Featuring: Thor
Release: April 5, 1966
Cover: June 1966
12 cents
Stan Lee, writer
Jack Kirby, penciller
Vince Colletta, inker
Artie Simek, letterer
16 pages
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| Thor #128, Story B | Reading order | Thor #129, Story B |
| Thor #128, Story B | Thor | Thor #129, Story B |
I have received plaudits and accolades from the highest and mightiest of mortals, yet, the words you have spoken shall gladden my heart for as long as memory endures!
Thor and Hercules have beaten back Pluto in Los Angeles, but Pluto escaped, and still has Hercules’ signed contract, which will condemn Hercules to rule the Netherworld in his place. Thor has returned to New York.
People usually credit the turnaround in the Thor stories to Kirby taking more control and bringing in his interest in mythology. But Stan also pulls his weight. I actually have to make a hard choice to get a pull quote out of the issue. I found at least four good options. The first I considered was the most humorous, where Thor shouts to the New York crowd: “The endless prattle of thy voices proves wearisome to mine ears!” Stan seems to have Thor’s Shakespeare-lite dialogue down now.
This unnamed taxi driver is a favorite character of mine. Thor’s sentimental words to him are what I chose for the pull quote above. The cabbie had been a soldier, and thus Thor finds a kindred spirit. He’d fought in World War II, and been wounded in Anzio, Italy, which would have been in 1944.
Of course, after their heartfelt exchange, Thor forgets to pay the cabbie. Not sure he carries money in his tights.
I note he also didn’t tip the doorman.
Let’s check out Kirby’s depiction of Olympus. We see Zeus and Dionysius. Dionysius is more traditionally known as Dionysus.
Nobody else sitting with Zeus is named. They may include Hephaestus, Hera, and Artemis.
Last issue, Pluto and Hippolyta left California bound for Olympus together. Yet, Pluto showed up without her. I have no idea what happened to Hippolyta.
Here’s Hercules scaling Mount Olympus to plead his case. But a contract is a contract, and Zeus will enforce it. Hercules will be sentenced to the Netherworld.
Unless he can find a champion to fight Pluto and the armies of the Netherworld in his stead. Who will fight for Hercules?
Not Thor. He’s giving up godhood and heroing. He’s going to surrender his immortality, become Don Blake for good, and marry Jane. A god may not marry a mortal, so he will no longer be a god.
Jane has a new roommate, Tana Nile; I assume she is unimportant.
Thor feels compelled to kneel before her for some reason. I still assume she’s unimportant.
Here’s the romantic line I could have used for a pull quote above: “As surely as the sun doth rise each morning– as surely as the rains do fall– this do I mean, Jane Foster! I shall take thee for my bride– or perish in the striving!”
Tana Nile doesn’t want Thor to return to Earth. It would spoil her plans. Again, nothing to see here.
Thor is ready to tell Odin his decision, but it’s the Day of the Three Worlds. A day of momentous prophecy. Thor has a destiny to fulfill before he surrenders godhood. It involves waiting in Limbo for a call to be a champion.
Unrelatedly, Hercules is seeking a champion. Ares refuses him.
Ares will eventually join the Avengers, but who doesn’t?
Hermes is off on some quest. Bet there’s a cool story there we’ll never learn.
In despair, Hercules laments and gives us another good quote: “The time of valor is past! The age of the warrior is dead! Let Hercules then perish with them!”
Will nobody fight for Hercules?
Thor vs. Don Blake
It’s worth reviewing the story of Thor and Don Blake for two reasons.
I’ll first note that Zeus thinks pride has always been Hercules’ downfall, and thinks being condemned to the Netherworld might teach him humility. People who have seen the Thor movie might find that familiar. In the film, Odin felt Thor needed a lesson in humility, so stripped him of his powers and banished him to Earth.
People who have read ahead in the comics may find all of this familiar.
Secondly, Thor is considering giving up being Thor and just being Donald Blake full time. Gods may not marry a mortal, but Don Blake can.
This brings to a head how weird this whole thing is. They’ve never explained the relationship between Thor and Don Blake, and their connection has been inconsistently presented.
We know Don Blake was a famous surgeon who walked with a cane due to a crippled leg. He found a magical walking stick on vacation and when tapping it, found the stick turned into a hammer and he turned into Thor. At first, his mind was that of Blake’s, though his body was Thor’s. All he knew of Thor was what he remembered from high school. However, within a couple issues, he knew how to use the hammer to send Loki to Asgard, a detail they were unlikely to cover in high school.
And soon enough he spoke like he was Thor. Like Odin was his father and always had been. Like he was a god who sometimes adventured on Earth. As we noted, his dialect has even been changing to become increasingly old-school, faux-shakespearian.
But he was also Don Blake and talked as though he was Don Blake and always had been; and he possessed the skills of an expert surgeon.
Both Thor and Don love Jane, because they are the same person. And Jane loves them both. There is no distinguishing their thoughts. They talk as though they are the same person and always have been.
We don’t know much about Don. Successful medical practice. In love with Jane. Occasionally builds androids. We don’t know if he has siblings. We’ve not met his parents. We don’t know anything about his childhood. Whereas we have seen many of Thor’s adventures as a child.
Given that Don is just a guy who found a magic stick in a cave, it seems rough that now he’s unable to marry mortals by Odin’s decree. Why can’t he marry Jane?
Well, he can. He just needs to give up being Thor. At which point I guess Thor will cease to exist? And he’ll just be Don. And Don and Jane will live happily ever after.
None of this really makes any sense. And his attempts to give up being Thor failed him this issue anyway when he needed to go save Hercules. And not to spoil things, but more will go wrong next issue as well, and he won’t be ready to lay down his hammer just yet.
Rating: ★★★½, 64/100
Significance: ★★★★☆
I think this introduces enough notable Olympians to be significant. Ares in particular. Though many may have shown up briefly in some form in Venus comics in the 1950s. This issue brings them into the modern Marvel Universe.
For example, Venus #3 has a profile on Mercury, the Roman equivalent of Hermes. Perhaps Mercury is the same character as Hermes, and perhaps not.
Mars and Bacchus show up briefly in Venus #4 as potential suitors. Could these be the same characters as Ares and Dionysius?
Plus the introduction of Tana Nile. Even though she’s just Jane’s roommate and presumably of no significance.
This goes on the Best We’ve Read page, displacing the awesome Dr. Strange battle with Aggamon in Strange Tales #119. This leaves Dr. Strange and Fantastic Four again tied with second for most placements on the list. And Thor moves up to fourth place, overtaking Sgt. Fury.
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol. 4.
Characters:
- Thor
- Zeus
- Dionysius
- Pluto
- Hercules
- Jane Foster
- Tana Nile
- Balder
- Ares
- Hermes
Story notes:
- Thor faces a lot of questions in New York and gets annoyed.
- Taxi takes Thor to Town Towers on East 75th Street — Jane’s address.
- Cabbie caught a bullet at Anzio, in the “Big War”.
- Pluto claims place in Council of the Gods on Mount Olympus. He reveals that Hercules signed his contract.
- Hercules scales the peak of Mount Olympus.
- Hercules faces Yellow-crested Titan.
- Zeus banishes Hercules to the Netherworld.
- Zeus notes that pride has been Hercules’ downfall, and that he must learn humility.
- Zeus gives Hercules a message to find one to fight in his stead.
- Thor and Jane embrace.
- Jane had put an ad in the paper for a roommate to share expenses. Tana Nile answered.
- Balder ordered to take Thor to Odin.
- Day of the Three Worlds was to be a day of momentous decision for Thor as predicted in the Book of Enchanters.
- Odin must send Thor thru the Doorway to All the Worlds, where Thor will wait in Limbo for the winds of the world to summon him to do battle for another across three worlds.
- Thor decides to fulfill this destiny first, then make his decision.
- Hercules seeks a champion and Ares refuses him.
- Ares has long despised Hercules’ blustering.
- Ares is the God of War.
- Ares refers to Hercules as Hercules, not Herakles.
- Legions of dead come to take Hercules to them; he cannot fight them.
- From Limbo, Thor hears the call of Hercules.
- Thor challenges the armies of the Netherworld to save Hercules.
| Previous | #501 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Thor #128, Story B | Reading order | Thor #129, Story B |
| Thor #128, Story B | Thor | Thor #129, Story B |
