Journey Into Mystery Issue 83 first impressions

"When the Stone-Men from Saturn invade Earth, only Dr. Donald Blake can stop them -- but he stands no chance, not until he strikes a wooden stick on the ground and finds himself transformed into Thor, God of Thunder! Watch as Thor learns how to wield his hammer in battle!"

A silver age comic book from 1962. This book tells the tale of Donald Blake who discovers the power to become the Norse God, Thor. It features the character's first appearance, written by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber with illustrations from Jack Kirby.

I actually didn't know much about Thor's origin outside of the Marvel films, so this idea of Donald Blake becoming Thor was an interesting take for me. I was aware of the alias (also referred to in Thor's film from 2011) but didn't understand how the character worked.

I enjoyed the story very much, I thought the aliens were an interesting threat and it was nice to see how Thor was able to step in to help. It was also great to see him learning to wield Mjolnir and discovering how his powers worked. I liked the idea of seeing him work out how to change between Thor and Donald.

One aspect I've enjoyed with Marvel's silver age stories is the development of characters who are learning to use their abilities/powers/skills within the books. I think it adds another element of depth to the heroes we read about and makes them more relatable.

The illustrations in this book are also very appealing. Having tuned to that style, I have a new appreciation for how characters were originally drawn. I really like how Thor's hammer is depicted especially during action sequences where we see him spinning his hammer or summoning lightning.

Generally speaking, I don't really resonate much with sci-fi or space adventures (outside of Star Wars). However, this book was appealing because it was more to do with the character being on Earth, rather than an alien planet.

Overall I thought this was an interesting read, Thor isn't one of my favourite characters, so I don't think I'd ever read a run on the character but that doesn't deny this book's significance. I also thought it was very well done for a first appearance. 

If you're a fan of Thor or just curious to see where the character developed, atleast from where Marvel are concerned, then it's certainly worth a read.