In Journey Into Mystery 98 (Nov. 1963), the Mighty Thor faced a reptilian replica of Spider-Man.
Turns out radioactive snake bites have much the same effect as radioactive spider bites. Gaining super strength, super speed and the ability to cling to walls, treacherous research assistant Klaus Voorhees styles himself as the costumed criminal Cobra.
I enjoyed artist Don Heck’s run on the Thunder God’s early adventures. Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko couldn’t draw everything, obviously, so Heck and Lee gave us some stories crucial to early Marvel.
The Cobra didn’t pose much of a threat to the god of thunder, of course — nor did the villain who immediately followed, Mr. Hyde. They would eventually team up to provide a more credible menace, but even then Daredevil, a costumed acrobat, could kick their asses.
“The Cobra and Mr. Hyde pairing must have been an attempt to give an illusion of a threat to the Mighty Thor,” Vincent Mariani wrote. “But the real threat to the Thunder God was always the soap opera dynamic of Loki’s manipulative wiles and Odin’s patriarchal obliviousness.”
However, by this point, Thor’s feature wasn’t relying entirely on the villainous antagonists to sustain interest.
Plotter Stan Lee had upped the dramatic ante with soap opera elements when he took over the actual scripting of the feature from Robert Bernstein the previous issue (Journey Into Mystery 97, October 1963). The story improvement was immediate and noticeable.
When the Lava Man attacks the city, nurse Jane Foster is comforted by Dr. Andrews because her employer, Dr. Don Blake, has suddenly disappeared (gee, I wonder why). After his alter ego averts the threat, Blake finds that the woman he loves has left him to work for Dr. Andrews.
Will Blake tell Jane he loves her? Will he reveal to her that he’s really Thor? Will Odin relent and accept their romantic relationship?
To find out, you’ll have to part with a dime and two pennies next month.
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