Journey into Mystery #88
The Vengeance of Loki
Following his previous defeat at the hands of Thor, Loki is brought before Odin for punishment.[1] Odin decrees that Loki shall never leave Asgard ever again. Left to his own devices, Loki casts a spell to watch his foe on Earth. He witnesses as Thor was made a prisoner of Russian operatives and witnesses as Thor changes back to Donald Blake after being away from his Mjolnir for a minute.[2] Loki comes up with a new scheme to exploit this new weakness. In order to sneak back to Earth, Loki changes into a snake and slips past Heimdall, the guardian of the Bifrost Bridge.
Disguising himself as an old man, Loki pays a visit to Don Blake’s office. After hypnotizing Jane Foster, he barges in on Blake and reveals his true identity. Surprised that Loki has discovered his secret identity, Blake transforms into Thor. Loki then challenges Thor to a battle of wits and asks him to meet in Central Park. Once Loki leaves, Don excuses himself for the day and heads to Central Park as Thor. There, Thor tosses his hammer at Loki just as Jane Foster — still under Loki’s control — arrives. Loki then uses his magic to turn a tree into a ferocious tiger. Left to choose between reclaiming his hammer or saving Jane, Thor saves the woman he loves. This allows Loki to trap Mjolnir in a force field just as Thor reverts back into Donald Blake. Rejoycing over his victor, Loki turns into a pigeon and flies away to cause mischief across the city. Don wakes up Jane and after making sure she’s back to normal, sends her home as he tries to figure out his next move.
Meanwhile, Loki terrorizes the city by making a crowd of people become blanks. He next uses his magic to turn every inanimate object on the street into candy. Flying above the arctic circle, Loki finds a Russian bomber on a test run. When the plane drops its payload, Loki turns the bomb into a dud and it sinks into the ocean without going off. As news of Loki’s reign of terror spread, the authorities of the world wonder why Thor isn’t there to stop his foe. When Loki faces an army of American soldiers he makes their weapons grow wings and fly away. This whole time, Don Blake has been trying to figure out how to get Mjolnir back when he suddenly figures out a plan.
Soon, a story is planted in the news that Thor vows to stop Loki by the end of the week. Hearing this, Loki fears that Thor found a way to free his hammer and rushes back to the park to check. His force field is still there, but so is Thor, prompting Loki to drop the force field to see if the hammer is still there. As it turned out, this was a plastic dummy of Thor. Once the force field is down, Don Blake comes rushing out from behind the dummy and grabs Mjolnir, turning back into Thor instantly. Seeing to evade capture, Loki turns into a pigeon again and hides among a flock of the birds. Quick thinking, Thor gets a bag of peanuts from a food vendor and tosses them on the ground. When the real pigeons swarm the peanuts, Loki’s cover is blown and he tries flying away. Grabbing a tennis net, Thor then snares Loki and forces him to return to human form. He then brings Loki back to Asgard for punishment. There he is greeted by Odin and the other Asgardians who celebrate Thor’s most recent victor over Loki.
Recurring Characters
Thor, Loki, Jane Foster, Odin, Heimdall, Balder, Tyr
Continuity Notes
For Loki’s previous battle with Thor see Journey into Mystery #85 and Thor: First Thunder #2.
This happened last issue and/or Thor: First Thunder #3.
Topical References
The Russian plane has the hammer and sickle flag of the USSR and the pilots refer to their leader as Nikita Khrushchev. These should be considered topical references.
Loki hears the news about Thor from a newspaper barker. This should be considered topical as that’s not really a job anymore. Modern readers could assume that Loki overheard a news broadcast over something more modern (radio, television, someone watching the news on their phone or tablet… Use your imagination!)
