The Mighty Thor - When Gods Go Mad!

It was interesting to me at the time, that when Jack "King" Kirby opted to go to DC Comics at the beginning of the 70's that DC's top artist Neal Adams was brought in as relielf. These two titans did a one-for-one swap on The Mighty Thor. 

Kirby's last issue was #179 but the cover for that issue was by the newly arrived Adams. It was the first of a three-issue story arc. Now Stan had seen what Neal had accomplished with Roy Thomas on final issues of The Uncanny X-Men the year before, and hoped the Adams magic might strike again. Not so much. 

In that story Asgard is celebrating a victory of Surtur and Loki, who had once again snatched Odin's throne. The latter disappears when his scheme goes tits up, and Thor is sent to find him on Earth. He does and Loki immediately turns the tables using magic to switch bodies with the Thunder God. 

While Neal Adams drew the interiors of both of the next two Thor issues, he did not get any more covers. The cover for issue #180 seems to be a combination of John Buscema and Marie Severin.

You can see the artwork that Adams produced for a version of the cover. Apparently, this wasn't finished until years later.  Part of the Adams cover DC magic was that he had Carmine Infantino helping with designs. It's possible Marvel was disappointed in his work. 

In the next issue Neal Adams debuts on the interior artwork. He is assisted by Joe Sinnott on inks. Sinnott is a master, but not all teams blend well, and I don't think he was ideal for Adams. The story continues as after a skirmish with Sif and Balder, Thor (who is now Loki) is whisked away to Asgard to face judgment before Odin who doesn't let him speak but sends him directly to Hell. Mephisto thinks he's gotten a compadre, but soon discovers what all-knowing Odin failed to find out. The battle is on. On Earth Sif and Balder confront the evil Loki (now Thor). I've always wondered why Marvel didn't make more of the fact there was Adams art inside. DC advertised the bejeezus out of the arrival of Kirby, but Marvel was pretty mum about Adams. 

Marie Severine is back for the cover for issue #181 and it's never been one of my favorites. The stories in these issues were pretty dang good and not at all well-served by some mediocre covers. I love Marie's work and she knocked out some blockbusters, but these Thor covers were just weak to my eye. I suspect they were both last minute efforts. 

Neal Adams wraps up his exceedingly brief Thor tenure with the story "One God Must Fall!" as Sif has recruited the Warriors Three to help save Thor from Mephisto's clutches. The battle rages, Odin gets a clue and bing-bang-boom the story is resolved with Thor as Loki fighting Loki as Thor and the former getting the tar beat out of him. When thanks to a certain sixty-second Uru hammer spell, we all know all too well, they switcheroo and Loki is one who wears the bruises he just inflicted. It's my favorite thing about this story. And it's all wrapped up. 

In the next issue John Buscema steps in as the regular penciller of the title and remains as such for many years. Aside from Conan the Barbarian, Thor was the title that fitted Buscema's talents and interests best and that showed. I think Thor was a poor fit for Adams, or maybe it was the inking, but I never got any real sense that the material seemed to meld. This is the only time that I remember that Adams worked with Stan Lee at Marvel and not Roy Thomas. Adams was a strong personality as Roy has documented more than a few times. I've never heard of a dust up between Adams and Lee, but it wouldn't surprise if the boss might have had enough of the new guy. 

Or was it the plan for John Buscema to take over the series from the beginning with Adams only filling in. That seems unlikely to me as an original plan. Neal Adams would replace Jack Kirby again, this time on The Inhumans feature in Amazing Adventures. That would lead him to eventually do work on The Avengers. More on those later. 

Rip Off