Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Professor H reads THOR

I thought I'd take an example from one of the guys at the CAPTAIN COMICS board and start a "personal" review thread.This should cover one issue per day, barring interruptions. This is gonna have to be without images, because I don't use Photobucket.

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #83 / Aug’62
cover by Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott

"THE STONE MEN FROM SATURN!"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: A lame doctor vacationing in Norway runs across an alien invasion. While hiding from the aliens in a cave he finds an old cane that transforms him into the god Thor. Thor drives back the alien invasion."

It's been discussed at infinite length here & elsewhere. Clearly, this was entirely the work of JACK KIRBY, with dialogue by Larry Lieber & inks by Joe Sinnott (I guess a mere 13 pages at this point didn't get in the way of his better-paying work elsewhere).

Like TALES OF SUSPENSE, TALES TO ASTONISH and STRANGE TALES, this series had long been an anthology featuring horror stories, mystery stories, giant monster stories, sci-fi stories... whatever was handy. This particular issue had 2 such stories as back-ups:

"The Perfect Crime" by Don Heck and "When The Jungle Sleeps" by Steve Ditko, each 5 pages apiece. Oddly enough, the latter was a redo of an earlier story, "I Am... Gorilla" by Paul Reinman, from STRANGE WORLDS #5 (Aug'59).
(1-19-2014)

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #84 / Sep'62
cover by Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott

"THE MIGHTY THOR VS. THE EXECUTIONER"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: Dr. Blake joins a medical mission to a South American country wracked with civil war. The leader of the communist faction — the Executioner — orders an attack on the doctors, and Blake must use the power of Thor to save his colleagues and defeat the communists."
"Indexer Notes: In this story, Donald Blake is able to uses his walking stick to conjure a storm without transforming into Thor."

JACK KIRBY & Larry Lieber continue on, this time joined by the perrennial Dick Ayers, who must have inked half the books Marvel put out in the early 60's. This issue introduced THOR's own answer to "Lois Lane", nurse "Jane Nelson" (oops, "Jane Foster"-- but not in this episode). I guess when you have a hero with super-strength in blue tights and a red cape, a 3-way love triangle with only 2 people involved is a natural.

When Marvel's (alleged!) "editor" wrote his thoroughly-nauseating intro to this series in the book "THE ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS", he kept referring to the idea of doing "a SUPER-GOD!!!" --but then claiming that might not go over well with the Bible Belt or something. Knowing how long Jack Kirby had been doing mythological figures in his comics, it hit me-- while reading "JIMMY OLSEN", of all things-- that that statement would ONLY make any sense at all if Martin Goodman had actually suggested, "We could use another hero-- why not do something more LIKE SUPERMAN this time?" --and, after passing on that suggestion (as if it were his own idea, as always), Kirby would take it and comply by borrowing elements of the SUPERMAN mythos and tacking them on-- however AWKWARDLY-- to a new version of a Norse Mythological hero. The instant switch between 2 people via magic lightning makes it clear CAPTAIN MARVEL (the real one!) was also in the mix, as was CAPTAIN MARVEL JR. (via the lame leg).

It's so cool how Kirby was able to mix and match influences like that and come up with something new and original.

Typical of the early 60's, this issue featured COMMIE bad-guys. I wonder what Kirby would think about the idea that certain WALL STREET INVESTORS helped back the Bolshevik Revolution and the overthrow of the Czars in 1918?????
(1-20-2014)



I totally discount ANY ideas coming from Jack 's "editor". Martin Goodman, however, had a LONG TRACK-RECORD of instigating book after book after book that were imitations of already-successful books from other publishers.

THOR has super-strength, flies, wears blue tights & a red cape. Plus, he's involved in a romantic triangle when there's only 2 people involved. That says "SUPERMAN" to me!

Conclusion? Either Jack Kirby-- perhaps AS A JOKE-- decided to mix "Superman" and "Thor"-- or, he did it because Martin Goodman asked for "a Superman swipe" (even as FAWCETT's publisher once did-- resulting in the creation of CAPTAIN MARVEL, because his staff had too much creativity and integrity to do a "mere" swipe).

Perhaps the thinking was to "simply" but delibrately mix-and-match elements of 3 very popular characters-- THOR, SUPERMAN and CAPTAIN MARVEL (with "JR." thrown in for good measure). THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN was very popular in syndicated reruns at that point, no doubt spurred on by the simple fact that for the FEW people who already had color TV sets, half the run of the show was filmed IN COLOR back in the 50's (just like WALT DISNEY'S WONDERFUL WORLD OF COLOR).

Not to mention, "Doctor" shows were VERY popular. DR. KILDARE with Richard Chamberlain & Raymond Massey ran from 1961-66. Could the skinny Chamberlain have POSSIBLY been a model for Dr. Don Blake??? Certainly more likely than Vince Edwards, who played BEN CASEY, also from 1961-66. (David Janssen's Dr. Richard Kimble on THE FUGITIVE was a bit later, from 1963-67.)

Jack Kirby has always been a sponge for popular media, soaking up everything around him and spewing it out in entirely new, fresh combinations. I believe my speculation here makes a HELL of a lot more sense than anything muttered incoherently in that "ORIGINS" book.
(1-20-2014)

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #85 / Oct'62
cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"TRAPPED BY LOKI, THE GOD OF MISCHIEF!"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: Loki escapes from his prison in Asgard and comes to Earth to get revenge on Thor. The trickster hypnotizes him to help make mischief, but Thor’s transformation into Donald Blake frees him from hypnosis, allowing him to defeat Loki and return him to Asgard."
Indexer Notes: "This is the first appearance of Asgard. Heimdall looks nothing like his later appearances. Odin's name is mentioned for the first time."

JACK KIRBY plows on with Larry Lieber on dialogue & Dick Ayers on inks. 5-page stories by Don Heck and a Steve Ditko fill out the issue. After one sci-fi story and one story involving Communists, Kirby introduces what would slowly become an increasingly-important part of the series, mainly Thor's ties with Norse mythology.

This came out right in the middle of a whole slew of "sword and sandals" films involving Hercules and other miscellaneous muscle-bound heroes with mythological ties or not. Amid all the Greco-Roman stuff, a Norse must have stood out some.
(1-21-2014)


Some comments from a friend of mine in Wales...

"Well, I guess Thor is one of the few superheroes who could legitimately be expected to be able to best Superman. With Superman's vulnerability to magic, one thump with the hammer should put him out.

The identity switching seems more like Captain Marvel. A mgic trick that turns anyone into a superhero. No origin required. It's just fantasy. Any reader can imagine if they had found the 'stick' they could be thor. Of course the whole identity switch thing was also intriguing on a more adult levl. Where did Blake go when he was Thor? Where did Thor go when he was Blake? that fascinated me. We even got an explanation much later on. The magical aspects of the identity change got around the way every other superhero is an expert tailor and can knock up their own threads in no time. They are also all quick change artists. Superman and the Flash are naturals but the others?

From a non-American point of view, both Superman and Thor are non-American. They are both alien. Not even human. Reminds me of Manhunter from Mars. He also had an identity switch going on didn't he? John Jones and Jonn Jonzz or some such. I liked him too.

I know some people didn't like Thor's archaic speech but I felt it made him special. Above the rest. It made it clear he wasn't any old superhero. They could hardly give him a Danish or Swedish accent could they?

It's a fascinating idea that it was Blake and not Thor that was 'imaginary'. The myth was real and the doctor was a creation to serve a purpose. It takes a fantasy into the realms of science fiction. I suppose if Thor had been the 'real thing' right from the start, then it would not have been a super hero comic in the accepted sense of the time. There had to be an all American guy who changes into tights.

A comic featuring the adventures of a Norse God would have been a bit too adventurous perhaps.

Thor's time as Blake would naturally give Thor a much better understanding of mortals and leads to him being far more 'human' than he was before his 'lesson'. As a friend of human kind he can be a super hero and fit into the comicbook slot.

I grew up with these comics, though there were huge gaps as distrubution over here was a bit hit and miss and I lost chuncks of story. I did pick up on them again when Marvel started doing reprints in black and white in the late sixties/early seventies.

I agree about a slow build up. And coming in with the Daleks right away would have been a big mistake. We needed to get to know the Doctor first. As with getting to know Blake. He's our link between humans and gods as he's both.
I guess as Marvel readers were probably on the whole pretty bright, lots of questions about Blake/Thor needed an answer. so they came up with the explanation. which I think was brilliant, whoever thought of it.

I'm thinking that this was not the original idea. But the writing grew with the character. He became more and more real so demanded a proper pre-explanation.

I would guess it was Kirby and not Lee that came up with this - or possibly the readers did. But it made Thor much more believeable."
(1-21-2014)

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #86 / Nov'62
cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"ON THE TRAIL OF THE TOMORROW MAN!"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: Zarrko of the year 2262 goes back in time and steals a cobalt bomb in 1962, but Thor chases him forward in time and defeats him."

JACK KIRBY continues on with Larry Lieber & Dick Ayers on dialogue & inks. The variety in story subject matter continues, as we once again swing into science-fiction, introducing a super-scientist and time-traveller from the future, 11 MONTHS before one turned up in FANTASTIC FOUR #19 (Oct'63).

I imagine the name "Zarrko" was inspired by "Dr. Hans Zarkov", the scientist-hero from FLASH GORDON. Although the series initially took place in the modern-day (the 1930's & 40's), I've read that at some point-- somehow-- it jumped forward into the far future, to make it more "sci-fi" in nature and even more similar to BUCK ROGERS than it had been when it started (as a deliberate "answer" to the other series).

I never noticed it before, but in the 7 initial THOR episodes that Jack Kirby wrote & illustrated, he rotated between sci-fi, Commies, and Asgardian menaces (Loki), giving the series a nice range while keeping it from being too repetitive. These stories are a lot of fun!
(1-22-2014)

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #87 / Dec'62
cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"PRISONER OF THE REDS!"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: In order to solve the mystery of a rash of defecting American scientists, Dr. Blake uses himself as bait and is abducted by communists. He is imprisoned with the other missing scientists, but is able to transform into Thor and free them all."

JACK KIRBY continues cycling themes like clockwork, and this issue we're back on DIRTY COMMIES again! I sometimes wonder if this world will ever put a stop to CRIMINAL elements either being in control of governments, or BACKING them behind the scenes, all for their own personal profit? (Ironically, Russia seems to be cleaning up its act these days on that score, while America is in worse shape than ever.)

Larry Lieber & Dick Ayers continue on dialogue & inks. This is the first episode not to be broken down into smaller chapters with separate titles.
(1-23-2014)

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #88 / Jan'63
cover by Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko

"THE VENGEANCE OF LOKI!"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: Loki discovers Thor’s secret identity and separates him from his hammer, forcing him to remain a human. Loki torments humanity, but Dr. Blake tricks him into allowing him to regain the hammer and become Thor, defeating Loki and returning him to Asgard."

6 episodes in and JACK KIRBY continues rotating the themes between sci-fi, cold war & ASGARD. Isn't it amazing how often bad guys want "revenge" for things THEY started in the first place? The actual mythological Loki seems to have been a much more complex and interesting character than the nearly-one-dimensional version Jack Kirby came up with, but at least under Kirby he's a compelling villain anyway.

Larry Lieber & Dick Ayers continue on dialogue & inks, although page 13, panel 5 had a "correction" done by STEVE DITKO (which may explain how he wound up inking the cover).
(1-24-2014)



A friend of mine made the following observations:

"Interesting. I had not put the Thor/Superman connection together, but Thor is probably cut from the same cloth; just wouldn't want to get too close since DC was distributing those Marvel comics at the time. Thor was from Viking mythology, which was their religion. Superman now has been compared to Jesus (a father giving his only son to the earth), when he was created by a couple of Jewish boys from Cleveland. There is just all kinds of stuff mixed up in these characters.

Speaking of Captain Marvel, I thought Simon and Kirby's origin of The Fly was a steal of Captain Marvel. Orphan Tommy Troy visited by fly-being who gives him powers which he gets by rubbing a ring and saying, "I wish I were the Fly." Shazam! he's the Fly! Powerless child to powerful adult. Later Kirby said the Fly was their unsold character the Silver Spider, and that became the basis for Spider-Man. I always wondered about that, because I felt with the Fly being a swipe of Captain Marvel that probably meant the Silver Spider was also...yet Spider-Man didn't have any such origin."

It came out in the discussion about SPIDER-MAN that C.C. Beck was involved in the original unpublished "Spider-Man" proposal, which Joe Simon renamed "The Silver Spider", and which 8 years later he reused as "The Fly" and which 2 years after that Jack Kirby reused as "Spider-Man" before Steve Ditko told Stan Lee, "This is Archie's THE FLY". At which point, Ditko took Kirby's proposal (he'd done 5 pages of story as well), kept certain elements (the name, the powers, an orphan living with an aunt & uncle) and made some severe changes to it (costume, design of web-shooters, his uncle being murdered).

The CAPTAIN MARVEL element, removed from SPIDER-MAN, then got used in THOR instead (also from Kirby!). Isn't it fun how this all links together?

Everything comes from somewhere. The trick is to give it enough of a spin to make it your own.

See FORBIDDEN PLANET / STAR TREK !
(1-24-2014 / Pappy)

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #89 / Feb'63
cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers
Now that's what you call a pin-up cover. Makes me wonder if this might not have been sitting around for 6 months, and was done FIRST, as a presentation piece.

"THE THUNDER GOD AND THE THUG!"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: A gangster wounded in an escape has his men kidnap Dr. Blake to operate on his gunshot wound. Blake transforms himself into Thor and brings the gang to justice, as well as rescuing Jane."

That's funny. The plot description here reminds me a lot of a 5th-season GET SMART story, "Physician Impossible". Max wounds a notorious gangster who escapes & vows vengeance. While picking his wife up from the hospital shortly after she had the twins, Max & 99 are both kidnapped by the gangster's men, mistaking them for a doctor & nurse, because he needs to have that bullet Max put in him removed. The gangster was played by Henry Cordon, who earlier had been THE MONKEES' landlord, and later became the 2nd voice of Fred Flintstone. While near-delerious, he planned what he was gonna to when he got his hands on Max... "I know-- I'll drop him from a plane-- in front of a train! No-- that's too GOOD for him! I know, I'll... uhhhhhhh."

JACK KIRBY breaks his string here, so far he'd been rotating between sci-fi, cold war & Asgard, and this should have been a sci-fi story. Oh well! This was also the last of 7 consecutive episodes with Kirby doing story & art, with Larry Lieber doing dialogue. It was also Dick Ayers' 6th episode on inks. Next issue, Kirby & Ayers must have been busy elsewhere, as only Lieber returned.

Although, the more I learn about how things REALLY went on at Marvel around that time, I wouldn't be surprised if Kirby wasn't supplying the stories ANYWAY, as, apparently, he did on the first year (at least) of IRON MAN.

Just checked... as it happens, the SAME 6 months Kirby, Lieber & Ayers worked on THOR, they were also doing ANT-MAN in TALES TO ASTONISH. For the Mar'63 episodes, both Kirby & Ayers left both features! DON HECK took over ANT-MAN (with Kirby presumably still supplying stories), while Joe Sinnott took over THOR (ditto). I know from all evidence that Don Heck became a decent writer on IRON MAN starting with TALES OF SUSPENSE #50, but the stories have a very different feel to them before that, which suggests he wasn't pressured to write until then. Also, Joe Sinnott is one guy I've never heard even a hint about his having done writing, which may "explain" exactly WHY he stopped pencilling for Marvel around that point, even though he had always done full art before, and occasionally done pencils which others would ink later.

IRON MAN started in the Mar'63 issue of TALES OF SUSPENSE, and since Kirby was so involved in the creation of that series, and pencilled 3 episodes in addition to supplying Robert Bernstein & Don Heck with stories, it seems a good bet it was IRON MAN that took Kirby away from THOR at this point.

SGT. FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS debuted with the May'63 issues 2 months later, which stretched Kirby's resources even further. Looks like he barely had time to do those 3 IRON MAN episodes before diving in full-blast with the war book.
(1-25-2014)

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #90 / Mar'63
cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"TRAPPED BY THE CARBON-COPY MAN!"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: The heir to the throne of a race of shape-shifting aliens leads an attack on Earth as his rite of passage. The aliens replace officials in New York and disrupt the government, but Thor discovers their plan and defeats them."

I was expecting "sci-fi" last time, but the "gangster" story pushed it back a month. THIS is the first of 9 stories (not consecutive) NOT pencilled by Jack Kirby, and a run that most Marvel fans tend to totally diss EVEN MORE than the early THOR stories that were pencilled by Kirby. I guess I can see the point, but I think some people just set the bar too high and expect every single issue to be top-top-notch.

AL HARTLEY, known mostly for humor & romance, does his only episode of THOR. I'm afraid I know very little about his work, except that the ONE episode of IRON MAN where he filled in writing dialogue, his stuff was FUNNIER than Stan Lee's!! Larry Lieber did the dialogue here, and as usual, it's "serviceable", but nothing to brag about.

This leaves us with the eternal question... WHO REALLY wrote this story??? I know what it says in the credits, and that's why I totally discount the credits. It seems to me this was still a bit early for the period where ALL the artists were expected to do their own stories, and while it's possible Al Hartley wrote this, the sci-fi elements suggest to me that JACK KIRBY, who did ALL the covers, was still hanging around supplying other people with stories. Presumably he passed them on to his "editor", who passed them to the artists, and TOOK CREDIT AND PAY for them.

The theme of shape-shifting aliens replacing public officials is a popular one in science-fiction. On DOCTOR WHO alone, I've seen it done in "Spearhead From Space", "Terror Of The Zygons", "The Android Invasion", "The Androids Of Tara", "Ressurection Of The Daleks", and more recently, "Aliens Of London". There was also a LOST IN SPACE story that used the idea, "Target Earth".

As I said earlier, it seems about this time, Kirby was launching IRON MAN, coming up with the entire concept, design, characters, stories, and pencilling 3 full episodes, even though, oddly enough, the 1st one published wound up being illustrated by Don Heck.
(1-26-2014)

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #91 (Apr'63)
cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"SANDU, MASTER OF THE SUPERNATURAL!"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: Loki gives a greedy carnival mystic magical powers in order to use him to attack Thor. Thor is overcome in their first battle, but with the help of Odin and his belt of strength he defeats Loki's pawn."

Although the initial rotation of sci-fi, cold war & Asgard has been jettisoned, Loki once again returns 3 issues after his last appearance. This guy just can't stop messing with his foster brother, using dupes to carry out his schemes by granting them magic powers (a long-running theme in the series).

This is the 1st of 5 episodes illustrated by JOE SINNOTT, who did full art. Robert Bernstein replaces Larry Lieber on dialogue (as he ALSO did this same month on IRON MAN!). Legend has it JACK KIRBY was really the one supplying Bernstein with the stories, not the "editor" (as listed fraudulantly in the credits & pay stubs). The only question is, did Kirby pass on the stories direct to Bernstein, or THRU said "editor"? If the latter, it becomes easy to see how eventually CUTTING OUT a second writer from the process smoothed the production line (so to speak). Kirby & Ayers continue to do their usual wonderful work on the covers.
(1-27-2014)

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #92 (May'63)
cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"THE DAY LOKI STOLE THOR'S MAGIC HAMMER"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: Loki magically diverts Thor's hammer to free himself from his chains. Thor returns to Asgard to find the hammer, and Loki tries to kill him with magical traps, but Thor overcomes them all to find his hammer and catch Loki."

Well, now the series is falling into a rut-- or simply narrowing the field a bit too much. This is the 2nd episode in a row to feature Loki and his endless vendetta against his adoptive brother.

As last time, apparently Jack Kirby supplied the story, Robert Bernstein the dialogue (and possibly fleshed out the story full-script, it's impossible to say), while JOE SINNOTT provided full art.

The cover appears to be by Kirby & Dick Ayers-- except, the figure of Loki also appeared on a "Masterworks" pin-up page, which suggests it may have been a piece of art reused here and compositted by the production department. Nick Caputo suggests the possibility of Jack Kirby inks, and while I believe the Thor figure was inked by Ayers, there's a good chance the figure of Loki (done separately) was all Kirby.

The SAME month this story appeared, the story I believe was the first IRON MAN story actually produced-- "THE STRONGHOLD OF DOCTOR STRANGE"-- appeared in TALES OF SUSPENSE #41, from Jack Kirby, Robert Bernstein & Dick Ayers. (The villain of that story, I believe, was originally intended to be The Yellow Claw, returning from the late-50's. I'm guessing the "editor" nixed it because he wanted to distance the new "Marvel" from the old one.
(1-28-2014)

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #93 (Jun'63)
cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"THE MYSTERIOUS RADIO-ACTIVE MAN!"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: While on a medical mission to India, Dr. Blake becomes Thor to repel a Chinese attack. In order to fight Thor, a Chinese scientist irradiates himself to gain great power. He fights Thor in New York, and nearly defeats him, but Thor blows him back to China, creating a nuclear explosion."

After 3 issues, JACK KIRBY returns to doing pencils in addition to writing the story, and predictably, the quality jumps UP substantially. This time we have a mix of "cold war" AND "sci-fi", with a new and dangerous super-villain being created who will, sometime later, be THOR's contribution to "THE MASTERS OF EVIL". Once more, Robert Bernstein does dialogue (hard to picture him doing more with Kirby on both story AND art) while Dick Ayers remains the perrennial inker.

Jack Kirby also returned to pencil this month's ANT-MAN story in TALES TO ASTONISH #44, "The Creature From Kosmos", the one that not only fleshed out Hank Pym's background more but also introduced Janet Van Dyne-- THE WASP! On the other hand, Don Heck had his 2nd episode of pencilling IRON MAN published this month, in TALES OF SUSPENSE #42.

After my still-recent experience of re-reading ALL my 60's Marvel in chronological sequence, I find that works best, as it gives one a more complete sense of how all these various books were slowly coming together and evolving, between Kirby, Ayers, Heck & Ditko (and sometimes others) all getting involved.

(WHAT the heck is it with all these titles with the word "Mysterious!!!" in them? I'd bet that's the "editor"'s hand at work, it seems like his kind of "excess".)
(1-29-2014)

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #94 (Jul'63)
cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"THOR AND LOKI ATTACK THE HUMAN RACE!"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: Loki uses his magic to cause Thor's hammer to hit his head, turning him evil. Thor frees Loki, and the two terrorize Earth until the other Asgardians arrange for another blow to the head to reverse the change."

The above story description reminds me of the scene in SUPERMAN III where Supes turns evil, and when he finds a woman on top of the Statue of Liberty who appears to be committing suicide, he says to her, "I hope you don't expect me to save you because I don't DO that sort of thing anymore."

After one month off, JOE SINNOTT returns on full art, his 3rd of 5 episodes. Jack Kirby (undoubtedly!) supplies the story, Robert Bernstein the dialogue. Loki is increasingly becoming a regular in this feature, having appeared in 5 out of the first 12 episodes so far.

Among other things, this month, Jack Kirby did his 3rd (of 3) episodes of full pencils on IRON MAN in TALES OF SUSPENSE #43-- "Kala, Queen of the Netherworld". He also did SGT. FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS #2, "Seven Doomed Men!" Incredibly, he was gonna get EVEN busier in just another 2 months!!
(1-30-2014)

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #95 (Aug'63)
cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"THE DEMON DUPLICATORS"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: An evil scientist forces Dr. Blake to help him with a duplicating machine by kidnapping Jane. The device duplicates Thor, but cannot duplicate his magic hammer, allowing Thor to defeat the duplicate. Dr. Zaxton accidentally duplicates himself and falls to his death, leaving his good duplicate to take his place."

This is wild. The "SUPERMAN III" parallel CONTINUES for the 2nd issue in a row! First, Thor turns EVIL. Now, he splits into two people, and fights himself! Doesn't it look like whoever wrote that AWFUL movie in the 80's was thumbing thru THESE comics when they were looking for ideas? ("Blue tights, red cape, super-strong, flies... ehh, close enough!")

I have no doubt Jack Kirby supplied the story here, while JOE SINNOTT does full art for the 4th of 5 episodes. Robert Bernstein continues on the dialogue (and possibly fleshing out the story).

Kirby was supplying stories this month to Ernie Hart & Don Heck in ANT-MAN ("When Cyclops Walks The Earth") and Robert Bernstein & Don Heck in IRON MAN ("The Mad Pharaoh"), and Ernie Hart & Dick Ayers in THE HUMAN TORCH ("Fighting To Death With The Asbestos Man")

In addition, it's QUITE possible this was around the time Jack Kirby also got roped into coming up with a proposal (which would, in a rare instance, almost certainly be "work for hire") for DAREDEVIL, in which he designed the circus acrobat costume & came up with the series format of his being a circus acrobat, in the style of Kirby's earlier STUNTMAN... which Bill Everett then REJECTED and replaced with his own ideas. I say this because recently I found out that-- yes-- THE AVENGERS-- was slapped together specifically to replace DAREDEVIL on the production schedule, because Bill Everett was running really, really late, and Martin Goodman, who was chomping at the bit so much to PREVENT Pete Morisi & Charlton Comics from reviving the REAL Daredevil, had actually been STUPID enough to put the Marvel character ripping off that name on the production schedule, BEFORE the book had been done, or had even been completely conceived!!
(1-31-2014)

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #96 (Sep'63)
cover by Jack Kirby & Sol Brodsky

"MAD MERLIN!"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: Merlin is awakened after a thousand years and immediately decides to try and take over the world; He battles Thor using familiar Washington D.C. monuments. Thor defeats Merlin and forces him to return to sleep."
"Indexer Notes: This 'Merlin' was revealed to be an imposter in Avengers Annual #22. In most of his appearances he calls himself 'Maha Yogi'. He has been said to be a mutant, but this is also false."

The last of JOE SINNOTT's 5 episodes of THOR features our mythological hero fighting another character from history and/or mythology. Jack Kirby continues supplying stories while busy elsewhere, with Robert Bernstein either fleshing out Kirby's story or simply supplying dialogue (hard to tell at this point).

The Sep'63 issues were incredibly hectic for JACK KIRBY. In FANTASTIC FOUR #18, he had "A Skrull Walks Among Us", the sequel to FF #2, and a story that was later adapted into the 1967 Hanna-Barbera FF cartoons by Alex Toth. Dick Ayers supplied inks. ANT-MAN & WASP in TALES TO ASTONISH #47 had "Music To Scream By" with Ernie Hart & Don Heck. IRON MAN in TALES OF SUSPENSE #45 had "The Icy Fingers Of Jack Frost", which not only introduced a new villain, but also the first members of that series' supporting cast-- Happy Hogan & Pepper Potts, with Robert Bernstein & Don Heck. SGT. FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS #3 had "Midnight On Massacre Mountain", with Dick Ayers on inks. JOHNNY STORM in STRANGE TALES #112 had "The Human Bomb", and while the story seems to be almost entirely the work of Jerry Siegel & Dick Ayers, there's a good chance the villain, The Eel, was another one from Kirby.

You'd think a workload like that would KILL most people. Well, on TOP of that-- you had X-MEN #1, which introduced a new series, an entire team of new characters, and one very long-running badguy, Magneto. Inks were by Paul Reinman, who's usually on my S*** list of really BAD inkers. There's indications that this issue was rushed out terribly fast, as the art is sketchier and skimpier than usual.

And on top of THAT-- this month also saw THE AVENGERS #1!!! "The Coming Of The Avengers" gathered together Iron Man, Ant-Man & Wasp, Hulk (who'd lost his own series some time earlier), Rick Jones & The Teen Brigade, featured a cameo by the Fantastic Four, but mostly, acted as a SPIN-OFF of THE MIGHTY THOR!! The villain of the piece, who set the whole story in motion, was-- OF COURSE-- Loki. That sonofabitch just had nothing better to do with his endless time as an immortal, did he??

Oh, "Merlin" (or somebody calling himself that) wound up having a cameo in THE AVENGERS #10, 14 months later. Same guy, or not? Hard to tell.
(2-1-2014)

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #97 (Oct'63)
cover by Jack Kirby & George Roussos

"THE LAVA MAN"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: Thor battles the Lava Man, a monster brought to the surface by Loki, who claims all the dry surface of Earth for his people. Odin forbids Thor to love Jane Foster, leading to her leaving her job as Dr. Blake's nurse."
"Indexer Notes: Dr. Andrews is first called Basil by Jane Foster on page 6 but then is called Bruce by Dr. Blake on the last page. Apparently in the Marvel Universe nurses can't work for doctors that they're not pursuing a romantic relationship with."

SGT. FURY, X-MEN and AVENGERS were bi-monthly when they started. That means, this month JACK KIRBY actually had time to get back on THOR! Which is to say, he's been doing ALL the stories from the beginning, with help, but this time the middle-men are cut out, and JACK KIRBY does story AND pencils! The "editor" also cuts out the middle-men this month, kicking Robert Bernstein out of a job and taking over writing the dialogue himself (while CONTINUING to steal credit AND PAY for the stories as well).

In addition to the 13 page lead story, JACK KIRBY also begins a long-running 5-page back-up series... "TALES OF ASGARD!"

from the GCD: "Synopsis: Beneath Asgard lies the Well of Life. From it came Ymir, greatest of the Frost Giants and Buri, the first Norse God who gave life to Borr. Borr had three sons. Odin was one of them."

JACK KIRBY supplies series concept, story & art. Dialogue by Stan Lee, inks by "George Bell" (the MOON-LIGHTING George Roussos, who, according to his interview in ALTER EGO, was doing Lee a favor by inking pages at HALF-RATES over the weekend... no wonder so many of them looked so awful).
(2-2-2014)

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #98 (Nov'63)
cover by Jack Kirby & Sol Brodsky

"CHALLENGED BY THE HUMAN CORBA!"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: While visiting India, Don Blake finds that one of his old teachers has been murdered by a villain who gained the power of a snake. Thor fights the Cobra in New York and defeats him, after Jane Foster sees her new boss's cowardice and goes back to Doctor Blake."

JACK KIRBY was clearly over-worked to insane levels, as Don Heck (already a regular on ANT-MAN and IRON MAN) steps in for his 1st of 3 THOR episodes. I'm not thrilled... but what the hey. Kirby continues to supply the story, while Stan Lee does dialogue. The main point of interest here is the introduction of THE COBRA, who would become a VERY long-running super-villain for decades to come.

Meanwhile...
"ODIN BATTLES YMIR, KING OF THE ICE GIANTS"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: The ice giants, led by Ymir, attack Asgard but Odin defends it and traps Ymir inside a ring of fire."

Not much of a sypnopsis, but what the hey. JACK KIRBY supplies story & art, Stan Lee dialogue, and Don Heck the inks. While this story takes place (apparently) in the dim distant past, Ymir would turn up in the PRESENT-day Marvel Universe on a number of instances.

While this was going on... FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #1 featured the Sub-Mariner reunited with his people, and attacking NYC; FF #19 introduced a VERY long-running villain in "Prisoners Of The Pharaoh", while FF #20 had "The Mysterious Molecule Man" (which included another appearance by The Watcher).

X-MEN #2 had "No One Can Stop the Vanisher"; SGT. FURY #4 had "Lord Ha-Ha's Last Laugh"; TALES OF SUSPENSE #47 had "Iron Man Battles The Melter" (the first of 3 STEVE DITKO episodes in which IM's bulky yellow armor is destroyed); STRANGE TALES #114 has Kirby return to pencilling for "The Human Torch Meets Captain America" (a deceptive title if ever there was one, heh), TALES TO ASTONISH #49 also has Jack Kirby back on pencils for the 1st of 3 episodes, with "The Birth Of Giant-Man", in which he totally revamps the series while Stan Lee replaced Ernie Hart on dialogue while Don Heck supplies inks to maintain consistency. Finally THE AVENGERS #2 has "The Space Phantom", in which Iron Man (still in his yellow armor), Giant-Man (in his new identity), Thor (same as ever) and Wasp (ditto, tee-hee) have a severe misunderstanding with The Hulk, who QUITS the group after being a member for less than one issue.

When you consider that Jack Kirby was writing ALL of these at the same time... doesn't it just blow your mind?
(2-3-2014)

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #99 (Dec'63)
cover by Jack Kirby & George Roussos

"THE MYSTERIOUS MISTER HYDE!"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: Having been refused a job by Doctor Blake, Calvin Zabo becomes Mister Hyde and attacks the doctor. Meanwhile, Odin has agreed to let Thor marry Jane Foster if she proves worthy. After Mister Hyde learns that Blake survived ('saved' by Thor) it seems that Thor robs a bank, and the police issue a warrant for his arrest."

JACK KIRBY introduces another long-running villain for the burgeoning Marvel Universe. In this case, oddly enough, he would spend a good part of his criminal career teamed up with the previous THOR villain, The Cobra. This marks the first 2-parter in the THOR series.

DON HECK supplies full art, Stan Lee does dialogue (and takes credit and pay for the characters, the story, etc.-- what a slimeball).

"SURTUR THE FIRE DEMON"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: The Trolls ally with Surtur against Asgard, but Odin conquers them. Surtur travels to Earth to destroy it, but again Odin defeats him and traps him in the center of the planet. Their battle creates the moon and starts the rotation of the Earth."

JACK KIRBY supplies the 3rd "Tales Of Asgard" installment. While Stan Lee did the dialogue, there's some dispute as to who did the inks. No one's listed in the comic-- Bob Bailey at the GCd says it's George Roussos. But looking over my Masterworks reprint-- where, I admit, it's a bit hard to tell-- the lines reminds me a LOT of Kirby's early-50's stuff. So, Jack Kirby could have done the inks himself on this one. Anyone here care to field this one?
(2-4-2014)

Also for Dec'63: FANTASTIC FOUR #21 has "The Hate Monger!", which features not only the first modern-day appearance of C.I.A. Colonel NICK FURY (my single favorite Jack Kirby character), but also the first modern-day appearance of Adolph Hitler-- or one of his clones. TALES TO ASTONISH #50 has "The Human Top", the first 2-part GIANT-MAN & WASP story, which introduces one of the most annoying-as-hell villains they ever faced, with art by Kirby & Ditko. TALES OF SUSPENSE #48 has "The Mysterious Mr. Doll" (notice how Lee keeps OVER-USING the word "mysterious" in story titles??), with Steve Ditko apparently using a new Jack Kirby villain (whose name was changed at the last minute due to objections from the Comics Code).

For Kirby, this was a relatively "off" month. But I'm sure he didn't notice-- he must have been knocking out stuff day after day, week after week, like crazy, in order to keep up with the INSANE schedule heaped upon him by his glory-mongering "editor".

If ever there was a single creator whose family deserved to be rewarded with riches for his efforts...
(2-4-2014)

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #100 / Jan'64
cover by Jack Kirby & Sol Brodsky

"THE MASTER PLAN OF MR. HYDE!"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: Mister Hyde kidnaps Don Blake and Jane Foster and then tries to steal a submarine using Jane as a hostage. Jane stops Thor from catching Hyde because she thinks that Don is still in danger. The police realize that Hyde framed Thor for the bank robbery, but Jane's actions convince Odin that she is unworthy of immortality."

The conclusion of the first 2-parter in this series, and the final of the 3 issues with DON HECK doing full art. As always, Jack Kirby supplied the story, Stan Lee the dialogue (while taking FULL CREDIT & PAY for Kirby's writing), and no doubt Stan Goldberg did the coloring (uncredited AS ALWAYS).

A series-within-a-series begins in "Tales Of Asgard": "The Boyhood Of Thor". This time out it's "THE STORM GIANTS".

from the GCD: "Synopsis: Thor and Loki (as children) defeat three Storm Giants and return the Golden Apples of Iduna."

JACK KIRBY continues to supply story & art! Stan Lee does dialogue (AND-- NOTHING ELSE!!!) while Paul Reinman supplies inks.
(2-5-2014)

Meanwhile: FANTASTIC FOUR #22 has "The Return Of The Mole Man!", one of the best sequels from this period, and the source of the very 1st F.F. cartoon to air from Hanna-Barbera & Alex Toth. Dialogue by Lee, inks by Dick Ayers-- tragically, his LAST on the series.

TALES TO ASTONISH #51 has "Showdown With The Human Top", Jack Kirby's last of 3 episodes introducing GIANT-MAN, and featuring a real grudge match, as he tackles the single most annoying bad guy in his entire run; dialogue by Lee, inks by Ayers.

STRANGE TALES #116 has "In The Clutches of the Puppet Master", from Dick Ayers, Stan Lee & George Roussos (yes, the dreaded "George Bell" has arrived). Although Kirby did the cover, and it's a good bet Ayers WROTE the story, it's hard to say who came up with the story idea-- Ayers, or Kirby. (Or maybe the "editor" just said, "Hey, how about bringing back Howdy Doody this month?" Remember, kids-- that's NOT a "plot".)

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #8 features-- in the back!!-- "Spider-Man Tackles The Torch!" Story & art by JACK KIRBY!!! Dialogue by Lee, inks by Steve Ditko. In a sequel to ASM #1, Spidey shows up at a garden party, gets on Johnny Storm's nerves, then leaves a "love-note" to Sue Storm. Heh.

TALES OF SUSPENSE #49 has "The New Iron Man Meets The Angel!" Story & art by Steve Ditko (his final of 3 episodes re-vamping IRON MAN the same way Kirby revamped ANT-MAN), dialogue by Stan Lee, inks by Paul Reinman (who was really getting around at this point). Any Kirby contribution, apart from the cover? Hard to tell. But if I had to lay odds on anyone giving ideas to Ditko, I'd bet on Kirby more than the "editor" who took credit and pay for it.

SGT. FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS #5 has "At The Mercy Of Baron Strucker", who would become Fury's long-running nemesis in the series, and, as revealed in 1967, be a MUCH bigger part of the modern-day Marvel Universe than anyone (other than Jack Kirby or Jim Steranko) might have dreamed of.

...and finally...

THE AVENGERS #3: "SUB-MARINER!" This is the BIG one. The company-wide crossover kicks into HIGH GEAR, as Subby, still pissed over having to flee Manhattan in FF ANNUAL #1, seeks out THE HULK, who's already angry at his short-time team-mates, and instigates a free-for-all. JACK KIRBY does story & art, Lee does dialogue, Reinman does inks. WOW!!! What a month.
(2-5-2014)