Odin on a rampage, gotta like that. See those Asgardians quivering in the face of his just and merciful wrath.
Odin cracks me up every time.
Thor feels the anger of Odin in this issue as he’s stripped of his powers, other than his strength, and left on Earth following a major battle. He decides to try this out and get a job, and ends up applying as the strongman at a circus, not knowing that it’s a front for the Circus of Crime, who are planning a major theft that needs a strongman. Thor impresses them but then gets hypnotized by the ring-master to prepare for their heist.
The “Tales of Asgard” back-up concludes in this issue, with the final battle against Mogul, the tyrant who has enslaved various lands, including that of Hogun the Grim. Ends kind of abruptly, but has a lot of action leading up to there, capturing the grandeur of the modern myths they were weaving.
Colletta inks the cover, 16-page lead and 5-page backup.
Published 1967
This is one of the early Thor’s that I remember really enjoying as a kid. A truly dramatic cover. I’ve always had a weak spot for the “hero loses his powers” plot,and this was a good one. I also have a weak spot for the Ringmaster as well (hey, no one is perfect!)
Nick Caputo
The Ringmaster…
Is that Ringmaster actually supposed to be the same one that fought Captain America in the 40s?
He looks similar to the Cap villain, but is someone different, with a hypnosis gimmick. I don’t think any of the early stories (he was first in HULK #3 and fought just about everyone at some time), but I think later they established him as the son of the original Nazi Ringmaster.