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Nowadays I get these as they come out, but I missed a good portion of them while I was in high school and college and not buying books. Although this is volume 7, this is actually the first volume of Thor I will be reading. I actually have read three of these issues already, #’s 154-157, which appeared on one of the Jack Kirby Visionaries collections, something I thought I had reviewed already but isn’t in any of my writing file folders.
Spoilers Ahead
-Thor #153- Loki has Thor’s hammer and without it, Thor becomes regular Don Blake. Thor is stuck with Norn queen Karnilla while Loki is on Earth. Blake is sent back to Earth and tries to get his uru hammer back. Sif tries to help but falls into a coma. Thor does get his hammer back and has to turn into Blake to operate on Sif and save her. Loki shows up but some ether slows him until the operation is over. They finish their fight later on but is interrupted by Odin. Loki flees and Thor fears there is danger around the corner. There was a lot going on here (including the start of a mini-Balder story through the next ten issues and longer and Ulik finding something we’ll see next issue) but this is just the start of some great Kirby art and good stories.
-Thor #154- Thor looks over Sif while Ulik makes a stunning discovery. He finds a beast named Mangog, someone imprisoned by Odin due to having the power of a billion billion souls. Thor awaits to be called home but Loki travels back first while Odin is in his Odinsleep (which he cannot be awoken from) and Loki takes the reigns of Asgard. While on Earth, Thor meets a gang called Muggers, Incorporated, then tells some hippies that their ways (dropping out) do not work. Thor awaits being called home as Mangog makes his way to Asgard. This introduced a monster that only Kirby could draw, that is easily one of the most fearsome that has been created.
-Thor #155- Thor meets with a reawakening Sif and the two return to Asgard, where Thor discovers Loki has taken reign of Asgard. The Recorded is sent to Asgard to view the events, and we are reintroduced to Thor’s fighting buddies (Volstagg, Fandral and Hogun) who go off to fight Mangog. Mangog is still on his way, he destroys an Asgardian outpost and meets with Thor at the end of the issue.
-Thor #156- Mangog dispatches of Thor as Loki is quickly losing control as his empire is about to fall. The Recorder finally arrives at Asgard and is allowed to film the events that will follow. Mangog finally reaches Asgard as Thor prepares to battle him one last time. The pace is quickening, the action is getting fiercer and even then you knew you had the makings of a great story.
-Thor #157- Mangog reaches the sword of Odin, which if drawn will mean Ragnarok, or the end of all things. The sword is being guarded by Sif and Thor but still Mangog is still coming strong. He stars unsheathing the sword. Of course, when all seems lost, Odin awakes. He stops Mangog and takes off the spell he put on him and the power of a billion billion people is restored in the billion billion people on their home planet. As the introduction noted, it is a bit deus ex machina, but it fits the tone of the story and the action that was involved is some of the best I’ve seen in comic book history. The day is saved, the threat is over.
-Thor #158- You can tell the preceding four issues took their toll on Kirby and Lee as this one revisited Thor’s origin by actually reprinting the events of Journey Into Mystery #83. I won’t go into his origin since we know it already (Don Blake found a cane, hit it, and became Thor) but it leads to an interesting question posed by Donald Blake, is he really Thor? Where was Thor before he found the cane? He just wants the answer to that question. It builds up the next issue well but if you couldn’t get away with something like this today, having someone pay $3.00 for a “new” comic that is 90% reprinted.
-Thor #159- So Donald Blake just wants to know his true identity and goes off to see Odin who promises to tell him the truth. We flashback to a young, brash Thor breaking a royal truce and fighting a mountain giant. He engages in other acts (arm-wrestling and fighting in bars) and Odin tells him he lacks humility, and banishes him to Earth. It turns out that Donald Blake is actually Thor and he just appeared on Earth with prior memories so he wouldn’t question it. He was a doctor so he could learn humility and when he did, he found Mjolnir and the rest, as they say, is history. This is the definitive Thor origin as done only by Lee and Kirby, truly the best tandem in all of comics history.
-Thor #160- This starts the final three-parter of the collection. Thor is summoned by Tana Nile, a colonizer from Rigel whom Thor had a tussle with before. She comes in peace this time and wants Thors help to stop a dangerous threat from wiping out Rigel and their galaxy. Thor agrees to go, he is followed by Recorder (who leaves Asgard) and we find the threat is none other than Galactus. So Thor and Tana fly to Rigel as Galactus arrives (in an magnificent splash page) and encounters Ego, the living planet (in a Kirby trademark photo collage). Another group show up, The Wanderers, who were the first inhabitants of a planet Galactus destroyed and they want to stop Galactus as well. Thor and Recorder fly to Galactus but their ship is destroyed in the battle between Galactus and Ego.
-Thor #161- We open with another photo collage with Thor and the Wanderers floating out in space. They are picked up by the Wanderers who all agree to help Ego stop Galactus. There are some amazing splash pages here from Kirby, the highlight being Thor waving his hammer around preparing for battle. Thor and the Wanderers try to tackle Galactus alone but they are brushed away like a flea and the Wanderer ship is destroyed. Thor is not done, though. He uses a device from the wrecked Wanderer ship and channels the power of Mjolnir and it gets Galactus to flee in defeat! The Wanderers are without a planet but Ego says they can stay there in a nice happy ending.
-Thor #162- Thor and Recorder return to Rigel (through another photo collage) then to Asgard (with another marvelous splash page) where Thor learns the origin of Galactus. It seems Galactus was just floating around in a incu-box when some unwitting idiots opened it and paid for it with their planet. Thor gets wind of a premonition that Sif is in danger and flies off to Earth. This was an interesting issue, as Galactus’ origin is first revealed here, in a Thor title of all places.
-The Bottom Line- Arlen Schumer (a comic book art historian) writes the introduction and he really goes indepth on the issues included, talking about the great three-parter included and relating it to World War II’s and Jack’s possible experiences with it. He even relates the Wanderers in the final three parter to the Jews who were slaughtered during WWII. It is an interesting look and another dimension in viewing Jack’s work. The work itself is in a word, breathtaking. I don’t know if Kirby has been any better than the things I saw here. It may be easy to say that about any of Kirby’s work but this is really on another level. He was clearly in his groove here and the splash pages are just a sight to behold. The stories are incredibly well-crafted, and this volume is highlighted by the Mangog four-parter, and the Galactus three-parter, as well as a two-part Thor origin. Put it all together and you have a collection that has at least 8 great issues in it (the reprint tale may lose a point and possibly the first issue). This is just the magical duo of Stan Lee (producing some fantastic scripts) and Jack Kirby (truly the King). Jack would stay on the title until #177, so he had only a dozen or so issues left in his run, but I can say without a doubt that this is some of the best work I have seen from him. You need to get this, if not for the art alone, but for the amazing stories included. Extras include one page of inked work and three original covers (pencilled and inked). High recommendation to pick up, as this set is actually worth the price tag.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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