Friday Fun NOT BRAND ECHH "He's Mighty Sore! The Origin of Sore, Son of Shmodin!"

We're showing how Jane Foster first wielded Mjolnir HERE...

...and we thought we'd show the sorta-accurate story of how the God of Thunder did it by co-creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (with Frank Giacoia) from Marvel's Not Brand Echh #3 (1967).

And, if you want something even funkier, check out the Origin of the Golden Age Thor at Hero Histories™!
(Bet ya didn't even know there was a Golden Age Thor!)
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Verily, the RetroBlogs Summer Blogathons Cometh...

...this Wednesday, as, tying into the new Marvel movie Thor: Love and Thunder...
...we simultaneously present two (sorta) related comics about the God of Thunder...

...a double-feature of the conclusion of Thor and Jane Foster's long-running soap opera-style Silver Age romance in

True Love Comics Tales

...along with Jane Foster's first time wielding Thor's hammer in

Heroines!

Be at both blogs on Wednesday, or face the wrath of Odin the All-Father!

SO IT IS WRITTEN!

SO IT SHALL BE!

THOR: THE DARK WORLD

Thor: the Dark World is now in movie theatres...

...go see it this weekend!

Reading Room: TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED "Magic Hammer"

One more pre-Marvel Thor-themed story by co-creator Jack Kirby!

Ironically, published in Tales of the Unexpected #16 (1957), a DC Comic!

AFAIK, Jack Kirby penciled and inked this particular story.
(Usually, he just penciled, since he was so freakin' FAST, doing 3-5 pages a day!)
The Thor in this tale is visually-similar to his villainous "Thor impostor" from The Sandman story in Adventure Comics #75

 The Mjolnir, however, is a dead ringer for the Marvel Comics' Thor's mallet...

BTW, there's a kool article in the Jack Kirby Collector about the various versions of Thor conceived by the King.
You can find it HERE!
If you want to see the original, non-Marvel Golden Age Thor, his complete adventures can be found in our brother blog, Hero & Heroine Histories™.
Thor: the Dark World opens tonite!
Don't miss it!

MIGHTY THOR by Jack Kirby & Friends

Inks by Chic Stone

To celebrate Thor: the Dark World starring Chris Hemsworth and (yum) Natalie Portman, opening Friday, here's a selection of pix by co-creator Jack (King) Kirby with various inkers...

Inks by Dick Ayers

Inks by George Roussos

Inks by Joe Sinnott

Inks by Joe Sinnott

Inks by Dick Ayers

Inks by Don Heck

Inks by Joe Sinnott

Inks by Joe Sinnott

Inks by Joe Sinnott

Reading Room: OUT OF THIS WORLD "The Hammer of Thor"

With Thor: the Dark World opening this week,we're looking at the earlier Thors in comics...

In 1959, three years before Mighty Thor's debut in Marvel's Journey into Mystery #83, Charlton's  Out of This World #11 ran a tale, drawn by Steve Ditko, about a young man with a hammer named Thor.

While he does have a beard, this Thor, like Marvel's Mighty Thor, was blonde, not red-headed as described in the myths.
In 1962, Ditko became the co-creator of Spider-Man and Dr Strange at Marvel, and was considered the #2 artist at the House of Ideas (behind Jack Kirby) during the Silver Age of Comics.
Considering Kirby had drawn a pretty accurate (to the myths) version of Thor, albeit as a villain wearing a disguise...

...why did The King go with a blonde, beardless version when he designed the Marvel character?

Could editor Stan Lee have been influenced by seeing Ditko's version?
Only the gods know...

The Avengers are HERE!

Variant Mondo poster by Tyler Stout

The Avengers opens today.

So why are you sitting around reading this blog?

Get out there and see it!

I've seen it, and it's KOOL!

NOTE: Stay for the whole end-credits sequence!

There's two tag-scenes, one at the very end of the credits!

Mondo poster by Tyler Stout

And don't forget Free Comic Book Day tomorrow...

YouTube Wednesday: THE AVENGERS "Molto and the Invasion of the Lava Men"

Adapted from Journey into Mystery #97..

 and Avengers #5 (1964), this combined tale was done as an episode of Mighty Thor! on the Marvel SuperHeroes Show (1966)!

Avengers-based stories were adapted into all the heroes' series except Sub-Mariner! (who was edited out of the animated versions of stories he did appear in, like "Return of Captain America", which adapted Avengers #4!)
Featuring Mighty Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, the Hulk, and Giant-Man & the Wasp (who I really wish were in the movie since Hank Pym is my favorite Marvel character...)
Both tales by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby.
(The animated version also uses some Don Heck and Joe Sinnott art to fill in continuity gaps.)

and go see the movie this weekend!

What's wrong with this cover?

Look closely...
Figure it out?
Clue: One of those Avengers (as shown) doesn't belong there...
Ready for the answer?
Iron Man!
"But..." you say, "Iron Man was one of the original Avengers!"
Quite correct!
But...the all-gold armor Iron Man never appeared with Captain America!
By Avengers #4, when Cap was defrosted, Iron Man was wearing his first red-and-gold armor...

...so this particular assemblage of Avengers, as shown, never occurred!
You could say the cover is "symbolic", but shouldn't "accurate" transcend "symbolic", especially when it's easy to do and would look equally-dramatic?
(The red-and-gold armor was less-bulky and looked kooler!)
Yeah, it's nit-picking, but I expect better from "professionals" who are paid to "get it right".
Hell, it's what I did when I was working full-time in the business...

YouTube Wednesday: The FIRST Live-Action THOR!

Thor (Erik Allan Kramer), Stan Lee, and The Hulk (Lou Ferrigno).

Face Front, True Believer!
Though Chris Hemsworth did a smashing job as The Mighty Thor, he wasn't the first choice to personify the God of Thunder in the flesh!
Erik Allan Kramer portrayed a somewhat headstrong Thor in the tv-movie The Incredible Hulk Returns.
Besides the quite-different costume, this version of Thor is two different people, the Thunder God and Don Blake (Steve Levett), a former student of David Banner's (Bill Bixby) who found Mjolnir and can summon Thor from between dimensions by holding the hammer and yelling "ODIN"...

And later the two team-up to...well, you'll get the idea...

Besides being a continuation of The Incredible Hulk tv storyline in a series of tv movies, this was a "backdoor pilot" to promote The Mighty Thor in his own tv series.

Thor Movie WallPapers

Thor

From the Official Movie WebSite, the 1280 x 1024 series of wallpapers for your computer, including a couple you can't access thru the site.
There's also a "widescreen" series, but you'll have to go to the site for them.

Loki

Jane Foster

Odin

Heimdall

Asgard

Odin on the Throne

Jane Foster and the terminal point for Bifrost

Thor attempts to lift Mjolnir

Mjolnir, awaiting one who is worthy

Heimdall activating Bifrost

Thor

Thor