The Vengeance of Loki!
by
Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
Having been beaten by his brother Thor, Loki was sent back to Asgard tied to his enchanted hammer, Mjolnir. In Asgard, Loki is forbidden by their father Odin to travel back to Midgard. As the days in Asgard pass, Loki is desperate to return to Midgard and enact revenge upon Thor. Using an incantation, Loki burns some leaves of a sacred tree in order to spy upon his brother. He sees Thor struggling against massive chains as he is breifly held captive by Soviets. With Mjolnir just out of his reach, Thor struggles at his bonds until 60 seconds have passed, turning him into his human form of Donald Blake. Loki realizes that not only are Thor and Don Blake the same person, but all of Thor's power relies on his hammer. With this knowledge, Loki seeks an escape.
To leave Asgard, Loki tranforms into a snake. As a snake, Loki is able to quietly slither by the ever watchful eye of Heimdall; he who guards the rainbow bridge, Bifrost, which connects Asgard to Midgard. Down on earth, Loki poses as an old man. Entering the clinic of Doctor Blake, he immediately spots his nurse, Jane Foster. Before she can protest, Loki gazes into Jane's eyes, putting her into a trance. Now entranced, Loki whispers a command to her before entering Don Blake's office. Loki removes his old man disguise before the doctor, forcing him to remove his human disguise and become Thor.
Loki challenges Thor to a battle in Central Park. As the two of them take off from Don Blake's office, the still dazed Jane Foster follows as well. Now in the park, Loki and Thor square off. As Loki predicted, Thor starts off by hurling his magic hammer at him. Loki side steps the weapon just in time for Jane to make the scene. He quickly uses a magic spell to transform a tree into a tiger ready to pounce on the nurse. The sight distracts Thor from retrieving his hammer as he goes to defend Jane, who has fainted at the sight of the beast. As Thor defeats the tiger, the 60 seconds on his hammer fall away and he reverts back to the form of Don Blake. Loki casts another spell that creates a force field around Thor's fallen hammer, leaving Thor powerless as Don Blake.
As Don Blake rouses Jane Foster from her unconscious state, Loki wreaks havoc around the world. In the city he turns people into blank beings, where they appear as just white outlines. After that wears off, he turns all inanimate objects into sweets; buildings and vehicles become candy and ice cream. As Mjolnir still lays inert, Loki sees a Soviet missile test in the arctic, but makes the test bomb a dud. The people of earth begin to panic at Loki's mischeif, calling on Thor to help them before things get worse.
After Loki escalates things by making military weapons grow wings and fly away, Don Blake finally comes up with a plan. The next day the press announces that Thor vows to defeat Loki by the end of the week. This information confuses Loki, so he decides to go check on Thor's hammer. Loki sees a figure of Thor holding his hammer. Baffled, Loki removes the magic barrier to see the hammer still laying on the ground. Suddenly, Don rushes out from behind the plastic dummy of Thor and grabs Mjolnir. Weapon in hand, the god of thunder goes after his brother.
Loki transforms into a pigeon to hide amongst the other birds nearby. With Loki lost among the pigeons, Thor hurls a bag on peanuts onto the ground, watching all of the real birds going after the food and the fake one flying off into the sky. Thor tears out a net from a nearby tennis court and flies after the trickster god, capturing him the net. Loki realizes his defeat and turns back to normal. With Loki his captive, Thor travels back to Asgard where their father Odin praises his favorite son and remains cautious of Loki's growing contempt.
Characters:
Thor - has his second encounter with Loki since he was reawakened in Don Blake. Briefly visits Asgard for the first time since the series began.
Jane Foster - Is tricked by Loki and rescued by Thor. Her affection towards Don is downplayed a lot compared to previous issues. None of this will we or won't we plot, just two people who obviously care about one another. Subtly done in a single panel..
Loki - Loki is an interesting villain, but then it turns out he has no idea what to do when he's not battling Thor. He finally defeats him and the best that he can come up with for the world is to turn it into candyland.
Odin - Praises his son Thor above all else, but keeps doubts and caution against his son Loki.
Notes
Good continuity: references to both JIM 85 when Thor first defeated Loki and JIM 87 when Thor was captured by the Soviets, Loki was watching.
Bad continuity: There is a small thing that bugs me. Thor's hammer should have turned back into Don Blake's cane after Loki entrapped it in his barrier. A no-prize explanation could be made that somehow Loki's magic left the hammer unchanged, but nowhere is this stated and it feels like they just forgot about that part.
Thoughts
I really like this story. It's pretty straight forward and not a lot of confusion or convoluted ideas to get in the way. The oddest part is what Loki decides to do once he has depowered Thor. Turning cities into ice cream seems pretty random. Last time he was throwing people into train tracks. Nothing quite as vicious here. The romance between Don and Jane was done much more subtle than previous issues, which is a huge bonus. It also works on the level of "Loki took away Thor's favorite toy and then Loki gets put in time out." which is the sort of story kids with siblings who might have read this can relate to.
Rankings: Somewhere below Loki's first appearance. I almost want to put it higher because of the lack of romance stuff, but Loki's mostly safe form of mischeviousness really misses a mark, he doesn't feel dangerous after he bests Thor, when the opposite is what we should be feeling. Fantastic Four #9 is a little more fun and iconic, and although Namor's plan his outlandish, he still feels threatening as a villain should. So, I think this goes right below that at #10, right before Thor's first appearance.
To leave Asgard, Loki tranforms into a snake. As a snake, Loki is able to quietly slither by the ever watchful eye of Heimdall; he who guards the rainbow bridge, Bifrost, which connects Asgard to Midgard. Down on earth, Loki poses as an old man. Entering the clinic of Doctor Blake, he immediately spots his nurse, Jane Foster. Before she can protest, Loki gazes into Jane's eyes, putting her into a trance. Now entranced, Loki whispers a command to her before entering Don Blake's office. Loki removes his old man disguise before the doctor, forcing him to remove his human disguise and become Thor.
Loki challenges Thor to a battle in Central Park. As the two of them take off from Don Blake's office, the still dazed Jane Foster follows as well. Now in the park, Loki and Thor square off. As Loki predicted, Thor starts off by hurling his magic hammer at him. Loki side steps the weapon just in time for Jane to make the scene. He quickly uses a magic spell to transform a tree into a tiger ready to pounce on the nurse. The sight distracts Thor from retrieving his hammer as he goes to defend Jane, who has fainted at the sight of the beast. As Thor defeats the tiger, the 60 seconds on his hammer fall away and he reverts back to the form of Don Blake. Loki casts another spell that creates a force field around Thor's fallen hammer, leaving Thor powerless as Don Blake.
As Don Blake rouses Jane Foster from her unconscious state, Loki wreaks havoc around the world. In the city he turns people into blank beings, where they appear as just white outlines. After that wears off, he turns all inanimate objects into sweets; buildings and vehicles become candy and ice cream. As Mjolnir still lays inert, Loki sees a Soviet missile test in the arctic, but makes the test bomb a dud. The people of earth begin to panic at Loki's mischeif, calling on Thor to help them before things get worse.
After Loki escalates things by making military weapons grow wings and fly away, Don Blake finally comes up with a plan. The next day the press announces that Thor vows to defeat Loki by the end of the week. This information confuses Loki, so he decides to go check on Thor's hammer. Loki sees a figure of Thor holding his hammer. Baffled, Loki removes the magic barrier to see the hammer still laying on the ground. Suddenly, Don rushes out from behind the plastic dummy of Thor and grabs Mjolnir. Weapon in hand, the god of thunder goes after his brother.
Loki transforms into a pigeon to hide amongst the other birds nearby. With Loki lost among the pigeons, Thor hurls a bag on peanuts onto the ground, watching all of the real birds going after the food and the fake one flying off into the sky. Thor tears out a net from a nearby tennis court and flies after the trickster god, capturing him the net. Loki realizes his defeat and turns back to normal. With Loki his captive, Thor travels back to Asgard where their father Odin praises his favorite son and remains cautious of Loki's growing contempt.
Characters:
Thor - has his second encounter with Loki since he was reawakened in Don Blake. Briefly visits Asgard for the first time since the series began.
Jane Foster - Is tricked by Loki and rescued by Thor. Her affection towards Don is downplayed a lot compared to previous issues. None of this will we or won't we plot, just two people who obviously care about one another. Subtly done in a single panel..
Loki - Loki is an interesting villain, but then it turns out he has no idea what to do when he's not battling Thor. He finally defeats him and the best that he can come up with for the world is to turn it into candyland.
Odin - Praises his son Thor above all else, but keeps doubts and caution against his son Loki.
Notes
Good continuity: references to both JIM 85 when Thor first defeated Loki and JIM 87 when Thor was captured by the Soviets, Loki was watching.
Bad continuity: There is a small thing that bugs me. Thor's hammer should have turned back into Don Blake's cane after Loki entrapped it in his barrier. A no-prize explanation could be made that somehow Loki's magic left the hammer unchanged, but nowhere is this stated and it feels like they just forgot about that part.
Thoughts
I really like this story. It's pretty straight forward and not a lot of confusion or convoluted ideas to get in the way. The oddest part is what Loki decides to do once he has depowered Thor. Turning cities into ice cream seems pretty random. Last time he was throwing people into train tracks. Nothing quite as vicious here. The romance between Don and Jane was done much more subtle than previous issues, which is a huge bonus. It also works on the level of "Loki took away Thor's favorite toy and then Loki gets put in time out." which is the sort of story kids with siblings who might have read this can relate to.
Rankings: Somewhere below Loki's first appearance. I almost want to put it higher because of the lack of romance stuff, but Loki's mostly safe form of mischeviousness really misses a mark, he doesn't feel dangerous after he bests Thor, when the opposite is what we should be feeling. Fantastic Four #9 is a little more fun and iconic, and although Namor's plan his outlandish, he still feels threatening as a villain should. So, I think this goes right below that at #10, right before Thor's first appearance.
- Amazing Fantasy (Spider-Man) #15
- Fantastic Four #1
- Fantastic Four #4
- Incredible Hulk #1
- Fantastic Four #5
- Amazing Adult Fantasy (X-Men) #14
- Fantastic Four #6
- Journey into Mystery (Thor) #85
- Fantastic Four #9
- Journey into Mystery (Thor) #88
- Journey into Mystery (Thor) #83
- Fantastic Four #2
- Fantastic Four #8
- Journey into Mystery (Thor) #86
- Journey into Mystery (Thor) #87
- Incredible Hulk #5a
- Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #36
- Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #35
- Incredible Hulk #4a
- Strange Tales (Human Torch) #103
- Journey into Mystery (Thor) #84
- Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #27
- Incredible Hulk #5b
- Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #38
- Strange Tales (Human Torch) #102
- Fantastic Four #3
- Incredible Hulk #2
- Fantastic Four #7
- Incredible Hulk #4b
- Tales to Astonish #37
- Incredible Hulk #3
- Strange Tales (Human Torch) #101
Next Time: Things are going to get a bit sticky for the Human Torch in Strange Tales #104
