Journey into Mystery #87
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeJourney into Mystery #87 is the fifth Thor story in Marvel's fledgling Silver Age run — and one of the earliest issues to make Jane Foster's romantic dilemma a genuine narrative engine rather than mere backdrop. The issue crystallizes what would become the defining emotional tension of the Thor/Donald Blake duality: as recounted afterward to Jane, Donald wonders whether the woman he loves can ever love him as himself rather than as his godly alter ego, a triangle directly comparable in structure to the Clark Kent/Lois Lane/Superman dynamic that Marvel was consciously reworking for a new readership. Though its Cold War-scientist-defection plot roots it firmly in the anxieties of October 1962, the issue is part of the continuous early run — issues #83 through #125 — that built the Thor mythology from scratch and eventually gave Jane Foster enough accumulated history to become the Mighty Thor herself five decades later.
"Prisoner of the Reds!" in Journey into Mystery #87 (1962) delivers a thrilling Cold War-era sci-fi tale from Stan Lee and Larry Lieber, with Paul Reinman handling both pencils and inks, Stan Goldberg on color, and Artie Simek on letters. When a sea serpent stirs panic and triggers a nuclear response, a reporter’s unexpected connection to the creature reveals a startling truth: it’s not a monster, but a lost alien child—raising the question of just how large its parents might be. The cover by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers captures the story’s tense, otherworldly dread in bold, dynamic style.
When Dr. Blake goes undercover to uncover a string of American scientists vanishing behind the Iron Curtain, he finds himself trapped in a communist prison with the missing men—only to discover that his true power lies in the thunderous might of Thor.
In "I Know the Secret of the Sea-Monster!", a sudden sighting of a colossal sea serpent sparks global panic and a military crackdown culminating in a nuclear strike. When a reporter steps forward claiming to have communicated with the creature, he reveals a startling truth: the serpent is not a monster, but a lost alien child—leaving the chilling question of what its parents might be.
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The lead story, 'Prisoner of the Reds!', was produced on the standard Marvel Method of the period: Stan Lee supplied the plot, his brother Larry Lieber scripted the dialogue, Jack Kirby handled pencils, and Dick Ayers inked — the same creative team that had been driving the Thor feature since its debut in #83. Stan Lee also served as editor-in-chief on the issue. The anthology format of the title at this stage meant the 10-page Thor story shared the book with two additional short tales (one by Paul Reinman, one by Steve Ditko) and a text story, reflecting the transitional moment when Journey into Mystery had not yet fully committed to being a single-feature superhero book — that conversion would not be complete until issue #105.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover-dated December 1962; distributed to newsstands in October 1962 — the same month as the Cuban Missile Crisis.
- Lead story 'Prisoner of the Reds!' is the fifth published Thor adventure, plotted by Stan Lee, scripted by Larry Lieber, penciled by Jack Kirby, and inked by Dick Ayers; lettering by Art Simek.
- Jane Foster appears as a supporting character (she first appeared in #84); this issue explicitly establishes her preference for Thor over Donald Blake, a romantic tension that drives the series for years.
- Colonel Edward Harrison of U.S. Army Intelligence makes his first appearance and later recurs in Iron Man: The Iron Age #2 and the Conspiracy limited series.
- The story introduces the plot device of Donald Blake's dual-identity limitation being used as an escape tool: because Blake is slighter than Thor, he slips out of chains engineered to hold a god after reverting forms.
- The issue also contains a backup story by Steve Ditko ('The Man on the Endless Stairway') and a Paul Reinman short, plus a reprint of a story from Journey Into Unknown Worlds #45 — illustrating the anthology format still in place at this stage of the run.
- The Thor story has been reprinted internationally and domestically in numerous collections, including Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 1, Essential Thor Vol. 1 (black-and-white), The Mighty Thor Omnibus Vol. 1, the Thor Epic Collection: The God of Thunder, and Mighty Marvel Masterworks: Thor Vol. 1 — The Vengeance of Loki.
- An early reprint of the Thor story appeared in Marvel Tales Annual #5, one of Marvel's first dedicated reprint publications of the Silver Age.
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Reprints
↩ Reprints Journey into Unknown Worlds #45 (1956)
Reprinted in Weird Planets #4 (1962), Cuentos de Brujas #182 (1963), Mystic #47 (1964), Marvel Tales #5 (1966), Fantastic! #6 (1967), Terrific! #41 (1968), Il Mitico Thor #2 (1971), Eclipso #19 (1972), Spider-Man Comics Weekly #5 (1973), Hulk #5 (1974), The Mighty Thor #2 (1978), Chiller Pocket Book #11 (1980), Titan Pocket Book #3 (1980), Marvel Masterworks #18 (1991), Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor #[1] (1999), Essential Thor #1 (2001), Biblioteca Marvel: Thor #3 (2001), Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor #1 (2003), The Mighty Thor Omnibus #1 (2010), Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor #1 (2010), Thor : L'intégrale #1962-1963 (2012), Marvel Famous Firsts: 75th Anniversary Masterworks Slipcase Set #9 (2014), Thor Epic Collection #1 (2014), Super Eroi Classic #3 (2017) + 8 more
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