The Mighty Thor #126-130

 The Mighty Thor #126-130

Originally released in 1966

Written by Stan Lee

Art by Jack Kirby

I was in the mood to read some of the works of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, so I thought I'd skip ahead to when Thor got his own comic rather than being part of an anthology series. (I'm assuming that the numbering continues on from Journey Into Mystery's numbering) The story picks up where Journey Into Mystery left off, keeping the premise simple - Hercules has arrived on Earth, he's flirting with Jane Foster, and Thor doesn't approve, so Thor and Hercules fight.

Odin, not approving of Thor's growing bond with mortals, has sent Thor to his room to think about what he's done. (That is to say, he tried trapping Thor in Asgard, though Thor broke out and made it back to Earth) On Earth, Thor and Hercules continue to fight, with Hercules relishing the challenge.  As I read through this, I'm reminded of the fight scenes from the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie "Commando", complete with the two of them throwing cheesy one-liners at each other. (That movie is great, so anything that reminds me of it is a plus in my book)

In Asgard, Odin seeks to punish Thor for his disobedience, so under the council of his trusted advisor Seidring, he decides to remove half of Thor's power as punishment even though it could mean Thor's death in the middle of a battle with Hercules. Unwilling to go through with the action himself, he gives the Odinforce to Seidring so the advisor can administer the punishment. (I've never heard of Seidring, so I'm assuming that this is actually Loki in disguise, who will take that power and use it for his own ends)

The general public in the Marvel universe proves to be as fickle as ever, praising Hercules and bad-mouthing Thor once Thor loses. (Literally moments afterwards, with them not being too concerned about the divine smackdown that happened in the middle of New York City, even if a lot of it happened in abandoned derelict buildings or construction sites)

Only Jane Foster knows the truth of what happened, thanks to a mental message from Odin. In these early days, Odin tended to look down on the idea of Thor having a romantic interest in mortals like Jane, thinking that Sif would be a much better match. Sif does love Thor, but Thor only had eyes for Jane Foster. It seems that, by this point, Odin's changed his mind, as he tells Jane to stay with Thor even though Thor pushes her away due to feeling unworthy to be with her after his loss.

The issue also contains backstory for the Asgardians through a section called Tales Of Asgard. The stories are rather short ones, such as showing Thor rescuing Loki from the Queen of Trolls. (How the queen negated Loki's magic, or how Odin saved Thor and Loki, is left unclear; I'm not sure if these stories are independent or treated as part of a series)

The next issue starts off with Thor going through angst over his loss to Hercules, though he's more concerned about what further punishments await from Odin.  Even though Jane makes it clear that she still loves him, he sees it as pity and pushes her away.

Meanwhile, with Hercules's newfound popularity, he's been made into a movie star.  Between this and an early Fantastic Four comic where Namor creates a fake movie company to lure the Fantastic Four into a deathtrap (there are likely others that I'm not aware of; it didn't surprise me to learn that Mysterio tried something similar to kill Spider-Man), I feel like the idea for a Marvel Cinematic Universe was something that Stan Lee had wanted to see even in the early days. It could easily be a coincidence, but it makes me happy that he was able to see the MCU be such a huge success. (the Hercules movie is also a trap set up by Pluto, a.k.a. Hades, to force Hercules to take his place as ruler of the underworld - to my knowledge, none of the MCU movies have been elaborate deathtraps for the lead actors)

Pluto is trying to blend in as a movie producer with an expertise in Greek mythology.  I'd say that the emphasis is on "trying", but I don't think he's trying very hard.  He doesn't even use a pseudonym, and his very first line of dialogue wouldn't look out-of-place coming from Doctor Doom.

In his grief, Odin forgot to take his power back from Seidring.  This has predictable results.

Thor returns to Asgard to apologize to Odin and regain his power, only to find that Seidring has taken control and frozen anyone who disagrees with him, either by freezing them in a block of ice (in Heimdall's case) or freezing them in time (as he's done to most of the others in Asgard).

Thor battles valiantly against Seidring, despite Seidring being armed with all of Odin's power while Thor himself is only at half his strength.  They both know that Thor is completely outmatched, and yet Thor refuses to give up; it's a well-written scene that highlights Thor's courage and quick-thinking rather than his raw might.

Thor manages to successfully get Seidring to return the Odinforce to Odin, under threat of destroying the cosmos if Seidring doesn't follow through. (Odin has an Odinsword that, if it falls to the ground, will do just that)  I wasn't really a fan of the earlier Thor stories, but these two issues have been great, even if Thor's behaviour got a little angsty towards the middle. (I'm surprised that Seidring didn't turn out to be Loki in disguise; it seems completely in-character for him to either imitate Odin's trusted advisor or to spend years posing as an advisor to get into Odin's good graces for this exact moment)

The Tales Of Asgard portion covers a prophecy of Ragnarok, the destruction of the Norse pantheon.  Naturally, Loki is leading the charge of Asgard's enemies, though the part ends with the rise of the Midgard Serpent.

The next issue covers the aftermath of Ragnarok, showing that even after the fall of the Norse gods, left continues on Asgard with a new set of gods - some sort of New Gods, if you will. (I feel like this was around the point where Kirby became inspired to make the New Gods)

As Thor and Odin apologize to each other, and Thor gets permission to return to Earth to reclaim his honour, Hercules's time of cinematic stardom gets underway.  To my surprise, he actually read the contract rather than just signing it immediately.

However, his producer Pluto and his co-star convince him that it's just the plot of the movie, so he signs it, condemning him to run the Greek underworld.  His co-star also reveals herself to be Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons, who sided with Pluto to get revenge for Hercules spurning her. (Which is very different from how the same story is handled in Wonder Woman, to say the least)

After finding out about Pluto's treachery, Thor goes to see Jane Foster, but once he lands in New York, he's mobbed by people and can't fly off. He hops into a cab, leading to a funny but heartfelt moment where the cab driver has an ordinary conversation with Thor, the Norse God of Thunder. (Thor doesn't pay the cab fare, though) It does a good job with showing one of the strengths of Marvel, blending reality with the fantastical.

Hercules is climbing up Mount Olympus, determined to meet Zeus so he can find some way out of this contract.  Even in these early days, Hercules is a ton of fun to read about, having a massive ego but having the strength and history to live up to it, along with a short temper and a desire for battle that gets him into trouble about as often as it gets him out of it.

On Earth, Thor reunites with Jane, who has a new roommate Tana Nile (a woman who has the ability to compel men to obey her and claims to come from someplace far away - nothing odd about that!), to tell Jane that he intends to give up his immortality so he can marry her. (Since a god cannot marry a mortal) It's definitely a better hook for the "will they won't they" aspect of Thor and Jane's relationship than the original one, where Donald Blake (Thor's human identity) felt that Jane would never love him because he needed a cane to walk, as Thor giving up his godhood would be a huge deal, but one that he's fully willing to make if it means that he can spend the rest of his life with Jane.

Before he can tell Odin of his decision, Odin informs Thor that this is the prophecized Day of Three Worlds, where Thor shall be sent into Limbo before being sent to three worlds for the sake of another (Thor doesn't know it, but it's for the sake of Hercules, to work on his behalf to free Herc from the underworld). Odin refuses to listen to anything else until the task is completed, and Thor feels like his duty takes priority for now.

Hercules seeks help from his fellow Olympians, but they refuse, and due to the contract that he signed, Hercules can't fight against the army that arrives to take him back to the Underworld. That's Thor's cue to arrive. I like the dynamic between Thor and Hercules; they're treated like equals in terms of strength, and despite their very different personalities, there's a mutual respect between them that Thor wouldn't have with the Hulk.

Thor travels to the underworld, where it's made clear that he'll have to fight every inch of the way on behalf of Hercules. His first challenge is Cerberus, who looks very different from what I expected. (There were seemingly no problems with including giant monsters like Fin Fang Foom, but I'm not sure if having Thor beat up a dog, even a giant three-headed one, would go against the Comics Code Authority in some way)

One thing that definitely seems a product of the Comics Code Authority is when the forces of the Underworld bring out a cosmic cannon and Thor uses some of Pluto's soldiers as shields to defend himself.  I get that they're already in the underworld, so death may not be an option, but when a soldier shouted out that "the cosmic sleep" will overtake them for a century, I'm reminded of Batman: The Animated Series where an assassin clearly takes a cyanide capsule only for the next scene to say that it was a mind-erasure pill instead. (Marvel has had characters die before this point, like Bucky Barnes or Baron Zemo, but presumably there would be issues with the hero directly causing a villain's death)

As Thor fights his way through Pluto's forces, Pluto is surprisingly reasonable. Realizing that he won't find happiness among the rest of the Olympians, and not wanting everything he's built to be demolished by Thor as his minions try fruitlessly to defeat the thunder god, Pluto agrees to take his former place as ruler of the underworld, freeing Hercules from the contract.

With Hercules freed from his contract and his strength restored, Thor could avenge his honour and battle Hercules again, but the two of them part as friends. It's a nice bit of character development for the two of them over the course of these five issues.

This was a huge improvement over Thor's first appearances in Journey Into Mystery, and effectively dropping the Donald Blake plot point goes a long way towards making Thor's adventures more interesting. (Jane knows that Thor and Blake are one and the same; Donald Blake is never shown and there's no mention of Thor returning to mortal form if he stops holding his hammer for sixty seconds) Hercules makes for a fun contrast with Thor, being just as powerful but less mature, and it was interesting to see Marvel's take on the Greek pantheon.