Featuring: Thor
Release: September 1, 1966
Cover: November 1966
12 cents
A Stan Lee * Jack Kirby fantasti-classic!
Inked by: Vince Colletta
Lettered by: Sam Rosen
16 pages
| Previous | #542 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Thor #133, Story B | Reading order | Thor #134, Story B |
| Thor #133, Story B | Thor | Thor #134, Story B |
I am accomplishing… in one brief experiment, what nature would take a million centuries to achieve!
I loved the Galactus saga and the character of Galactus. Fans of the era also loved Galactus. What to do with that? Move on and never see him again? Or recycle the Galactus story again? The former is better than the latter. Best is to use him sparingly when there is a new story to tell about him.
With these ageless characters like Eternity and Galactus, we must remember that years to us may be like moments to them. How many different times should they run into humans in those brief moments? Eternity had noted Dr. Strange was the second mortal to ever stand in his presence. The first must have been a few centuries earlier, like yesterday to Eternity.
Galactus had been devouring planets for eons, but Earth was the first planet he attempted to consume that contained an advanced civilization. So you expect it to be some time before it comes up again. And since he vowed to never consume the Earth and Galactus’ word is “cosmic truth itself”, we expect he’ll never do that again.
So when would we see Galactus? Well, Galactus is the devourer of worlds. Ego is the living planet. Conflict seems almost inevitable.
Why the conflict now, when both are ageless? Perhaps Thor’s battle with Ego attracted Galactus, and it’s not just coincidence.
Either way, Galactus journeying into the Black Galaxy to confront Ego a galaxy away from Earth is a good and sensible use of the character. A character I am excited to see again. As long as they don’t overdo it, and the stories they tell with him are new stories.
He just gets a cameo here, but it is a new story, not a retread of what has come before. He goes into the Black Galaxy and battle with Ego. We don’t see that battle at present.
This would be the first meeting of Galactus and Thor. He was presumably off-world when the Fantastic Four faced Galactus, or else he would have surely lent a hand. Except they don’t really meet. Thor and the Rigellians depart without identifying the mysterious object with greater energy than a sun.
“I do so… not out of greed… not out of hate… not out of ambition… for those are emotions of lesser beings! I do so because I must… because I am… Galactus!!”
But that’s just the beginning of this issue! It’s not really about Ego, or Galactus, or the Rigellians, or even Tana Nile…
Thor notes he bears Tana Nile no malice, as she was just doing as she’d been trained to do. That idea is worth reflecting on. Tana Nile was behaving justly according to the standards of her upbringing. Does that excuse her?
It’s interesting that Thor cites his authority as an Avenger to the police. He has not been an active Avenger for a while now. He left in a huff upon learning the Avengers consisted entirely of newcomers. But he must have some status with the Avengers still. Once an Avenger, always an Avenger, I guess.
But now we get to the main plot. On the road to Wundagore, Jane, Tagar, and Porga encounter bandits, but they are rescued by the mysterious Knights of Wundagore. We will come to know they are New-Men.
We see Wanda and Pietro, who had taken leave from the Avengers in issue 30. They have been drawn to Wundagore, and we learn they were born near this mountain. It has already been suggested they are not mutants. Perhaps their powers come from Wundagore.
We meet the High Evolutionary. He seeks to artificially induce evolution upon nature. And so he has evolved animals into the New-Men. Think Dr. Moreau. His latest experiment is a wolf.
Thor had not seemed that far behind Jane, having encountered the same bandits who attacked her. But by the time he reaches Wundagore, she seems quite settled in. Nonchalantly teaching a class to her animal hybrid students.
Thor interrupts the High Evolutionary’s delicate experiment, and the wolf accidentally is evolved too far. It may be impossible to control and pure evil. It may be called the Man-Beast. Next issue, we’ll see it may also be called the Super-Beast.
Should my bestial subject survive, he will be far more than a New-Man… far more than a wolf whose evolutionary process was speeded up!! In point of fact, he will be the ultimate end of evolution… a combination of the supreme man… coupled with the supreme beast!! His power will be too awesome to imagine!! And, if he should be evil–!
High Evolutionary
I had struggles with the Blitzkrieg Squad who faced off with Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos. The writer was never careful to name them. I’ll have similar issues with the New-Men. They are visually distinctive, but we only learn some of their names.
We’ve gotten to know Count Tagar and Porga well. This issue we definitely meet Sir Lepard, Sir Ossilot, and Sir Liyan. We can guess or deduce which character is which. But there are many more not named.
We’ll do as we did with the Blitzkrieg Squad and start building a chart of what we know, including some deductions about what type of animal they were.
| Name | Animal | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Count Tagar | Tiger | White hair, monocle, well-dressed |
| Porga | Pig | Chubby, flat cap |
| Sir Lepard | Leopard | Plumed helmet |
| Sir Ossilot | Ocelot | |
| Sir Liyan | Lion |
This issue introduced the High Evolutionary. Last issue, Thor fought Ego. It amuses me that the plot of the rather successful films Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 and vol. 3 comes from these two issues. High Evolutionary was portrayed by Chukwudi Iwuji.
But more than that, this issue informed the last Dr. Strange film, which featured Wundagore and its connection to the Scarlet Witch.
I’ve always liked the character of High Evolutionary, the ultimate genetic engineer. I suspect I met him through trading cards in the early ’90s, as I met many characters. And so learned he’d been the central villain of the Evolutionary War. I may have first seen him in comics when he appeared in Warlock and the Infinity Watch, though that wasn’t the character at his best.
Rating: ★★★★☆: 77/100
Significance: ★★★★★
Introduces Wundagore, High Evolutionary, New-Men, Knights of Wundagore, Man-Beast, connections of Wanda and Pietro to Wundagore… lots of significant stuff here.
And it makes the Best We’ve Read, displacing the battle between Dr. Strange and Nightmare in Strange Tales #122.
Characters:
- Thor
- Recorder
- Galactus
- Tana Nile
- Count Tagar
- Jane Foster
- Porga
- Sir Lepard
- Sir Ossilot
- Sir Liyan
- Scarlet Witch/Wanda
- Quicksilver/Pietro
- High Evolutionary
- Man-Beast
Story notes:
- We are reminded that Ego has vowed to never leave the Black Galaxy. Thus Rigel must fulfill its vow of not conquering Earth.
- Sentry ship fires Meta Beam to take Thor and Recorder onto Rigellian ship.
- Rigel has ordered that Sol is off-limits.
- Galactus is much smaller than a star, but has greater energy.
- Rigellians escape unknown being with Mach Thrust.
- Thor never realizes he almost encountered Galactus.
- Galactus aims Quadrant Analyzer at Black Galaxy. He detects an abundance of life energy and must investigate, and destroy whatever life he finds.
- Tana Nile ordered to leave Earth and return to Rigel; assured it is not her fault and that she will be rewarded with a new assignment.
- Tana Nile informs Thor she sent Jane Foster away and doesn’t know her present whereabouts.
- Thor cites his Avengers authority to order the police to let the Rigellians return to their planet. Thor is not an active Avenger, but we learn he must still have some status with the group.
- The High Commissioner has chosen Tana Nile for his wife; she has loved him from afar for years.
- Rigellians left Thor a Psyche-Search Gauge to locate Jane.
- In a small European principality, Count Tagar is warned not to take the road to Wundagore.
- Armed bandits seek the wealth of Wundagore, but Tagar is confident the Knights of Wundagore will protect him.
- Tagar refers again to the High Evolutionary.
- Bandits ambush the car; Knights of Wundagore dispel bandits, who flee and find Thor.
- Knights fly on Atomic Steeds and serve High Evolutionary.
- The Knights of Wundagore are New-Men.
- Wanda and Pietro are in a valley below Wundagore Mountain.
- Quicksilver outracing Wanda’s Lamborghini 330 GT, which implies his powers are returning. Both have completely regained powers.
- Pietro and Wanda are from near Wundagore. Legends say that a light flashed above Wundagore the night they were born; a similar light flashes now. They suspect Wundagore may be the origins of the powers.
- High Evolutionary experimenting for the first time on a wolf, reshifting its genes into human form, accomplishing in a brief experiment what would take nature centuries to achieve.
- Thor interrupts High Evolutionary’s wolf experiment in sacred genetic chamber.
- High Evolutionary describes himself as the superior of nature.
- Jane teaches New-Men students (perhaps two camels, a rodent, a rhino, a zebra, a monkey, a reptile?)
- Jane is teaching them about the outside world, but Thor fears it is not safe.
- Thor’s distraction disrupted the High Evolutionary’s experiment.
| Previous | #542 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Thor #133, Story B | Reading order | Thor #134, Story B |
| Thor #133, Story B | Thor | Thor #134, Story B |
