Review of Journey Into Mystery #94

"This is a review of The Mighty Thor's Story-  Journey Into Mystery #94 that I wrote for The Marvel Comic Wiki." 

Once again that old trickster brother:Loki attempts to beguile Thor. Interestingly Loki’s plot                           at hand is not one that attempts to unseat him as the proper heir to Asgard but to gain Thor as an ally to Loki’s plans. 

Journey Into Mystery #94 (July 1963)

Though the science behind Thor’s loss of memory and personality change is quite hilarious it begs to the question the true two dimensionality of the Early Silver Aged heroes. Thor’s character, unlike his Silver Age counter parts the Fantastic Four and Anthony Stark, still remains basic in that he is a god who wishes to protect humanity. Essentially he is the Jesus figure that DC had reveled upon for so long with Superman.  There is nothing to him other then valor and responsibility. Loki is again the vice figure who wants chaos and revenge. Evil for the sake of evil and in this story he does his job admirably. He is actually quite wry in his sense of humour about the whole thing. An aspect of his developing personality that comes to the forefront in later characterizations.  This story begins to shine light on the shear power of the Asgardians and that they are a frightening possible threat to Earth. If death was allowed in this comic writing period bloody humans would litter the landscape. Alas, only tomfoolery occurs. 

Even though the story is quite simple and light this story does alot to set up Loki as something more then the ultimate foil to Thor. There is desperation and dare I say loneliness here. Loki needs a partner in crime. It could be read that Loki is attempting to besmirch Thor and ruin his golden boy image but I prefer to read it as a need to be vindicated by his own kind. Thor vindicates him in his confused amnesiac way as  being rightfully an equal. Something he has not done until this story. This is bittersweet in its own way. 

As for Dr.Don Blake and the alter-ego blah blah blah I can see that Stan Lee may be getting tired of that. This has to be least page time Thor’s alter-ego gets and Jane does not even appear. Perhaps he see’s his error in following the Superman model and perhaps there is more to this character?

The inking is really quite entertaining and sleek in this one. The images of the landmarks being blasted into the sky and the museum Dinosaurs being animated are classic Silver Age melodramatic images.  

All these positives aside, it is a shame that Odin wipes the action from the consciousness of Earth. If this were a later publication, something would be made of the disregard and threatening power of the Asgardians versus Midgardians. 

Overall, out of 5 stars, Journy Into Mystery #94: Thor and Loki attack the human race”  is a 3. It has a great sense of humour and begins to expand upon the relationship of Loki and Thor but the ending is simple and ultmitately empty.