JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #84: Love and Commies

Published: September, 1962

Sometimes Russ is such a GUY.

As I’ve mentioned, I’ve read ahead, and now I am backtracking, attempting to catch up to where I stopped reading, so that I can once again start enjoying “new” stories. With this goal of trying to catch up, Russ is suggesting which stories I should review, and which do not seem particularly “worthy” of review.

He suggested I skip Journey into Mystery #84 and go right to #85. “Why?” I asked.

“Because,” he said, “not much really happens there. The villain is not really that good.”

“What about Jane Foster? Do we meet Jane Foster?”

“Yeah. We meet Jane Foster.”

To which I say…hold on a minute there, buddy! To me, that is a huge event! The introduction of the Dr. Blake/Thor love interest is nearly as significant as the origin story itself. I want to re-acquaint myself with Jane, and her feelings for both Blake and Thor. To me, this crazy “love triangle” is one of the most fascinating aspects of the Marvel Thor mythos!

And so I am taking a moment to comment on this second Thor story, “The Mighty Thor vs the Executioner.”

COMMIES
Well, Russ was certainly right about one thing. As a villain, the Executioner is nothing to get excited about. If we’re just talking villains, we can easily skip over this story. But I do have one general comment.

When Dr. Blake returns from Norway, he volunteers to join a group of doctors traveling to San Diablo, where the ruthless Communist warlord “The Executioner” is at the heart of a revolution. The Executioner attempts several times to stop the goodwill mission of the “Yankee” doctors, and every time Thor appears and thwarts his thwarting.

We are treated to several exciting panels of Thor using his hammer to make mincemeat of Commie tanks, fighter jets and weapons. How satisfying that must have been for the readers of the day! I don’t know if Lee and Kirby were trying to make a political statement, or if they were simply using the issues of the day to fuel their stories in a contemporary fashion. Either way, it makes for an exciting battle, and satisfying conclusion.

Because in the end, the Executioner’s followers realize that it is HE, the Executioner, who has betrayed them and been at the root of all their problems, and that the Americans are their true friends, and so of course the Executioner is executed by his own followers.

The moral of this story is: Commies never win.

Having read ahead a bit, and of course realizing that these tales are set amidst the Cold War, it’s no surprise that Communists frequently appear as villains in the Marvel comics of the times. In this tale, the Executioner looks suspiciously like Fidel Castro. It’s a shame that someone with as cool a name as “The Executioner” appears and is vanquished in less than twelve pages. Despite that, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Stan raises up another villain named “The Executioner.” In fact, Russ tells me, he does. And apparently I’ve already read about him, but don’t remember him specifically. I think I mentioned before I tend to have a disconnect with the villains? Unless they strike me as fabulously villainous, I don’t easily remember them.

This Executioner is not one that will be easily remembered by anyone but the most ardent Marvel Comic fans. And so we leave him, deserted and dead, at the end of our story.

The Executioner is not our first Commie villain and certainly will not be the last. I suppose all this is fascinating from a historical-socio-political viewpoint, but let’s put all that aside now to get to the really good girly stuff: Jane Foster!

LOVE
Yes! It turns out that Dr. Blake has a crush on his nurse, Jane Foster (“So beautiful…so lovely”). But because he is convinced that she could never reciprocate his feelings, due to the fact that he is “lame,” his love remains unspoken.

Okay, I have to say, I don’t really get where this is coming from. I think Blake is super-sensitive about his “lameness.” So. He walks with a cane. Big deal! He walks. He’s not incapacitated. He’s not a vegetable. He’s a functioning human being. And I think we have to assume that he is, as Data from Star Trek TNG would say, “fully functional.” One lame leg is not going to hamper him in that area, is it? And at least in most of the panels, he’s not a bad-looking guy.

And besides all that, he’s a DOCTOR, from crying out loud! What woman doesn’t want to marry a doctor? (At least that would have been the ultimate goal of so many women in the 1960’s.) What exactly is Blake’s problem? Why can’t he even entertain the possibility that Jane could see him as a romantic prospect? Undoubtedly, he’s more hung up on that one lame leg than she is. Pardon my pun, but I think he’s using his lame leg as a “crutch.”

But what about Jane? Having just met her, I would guess she has a good heart. I mean, why did she go into nursing in the first place? She strikes me as a bit of a romantic, probably lists Florence Nightingale as “the person who most influenced my life,” right after her mother, her father, and Dr. Blake, of course. I mean, why else would she go along with him on this humanitarian mission? She’s interested in helping the poor people of San Diablo, right?

Of course she is. But wait! There’s more! What’s that you say? Jane has another motive for accompanying the good doctor? Yes, indeed! Because…irony of ironies…Jane is just as hung up on Don Blake as he is on her!

But like him, she won’t say anything about it. She’s waiting for him to make the first move. I guess back in the day, good girls didn’t “make the first move.” Well, not unless they wanted to get a “reputation.” And Jane doesn’t want a reputation. But she does want to be with Dr. Blake. And she also wants to help people. So this humanitarian trip is, for her, a “two-fer.”

And she gets a lot more than she bargains for, because she is captured by the Commies. Of course, Blake comes to her rescue, not only as Thor, but also as Blake. In fact, thinking about it now, for two highly educated people, both Blake and Jane are pretty thick-headed in the romance department. They each can’t believe that the other would be interested in them, yet when Jane is captured by the Commies, Blake demands her release, even as a gun is pointed at his back. And then Jane says she will marry the Executioner, if only he will spare Blake’s life. They both seem willing to make tremendous sacrifices for each other’s safety…and yet, when all is said and done, neither one appears to remember any of this.

In addition to this story of tortured silent love, something else also gets set in motion in this first issue featuring Jane Foster. I would have to say this is probably one of the most bizarre Love Triangles of all time, for not only does Blake yearn for Jane as Jane yearns for Blake, but Jane also develops a strong attraction to Thor, never realizing that he and Blake are one and the same.

So here we have a “triangle” that in some strange way, is also a straight line. I’ll let you geometry majors figure that one out!

At this point, Thor has been entirely too busy fighting Commies to even notice the girl with “such lovely eyes…such soft hair,” but if I remember correctly, Thor will eventually be just as taken with Jane as she is with him. So this love triangle will get more convoluted as time goes on.

In this issue, though, I got quite a chuckle over Jane’s first reaction to Thor. She’s just witnessed him take out four fighter jets attacking their ship, and afterwards Thor plunges into the ocean to privately change back to Blake (think Superman’s phone booth here), then is dragged back on board in a life preserver. That’s why he looks somewhat drenched in this next panel. But note what Jane has to say about Thor:

And he was so HANDSOME! Is that all she has to say?? Is that like…the most significant thing she can say about him? Not “Oh thank goodness he was here to save all our lives! If it weren’t for Thor, we’d all be dead now!” No. As Jane is compiling her list of superhero attributes, she blows right past “He’s willing to sacrifice himself for the protection of others” to “Oh! He was so HANDSOME.” And later she notes, “He was so strong, so muscular, so wonderful!”

Okay, wait. Maybe I’m going to rescind on what I said earlier about Blake taking his “lameness” way too seriously. We must assume that he and Jane have worked together for a while, for this bond to have formed between them. He must know her at least a little, and if she is in fact the kind of girl that is so impressed by good looks, muscles and strength, then maybe Blake is right in keeping his love secret. Not only is he “lame,” but he has also been described several times as “skinny.” Apparently, this is the not physical type that would appeal to Jane Foster.

Was Fabio around in 1962? If he was, I’m sure Jane Foster’s nightstand would house a stack of romantic novels with Fabio and some raven-haired beauty on the cover. Blake probably knows this about her, and is therefore (perhaps wisely) keeping his mouth shut about his love for her.

Of course, I once again must use the word “irony.” The irony in this love triangle is simply delicious! In the last panel, Blake tells Jane that during the fighting and shooting, he hid behind a wall because he figured it was the safest place to be. Jane wonders in a cloud-shaped bubble, “Why couldn’t YOU be brave and adventurous….like THOR!”

The stage is set for further deception and misunderstanding. I think what appeals to me most about this love triangle is that it reminds me of so many other wonderful tales of hidden identity and unspoken love. Whether it’s Cyrano de Bergerac hiding behind his enormous nose, or P.G. Wodehouse’s Bertie Wooster helping out a romantically-challenged buddy from the Drones Club, I’ve always enjoyed stories that derive equal energy from irony, pathos and a wicked sense of screwball comedy.

For the time being, Thor has a lot more on his mind than dames, so he has not yet really noticed Jane Foster. But he will. And I look forward to that, and to lots more fun with the God of Thunder.

We’ll get back to Thor in a couple of weeks, but before we do, next time we’ll make a quick stop to see how another Marvel hero deals with those bothersome Commies!