JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #88: When Brothers Collide

Published: January, 1963

He’s baaaaaaack!

Yep, it’s everyone’s favorite villain, that irrepressible master of mischief, Loki! After the adventures presented in Journey Into Mystery #85, Odin has forbidden Loki to ever return to Earth, and Loki, head hung low, meekly intones, “Yes, Father…”

But in the very next panel, he’s shaking his fist, thirsting for revenge upon Thor! After a few simple bits of mischief involving the ritualistic burning of leaves and a serpentine quick-change, we find him once again skipping across the rainbow bridge, arriving in Dr. Blake’s office, and making mysterious arrangements for a meeting that will give him the advantage over the noble Thor.

When Loki conjures a tiger that appears to threaten the unsuspecting Jane Foster, Thor abandons Mjolnir in favor of saving his favorite lady. The hammer unattended, Loki immediately wraps it in an impenetrable force field. The Thunder God must revert to his unassuming Blake form, and Loki gloats.

Now, with no one to keep him in check, Loki runs riotously upon the earth, engaging in every kind of monkey business simply because he CAN, and because he knows how much it’s got to irritate Blake that he can’t transform into Thor and administer a sound whooping.

However, let’s remember that in addition to Thor being super-strong, Blake is super-smart, and at last he comes up with a way to outsmart the mischief-maker.

Blake plants a story in the newspaper that Thor swears to defeat Loki by the end of the week. Puzzled and disturbed, Loki returns to the scene of the crime, to make sure the force field is still in place.

Greeted by the sight of Thor holding Mjolnir, he can’t believe he’s been outsmarted, so he removes the force field from around the hammer, just to check, you know…and when the force field is lifted, Blake steps out from behind the “dummy” Thor and grabs the hammer.

Haha! The trickster is tricked! Thor is back, there’s a brief chase, but soon enough Loki is returned to Asgard, once again hanging his head.

THE MYTHOLOGY
We met Odin briefly in JIM #86, but here for the first time, we get a really good look at the King of Asgard. He’s commanding, seated upon his golden throne, with his long white beard, large muscular body and enormous sword. And clearly, he expects his word to be obeyed. But Loki’s not really the obeying type, is he? He’s got no intention of bowing to anyone or anything but his own whims.

For the first time, we learn that Loki and Thor are brothers, both sons of Odin. This is big! This is not the case in real Norse mythology, but Stan and company play fast and loose with the facts, and now, especially with the recent Marvel movies, I’m sure most everyone who’s not a Norse Mythology scholar is convinced that these family relationships have always been in place.

I don’t want to take anything away from the Vikings, but personally, I think Stan and company came up with a winning scenario when they made Thor and Loki brothers. This adds a whole new dimension to their contention. We don’t see too much sibling rivalry in this story, but we can well imagine what’s coming.

HEROICS
What we do see in this story is Thor acting precisely as the hero he really is. When Loki puts Thor in the difficult position of having to choose between Jane and Mjolnir, Thor makes the decision to save Jane “without hesitation.” There is no ego in Thor; he’s all about helping others. Well… “helping others” when it’s the girl he’s crazy about. But I’ll bet he would have made the same choice for any of the worried faces on the top of page 10.

I especially like the comment by the balding guy who says that the only way to defeat a super-being is with another super-being…THOR! Well, yes, I’m sure that’s true. But I have to wonder…since Thor is mysteriously absent when most needed, doesn’t anyone think of calling on one of the other “super-beings” available in their universe? I know Hulk is a bit temperamental, but he could get the job done in a pinch. Spidey has only just appeared on the scene, so maybe no one is yet familiar with his abilities. But surely someone must be thinking of contacting the Fantastic Four? I bet they could put a damper on Loki’s fun.

It often amuses me how within a particular title, the general public seems to forget there are other superheroes in their midst. I know this is true for these early stories, but I wonder if this will always be the case. Or will we ever hear, “Well, we could call the Fantastic Four, but you know they’re off in Hollywood right now, making that movie…” Something like that would give more consistency to the universe, as far as I’m concerned.

NARRATIVE ISSUES
Not to say there isn’t consistency in this universe! I’ve been noticing instances of continuity and attention to chronology in the stories I’ve been reading. Here, when Loki uses Asgardian alchemy to conjure images of Thor, he spies him in the middle of last month’s adventure, “Thor—Prisoner of the Reds!” Nice touch.

But I guess Loki didn’t stay on that channel long enough to figure out that the Reds are the mortal enemy of Thor and all good American people everywhere, because later, when he’s making mischief, he reduces a Commie bomb to a mere “Plink!” as it falls in the ocean, causing great embarrassment for the Reds. Inadvertently, Loki has joined the Cold War.

Making political statements, though, is not really part of Loki’s agenda. He’s more interested in turning cars into ice cream and people into “nothings.”

Actually, I think the ice cream cars and candy bicycles were just for fun, but the “Nothings” were probably Jack Kirby’s way of giving himself an afternoon off. Still, you have to admire the imagination.

MAKING SENSE
When Loki is making mischief, it’s okay if things don’t make sense, but in this story there were a few times when I ran across something that didn’t make sense, and it caused me to ask questions.

1. To get to his meeting with Loki, Thor “flies” to the park. Jane walks, apparently, yet they both arrive about the same time. How does that happen?

2. I thought that Loki was perhaps too easily tricked by the plastic dummy of Thor. Maybe his eyesight is not so good? Or perhaps he simply doesn’t anticipate that anyone would be able to turn the tables on such a master trickster as himself, and thus he’s grown lax and over-confident?

3. At the end of the story, when Thor captures the bird incarnation of Loki in a net, why doesn’t Loki simply exercise his amazing powers to change into a smaller bird—say, a hummingbird, that could slip through the holes of the net? Or why not a mosquito? He would be so small, Thor might not even see him. Or better yet, why doesn’t he turn into a cloud and dissolve? It seems when he most needs his amazing abilities, they’ve deserted him.

4. Now that Thor has seen some of the tricks Loki has up his sleeve, how will he prevent a repeat performance? Yes, we know that at the end of this story, Loki has been re-banished to Asgard, but I’m sure nobody reading this thinks for one moment that we’ve seen the last of him. And Thor shouldn’t think that either. If he’s smart (and he is), he should be anticipating Loki’s next appearance, and planning ways to thwart the God of Mischief before he can even get started.

In particular, I’m wondering about Loki’s use of the force field to keep Mjolnir out of Thor’s grasp. Will Loki use this bit of magic against Thor again? And if so, how will Thor stop him?

Every new story I read opens up more questions than it answers. The Marvel Universe grows more complex and elaborate with each passing tale. Now we see more of Asgard, and begin to understand the family relations that fuel this rivalry of gods. One would hope that this time, stricter measures will be put in place to keep Loki under control, keep him from returning to Earth. One would think Odin will recognize what an unstoppable menace his unfavorite son can be, and keep him under tighter reigns. One would expect this….but one does not actually desire it. Because even though a certain part of the brain likes it when things “make sense,” the other, more fantastical part wants to see Loki again, wants him to keep coming back to earth, causing Thor all kinds of trouble, so we can continue to have more great stories here in the Marvelous Zone!

One more thing before I go: I understand why Thor chose to save Jane rather than grab the hammer. I understand that he is a hero and this is what heroes do; also, he needed to face this dilemma so the story could evolve. But personally, I don’t really think Thor needed to make a choice. I have every confidence that somehow, Thor could have saved Jane and retrieved the hammer in time. Thor is a hero of the greatest proportions, and I wouldn’t put anything past him.

Our hero next time is also outstanding, but the villain he faces, in my opinion…well….not so good. In fact, just plain AWFUL. So be sure to tune in next week, when I step outside my comfort zone to tackle one of the biggest jokes in Marvel history!