Journey into Mystery #83

Make him a god

Journey into Mystery began in 1952, under Marvel's 1950s predecessor Atlas, as a horror anthology, and by the late 1950s it was running giant-monster and science-fiction stories. As superhero comics climbed back into favor after Fantastic Four, Marvel began giving its anthologies superhero leads. Issue #83, cover-dated August 1962, went on sale on June 5, 1962.

Stan Lee described the problem he was trying to solve: "How do you make someone stronger than the strongest person? It finally came to me: Don't make him human — make him a god." Readers knew the Greek and Roman gods, he reasoned, so he turned to the Norse legends, picturing gods who looked "like Vikings of old, with the flowing beards, horned helmets, and battle clubs." Journey into Mystery, he said, "needed a shot in the arm."

Lee wrote an outline and handed the script to his brother, Larry Lieber, because he did not have time to write it himself. He assigned the pencils to Jack Kirby, who designed the character's look and had a long interest in mythology; Bulfinch's Mythology was used as a reference. Joe Sinnott inked both the cover and the lead story.

"The Stone Men from Saturn!"

In the 13-page lead story, a lame doctor vacationing in Norway stumbles onto an alien invasion. Hiding from the invaders in a cave, he finds an old cane that transforms him into the god Thor, and he drives the aliens back.

The doctor was Donald Blake, a surgeon whose identity was revealed in 1968 to be a fabrication by Thor's father, Odin, created to teach Thor humility.

The rest of the issue held the anthology fare the title had been running: a text piece called "Discovery" illustrated by Joe Maneely, "The Perfect Crime!" drawn by Don Heck, and "When the Jungle Sleeps," written by Lee and drawn by Steve Ditko.

From anthology to The Mighty Thor

New characters followed quickly. Jane Foster appeared in #84, and Thor's adoptive brother Loki and the god Heimdall in #85, cover-dated October 1962. Odin made his first full appearance in #86. Lieber soon moved on, and Lee took over the writing with #97 in 1963, the same issue that began the backup feature "Tales of Asgard." Kirby became the regular artist with #101 in 1964.

With #105, cover-dated June 1964, the anthology stories were dropped and the Thor feature expanded from 13 to 18 pages. The series ran to #125, cover-dated February 1966, and was then retitled Thor with #126.

Thor was a founding member of the Avengers, alongside Iron Man, Ant-Man, the Wasp and the Hulk. Chris Hemsworth first played the character on screen in Thor in 2011; by late 2014 the character had appeared in three films, two of them his own features.

The copies and the record

High-grade copies are hard to find. The cover colors dull quickly with handling, and the seller of one top copy noted how many otherwise exceptional Silver Age collections held only a good, not great, copy of this issue.

In January 2012 a CGC 9.4 copy from a well-known original-owner run of the title sold privately for $222,200, a record at the time. The dealer who sold it wrote that the census then counted more than 800 copies submitted, with only one graded higher than 9.4, three at 9.4 and six at 9.2. By November 2014 the census showed five copies at 9.4 and one higher.

The record now stands at $432,000, paid at auction on April 10, 2022, for a CGC 9.4 copy with off-white to white pages.

The numbers

Print run

No figure verified; not stated by the sources used

CGC census, January 2012

More than 800 copies submitted; 1 above 9.4; 3 at 9.4; 6 at 9.2 (as reported by the selling dealer)

CGC census, November 2014

5 at 9.4, 1 higher

Pages

36, with a 13-page Thor lead story

Cover price

12 cents

Timeline

1. Jun 1952

   Journey into Mystery #1 is published as a horror anthology.

2. Jun 5, 1962

   Journey into Mystery #83 goes on sale, cover-dated August 1962, introducing Thor.

3. Oct 1962

   Loki and Heimdall first appear, in issue #85.

4. Oct 1963

   Issue #97 begins the 'Tales of Asgard' backup feature, and Lee takes over the writing.

5. 1964

   Jack Kirby becomes the regular Thor artist with issue #101.

6. Jun 1964

   Issue #105 drops the anthology stories and expands Thor to 18 pages.

7. Mar 1966

   The title is renamed Thor with issue #126.

8. 2011

   Chris Hemsworth first plays Thor on film.

9. Jan 30, 2012

   A CGC 9.4 copy sells privately for a record $222,200.

10. Nov 20, 2014

    A CGC 9.4 copy with white pages is sold at auction; the census shows five at 9.4 and one higher.

11. Apr 10, 2022

    A CGC 9.4 copy sells at auction for $432,000, the record for the issue.

The world in 1962

• Feb 20, 1962

  John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit Earth.

• Mar 2, 1962

  Wilt Chamberlain scores 100 points in an NBA game.

• Apr 21, 1962

  The Seattle World's Fair opens, along with the Space Needle.

• May 1, 1962

  The first Target discount store opens in Roseville, Minnesota.

• Jun 15, 1962

  The Port Huron Statement is completed.

• Jul 10, 1962

  Telstar, the first commercial communications satellite, is launched.

• Aug 5, 1962

  Marilyn Monroe is found dead at 36.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Journey into Mystery #83 is number 16 of 100 in the comics entries of the FLOAT 100. 92 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (10 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Stan Lee chose a Norse god because readers already knew the Greek and Roman ones.
• Lee handed the first Thor script to his brother, Larry Lieber, because he did not have time to write it.
• In his debut Thor is a lame doctor who finds a walking stick in a Norwegian cave.
• The comic's first villains were the Stone Men from Saturn.
• Journey into Mystery kept its name until issue #126 in 1966, when it became Thor.
• In 2012 a 9.4 copy sold for $222,200; ten years later another 9.4 brought $432,000.