Plot by Stan Lee – Script by Robert Bernstein – Art by Joe Sinnott – Letters by Sam Rosen
One thing has become increasingly clear over the last several issues of Journey into Mystery
Marvel understands that Thor works best in Asgard. It’s just still figuring out what kind of stories to tell once he gets there..
The issue opens with an out-of-control nuclear missile hurtling through space, another reminder that Cold War anxieties remained one of Marvel’s storytelling inspirations. The military calls on Thor—the only hero powerful enough to stop it, which, in 1963, is probably true.
I will add, watching the God of Thunder answer a telephone may be one of the issue’s funniest images.
Naturally, it’s all part of Loki’s plan.
By now, that rhythm has become familiar. Loki manipulates events from captivity, Thor unknowingly walks into the trap, and Asgard eventually becomes the stage for the real conflict.
This time, however, Lee and Bernstein take things in a particularly bizarre direction.
Loki predicts exactly how Thor will stop the missile, distracts him with the illusion of a dragon, and somehow engineers things so Mjolnir strikes Thor in the head… specifically in his “chromosomatic gland,” instantly transforming the noble God of Thunder into a villain.
It’s gloriously ridiculous Silver Age logic.
From there, the story becomes pure comic-book insanity.
Evil Thor punches Heimdall, frees Loki, helps conquer Asgard, destroys famous landmarks across Earth, and generally behaves like every parent’s worst nightmare.
Even Odin eventually loses his patience, grabbing Loki by the throat in a moment that feels strangely like Homer Simpson disciplining Bart.
The resolution is somehow even wilder.
Odin and the assembled gods disguise themselves as United Nations delegates, lure Thor into another carefully staged encounter with Mjolnir, restore his personality by hitting him in exactly the right spot again, defeat Loki, and then erase humanity’s memories so nobody blames Thor for leveling half the world’s historical monuments.
All of this happens in roughly two pages.
It’s impossible not to laugh.
And yet…there’s something fascinating happening beneath all the absurdity.
Earlier issues often treated Thor like just another superhero who happened to carry a magic hammer. Here, Asgard isn’t simply a backdrop. Odin, Heimdall, Loki, and the politics of the gods drive the entire story.
Marvel has clearly realized that’s where the series’ greatest potential lies.
The plots, however, are still built on the kind of anything-goes logic that defined Marvel’s old anthology comics.
Journey into Mystery #94 is completely bonkers.
But it is also a series caught halfway between Marvel’s anthology past and its mythic future.
Marvel in the 60s – Entry #64
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