Venus #11
The End of the World!
Scientists have discovered that the Earth is hurtling toward the Sun and that the human race is on the edge of extinction. At the offices of Beauty Magazine, the staff there begin to fear the worst. However, Venus is optimistic that a solution will come and the world will be saved, and manages to convince Whitney Hammond of this, Della Mason, however, is not easily sold.
Slipping away, Venus travels to Olympus and asks for the assistance of Jupiter to save the Earth. Jupiter tells her that stopping the Earth from going into the sun is beyond his power but knows who is responsible for the catastrophe and has Mercury take her to the lab of a scientist named Michael Templar.
There she confronts Templar who learns that he built the device sending the Earth into the Sun in a fit of rage. He explains that he is in love with a woman named Elsa, a woman who is only interested in marrying a rich man and partying. When she rejected him, he became furious and built the device with the assistance of his aide Maria, who is secretly in love with him. After completing the device, Michael sent Maria away and passed out, smashing all of his equipment. Coming to his senses later, Templar realized that he could not bring himself to remember how to reverse the effects due to his needs for the love of Elsa. With the Earth edging closer to destruction, Marie arrives at the lab to spend her final moments with Michael.
Venus then seeks out the Gods help, but they still cannot help and Jupiter warns Venus that even an immortal like her might not be able to survive falling into the sun. Deciding to return to Earth and surrendering to its fate no matter what, Venus tracks down Elsa. She finds Elsa at a party dancing with men, and when Venus tries to convince her to return to Michael, she scoffs at the idea resigning to partying until the world ends. Venus then returns to the lab and convinces Maria to confess her love to Michael. Michael can hardly notice her so Venus gives a little help by summoning the spirits of Cleopatra, Juliet, Salome, Helen of Troy and others to possess Maria and bring out her hidden beauty. Michael suddenly notices Maria for the first time and falls madly in love with her. This breaks the mental block in Michael mind and he is able to construct a device that reverses the process that is sending the Earth into the sun.
With the world saved, Maria and Michael embrace their love after they find that Venus had disappeared as quickly as she arrived. At the offices of Beauty Magazine, Della is once more trying to get Whitney to doubt Venus when suddenly Venus arrives with the full story about the man who saved the world, much to the delight of Whitney Hammond.
Recurring Characters
Venus
Whitney Hammond
Della Mason
Jupiter
Mercury
Apollo
Cleopatra
Helen of Troy
Beyond the 3rd Dimension
Venus has been sent to cover a story about inventor Professor Buffanoff for Beauty Magazine. Buffanoff has created a machine that he claims can send people to a third-dimensional world outside of their own that operates on different physical laws. After his interview, Buffanoff sees the reporters out, but Venus decides to sneak back into the lab and investigate things to learn what the device can really do and its benefit to the human race.
Examining the machine, Venus is caught off guard when Buffanoff activates the device. She finds herself not transported to another dimension but inside Buffanoff's mind where strange creatures exist that are seeking to break free and take over the world for Buffanoff. With a slaughter of the human race at risk, Venus appeals to Buffanoff's love of Ellen Carstairs. This causes the creatures hold of Buffanoff weakens and the scientist realizes what he is about to do. Instead he tries to commit suicide by causing a chemical explosion. This instead allows Venus and the creatures in his mind to get free. Venus then lures them to Olympus where Jupiter, Apollo, and Thor are on hand to try and stop the creatures.
When they prove too powerful and threaten to destroy Olympus, Venus lures the creatures back into Buffanoff's dying mind. Trapped in their creators mind the monsters all die. Venus leaves Buffanoff's mind once again and before his stunned assistants destroy the device, warning them that Buffanoff's secrets are too dangerous to be known.
Recurring Characters
Venus
Jupiter
Apollo
Thor
Continuity Notes
Is this the Thor? That friends is a really complicated story here. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #12 and other earlier handbooks state that this is the first appearance of Thor in the Marvel Universe. However, Official Handbook of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Thor goes back and states that the first appearance of Thor is (as far as Marvel is concerned) is Journey into Mystery #82. This was not due to omission, I got the truth straight from someone who helped write that handbook. You can find that thread over at the Chronology Project. Why Marvel chose to double back on it? So is this Thor? Officially no. As for you reader? It’s a matter of interpretation. I mean there are enough built in ways to explain all the discrepancies between the Thor seen here and the Thor we all know and love. So you could choose to accept that this is the Thor or just some other guy using his name.
