Plot by Stan Lee – Script by Larry Lieber – Penciled by Jack Kirby – Inked by Dick Ayers – Lettered by Art Simek

Out go the communist army.

Back come Loki and Asgard.

Hopefully this means Marvel has realized Thor works best when they lean into his mythological roots.

Because immediately, the book feels stronger thanks to the return of Loki.

We open in Asgard itself, where Loki is being punished by Odin after his defeat in his last appearance. We get Asgardians. The Rainbow Bridge. Odin’s authority over the realm.

You can already see all the untapped world-building available to Lee and Kirby, just waiting to be explored.

And because of this, Thor feels less like a superhero awkwardly inserted into anthology stories and more like the lead character in his own mythological fantasy comic.

Loki, naturally, starts scheming the second his punishment is handed down.

He discovers Thor’s connection to Donald Blake and realizes that without Mjolnir, Thor reverts back to mortal form. Seeing an opportunity, Loki defies Odin, escapes Asgard, and returns to Earth seeking revenge.

Loki actually does some good work here. He confronts Blake. Puts Jane into a trance. Challenges Thor to a duel while threatening Manhattan itself if Thor refuses to fight him.

But the real goal is separating Thor from the hammer. Loki manipulates events, puts Jane in danger, and casts a spell preventing Thor from reclaiming Mjolnir.

For a moment, it actually feels like Loki has won.

And once Thor is out of the picture, Loki does what he apparently enjoys most.

Causing absolute chaos.

Kirby gets to go wonderfully strange here. Loki turns people into ghostly blank spaces. He battles the military. He transforms the city into his own personal playground for magical mayhem.

The storytelling finally feels worthy of a god.

Eventually Blake outsmarts Loki, Thor regains the hammer, and the issue descends into delightful absurdity.

Loki transforms himself into a pigeon to escape, leading to one of the greatest Silver Age Thor panels imaginable: Thor throwing peanuts into a crowd of birds to expose him.

I guess Loki forgot his EpiPen.

And yet, silly as it is at times, this issue works.

Because even when Thor stories get ridiculous, the mythology gives them weight and identity. Loki, Odin, Asgard, magical rules, divine powers — these are the ingredients that make Thor distinct from the rest of Marvel’s heroes.

By the end, Loki is defeated once again and dragged back to Asgard.

It’s a bit repetitive.

But it’s also the clearest sign yet that Marvel is finally understanding what kind of stories Thor should be telling.

Marvel in the 60s – Entry #29