THOR #142 (1967)

Why is this book great?  Here’s three reasons….

A flying motorcycle!  Marvel’s characters rarely interact with Joe Normal from the street anymore.  They’ve become very insular, never engaging with “real” people.  But in the earlier days of Marvel, it was a regular occurrence.  It made the characters feel more accessible, like the universe really mattered.

Second, Loki, the God of Mischief, is a great villain.  And in this issue, he sics the Super Skrull on Thor, so we basically get to see the Thunder God take on the entire Fantastic Four.  It’s a terrific battle that takes up over a third of the issue.

And finally, because Thor uses his weather powers.  These have, over time, faded away and I’m pretty sure he no longer can summon storms.  But he is the God of Thunder after all.

So we have an issue where we get to see Thor use the full range of his power set against a villain with four different power sets, it’s written well, and it’s some of Jack Kirby’s best work.

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