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Originally an Anthology Comic by Atlas Comics which later became Marvel Comics, Journey Into Mystery is known for debuting The Mighty Thor, in issue #83 (August, 1962), by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The series would regularly feature Thor there until issue #125 (February, 1966). With issue #126 (March, 1966), the comic was renamed The Mighty Thor.

It has been revived as a separate title a few times since then from 1972 to 1975 as an Anthology Comic, and again in the 1990s replacing Thor's book with issue #503, following the Heroes Reborn relaunch of key Marvel properties from 1996 to 1998.

The title was revived in the 21st century following the Fear Itself event, and the relaunch of Thor's book as The Mighty Thor.

The series was cancelled again with Issue 655, but as part of the War of the Realms event series in 2019, Journey Into Mystery returned as a five-issue limited series tie-in written by The McElroys. This miniseries involved the likes of Miles Morales, Kate Bishop, Wonder Man, and more as they search for Thor's secret baby sister to end the war.

Because all the books under this name are part of the Thor family, all characters from all series can be found here.


Journey into Mystery provides examples of:

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    One-off stories 
  • For the Evulz: Nyarlathotep, from "The Haunter of the Dark" & "The Shadow from the Steeple", is an Outer God who enjoys driving people mad or killing them for fun.
  • Karmic Twist Ending: A really bizarre and rather silly example in the short story interlude "The Big Shoes". It involved a shoe store clerk being disgruntled by indecisive customers deciding to get revenge by lacing all the shoes with a serum from a Mad Scientist friend that'll enlarge their feet too big to wear any shoes. Perpetrating his scheme during a holiday sale for maximum effectiveness, he leaves the store to enjoy the looks of horror on all their faces as they suffer their transformation, before getting a look of horror on his own face when he sees all those giant feet start panic stampeding his way, crushing him beneath them.
  • Kill All Humans: In "The Shadow from the Steeple", Nyarlathotep plans to highjack the world's weapons systems and use them to wipe out humanity for fun.
  • Worthless Currency: "There'll be Some Changes Made", in issue #33 (1956) has a man who resents his Revolutionary War era ancestor for spending the family fortune, so creates a time machine that can kill the man before he has a chance to do so. As a result, a strongbox containing the money instantly appears on the table ... and it turns out to be Continental currency, which had collapsed in value by 1778.

    Thor 
  • Back from the Dead: The Norse gods discover they are targeted by Set, the Egyptian God of the Dead. They travel to his country and are attacked by two people Set's mooks had killed. They bring one, Red Norvell, back to the land of the living by the expedient of grabbing him and dragging him back with them.
  • Not Me This Time: At one point, Merlin is wreaking havoc on Earth and Thor goes to see Loki, who is captive in Asgard but has repeatedly managed to cause mischief on Earth from there. Loki tells him that as much as he'd think it was hilarious to do what Merlin is doing, he isn't actually involved this time.
  • Tears from a Stone: Loki is fated to remain imprisoned in a tree trunk until his plight causes someone to shed a tear. The people of Asgard are perfectly capable of crying—just not for Loki. However, Loki's long imprisonment eventually allows him to take control of the tree and make it drop a leaf into Heimdall's eye, causing him to shed a tear.

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