Journey into Mystery #84
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeJourney into Mystery #84 is the second appearance of Thor and the debut of Jane Foster, one of Marvel's most consequential supporting characters — a figure who would evolve over six decades from a nurse in a Cold War adventure story into a hero who wielded Mjolnir herself. The issue establishes the romantic tension at the core of Thor's human drama: a love triangle between the limping Dr. Donald Blake, his nurse Jane (who wishes he were more like the bold Thor), and Thor himself — a storytelling engine that drove the title for years and was eventually resolved in spectacular fashion when Jason Aaron's 2014 run revealed Foster as the new Thor. As only the second issue in the entire Thor run, it also demonstrates the breadth of the Lee-Kirby creative partnership just one month into launching a superhero who would become central to the Marvel Universe and, decades later, to blockbuster cinema.
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The lead story was produced under the 'Marvel Method' standard of the era: Stan Lee supplied the plot, his brother Larry Lieber wrote the full script, Jack Kirby penciled, and Dick Ayers inked — a division of labor confirmed across multiple sources, though at least one Kirby scholar has argued that original art evidence suggests Kirby himself drafted the story's initial dialogue, with Lee and Lieber's contributions layered over it afterward. The issue went on sale in July 1962 and carried a September 1962 cover date, published under the Atlas Magazines Inc. indicia while Marvel was still consolidating its new identity. The cover was penciled by Kirby and inked by Joe Sinnott, while the interior Thor story's backup short stories were handled by separate creative teams — Don Heck drew 'The Witching Hour!' and Steve Ditko illustrated 'Somewhere Hides a... Thing!' — reflecting the anthology structure that still surrounded the nascent superhero feature.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Jane Foster — introduced here as 'Jane Nelson,' a nurse employed by Dr. Donald Blake; her surname was retroactively changed to Foster in subsequent issues, and some later reprints alter the name within this issue itself.
- Second appearance of Thor (Dr. Donald Blake), following his origin debut one month earlier in Journey into Mystery #83 (August 1962).
- Creative team on the lead Thor story: plot by Stan Lee, script by Larry Lieber, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers, letters by Artie Simek; cover pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott.
- The issue also features backup short stories by Don Heck ('The Witching Hour!') and Steve Ditko ('Somewhere Hides a... Thing!'), written by Stan Lee.
- The villain of the Thor story — a Communist dictator called 'the Executioner' who rules the fictional Latin American nation of San Diablo — is not the same character as the Asgardian Executioner (Skurge) who would debut in Journey into Mystery #103.
- First appearance of the fictional country San Diablo, which later reappeared in the 2011 Six Guns limited series.
- This issue establishes the Blake-Jane-Thor love triangle that drove the Thor title's emotional core for years, and Jane's ultimate arc as a Thor-level hero — including wielding Mjolnir during Jason Aaron's celebrated 2014 run — was seeded here.
- The lead story has been widely reprinted, including in Marvel Tales #3 (July 1966), Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 1 (multiple editions from 1991 onward), Essential Thor Vol. 1, The Mighty Thor Omnibus Vol. 1 (2010), Thor: Whosoever Wields This Hammer (2011), and Mighty Marvel Masterworks: Thor Vol. 1 — The Vengeance of Loki (2021).
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