Thor #158-159 (1968)

Thor closes out the year as one of the strongest Marvel comics of 1968, even if issue #158 is a reprint of Journey Into Mystery #83.  It’s an attempt to reestablish Thor for new readers, reprinting his origin, and then leading directly into #159, which is a very important story.

We watch as Donald Blake learns the truth about…Don Blake.  It’s an origin retcon, following an origin reprint. Very creative way of repackaging the hero.

The story is probably familiar to most of you by now: There never was a Don Blake.  Thor was basically a headstrong little jerk and Odin, who is basically a headstrong giant omnipotent jerk, decides to turn him into a mortal to teach him humility.

But Odin also hides Mjolnir in a cave, where it waits for Don to find it.

It’s basically the same as “movie Thor,” only they left out the Don Blake part in the movies.

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