Journey into Mystery #98
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeJourney into Mystery #98 delivers the first appearance of Klaus Voorhees, the Cobra — a villain whose origins deliberately echo the radioactive-bite formula that gave Spider-Man his powers, and who went on to become a persistent thorn in the sides of Thor, Daredevil, and Captain America across six decades of Marvel continuity. The issue also marks the second installment of the 'Tales of Asgard' backup feature, the Jack Kirby-drawn mythological anthology that would deepen Thor's world far beyond street-level superheroics and help transform the title from a standard superhero book into something approaching mythic saga. By planting the seeds for the Cobra–Mister Hyde partnership — formalized starting in issue #105 — this issue quietly set up one of the Silver Age's most durable villain duos. It is also the first Thor lead story penciled by Don Heck, marking an artistic transition that would define the title's look through a pivotal stretch of its early run.
In "Challenged by the Human Cobra!" from Journey into Mystery #98 (1963), Don Blake travels to India and uncovers the murder of a former teacher at the hands of a snake-powered villain. When the Cobra strikes again in New York, Thor answers the challenge, but the real test lies in the quiet choices made by Jane Foster, who watches her new boss's fear and returns to work with Doctor Blake.
In "The Purple Planet!" from Journey into Mystery #98 (1963), a future criminal arrives on a distant world where advanced technology and ancient ways coexist. Trapped by a culture that sees him as a strange creature, he finds himself imprisoned in a zoo—far from the power he once wielded.
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Stan Lee scripted the lead story while Don Heck — who had inked the previous issue — stepped up to full penciling duties on the Thor feature for the first time, with Jack Kirby remaining on the 'Tales of Asgard' backup strip. The division of artistic labor was an editorial commonplace at the young Marvel of 1963, when Lee and a small stable of artists were producing a rapidly expanding line at extraordinary speed. The issue was distributed to newsstands in September 1963 with a November 1963 cover date, placing it squarely in the fervent first wave of Marvel's superhero expansion. The cover itself was penciled by Kirby and inked by Sol Brodsky, giving the issue a more powerful visual hook than the interior Thor pages could provide.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Klaus Voorhees / the Cobra (also briefly called the Human Cobra on the cover), created by writer Stan Lee and artist Don Heck.
- The Cobra's origin deliberately mirrors the radioactive-animal-bite premise used for Spider-Man: Voorhees is bitten by a radioactive cobra while working as a laboratory assistant to snake-venom researcher Professor Shecktor in India.
- This is the first Thor lead story penciled by Don Heck; Jack Kirby had been the Thor penciler but transitioned to the 'Tales of Asgard' backup, which he drew and which Heck inked.
- The issue contains the second installment of the 'Tales of Asgard' backup series (which launched in issue #97), titled 'Odin Battles Ymir, King of the Ice Giants,' scripted by Stan Lee and penciled by Kirby.
- The issue also includes a prose text story ('Snowstorm') and a science-fiction backup story ('The Purple Planet') plotted by Stan Lee and scripted and penciled by Larry Lieber.
- Cobra's debut appearance was reprinted widely, including in Spider-Man Comics Weekly (Marvel UK, 1973), Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 1 (1991), Thor Epic Collection Vol. 1: God of Thunder (2014), and Mighty Marvel Masterworks: Thor Vol. 1 (2021).
- The 'Tales of Asgard' backup from this issue was later collected in Thor: Tales of Asgard by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby (2009) and the standalone Thor: Tales of Asgard one-shot (2011).
- Cobra subsequently teamed with Mister Hyde (who debuted in issue #99) beginning in issue #105, and the duo went on to battle Thor, Daredevil, Captain America, and Spider-Man; Cobra later evolved into King Cobra and led the Serpent Society.
Full credits
Reprints
↩ Reprints Uncanny Tales #47 (1956)
Reprinted in Uncanny Tales #29 (1965), Marvelserien #6 (1967), Fantastic! #20 (1967), Marvel Tales #12 (1968), Tales of Asgard #1 (1968), Il Mitico Thor #2 (1971), Il Mitico Thor #7 (1971), Uncanny Tales #91 (1972), Spider-Man Comics Weekly #16 (1973), Vengeur #8 (1974), Eclipso #46 (1974), Secrets of the Unknown #157 (1975), The Mighty Thor #6 (1978), Valour #2 (1980), Die Spinne #40 (1981), Thor #14 (1981), Marvel Masterworks #18 (1991), Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor #[1] (1999), Essential Thor #1 (2001), Biblioteca Marvel: Thor #1 (2001), Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor #1 (2003), Thor: Tales of Asgard by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby #1 (2009), The Mighty Thor Omnibus #1 (2010), Thor: Tales of Asgard #[nn] (2010) + 13 more
Key issues in Journey into Mystery
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