In Journey Into Mystery 98 (Nov. 1963), the Mighty Thor faced a reptilian replica of Spider-Man.
In the Thunder God’s 16th adventure, the “Albert Schweitzer of India,” medical researcher Ezekiel Shecktor, may have been a great humanitarian, but he proved to be a poor judge of character.
His assistant Klaus Voorhees murders him to get credit for Shecktor’s breakthrough in antivenin, exposing himself to the bite of a radioactive cobra in the process.
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, 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, of course, so Heck and Lee gave us some stories crucial to the superstructure of 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.
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.
“The evolution of the Marvel comic book progresses, as we get the first Thor story which explicitly continues on from the events of the previous issue,” observed comics historian Don Alsafi.
“As you’ll recall, Don Blake’s constant disappearing act when needing to turn into Thor has resulted in his nurse Jane Foster getting fed up with his perceived cowardice and indecision — so she walked out of both his practice and his life.”
As Journey Into Mystery 98 opens, we see Thor raging because Odin has instructed him to forget about Jane.
“It isn’t fair! It isn’t just!” Thor shouts, smashing a filing cabinet with his hammer. “I’ve lost the one thing I want most in the world — lost it because I’m Thor!”
Lee underlines what he’s trying to do with Marvel in the accompanying splash page caption: “Perhaps you’ve never thought of superheroes possessing the all-too-human qualities of jealousy, frustration and violent anger … But Thor has emotions, even as you and I!”
But after Dr. Andrews capitulates to the Cobra and Thor rescues her, Jane — who clearly cannot abide cowardice — leaves Andrews and returns to Dr. Blake.
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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