No doubt the cover of this 1963 issue of Journey Into Mystery featuring a battle between two Thors is enough to get the attention of anyone browsing a comics rack:
But for longtime Thor readers, maybe the greater shocker awaits within the first few pages, where we find inventor Professor Zaxton conducting a demonstration at a scientists' convention of an amazing android, created by... wait for it... Donald Blake, M.D., M.S., and now, apparently, adding "Engineer" to his credentials. In just his third issue, we learn that Blake builds androids in his spare time.
And not just any android, mind you, but one that can resist the full power of Thor's enchanted hammer (or Thor's "magic" hammer, as it was often called in those early stories). Let's see the Mad Thinker top that--he'd have to steal a couple of vats of adamantium resins to pull that off, which hadn't even been developed yet. And just to give Tony Stark a run for his money, we also discover that Blake's android has potential military applications.
But in a few moments, it'll be back to the drawing board for Blake, as Zaxton mishandles the android's control mechanism and causes its circuits to begin shorting out, setting in motion an imminent, deadly explosion! Fortunately, Blake's alter ego is better equipped to deal with such emergencies.
(How do you like that? Our android's plastic skin can shrug off a direct hit from Thor's hammer, but it can't survive an explosion of its own internal circuitry. I smell a design flaw!)
Hurling his hammer into the sky, and the android with it, Thor averts serious injury to those in attendance when, from a safe distance, they watch as the android explodes harmlessly above the city. Face it, Blake--it looks like you're stuck with a private practice and making house calls, sport. Oh, and being the God of Thunder. Try to buck up.
Back at his office, Blake is livid with Zaxton for botching the demonstration. But Zaxton has already moved on to an invention of his own--a duplication device, which he's brought to Blake to upgrade so that it will function on organic matter. Blake refuses to cooperate--but Zaxton has planned well, and has ensured that Blake will agree to his terms by invoking a tried-and-true tactic of villains everywhere.
With Jane Foster held hostage in a secret location, Blake has no choice but to assist Zaxton in perfecting his device. Pulling an all-nighter, they succeed--and per the terms of their agreement, Zaxton discloses Jane's whereabouts.
But in his haste to race to Jane's rescue, Blake makes a blunder that reveals his secret identity as Thor to Zaxton--and before you know it, Thor has double the trouble, and then some, as Zaxton explains how the duplicate Thor will have the edge as he takes on the real McCoy.
Thor has been able to safely wield his hammer while it's in contact with lightning, without being fazed in the least by the voltage being conducted through it (something established as early as his debut issue), so we'd have to call baloney on the duplicate Thor falling victim to the charge. Scripter Robert Bernstein could have chalked it up to, say, the duplicate hammer lacking some of the properties of the original, though that's not alluded to in any way in this story. The hammer wielder himself is another matter, however, as we'll learn shortly.
True to his word, Zaxton has used his device to duplicate objects to foil Thor's movement or escape while in battle with his double--and the successful tactic continues.
But with Thor finally trapped and at the mercy of twin hurled hammers, he discovers his duplicate's crucial weakness--an inscription that assesses the worth of each of the combatants, and has found one wanting.
Nor does the architect of this plan fare any better in the end.
And so the duplicate Zaxton gets a new lease on life, though the old one has left a curious legacy: a new office building (along with about a dozen typewriters and some nice furniture), a lot of stray alley cats, and dozens of airliners with, we have to assume, dozens of duplicates of the original's crew and passengers--which is going to make for one heck of a Thanksgiving at their respective homes. Meanwhile, whatever happened to Blake's interest in building androids? Or did Odin put his foot down?
 | Journey Into Mystery #95 Script: Robert Bernstein (as R. Berns) Pencils: Jack Kirby Inks: Joe Sinnott Letterer: Sam Rosen |
Strange stuff!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if disintegrating into thin air is a normal effect of being whacked with Mjolnir, or something that happens to Zaxton's duplicates sooner or later? In which case there's an unfortunate in-universe reason Good-Zaxton never showed up again...
There's more canon fodder (Urgh. I'm sorry.) to chew on regarding the hammer, in how Zaxton was apparently able to duplicate Odin's enchantment; and how the enchantment 'only' denies Thor's power to the unworthy, rather than the popular immovable state. (that, or the duplicate hammers could be lifted, and were harmless to Thor, because they were never enchanted in the first place) I assume that latter effect hadn't been established in the comics, at the time of this publication?
As ever CF, thanks for the post! Always interesting to see your reviews of these stories.
Warren, I had the impression that it was the hammer strike that caused Thor's duplicate to fizzle into thin air, rather than any time limit on duplicates created by Zaxton's device. Thor certainly doesn't seem to think that Zaxton II is going anywhere--which made for a nice ending to the story, I thought. As you note, though, the hammer is another matter, and it often seems futile trying to nail down the true meaning to that darned inscription. After all, Loki is as unworthy as they come, and he was able to wield the full power of Mjolnir while occupying his half-brother's form--so apparently the hammer has its own interpretation of the "Whosoever holds this hammer..." part. I felt that the "duplicate" nature of Thor II was what enabled him to lift an equally duplicate (if powerful) hammer--though obviously the similarities between the real and duplicate hammers extended to the legendary inscription they all shared, which finally turned the tables on Zaxton's plan.
ReplyDeleteI believe Stan Lee hired Bernstein to take some of the pressure from himself during Marvel's period of transition from monster comics to superheroes, but generally wasn't pleased with the results. As can be seen from this story, Bernstein wasn't concerned at all with the ongoing continuity of the strips he worked on and his plots were often just a little too fantastic for the overall tone of the nascent Marvel Universe - as here, where Doctor Blake invents a proto-Vision and then gives up on the idea and it's never mentioned again. Bernstein also wrote most of the early IRON MAN stories prior to TALES OF SUSPENSE 45, where Iron Man fought Gargantus, the original villainous Doctor Strange, and a female Mole Man stand-in; he drove off an alien spaceship by throwing magnets at it (!) and won the heart of Cleopatra. Nuff said.
ReplyDeleteSome noteworthy perspective, George. I'd read a little about Bernstein when I spotted his name on the story's credits--it's interesting how he pivoted from comics writing to organizing concerts and musical theatre throughout Long Island (and by all reports did quite well at it), though his career began around the time he was writing for Atlas Comics.
ReplyDelete'Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor!'
ReplyDeleteAs the evil duplicate clearly wasn't worthy, then he would never have had the power of Thor to begin with; he'd simply have been Thor's double as far as appearance goes.
Another thing. Thor 'flies' by twirling his hammer, throwing it, then being hauled after it 'like the tail of a rocket'. Yet here we see Thor hovering in the sky while he waits for his hammer to return to him.
H'mm, none of it adds up, does it? Still, having said that, I quite enjoyed the tale as an 8 year old boy and still have some affection for it.
Well, Kid, in terms of Thor's duplicate, it just goes to show that even Odin should never underestimate the ingenuity of we mortals. From Zaxton to men like Kronin Krask and Jasper Whyte, evil inventors have ways of surprising even the gods.
ReplyDelete