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Journey Into Mystery #92: Review

May 1963
Robert Bernstein, Joe Sinnott

Story Name:

The Day Loki Stole Thor's Magic Hammer

Review & Comments

Rating:
3 stars

Journey Into Mystery #92 Review by (June 11, 2011)
Comments: First (brief) appearance of Queen Fricka, Thor’s mother. Thor’s first adventure in Asgard in this series. It isn’t mentioned why Loki, who was free at the end of the last issue, is chained up in Asgard at the beginning of this one.




 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Journey Into Mystery #92 Synopsis by Arcturus Jackson

In Asgard, Neri, hand-maiden to Queen Fricka, approaches Heimdall, guardian of the Rainbow Bridge. Recalling how Loki crept past him (in issue #88) disguised as a serpent, Heimdall is naturally suspicious of anyone who approaches. Neri calls his attention to the real Loki, who is bound to a rock by chains, imprisoned by order of Odin for eternity for his evil deeds. A sneering and bitter Loki ponders a way he can still gain revenge against Thor….

Meanwhile, Dr. Don Blake is alone in his office when a pair of gangsters enters with their leader who has been wounded in a robbery. They take Don hostage and demand that he treat their boss. As a distraction, Don tells them that the radio reported Thor is on their trail, he then announces that the Thunder God is entering the room. When they turn to the door, Don taps his cane on the floor and is transformed into Thor. He easily disarms the crooks, straps them to an operating table with adhesive tape and hurls his hammer to pull the table to the waiting police. Thor then quickly changes back to Don Blake when he sees Jane Foster returning.

A week later, in Norway, Thor is providing special effects for a movie about Vikings (really? Who does he think he is, Superman?). He "battles" a giant mechanical sea serpent, creates a storm to sink enemy ships, and performs other cost-saving services for Hollywood. Loki is watching from Asgard, though, and after sneering at Thor’s devotion to "helping worthy causes" (summer blockbusters are worthy, right?), he schemes to manipulate Thor into helping him escape. Realizing that his unbreakable chains are made of the same magic metal as Thor’s hammer—Uru—he waits until the Thunder God hurls Mjolnir to create an avalanche, then draws it to him in flight, so that it flies all the way to Asgard and smashes his chains. Meanwhile on Earth, Thor realizes something has gone wrong and appeals to Odin for help in locating and recovering his hammer. Odin transports him to Asgard, while time stands still on Earth and he is in no danger of changing back to Don Blake. An assembled council concludes that the hammer has somehow returned to Asgard and Thor should begin his search there. The thunder God sets out; he soon comes to a forest, where Loki enchants the tees into coming to life and attacking Thor. Even without his hammer, Thor can easily beat up a tree. Chopping down a few he assembles a huge wooden mallet as a tool for clearing the forest but Loki sets the new weapon on fire by magic. This sudden attack tips off Thor that Loki is involved (which really should have been his first thought) and he heads for Loki’s rock. On the way he is attacked by dragons sent by his enemy and hastily chips a new hammer out of the stone cliff (with his bare fingers) and fights them off. The new hammer, which Thor realizes is made from stone veined with Uru, flies off the find the other one. Thor follows and recovers his original hammer and discovers that Loki has escaped his chains. He summons the other gods, who capture the trickster. While they brainstorm a better way to keep the villain locked up, Thor returns to his identity as Dr. Don Blake.


Preview Pages
Click sample interior pages to enlarge them:




Joe Sinnott
Joe Sinnott
?


Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Loki
Loki

(Loki Laufeyson)
Thor
Thor

(Odinson)

Plus: Superman.

> Journey Into Mystery: Book info and issue index

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