From the Mouths of the Marvels:

"It's like bustin' through a paper bag!! One more wall and I'll be free!"”

- - Crusher Creel, aka Absorbing Man, busting out of prison with his newfound powers, page 6

One of Thor's most enduring foes: The Absorbing Man!

Thor and Tales of Asgard
from Journey Into Mystery #114
March 1965 • 21 pages

Publication Date: January 5, 1965

Letters Page: No letters page was published in this issue

I: Feature Story: "The Stronger I Am, the Sooner I Die!"

Pages: 16

Script: Stan Lee
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Chic Stone
Letters: Sam Rosen

First Appearance: Absorbing Man/Crusher Creel, Harris Hobbs

Villain: Absorbing Man/Crusher Creel, Loki, Enemy Agent

Guest Appearance: Harris Hobbs, Jane Foster, Balder the Brave

Gadgets & Technology: 4-D Molecule Screen, Subatronic Space Distorter

Settings: Black Mountain Swamp

Synopsis: Thor finds himself in a pitched battle against an enemy agent, who is firing a blast gun at him from behind the wheel of a souped up racing car. Thor grabs hold of him and tosses him out of the car, and all the while Loki is watching from Asgard. He tries to influence the action with a "subatomic space distorter", but his plan fails. Thor apprehends the enemy agent. Disappointed once again, he tries to figure out a new way to hurt Thor.

Loki settles on a plan to implant great power into the form of a hardened prisoner named Crusher Creel. Creel gains the power to absorb the qualities of whatever he touches: he grabs the steel ball that is chained around his ankle and turns into steel himself, crashing through the wall in a clean prison break.

While treating a journalist named Harris Hobbs, Dr. Don Blake overhears of Hobbs' next assignment: tracking down the escaped convict Crusher Creel. Blake figures its a job for Thor, so he cancels his dinner date with Jane Foster and heads to the Black Mountain Swamp, where Creel was heard to be hiding out. He flies ahead of Hobbs, and starts looking for the villain. And he finds him! The two grapple with each other, and Thor is astonished to find that Creel is every bit the match for his strength.

Hobbs shows up and sees the two titans clashing, and tries to help Thor by tossing a stick of dynamite at Creel, but the Absorbing Man- as he now calls himself- grabs it and throws it back at him. Thor whips his hammer into a whirlwind to rescue Hobbs from the explosion. He tells Hobbs to go get the cops immediately!

Thor traces the path of the Absorbing Man by looking at the frantic people left behind in his wake. Creel is luxuriating in his newfound power, thinking up all kinds of things he will do with it for his own benefit. But his reverie is cut short by the coming of Thor, who uses all his power to try and stop the Absorbing Man, but he finds that his very strength is being co-opted by his foe and turned against him! While the two wrestle to a stalemate, Balder sets a thick mist over the battle and comes to tell Thor that Loki has kidnaped Jane Foster!

Despite wanting to finish his battle with the Absorbing Man, Thor casts those desires aside to rush to the aid of his love. Crusher Creel chalks the quick disappearance of Thor as a victory, and decides to lie low and figure out how to capitalize effectively on his power. He spots a farmhouse in the distance and decides to take it over.

Meanwhile, Thor sets out to save Jane Foster from Loki's clutches.

--synopsis by Gormuu

Issues Reprinted
Thor and Tales of Asgard from
Journey Into Mystery #111-120 and Annual #1

Click on cover image to learn more about each issue.

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