Thor, trapped without his Uru hammer
at the Heavy Machinery Show, face-to-face with his foes, the
Cobra and
Mister Hyde. With only sixty seconds before he transforms back into
Don Blake, Thor rips up the steel floor as though it were a rug and flips the two enemies into the air while he vanishes into the crowd (good luck on that) . In the panic he turns into Don unseen (what do you know, it was good luck). The police arrive at the scene of the riot which followed the superbeing activity, and surround the building. Unable to recover his cane from the machine, Don approaches Hyde and offers to tell them again how to capture Thor in exchange for their getting his walking stick. The sinuous Cobra slithers into the machine but is unable to reach the cane, so Hyde rips the whole thing apart. Once he has the cane, Don dashes into the crowd and transforms into Thor in the middle of the panic (now you’re pressing your luck). Thor uses his thrown hammer to pry Cobra from the ceiling, but Hyde has taken the opportunity to modify an industrial paint sprayer so that it creates a powerful gust of wind blowing Thor away. The Thunder God
however, manages to anchor himself to the floor with his hammer and sends a blot of his wrath like lightning through the wooden floor (!) to knock Hyde for a loop. The police enter and arrest the Cobra but Hyde has hidden away and turned back into Calvin Zabo. After clearing up some details with the authorities, Thor leaves but senses Hyde is nearby. Zabo trails him and when Thor is alone on the street he turns back into Hyde and attacks, using an uprooted lamppost to knock Thor’s hammer out of his hand. Thor decides that if he can’t beat this idiot in sixty seconds with his bare hands, he doesn’t deserve to be Thor so he launches himself at the villain. Keeping careful count of the seconds as they tick down, Thor beats the living crap out of Hyde and tosses him to the police. Returning to his office, Don finds
Jane Foster watching the news as it reports that Don Blake was willing to betray Thor to his enemies. A tearful Jane runs out on him, leaving Don to wallow in self-pity over the irony….
Excelsioring your collection
Story #2Balder the Brave!
Writer:
Stan Lee.Penciler:
Jack Kirby. Inker:
Vince Colletta. Colorist:
Unknown.
Synopsis
The warrior
Balder is summoned to appear before
Odin, who questions the hero as to why he deserted the army when they pursued the
Storm Giants in battle. Balder confesses it was because he stopped to return a baby bird to its mother’s nest. Odin orders him to face the test of mortal death. Though many other warriors intercede for the beloved hero, Odin’s decision is final. Balder is brought to the area of execution and
Tyr the Master Archer is commanded to fire an arrow into the condemned man’s heart. He lets fly a shaft but a hawk swoops down and plucks the arrow from the air. Odin then commands
Honir to hurl a spear at Balder but again, he is rescued when a huge plant immediately grows up before him and traps the missile. Next, Odin orders
Thor to dispatch Balder and the
Thunder God reluctantly raises his hammer—but Odin himself halts him. The
All-Father reveals that he is the one who summoned the hawk and the plant, and now endows Balder with the gift of invincibility, to demonstrate that the bravest are the gentlest.