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Thor appreciation thread
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741 posts in this topic

Since the registry only permits 100 kb scans, I thought this would be a better place for posting my complete run of Thor in Journey Into Mystery. I plan to post the set in order at a few per day, and include the non-slabbed issues as well.

 

This series was slow getting started, but later had some of Stan and Jack's finest and grand story lines and art. I hope everyone else will post their favorite Silver Age Thors and Journeys here as well!

 

Here's how it began, with an incredibly frail and meek physician becoming perhaps the mightiest being to walk the earth/midgard. Purchased raw back in the mid-nineties as a VF-, this book is hard to grade, with a VF/NM structure and a stain at the top edge of the front cover:

 

JIM83.jpg

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Here is the second appearance of Thor. It is the rarest Silver Age Marvel superhero book in high grade, with only 3 copies graded by CGC at 9.2 or better, and no copies above 9.4. The Pacific Coast collection did not have a stellar copy of this ish.

 

This raw copy was purchased from Bill Woo of Comicmania in Newark, DE. It has an Eastern Press file copy cover. These were oversized, untrimmed, and stored as covers alone. This particular cover was hand-trimmed and married to a beautiful ow/w interior. It is not one of the fake file copies passed off years ago by Fantazia - Mark Wilson (and perhaps others) can confirm the existence of Eastern Press file copy covers, as he once owned the complete 6 issue Hulk file copy run. Other Marvels from 1962-early '63 with file copy covers pop up occasionally as well.

 

This copy would be certain to receive a green or even purple label from CGC, but I dig the history of the book and consider it a prize of my collection. Not coincidentally, it is also the single nicest copy of JIM 84 that I have ever seen. The cover colors look as though the book was printed yesterday, and having been kept from the newstand and never bundled with other comics, the cover is perfectly clean and flat:

 

JIM84tif.jpg

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And, last for today, is Thor's third appearance. This is the Massachusetts copy, and was purchased raw from Marnin Rosenberg back in the day. If not for the single Marvel chip along the right edge, it would grade much higher. This book and the other earliest Marvels from the Mass collection that I have seen are exceptional examples of hard-to-find high grade gems, with beautifully preserved cover colors and pages.

 

The story introduces Loki, Thor's blood relative and nemesis for so many great story lines to come. The stiff-looking Kirby cover art shows that in 1962 Jack had not yet fully hit his artistic stride at Marvel:

 

JIM85.jpg

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Thanks for the kind words, all. Here is my copy of JIM86. Not much of a story behind this one, although the cover is more dynamic and finally depicts Thor using his hammer to fly. This and the other books posted today were purchased as slabs from the usual sources: Heritage, Pedigree, and Comiclink:

 

JIM86.jpg

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JIM87. Another storyline having Thor battling the communist menace. Thankfully, the more interesting villains and storylines are just around the corner. This ish has a beautifully colored cover, and the copy looks pretty much like it did the day it hit the newstand - only a Marvel prechip in the upper right corner keeps this copy from an even higher grade:

 

JIM87.jpg

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And last for today, here is JIM88. This is a transition book for the title that focuses on Odin and sons, and is the first to really delve into elements of Norse mythology. There's a great view of the rainbow bridge on the cover, albeit with a relatively muted color palate. Odin makes his first cover appearance, too. The book looks nicer than the assigned CGC grade, but the 9.0 on the old blue label held up through a second grading as well. Definitely not your Mothers' VF/NM.

 

The theme of a "battle over midgard (earth)" between Thor and Loki is an oft-recurring one in the hundreds of issues to follow. With this ish, the anxious reader had to now ponder that while the well-intentioned and powerful Thor was protecting our planet, his nasty and powerful half-brother also had access to us and was willing to put us in grave danger merely over his fragile ego and familial jealosy. Good stuff!

 

JIM88.jpg

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Thanks Beltan. You will most definitely recognize a couple of the books coming up, as their onetime owner. Please feel free to contribute your own favorites to this thread. thumbsup2.gif

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Thanks Bob, but I think it's nice seeing your sequence of books. Along with the background stories, it's giving us an insight into putting together a high grade run on a great title.

 

p.s. the #93 CGC 9.2 is not one of my old books, but it's one of the toughest in the whole run in grade. And the best copies are not "tainted" like some of the nicest #91's and #92's seem to have been by certain allegations. gossip.gif

 

Also, if I remember correctly didn't you buy it raw and submit it yourself ? Which makes it even better in my book. thumbsup2.gif

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Thanks Bob, but I think it's nice seeing your sequence of books. Along with the background stories, it's giving us an insight into putting together a high grade run on a great title.

 

p.s. the #93 CGC 9.2 is not one of my old books, but it's one of the toughest in the whole run in grade. And the best copies are not "tainted" like some of the nicest #91's and #92's seem to have been by certain allegations. gossip.gif

 

Also, if I remember correctly didn't you buy it raw and submit it yourself ? Which makes it even better in my book. thumbsup2.gif

 

That's correct, the 93 was a raw purchase. It should make the thread in a couple of days.

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Continuing with the Thor run in JIM, here is the classic cover of JIM 89. This is the last ish until 93 that has Kirby pencils. I'm not sure if Kirby stopped working on Thor because the title had poor early sales, or he was simply too busy. In this regard, Iron Man was about to hit the stands, and Jack's workload may have been too great to continue on Thor.

 

This copy was purchased from Jeff Weaver of Mad Cow Comics at a local Philly monthly show. Jeff acquired it from our own r1970/Roy. All parties agree: this is a really nice copy, and while it does have ~4 tiny spine stresses, is deserving of a better grade than 8.0.

 

JIM89-1.jpg

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Next ish is JIM 90, with Thor drawn by Joe Sinnott. I enjoyed Mr. Sinnott immensely as an inker, but the rendering of Thor is frankly a big letdown after having Kirby pencils for 7 issues. The title still had not latched onto its roots in Norse mythology, and featured a creature from outer space as the villain in an obvious extension of the Atlas approach.

 

This is the Pacific Coast copy, purchased raw from PCE as a VF+ for 90 bucks. Like it's brethren in the pedigree it is structurally NM, but suffers from heavy prechipping along the right and top edges. Perhaps the grade is a bit harsh for a book without any missing chips. This ish is also one of the most difficult Marvel superhero books to find in high grade, with only 3 copies reaching 9.2 or better so far.

 

JIM90.jpg

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JIM 91. Still no Kirby interior art. This storyline is the first of many times that Loki, having been sent to a corner by his father Odin, transmits some of his impressive powers to another baddie to do his bidding and defeat his hated half-brother.

 

This is the White Mountain copy, acquired from our own George/Jive Turkey who, based on the back of the slab, likely purchased it originally from Metro. Gorgeous colors front and back, with none of the poor production quality that plagued so many JIM issues during this time period.

 

JIM91.jpg

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JIM87. Another storyline having Thor battling the communist menace. Thankfully, the more interesting villains and storylines are just around the corner. This ish has a beautifully colored cover, and the copy looks pretty much like it did the day it hit the newstand - only a Marvel prechip in the upper right corner keeps this copy from an even higher grade:

 

JIM87.jpg

 

My favorite JIM cover.

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