Thor #127

Featuring: Thor
Release: February 3, 1966
Cover: April 1966
12 cents
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby
Delineator: Vince Colletta
Letterer: Sam Rosen
16 pages

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Avengers #29	Reading order	Thor #127, Story B
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For one brief, fleeting instant of eternity, a god hath dared to love a mortal! Till the universe crumbles, my heart is ever thine! Let that be our epitaph… and our glory!

Now that’s a cover.

We discussed Pieta-inspired covers with Journey Into Mystery #110. This is a much better example of such a cover. I would call this awesome.

As with Avengers, I want to note where Thor is during an upcoming Fantastic Four story, published concurrently with the last few issues. What keeps him away from helping the FF? I don’t believe his short fight with the Demon nor his tiff with Hercules would do it.

Also, the last year of Thor stories still must have taken very little time, as there has been little room for pausing. So it’s likely these Thor stories take place before a lot of the other stories we’ve been reading, and the adventure that seemed more important than helping the FF is still ahead. We’ll be on the lookout for it!

In that sense of there being not a lot of time passing, this picks up precisely where last issue left off, with Jane trying to comfort a moping Thor, who has just lost his first fight, because his daddy halved his powers. Notably, Odin finally seems to support the relationship.

Of course, now there’s a new reason Thor and Jane can’t be together. It’s not about his bum leg or his daddy issues. How could she love a man who can’t even beat Hercules in a fight?

We meet Pluto, condemned to rule the Netherworld long ago by Zeus. His only chance for freedom is to find a replacement. Recall we just saw Hercules encounter the Hulk on the way to a movie studio in Los Angeles? Turns out Pluto will be producing that movie.

He’s having the office be redesigned to look like a weird supervillain lair. Always wondered where villains get those.

Thor meditates.

But remember when Odin decided to give his power to Siedring, the Merciless, and that seemed like maybe a bad idea…

“Power, without conscience, must be its own undoing!” claims Odin.

Who is the woman with Pluto? It appears she will be playing the Queen of the Amazons in the movie. But Pluto implies she is the real Queen of the Amazons. Perhaps she is Hippolyta herself. In the DC Comics, she’s the mother of Wonder Woman. In some versions of classical myth, Hercules is the one who slew Hippolyta. So it’s natural they’d be enemies. If indeed that is who this woman is.

In a direct tie-in to the recent backup stories, we see the Odin Sword. We already know that unsheathing it will destroy the universe. Thor intends to play a game of chicken. Will Seidring call Thor’s bluff and risk the destruction of the universe, himself included? Or will he yield?

Odin seems ready finally to forgive Thor for loving a woman.

Rating: ★★★½, 66/100
Significance: ★★★★☆

This will join the prestigious Best We’ve Read list, which unfortunately leaves no room for the introduction of the Puppet Master in Fantastic Four #8.

This ties Thor stories with Sgt. Fury stories for the number of entries in the list, and leaves Fantastic Four tied with Dr. Strange for second place.

Note for that total I’m separating Thor/Tales of Asgard stories and Sgt. Fury/Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD stories. Combing the totals, there are still more Nick Fury stories overall for the moment. 6 + 1 Thor stories and 6 + 4 Fury stories.

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol. 4.

Characters:

• Jane Foster
• Thor
• Pluto
• Odin
• Seidring, the Merciless
• Balder
• Heimdall
• Queen of the Amazons, perhaps Hippolyta herself; or maybe just an actress

Story notes:

• Jane Foster sees to a man injured by a car, as she is a nurse. Thor is already gone.
• Pluto is the new producer at Stardust Studios and has the office redesigned.
• Pluto convinced Stardust he was a Hercules expert and must produce.
• Pluto was sentenced to rule the Netherworld eons ago; he must find a replacement to be free of it.
• Seidring still possesses the Odin Power and betrays Odin.
• Seidring claims the throne of Asgard.
• Thor returns to Asgard to find Heimdall imprisoned by ethereal force. All other warriors of Asgard, including Balder, also frozen.
• Pluto holds a genuine Olympian pact, which lasts for all eternity. He plans to trick Hercules into signing it.
• When the Odinsword falls, the Cosmos will vanish.

Previous	#497	Next
Avengers #29	Reading order	Thor #127, Story B
Thor #126, Story B	Thor	Thor #127, Story B