Well, it’s been a while, but my off-and-on series about Norse mythology in Marvel’s Thor comics is back. Once again, though, I’ve arrived at an issue that really doesn’t have much to do with Norse mythology — even in the Asgardian back-up story. Oh well.
The main story of Journey Into Myhstery #109 is an X-Men crossover entitled “When Magneto Strikes!”, which should tell you all you need to know about how it compares to anything written by Snorri Sturluson.
The story’s opening scene reminds us that Thor is part-and-parcel of the Marvel Universe by having him view an exhibit at the World’s Fair, where a statue in his honour stands alongside similar monuments to various other Marvel heroes (including an amusing long-armed Mr. Fantastic statue).
Continue reading “The House of Eddas: Loki’s Cousin (and Magneto) in Journey into Mystery #109″
Marvel-Loki’s been the topic of discussion lately because of a series on a streaming service I don’t subscribe to, so now seems an appropriate time to take a trip back to the sixties and see another one of his four-colour battles against Thor. This time, I’ve dug up Journey into Mystery #108…
This month’s main story is “When the Grey Gargoyle Strikes!” After some more scenes of Don Blake/Thor pining over Jane, we get a new villain: French chemist Duval, who turned his hand to stone in a laboratory accident (“Ohh! I have carelessly spilled the potion on my hand!”) Not only is this appendage permanently made of rock, but anything it touches – except, conveniently, Duval’s glove – is similarly turned to stone for half an hour. With this trick up his sleeve, Duval is able to both petrify his victims and transform himself into a stony-skinned supervillain, with the ultimate aim of stealing Thor’s hammer and obtaining immortality – this is, I believe, the first time the comic has established that the weapon gives the user longevity.
“The Thunder God Strikes Back!” concludes the story that began in the previous issue, with Mr. Hyde and the Serpent teaming up against Thor. Exploiting a loophole in the only-a-worthy-person-can-lift-the-hammer rule, the two antagonists use a mechanical crane to grab Mjolnir. Thor is eventually able to get it back and send the villains packing, but due to a misunderstanding he ends up with Jane Foster angry at his mortal alter-ego, Don Blake.
Time for another look at the often fraught relationship between Marvel’s Thor comics and Norse mythology…
There are a couple of things to note about this issue. First off, Thor’s name now dominates the cover: although Journey Into Mystery wouldn’t be officially retitled The Mighty Thor until later, the change is clearly being prepared for. Secondly, there’s been a bit of a development in how the comic engages with mythology.
While Journey Into Mystery’s back-up stories had introduced more mythological figures to play with, the main stories were, at this point, still using a very limited cast of Asgardians: Thor, Odin and Loki, plus some extras (if you’re feeling generous you could maybe count Heimdall as a significant character, although his main role was simply to fail at preventing Loki’s escape from prison).
Welcome back to another look at how Marvel Comics processed Norse mythology to create its Thor comics. In this issue, the main story is “Slave of Zarrko, the Tomorrow Man”, which concludes the storyline beginning in the previous instalment.
Welcome back to another post in the series that looks at old Thor comics from Marvel and sees how they stack up against the Norse myths that inspired them…
Time for another jaunt back into Norse mythology, as reimagined by 1960s Marvel comics…
Doris V. Sutherland 