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Journey Into Mystery #115: Review

Apr 1965
Stan Lee, Jack Kirby

Story Name:

The Vengeance of the Thunder God!

Review & Comments

Rating:
4 stars

Journey Into Mystery #115 Review by (June 3, 2012)
Review: Another cool splash panel opens this epic tale of combat, wherein the hero defeats the villain more by his brain than his brawn (though being able to use his hammer like a cyclotron helps). And the Absorbing Man is one of my all-time favorite villain, both for Thor and Hulk. He’s not a mastermind or James Bond-level villain but a petty thug who has been given superhuman powers. Can’t wait for him to come back. Odin, on the other hand, is an idiot, believing Loki, who has an unbroken track record as a liar. The biggest heroes of the issue are John and Ann who stand up to the super-powered interloper and get away with it, proving you don’t need super-powers to be a hero.

Comments: 1. Inker Frank Giacoia is credited as Frankie Ray. 2. Part three of the origin of Loki.




 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Journey Into Mystery #115 Synopsis by Arcturus Jackson

This issue begins with Thor in Asgard climbing the tower where Loki is making his stand, with the captive Jane Foster by his side. The foster brothers battle, with Loki’s magic trickery evening the odds….

Meanwhile on Earth, reporter Harris Hobbs tells the skeptical police about escaped convict Crusher Creel having become the Absorbing Man and a match for Thor. Creel, seeking refuge, has come to an isolated suburban home where he breaks in and holds the owners, a married couple John and Ann, hostage….

In Asgard Thor easily overcomes Loki’s freezing ray and has the trickster at his mercy when Odin arrives to halt the combat between his sons. Quickly Loki accuses Thor of having brought Jane to Asgard hoping to make her immortal. And Odin, like a fool, believes Loki, ordering Thor to appear before the Trial of the Gods. Thor asks for forty-eight hours to finish his business and, when it is granted, he returns Jane to her home, erasing all knowledge of Asgard from her memory. He then heads out in search of the Absorbing Man, soon joining the police dragnet. At the suburban home, John and Ann have had enough of their brutish captor and John socks him, despite knowing of Creel’s powers. As the villain turns to iron to take vengeance, Hobbs rushes in to insult Creel, drawing him outside where Thor can confront him. Again the two antagonists fight to a standstill, with Creel absorbing Uru, then fire, and finally all the elements of the Earth—stone, wood, metal—growing into a giant to challenge Thor. Unafraid, Thor whirls his hammer at cyclotronic speed, transmuting the elements comprising Creel’s body into helium. The villain, now lighter than air, is drawn out of Earth’s atmosphere and into space, where Thor will leave him until his powers have been forgotten. The Thunder God thanks Hobbs for his help, returns to New York for one last look at Jane, and then he is summoned back to Asgard to stand trial….



Story #2

A Viper in Our Midst!

Writer: Stan Lee. Penciler: Jack Kirby. Inker: Vince Colletta. Colorist: ?.

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Thor leads a task force to battle Ghan, the most deadly of the Storm Giants, before the monster can proceed with his plan to attack Asgard. When they encounter their quarry, the warriors fight, while Loki, jealous of Thor’s prominence, stays far away from the fray. Loki casts a spell to give Ghan the victory to embarrass Thor but the giant is driven away by arrow fire before it can be completed. The Asgardeans fire a missile of sleep fumes at the fleeing giant but when they search he is nowhere to be found. Delighting in Thor’s failure, Loki remains behind ostensibly to search for the missing giant but really to further a wicked scheme of his own. He had magically transformed Ghan into an eagle, and in gratitude, Ghan promises to aid Loki when he calls. Thus Loki makes his first alliance with the forces of evil, someday to conquer Asgard!

Preview Pages
Click sample interior pages to enlarge them:




Jack Kirby
Frank Giacoia
?
Jack Kirby (Cover Penciler)
Chic Stone (Cover Inker)
Stan Goldberg (Cover Colorist)
Letterer: Art Simek.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Absorbing Man
Absorbing Man

(Crusher Creel)
Loki
Loki

(Loki Laufeyson)
Thor
Thor

(Odinson)

Plus: Harris Hobbs.

> Journey Into Mystery: Book info and issue index

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