariner, and this is the issue where the Avengers meet Sub-Mariner.

Sub-Mariner doesn’t show up until page 15, but still gets the issue titled after him. Good for him.

In the first issue, Loki tricked the Avengers into attacking the Hulk.

In the second issue, Space Phantom tricked the Avengers into attacking the Hulk.

This issue, the Avengers just decide to attack the Hulk.

Journey Into Mystery #100, Story C

The Storm Giants!

Featuring: Tales of Asgard
Release: November 5, 1963
Cover: January 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: P. Reinman
5 pages

We continue with the anniversary issue of Journey Into Mystery. There is the main Thor tale, then a prose story, a sci/fi tale, and this, a story from Thor’s childhood. We get an extra subtitle for the feature: “Tales of Asgard, Home of the Mighty Norse Gods!: The Boyhood of Thor”.

Up until this point, the series had focused on the earliest days of creation, with Odin as the main star, prior to the birth of Thor. We jump forward in time now to Thor’s childhood.