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Jessica Nygren Ms. Bell English IV / Period 4 30 August 2013 Journey into Mystery, THOR One of the most handsome superheroes to have ever walked the planet Earth; God of thunder, Thor. Known to all mankind as the Norse mythological God and son of Odin, an Asgardian with long flowing beautiful blonde hair and piercing blue eyes that see all, who was tall and very fit, like a true Viking. Having the ability to control lightning and thunder, to be able to conjure up a storm with his mighty hammer, and have the strength of a million men. Would no doubt be the best ally to have by your side whenever the world was in danger or when the forces of evil were coming your way. Thor who would fit in with ease to be one of the most popular comic book superheroes to have ever been created by Marvel. Comic Book History: The comic book industry originated in the United States during the late 1800s. During certain eras the comic book would contain everyday diction, along with color and a sophisticated interplay between text and image-all serving therapeutic, explanatory and commercial purpose in American culture. (http://www.randomhistory.com/150/033comic.html) This shows that the comic book could be used as a reliable history source that shows how young people and adults identify their everyday cultural and political issues. Comic books arent just for entertainment for children; it also creates cultural formulas and historical constructs, making it a reliable history source. Since 1960 there have been two major publishers in the comic book industry, which is Marvel and Detective Comics (DC). Both of the publishers

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had different names earlier in their businesses like for DC it was National Periodical Publication for about fifty years. As well for Marvel the other names were Timely Comics back in the 1939 to 1950 and for most of 1950s it was Atlas Comics. During those times and up until now there are names for each period of the comic books. Many comic book fans often use the concept of ages to distinguish periods of comic book history that share concerns, storytelling techniques, making strategies, styles of art and writing, and approach to genre conventions (Cogan 2006). These ages can be roughly distinguished as the Golden (1938-1956) Silver (1956-1971) Bronze (1971-1980), Iron (1980-1987), and Modern (1987-present). (http://www.randomhistory.com/150/033comic.html) The themes of genres can be traced back to ancient Greek mythological gods and superheroes some format of modern comics can be traced back to ancient sequences of cave paintings and broadsheets. The broadsheet would be cartoonish narratives that when sent to the press then they would be gathered into a Colleton that would be considered as a prototype of the modern day magazine which eventually led to the comic strip. The first real comic strip is usually acknowledge to be Richard Felton Outcaults The Yellow Kid, which debuted in the 1895 in Joseph Pulitzers The New World and served as a marketing tool to boost sales of the newspaperMost all of the strips in the first decades of the twentieth century were purposefully humorous and became known as the comics or the funnies. (http://www.randomhistory.com/1-50/033comic.html) Comic books started to become a distinct entertainment factor when Superman was introduced in 1938 during the Golden Age. Batman was created right afterwards in 1939 which brought out the crime and dectiveness of the DC comics. The popularity of superheroes in the 1930s started the creation of many more comic heroes after the two. Who were Wonder Woman,

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Captain America, The Flash, and the Green Lantern. World War II it was a blessing for the comic books because it created an easy promotion for the comics that supported patriotism. This got people into supporting the war with the super heroes like Captain America for punching Hitler in the face, defeating the enemy, but after the war the Golden Age had ended. After the war had ended the comics lost a lot of its reader because of the competition with television and the Senate investigation in the cultural influences of the comic book industry and some of the comic books didnt help with regaining its readers because of how cruel they could be. So the Comics Code Authority was started and things began to improve. Going into the Silver Age though they had to change the way they made it by making the superhero have a weakness. This regained their audiences attention. The Bronze Age characterized a shift from social issues to emphasis on form and the stylistic details. Comic books no longer looked through form to the ideals, values and conflicts of society but began to look at the form itself. (http://www.randomhistory.com/1-50/033comic.html) The Iron Age just continued right on after the Bronze, it is brought to the point where the form itself becomes the content. The heroes in this age begin to question their heroism and only having a small part of their true identity. In fact, heroes seemed to be the subject of comic book stories rather than the means to tell a story. Soon the Iron Age hero began focused on his own mortality. In fact, the Iron Age witnessed the death of numerous superheroes. Near the end of the 1980, the industry seemed interested in rebuilding the genre from the Golden Age and Silver Age, as well as marketing new issues of comics. Later on in the 1990s the comic became top seller collector items. History of Thor:

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Journey into Mystery the Mighty Thor was just your average everyday human being. His true name was Thor Odinson with a secret identity as Dr. Donald Blake. Thor's citizenship is Asgard and honary U.S citizen, his place of birth was in a cave which in the comic book is where Blake became Thor by finding a magical cane thus the birth of Thor was in that cave in Norway. Thors first appearance was in Venus #12 (1951) and (modern) Journey into Mystery #83 (1962). In the comic issue #83 Thor was a physician surgeon with an M.D. Also he was supposedly five foot and nine inches, and weighed one hundred and fifty pounds. In the comic book Thor's strength, endurance and resistance to injury are greater than the vast majority of his superhuman race. He is extremely long-lived (though not completely immune to aging), immune to conventional disease and highly resistant to injury. His flesh and bones are several times denser than a human's. Thor is trained in the arts of war, being a superbly skilled warrior, highly proficient in
hand-to-hand combat, swordsmanship and hammer throwing. (http://marvel.com/universe/Thor_(Thor_Odinson) Because Thor is immune to conventional

diseases this allows him to be a Doctor, like in the comic #83. In the comic Thor finds magical cane that turns into a hammer named Mjolnir which is Thors weapon and only his. Mjolnir can also transform Thor into his civilian guises. When Thor is a civilian, the hammer most often becomes an old wooden cane. While employing a mortal guise, Thor will transform back into his mortal form should he be separated from Mjolnir for more than 60 seconds. http://marvel.com/universe/Thor_(Thor_Odinson) No one else can use the hammer unless they have been found worthy and this is because of enchantments placed on it. So therefore no one can lift it from the ground except Thor or take it away from his grips. This hammer give Thor most of his powers without it he is useless. The hammer allows him to call upon storms and use its fury to his command. It can also absorb energies that Thor can

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control. No matter how far away the hammer is if Thor's will desire it the hammer will come to him through any barrier, Thor can even use it to fly as well. Biography of the Writer: Stan Lee on of the most famous comic book writer of all time! The chief editor, creator and one of the writers of the comic book Journey into Mystery #83 The Mighty Thor and The Stone Men from Saturn. Stan Lee was born on December 28, 1922, in New York City, New York. Stan Lees original name was Stanley Martin Lieber later shortened his name to Lee as a writer, went on to be hired as an office assistant at Timely Comics in 1939 and became an interim editor for the company in the early 1940s. (http://www.biography.com/people/stan-lee21101093) He even worked in the Army during World War II as a writer and illustrator. Lee is still alive today at the age of ninety and still working to this day, in certain Marvel movies Lee is an extra or in the background. Lees first published writing was Captain America comic #3. Throughout time Stan Lees original stories of Thor havent aged. Back when Lee was bringing the Gods of the old world into that time was trailblazing and mind blowing, but by giving Thor a human form as Don Blake and adding humanity to the God of Thunder allowed audience to relate to a being that could control the heavens and weather on Earth. Lee obviously worked for Marvel and with his co-worker Jack Kirby together they created the most popular superheroes, one of them being Thor. Later on Lee worked in multiple comic related businesses and multimedia ventures. Lee was involved in many multimedia projects, while being the ambassador for Marvel. Apparently Lee had lawsuits with Marvel and been on a debate over comic creators. Lee has seen Marvel develop as a company through the years and helped along the way, and seen it brought into blockbuster film entertainment.

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Summary: The comic book The Mighty Thor and The Stone Men from Saturn starts off on the coast of Norway with Dr. Don Blake and American vacationing in Europe. Leaving the beach Blake doesnt see the alien spaceship landing that holds giant stone men from Saturn. The stone men are surprised astonished with how much stronger they are on Earth then they are on Saturn, and believe that nothing can stop them. Although they dont know but a fisherman is on the side watching them and leaves to town to worn everyone. Of course no one believes him except Blake. Curiosity won over and Blake went to explore the area the fisherman was talking about, was just about to leave when he sees the strange creatures. Overhearing them say theyd kill anyone who knew about them, left immediately but stepped on a twig and alerted the enemy. The Stone men were after him and the only place Blake could hide was inside of a mountain cave. Blake tries to escape through at the end and cant lift the heavy bolder but somehow opens up a secret door. When the door opens he goes in finding a wooden cane on the stone table (after he lost his running away) and uses it to propel the bolder. With no luck Blake hits the cane to the bolder and loud noises appear along with flashes out of nowhere. The cane begins to change shape to a hammer and he begins to change as well. When his transformation is done he feels power pulsing through is body. Seeing that the cane turned into a hammer Blake read the words inscribed on its side Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power ofThor. Realizing he became Thor immediately broke free from the cave and tested his new abilities. While just learned that if he let go of the hammer he turned back to his human form. Thumping the hammer on the ground once turned it into the cane and him back to his true self. On the other hand more aliens were traveling to Earth. The military

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tries its best to defeat the aliens but are no match for them. Blake sees that Earths weapons are useless once again transforms to Thor and is to the rescue. The aliens noticed how the sky was changing and underestimate the power of Thor and try to capture him. Thor easily defeats them, breaks through their cage, and defeats their robot giant the Mechano-monster in the blink of an eye. Frightened that there might be more of him on Earth, they retreated back to their ships and left. Hearing the military nearby Thor changes back to his human form and leaves the sight, no one suspecting him to do anything with what just happened. The end. Personal Review: Thor is one of my favorite comic books, personally this comic was well written and the pictures showed great detail of what was happening. Even though this comic was written in 1962 and sold for twelve cents, I would still give it five stars. The style of writing gave enough information to fit he pictures as well. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby obviously work great together to form a fantastic story. This comic kept me locked in the story not wanting to put it down. Although I do have one complaint is that it over explained everything. But guess that they have to do that to connect the pictures and diction. I like how throughout the years in the modern day Thor they stayed very close to the costume of the comic from 1962. Stan Lee is a great writer personally I believe he will always be. Along with Thor being one of the best comic book super heroes.

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Work Cited
http://www.randomhistory.com/1-50/033comic.html http://marvel.com/universe/Thor_(Thor_Odinson) http://www.biography.com/people/stan-lee-21101093 http://marvel.wikia.com/Stan_Lee_(Earth-128) http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2012/08/stan-lees-25-greatest-comic-book-creations/thor

My e-mail jandj9911@gmail.com