The Thor Readathon

[Thor-El]

And so it came a day when Thor-El decided it was time to revisit the glory and grandeur that was his childhood hero: The Mighty Thor!!! Fueled by the popularity of the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the expectations for the hero in Phase 4 and hoping for the further development of these characters in movies and the upcoming Disney + service. Having cosplayed the character a couple of times in conventions and feeling the necessity that every proper Thor fan must have to know the mythology thoroughly, I embark myself in this journey into mystery and discovery! Hoping to have other truebelivers join me in the discussion!!

And after that winded introduction, lets start this post with Journey into Mystery 83, published in August 1962. Thor was created by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber, the invention of two brother writers, they came up with a response to DC Superman that was totally original.



An american tourist, a lame doctor Donald Blake visiting Norway stumbles into a space invasion of rock men from Saturn. The same race our beloved MCU character Korg comes from! Fleeing the aliens he enters into a cave and gets trapped inside and while trying to free himself using a cane that was mysteriously left in the center of such cave he strikes the boulder with it and it transforms into Mjolnir, Thor's magic hammer and Dr. Blake into the god of thunder Thor! The hero exits the cave, fights the invaders and vanquishes them.

Artwork is by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers. So Jack Kirby, the other Thor creator, the King of Marvel Comics that fresh from his golden age adventures of Captain America started creating the Marvel Universe at this time. Its notable that Jack Kirby style was at this time very different, his figures weren't as massive as they would be drawn in future issues and his unique visual style hadn't fully developed yet. Kirby stayed mainly with Thor and Fantastic Four, very sci-fi heavy comic books and gave us some of the most unique original visuals in the medium.


https://www.comixology.com/Journey-I...N1bHRzU2xpZGVy

[Thor-El]

Decades later we would get this cool scene between Thor (played by Australian actor Chris Hemsworth) and one of the descendants of the Stone men from Saturn in the movie Thor Ragnarok. And everything originated in this comic!:

[Phoenixx9]

Hello my friend!

Great thread. It is fun to do a read-a-thon of a favorite character. I have always loved those early, original stories that sometimes feel so far removed of the characters of today, some 50, almost 60 years later.

I always wondered if there was a link between the Stone Men of Saturn and the Thing? The Stone Men seem much larger and stronger get than Thing, especially back in those early days, so I always chuckled when Thing would fight Thor thinking he would win. Even without his godly strength, in one fight Thor still did well against Thing.

[Thor-El]

Hello my friend!

Great thread. It is fun to do a read-a-thon of a favorite character. I have always loved those early, original stories that sometimes feel so far removed of the characters of today, some 50, almost 60 years later.

I always wondered if there was a link between the Stone Men of Saturn and the Thing? The Stone Men seem much larger and stronger get than Thing, especially back in those early days, so I always chuckled when Thing would fight Thor thinking he would win. Even without his godly strength, in one fight Thor still did well against Thing.

Phoenixx9, my brother from another mother, so glad to see you comment! Its those original stories the movies go to in order to capture the essence of these characters. Those classic Thor stories have so much going on for them that it makes me feel the movies haven't even started to scratch the surface of the mythology. A lot of things they change and a lot of missed opportunities that I hope to comment as I read on. Also I have to confess I have a big chunk of Thor's history I've never read because it was before my time that I hope to finally read in order. Like the Sub-mariner readathon that I started years ago and still need to go back to I hope this is going to be a lot of fun. But in this one I'm not going to post too many graphics other than the cover and one or two panels to make it more viable timewise.

To touch upon the Thing and Korg similarities but on the movies I noticed the latest Fantastic Four movie, the skin rock effect on The Thing looks very much like Korg from Ragnarok, but while it works well on Korg I think it doesn't on The Thing. There was also a stone man from Saturn on Thor: The Dark World, their first appearance in the MCU. That movie has so much awesome and is so underrated. For those that geek out like me and are interested in watching how it was done here is an interesting video.

[Thor-El]

The second issue of Thor, Journey into Mystery #84 was published on September 1962. The writing is again credited to writer brothers Stan Lee and Larry Lieber, and the artwork is also once again by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers. It introduces us to Dr. Donald Blake's (Thor) romantic interest: Jane Foster who works as Dr. Blake's nurse. Since Blake is a cripple, meaning he needs a cane to walk properly he feels unworthy of Jane's love, and Jane being his nurse and working for him poses another barrier too. They both love each other but are afraid to show it which makes for the romantic conflict for the hero.

https://www.comixology.com/Journey-I...N1bHRzU2xpZGVy




The story follows Dr. Don Blake and Jane Foster that are traveling on an american ship of mercy to the communist island of San Diablo to bring provisions to the oppressed people of the island.

[Thor-El]

They get captured when war airplanes attack the pacific ship and are brought to the presence of the island warlord, a leader known as "The Executioner" who gets infatuated by Jane's beauty and wants to marry her. Thor ends up fighting against the army of the tyrant and exposing him as a traitor to his own people who turn against him and give way for the opposing democratic party to take control of the island.



Even though Jane is written as the usual romantic interest of the times she still shows bravery when approached by the Executioner and rejects his aproaches even when her life might be on the line.

[Thor-El]

Jane would be upgraded to Dr. Jane Foster in Thor volume 3 by writer Dan Jurgens and eventually even be able to wield Mjolnir and turn into a female Thor and replace the proper Thor and carry the title on her own for awhile.
Jane Foster is an astro physicist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is played by Oscar winner Natalie Portman opposite to Chris Hemsworth who plays Thor.