Let’s face it, I wasn’t particularly lucky in which classic Thor issues I picked up. But I did manage to read a true classic here.
Thor #77 (1973)
Published by: Corno
The title is translated as “The end in flames”, which I think works even better than the actual title “To end in flames” that isn’t even on the cover.
Thor #177 (1970)
by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
In typical Corno fashion, Thor’s speech bubble is removed. 
Asgard is currently ravaged by war. Which isn’t anything new, but things are SO bad that Loki is hiding on Earth with a minion.
Over the classic run, Kirby draws Loki with an absurd variety of helmets. This one has the smallest horns he’s ever worn… must be cold on Midgard.*
*Earth
This issue has Kirby going all-out to be as epic as he possibly can.
Needless to say, IT’S WORKING.
The main conflict comes from the return of uber-demon Surtur, who would normally be handled by Odin. But this is one of those instances where Odin takes a nap to allow the plot to happen.
Even worse, Loki has exiled him to the Sea Of Eternal Night, “from which there be no return”.
CLICK FOR SPOILER
There be return.
But honestly, the plot isn’t what we’re here for. It’s for PEAK KIRBY EPICNESS.
Surtur proves too much for Thor, but Balder goes on a quest to find Odin.
He manages to find him, even though the dimension he’s in is so toxic that even a god can survive for just a few minutes.
And just in time, because Thor is not making much progress.
Good thing Odin shows up to anticlimax him to death.
Also, a famous goof by Kirby: he forgets to give Surtur his horns.
Notice that it was absolutely necessary for Odin to get an even more ridiculous helmet before saving the universe. A god needs priorities.
Also: I know it wasn’t his fault this time, but… Odin is several eternities old at this point, can’t you guys figure out a way to defend yourselves and let the old man get his nap?
Historical significance: 7/10
In-universe, at least. It’s the culmination of an epic storyline and Surtur will return several times.
If I were counting real life events, though it would be a 10/10 because this is the end of the Lee-Kirby run! It’s not the LAST story drawn by Kirby, that would be #179.
That makes this issue kind of the finale of the classic run.
Personal significance: 10/10
This is easily the best Thor issue I owned. Thor himself doesn’t do a whole lot, but this made me a big fan of the divine side of Marvel.
Silver Age-ness: 4/10
All things considered, not much.
Does it stand the test of time? 9/10
I don’t want to overuse the word, but only one can summarize the whole thing: EPIC.
Its only defect is Odin showing up at the last moment to save the day. It’s not the only time it happens in the classic run and it won’t be the last, but in this case I’m giving it a bit of a pass since it’s setup really well with Balder having his own little quest to save him.
But I’m still detracting a point because it’s just Odin waving his hands to defeat Surtur, which is REALLY anticlimactic after such a crescendo of epicness. Just imagine Odin teaming up with Thor for one last Kirby battle, even for just a single page!
Avengers #65 (1969)
by Roy Thomas & Gene Colan
An issue focusing on Swordsman, also known as “Nobody’s favorite Avenger”?
No wonder I barely remember reading this one.
Well except the Gene Colan artwork. He’s going all out with creative panels (not that it’s a rare thing for him).
He’s dealing with Egghead, of all people.
I’ve previously mentioned that, while I’m not the biggest Roy Thomas fan, I hold his Avengers run in high regard because it’s full of incredible stuff.
But he still manages to tick me off with one of the Roy Thomas hallmarks that I can’t stand: his dialogue. There is absolutely no reason for Egghead to talk like this (he never did in the Ant-Man stories).
Egghead then narrates to the Swordsman the extended origin of Hawkeye, which is ridiculous because THE SWORSDMAN IS IN IT, so he already knows all of this!!!
Also, this comes from the first Swordsman story by Stan Lee, where we learned that Hawkeye learned archery by the Swordsman.
Future stories will need to do some mental gymnastics to explain how the world’s greatest archer learned his tricks from a swordsman.
Swordsman then went on stealing money from the circus where both him and Hawkeye were performing, which is what eventually made them enemies.
Wait, NOW Swordsman figures out Hawkeye’s identity???
Also, man is Egghead’s dialogue annoying.
Speaking of Hawkeye, this is set in the period where he’s abandoned that identity and is technically Goliath, using Pym’s particles to grow into a giant.
I’m still calling him Hawkeye.
And in the previous issue, his brother was murdered by Egghead.
Swordsman is infiltrating the base, based on the fact that he was BARELY an Avenger back in the day.
Swordsman is not entirely useless: his sword has all kinds of absurd tricks.
But he’s still up against the Avengers, and this is not a lightweight team! Sure, the only real powerhouse is Vision, but realistically they should mop the floor with Swordsman.
Also: great job having Hawkeye refer to the color of his hair in a panel where everyone is inexplicably colored green.
Too bad Hawkeye is so fixated on fighting Swordsman that LIKE AN IDIOT he ends up fighting the rest of the team on his own.
See? If they can deal with Giant-Size Hawkeye, surely the Swordsman wouldn’t have been a problem!
But thanks to the confusion, Swordsman is able to use a ray from his sword to fry everyone’s brain.
This is one of the reasons why Swordsman sucks: his main gimmick is having a sword AND HE NEVER USES IT LIKE A SWORD.
So Swordsman is ready to bring his target to Egghead.
But he’s supposed to kidnap Henry Pym, who is currently Yellowjacket: something Egghead forgot to mention, so he kidnaps Giant-Hawk instead.
You’d think Egghead would keep tabs on his mortal enemy, but apparently he’s also confused by this and ends up arguing with Swordsman and throwing him off a window.
Giant-Size Hawkeye then wakes up and… oh for crying out loud WILL YOU STOP WITH THE RANDOM SHAKESPEAR QUOTES???
And finally, Giant-Hawk saves the Swordsman by making a giant crossbow from his costume.
Sounds legit.
Historical significance: 1/10
The Swordsman will eventually get slightly more interesting stories (not by much, though).
Personal significance: 2/10
One of the first Avengers storylines I read when I eventually became a regular Marvel reader was the one where Egghead dies, at the hands of Hawkeye (acting in self-defense).
At some point he mentions that Egghead killed his brother and I distinctly recall thinking “Oh yeah, I read that one”. That’s the extent of it… definitely did nothing to make me a fan of the time when Hawkeye became Goliath, that’s for sure. 
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
It was pretty low until Hawkeye built a makeshift bow from his costume in seconds. What the heck was that???
Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
Excellent artwork from Gene Colan, but that’s about it. A very lackluster story.
Amazing Adventures #7 (1971)
by Gerry Conway & Don Heck
Last Black Widow story to be part of the retrospective.
As previously mentioned, it’s weird that Black Widow was published as a backup feature on Thor, but there’s logic to it: the second story was an Avengers one, and Black Widow was an Avenger.
It certainly makes MORE sense than having her as the backup feature to the Inhumans!!!
I’m not reviewing the Inhumans story since it wasn’t published in the Thor book, but I absolutely must mention the hilarious disguises they wear.
Yeah good luck hiding Medusa’s three miles of hair. I guess the idea is that nobody’s going to look at her head.
But back to the Black Widow story, we’re in the period where she’s worried she carries a “widow’s curse” because her love interests keep dying.
Girl, that’s not a curse, that’s how being a superhero after the Silver Age works.
Speaking of former love interests, she sneaks into the Avengers mansion to deal with Hawkeye in his Goliath identity. After the Swordsman story, the Avengers should REALLY screen their former members better!!!
But that was just a cameo, he plays no part in the story.
Black Widow then returns to her apartment, which she shares with her chauffeur Ivan; he acts as both her sidekick and her father figure, since he basically raised her.
She’s too busy brooding, so Ivan goes to a walk at the precinct to see if they have some mercenary work for her. And he just happens to drop by the extremely lame Astrologer blackmailing a guy.
That’s the level of threat we’re dealing with. Remember that the book started with SURTUR, and it makes the decision to have Black Widow as the backup feature even more insane.
As mentioned by the introduction to this weird retrospective, I had those books before I was even able to read. So I definitely didn’t notice the fanservice, but it’s pretty blatant.
And I have to wonder: do you even NEED to add this level of fanservice in a Black Widow story?
She’s already a ridiculously hot woman who runs around in a skintight leather bodysuit, isn’t that fanservice enough?
That’s where the story ended for me: as usual, the Black Widow story was cut in two parts.
But since I know you’re all dying to know how she defeats the Astrologer, let’s continue.
Yeah this guy is an absolute joke, but the action isn’t half bad! I can’t believe this is drawn by Don Heck, it’s absurdly better than his Silver Age work.
The Astrologer ends up drowning, more because he’s an idiot than because of the Widow’s Curse.
Historical significance: 0/10
Nobody stays dead for good in comics, but since nobody has bothered to resurrect the Astrologer in 53 years we might be safe.
Personal significance: 0/10
I completely forgot I had this one. I might have remembered it if I had picked it up after hitting puberty, for some reason.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
In the Silver Age, the Astrologer really WOULD have had powers from the stars.
Does it stand the test of time? 3/10
The artwork has no reason being THIS good for such a weak story.
Overall, while the Black Widow series does include some okay plots here and there, it’s mostly remembered for something else entirely.
“Also: great job having Hawkeye refer to the color of his hair in a panel where everyone is inexplicably colored green.” Don’t think that’s what is happening there, at least not in English. “Recognize these golden tones” is referring (sarcastically) to the sound of his voice not the color of his hair. Which probably doesn’t make much sense IRL either – his voice ought to be quite different when he’s huge, but that never ever gets brought up with any size-changer hero AFAIK, so it gets a pass by tradition. But really, shrinkers like Yellowjacket or the Atom ought to have higher piping voices, while giants will be much deeper and louder than the are at normal size.
“And I have to wonder: do you even NEED to add this level of fanservice in a Black Widow story?
She’s already a ridiculously hot woman who runs around in a skintight leather bodysuit, isn’t that fanservice enough?” Those are rhetorical questions, right? 🙂
I never had a problem with Swordsman teaching archery to Hawkeye. I figured Swordy was an expert at various forms of weaponry like Karate Kid being an expert in hand-to-hand combat. In the 1980s, it was retconned that someone else had trained Hawkeye–the most useless retcon ever.
And, although Swordy is “no one’s favorite Avenger,” he holds a special place in my heart. I started reading The Avengers during Steve Englehart’s run, when Swordsman and Mantis were major characters. He was a schlub who tried to do good and fit in with the Big Guys but never quite matched up. He gets shot in the back by a Nazi (Avengers # 117), and, despite his injury, returns to duty too soon. He collapses after the wound gets infected and is relegated to a wheelchair while the Avengers fight Zodiac, which means it’s Vision who rescues Mantis, not him. To add insult to injury, Mantis jilts him to make a play for Vision (who is not at all interested in her). Then Swordy, showing how noble and loyal he is, dies saving Mantis’ life from Kang.
Rest in peace, Swordsman. You deserved better.
I’ve been saying Swordsman never any respect (I think the only Avenger of such vintage who hasn’t been in the MCU). The narration at his own funeral calls him a loser….
I’d bet Kirby’s helmets for Odin over his ones for Loki any day.
Speaking of former love interests, she sneaks into the Avengers mansion to deal with “Hawkman” in his Goliath identity.
I assume that’s not a reference to an early DC crossover?
Given how absurd Hawkman’s origins are at this point I wouldn’t put it past him being a reincarnation of a Marvel character, but I’ve fixed it to “Hawkeye” 🙂
I’ve heard a lot of Hawkman, and I still don’t understand his back story. I would have accepted yet another incarnation being there.
What’s one more on pile?