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Some people believe that DON BLAKE died back in the mid-'80s - killed off by WALTER SIMONSON (during his now legendary run on The MIGHTY THOR's monthly mag) when he had ODIN remove the enchantment from the mystic mallet MJOLNIR which allowed his son to switch identities between Human and Asgardian. The truth, however, is something else entirely: In actuality, Don Blake died back in the '60s, when STAN LEE and JACK KIRBY decided that he was nothing more than an invention of Odin, created for no other reason than to teach the arrogant Thunder god humility by reducing him to mortal status with his memory removed of who he actually was.
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It was in the pages of The MIGHTY THOR #159 that we first learned that Don Blake was not, in fact, "a star-kissed Earthman who had accidentally stumbled upon the greatest discovery of all time", as the readers had been led to believe up to that point. He was "merely a myth... a casual creation of all-wise Odin", and, as such, had no status as an actual human being - beyond being somewhere handy to hide when Thor required a little rest and relaxation.
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I have to confess that I was never happy with this turn of events. Although I had read Thor #158 (which had set up the question as to who Thor/Blake 'really' was) back in the '60s, it was not until the mid-'70s that I got to read "The ANSWER At LAST!" - when Thor #159 was reprinted in two parts in the pages of the U.K. SPIDER-MAN COMICS WEEKLY. (Sometime around the mid-'80s I managed to acquire both issues of the original American editions.)
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Readers could relate to Don Blake in a way they never could to Thor himself. You and I could both imagine that we, too, might one day be lucky enough to discover something that would bestow upon us powers beyond imagining and elevate us to god-like status. All we needed was that single stroke of good fortune and who's to say it wasn't possible? However, once Don Blake became a non-person, and it was revealed that finding the hammer was all part of some "pre-arranged Asgardian plan" and not a mere whim of destiny to which all of us were potential heirs - well, in some way Thor was never quite the same again.
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So don't blame Walter Simonson for despatching Don Blake to the depths of oblivion back in the '80s - it was Lee and Kirby who sounded his death-knell a good 15 years earlier. Not one of their better ideas I'm bound to say, and one for which there was no real need. There is a way for Thor and Blake to exist as distinct individuals, one human, one Asgardian, with either one inhabiting whichever form suits them - I came up with a simple but effective explanation years ago.
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As most readers will be aware, Doctor Don Blake was restored to modern Marvel continuity a couple or so years back. Should the current team working on the title be reading this and need a helping hand in deciding exactly what the good doc's place is in the scheme of things, then give me a call. Just tap your walking stick three times on the ground for a direct line.
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Agree? Disagree? Don't care? Just wanting an argument? Feel free to comment, whatever your opinion.
9 comments:
nice one.
there seemed to be only a handful of books that remained consistent to me,due to the creative input .
Mostly it was Thor and the Fantastic Four.
And it was all that King Kirbys fault.
I lost interest as soon as he stopped drawing it.
I may have still read it as it was mostly the british reprints of the seventies that fed me the continuity,and it may have been drawn very well,but that was it for me.
And then Punk Rock happened and I took a sharp turn.
I did not even mind that Vince Colletta inked most of thor,I thought it suited it.
Sorry bout that wee trip...
You are quite right to state that this story does what it says.
I wonder if continuity was on Stans mind at the time,I dont think so,It feels like a filler story to maintain myth and momentum.
And Jacks art could be read in a number of ways..skills eh?
Did the Don Blake character appear in following issues or not ?
That is the question that may add more to this.....back in a minute..
Or possibly the 'morra'.
Don Blake continued to appear - right up until Walt Simonson considered him redundant and no longer used the character. However, once it had been revealed that Blake wasn't a 'real' person, being only a transformed and powerless Thor, I could no longer relate to ol' Goldilocks' 'human' identity. I'm sure other readers must've felt the same.
I can't say I could ever relate to a lame New York doctor but I did think it cool the way he changed into Thor and the tension caused if he lost his stick . It wasn't as gripping when they got rid of Blake . I think Jack Kirby was coming up with plots by then so maybe he
"...was responsible for Blake not really existing." is what I imagine the rest of the above sentence was going to be.
Reading the story as a (excuse the expression) kid I was confused, and I still think it doesn't hold up well. You make a good point that once Blake was not real, he was obsolete, and it worked to have the immortal Thor linked to a fragile and vulnerable human being.
Also, if Blake wasn't human, the inscription on Mjolnir, "Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor" was totally redundant. Thor and Blake being the same individual from the start was clearly a retcon which created almost as many questions as it was designed to answer.
The original concept of Blake as a mortal who found the hammer had an appeal similar to the original Captain Marvel. You had to be from another planet to be Superman. You had to be an Amazon to be Wonder Woman. You had to be an orphan, obsessed with avenging your murdered parents, to be Batman. But, if you were "worthy," you might find Mjolnir and be able to wield it, or you might be chosen to inherit the Shazam powers. And the idea that Thor/Blake was predestined to find the hammer sort of contradicts the inscription that "whosoever" found it (if he was "worthy") could gain the power. Just shows that retcons are not all that new.
The original premise allowed readers to identify with the character, and it had a wish-fulfillment appeal. You would have to be an alien from another planet to be Superman or Mon-El. You had to be an Amazon to be Wonder Woman. But if you were a good person-if you were "worthy"- you might find Mjolnir and be able to wield it (or you might be chosen by Shazam or the Guardians of the Universe to receive super-powers). The retcon did open up new story possibilities involving Asgard and the gods, but it also made it hard to identify with the character.
Well, I'm only 6 years late in replying, but I obviously agree with you.
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