Journey into Mystery #84

 "We will test your courage as you face my firing squad!"

After Thor gets an exciting debut... well, this second instalment is very ho-hum. And I rather suspect that this noticeable downturn in quality may be down to the fact that the script is not by Stan Lee but wholly by his younger brother: nepotism is not the most solid of hiring practices. But we'll see, over time, if Larry Lieber does in fact get to impress me.

The plot is very silly. A fictional Latin American country called San Diablo is facing civil war between two factions, one of them a bunch of commies and the other pro-American supporters of democracy because those are, of course, the only two ideologies that could possibly exist in 1962. There's a very silly communist villain, the Executioner, whose USP is his penchant for sending people to the firing squad at the drop of a hat.

This is a very perilous situation, but nevertheless an American medical mission is somehow sent to help, all volunteer doctors and nurses who agree to head towards what must surely be certain death as the Executioner wants them dead. That'll do for the plot: let's just say that Thor saves the day.

There are some interesting bits of lore, though. Again there's no suggestion that this is the actual Norse god Thor. It's revealed that Donald Blake was holidaying in Norway last issue, and that he's a doctor. He and his nurse, Jane Nelson (not Foster?) both fancy each other, but neither will ever reveal it through lack of confidence. Yes, that trope. But, oh irony of ironies... Jane comes to fancy Thor more.

Still, this is frankly a bit rubbish. They can't all be good, I suppose, but this is still early days.