Featuring: Thor
Release: February 2, 1967
Cover: April 1967
12 cents
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inked with the prowess of Vince Colletta
Lettered with the pen-points of Sam Rosen
16 pages
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| Thor #138, Story B | Reading order | Thor #139, Story B |
| Thor #138, Story B | Thor | Thor #139, Story B |
Mighty are the warriors of Asgard! Though hopelessly outnumbered… though faced with alien weapons… they did not succumb! Never hath Orikal seen the like!
“To Die Like a God!” I find that a compelling title and cover image.
At the end of last issue, Thor’s hammer was stolen, which means he will change back to Don Blake in 60 seconds. Thor then gave a long and melancholy speech, which must have taken most of that 60 seconds. As this issue opens with him still being Thor, this must be only a couple seconds later.
Thor and Sif have competing plans for what to do next.
Thor’s plan: Die as Dr. Blake and hope Thor will emerge in Valhalla, and then be able to return to Asgard and fight.
Sif’s plan: Transport them both to Asgard, where Thor becomes Thor even without his hammer.
Apparently he only becomes Don when on Earth. This is news to us. But I think it’s true we’ve never seen Don Blake in Asgard, so perhaps it’s always been implied. And it make some sense. Thor can’t be holding his hammer all the time in Asgard, can he? When sleeping? When using the little god’s room? In his private moments with Sif? Or maybe he can. He does like that hammer.
Thor thinks the battle is no place for a woman; Sif disagrees. This is like their fourth issue hanging out together and the fourth time they’ve had that same argument. He’s seen Sif do battle plenty by this point.
The war rages on. The Trolls’ advantage comes from their weaponry, which has been designed by Orikal, the mysterious god-like alien they have imprisoned.
Orikal has created a duplicate of Mjolnir. Ulik holds both hammers.
Notice Ulik holds Mjolnir with ease. This is entirely consistent with everything we know about it, and with the inscription on the hammer. “Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of… Thor”. You need to be worthy for the hammer to give you power, and Ulik is not worthy. To lift the hammer, you just need to be very strong, as it’s quite heavy. Only people like, Thor, Ulik, Hulk, etc. could possibly hold it.
Thor vs. Ulik round 3. Now with more hammers.
Despite the ominous title and image, no gods seem to die. I guess the title referred to Don Blake’s brief thoughts of suicide in order to awaken in Valhalla. Orikal leaves the universe behind. The Trolls are defeated. Geirrodur returns to his kingdom, humbled.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 59/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
Characters:
- Sif
- Thor
- Odin
- Ulik
- Geirrodur
- Orikal
Story notes:
- Thor only transforms into Don Blake when not holding his hammer when on Earth.
- Thor and Sif follow Troll armorers and wonder who conceived of such weapons.
- Odin unleashes power; Trolls respond with Ulti-force Cannon, a creation of Orikal. It strikes Odin’s Scepter of Power, draining it of energy. Odin discards the Scepter, seemingly without care.
- Orikal has duplicated Thor’s hammer. Ulik holds both.
- Ulik lifts Thor’s hammer with ease. This makes sense because Ulik is very strong, and one must be very strong to lift the hammer. However, Ulik is not worthy, and so should not gain Thor’s powers from the hammer.
- Geirrodur asks what if Thor defeats Ulik again. It’s not clear Thor really has beaten Ulik in either match.
- Thor calls Mjolnir to him, but Ulik still has the copy.
- Sif handles herself well against the other Trolls.
- Geirrodur uses Menti-horn to summon Orikal and commands him to destroy Thor.
- Ulik intends to kill Orikal out of jealousy, using powers of eternal fires.
- Thor saves the life of Orikal and releases him from bondage.
- When Orikal leaves the universe, his weapons will be useless.
- Orikal dares not face Odin’s wrath.
- Thor destroys Troll control of the flames.
- Geirrodur agrees to retreat.
- It is not Asgard’s way to kill Geirrodur.
- Thor reunites with Odin to tell him of Geirrodur’s surrender.
| Previous | #562 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Thor #138, Story B | Reading order | Thor #139, Story B |
| Thor #138, Story B | Thor | Thor #139, Story B |
Ulik is one of my favorite Thor villains, and in his first arc, he commands a lot of respect. Sif is also great, and it was necessary to have a female warrior in these stories… Although Thor is a total drama queen, delivering such a speech in less than 60 seconds.
I generally support Thor’s speechifying. But in this particular case, I’m not sure he has his priorities straight.