Journey Into Mystery #85: Review

Oct 1962

Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby

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Story Name:

Trapped by Loki, the God of Mischief!

Review & Comments

Rating:

Journey Into Mystery #85 Review by Peter Silvestro (May 28, 2011)

Review: The comic’s first battle between hereditary enemies Thor and Loki is an entertaining mix of heroism and wacky mischief. The exact relation of the two antagonists would not be clarified for a few issues but the important thing is that Stan and Jack have seen the potential of the rich store of Norse myth and have so quickly moved beyond having a divine hero use his godlike powers to catch bank robbers and Commie spies. Thor would soon become one of the most imaginative of Marvel’s early series

Comments: The wider world of Norse mythology is introduced into the title with this issue, featuring the first appearances of Loki and Heimdall, the first brief appearances of Odin, Balder, and Tyr and the first sight of Asgard. The first mention of Thor’s hammer being made of Uru, the “magic mineral.” Since the previous issue, Thor has become well-known in America. Views of Times Square and the Empire State Building establish that Thor is based in New York. For unexplained reasons, Don Blake wears glasses throughout the story. Odd Trivia: Jane Foster is not called by name in this story.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Journey Into Mystery #85 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

In Asgard, home of the Norse Gods, Loki, God of Mischief has been imprisoned for ages within a tree, trapped until his plight causes someone to shed a tear. Loki finally conceives a scheme to make this happen: he causes a leaf to drop from the tree, poking the passing Heimdall in the eye, causing him to shed a tear "because of Loki’s plight." Loki is now free to take revenge against his enemy Thor. He has a mental link to Thor’s Uru hammer so is able to trace his quarry to Earth. Arriving there he turns random people into negative images of humans to attract Thor. Dr. Don Blake witnesses this and dashes into an alley, emerging as Thor. He spins his hammer fast enough to emit anti-matter particles that reverse the magical effect on Loki’s victims. The God of Mischief then steps out to challenge the God of Thunder, creating a flying carpet to carry him into the sky for their combat. Thor follows by spinning his hammer and levitating but Loki uses the sun’s reflection on the spinning weapon to hypnotize Thor. Bringing Thor under his control, Loki commands him to toss his hammer into a river but it returns to him; Loki then conjures up an image of Thor and asks the real McCoy to give the fake "his" hammer. Unarmed, Thor is ordered to release the animals in the zoo but, separated from his hammer for sixty seconds, he reverts to the form of Don Blake who is not under the villain’s hypnotic control. Don recovers the hammer and returns to his Thor form and pursues Loki who is fleeing in a flock of birds. In a theater, Loki drops a curtain on Thor but it barely slows him down. In the subway, Loki resorts to pushing commuters into the path of an oncoming train; Thor raises the tracks so that the train passes harmlessly over the victims. Loki brings the Pegasus logo from a Mobil Oil sign to life and runs amok on his winged steed. Thor hurls a huge section of pipe and traps his quarry, who falls into the bay. The hero then startles the villain by rescuing him from drowning and ties him to the Uru hammer and hurls him back to Asgard, where he is again imprisoned. Jane Foster admits she was impressed with the spectacle but Don is surprisingly indifferent.

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