This makes Day 21 now of this year’s Jack Kirby Tribute Month. And we’re working our way through Asgard week, featuring characters who appeared during Jack’s Journey into Mystery/Thor run. Today’s prompt is the Lady Sif!
Initially, the Thor strip in Journey into Mystery had a running subplot that Thor loved the mortal Nurse Jane Foster, who worked for him in his human identity of Dr. Don Blake. Thor’s father Odin had trouble with this idea, and Jack and Stan got a lot of “soap opera” style mileage out of this relationship for a long time. But something like this could only be carried on for so long, without it becoming tiresome.
So they found a satisfying way to resolve this storyline in Thor #136, “To Become an Immortal!” I don’t want to spoil the story for those who haven’t read it for themselves yet, but at the end, Sif shows up. And from that point on, she became a regular supporting character in the book, as the stories became more epic.
An interesting thing is that Sif’s look kind of fluctuates a bit more than you’d think. She looks differently on the splash page of issue #137 than she did at the end of #136. Her costume had a lot more detail. She starts off in #137 with a full helmet surrounding her head (with ornamental wings, no less!), which over time morphs into more of a small helmet protecting just the top of her head, before vanishing entirely. Her costume becomes very simplified over time too. For my version, I brought in a little bit of the original detail, just to make it more interesting.
Tune in tomorrow to see who’s next for Asgard Week!
Great panel! Nice rendition of Sif but even better, what’s the story? I like these kind of illustrations the best.
I could talk about Sif, Thor 136 and what I say is the mess a current Thor writer made of it all day, but I am not sure this is the place.
Needless to say, your celebration of Jack Kirby’s birthday is spot on this year. Thank you for including me in the posts.
Glad you’re liking this. I can’t talk about what’s currently going on in Thor, but #136 had a great story. They simultaneously resolved a long-running subplot before it got too old, and also widened the scope of the strip tremendously by bringing in Sif.
As to what’s going on here, maybe she’s on a covert mission among the giants in Jotunheim, or dealing with trolls. I’d want to read that!
Served up some Sif you did. And off goes Thor in a different direction. I missed the human/god mix Journey Into Mystery started with. I do understand the argument regarding the opening of the character, tho. More explorations of the vast scenes of Valhalla became more possible also. Thanks.
Glad you liked it.
Even though they wound up that Jane Foster subplot, they still kept an Earth connection. I recall reading a quote from a later writer on Thor (trying to remember if it was Len Wein, Roger Stern, or someone else) to the effect that you can do all the Asgard stories you want, send Thor all through the various realms. But every now and then, it’s necessary to bring him back to Earth, to reestablish that connection with our world.