To help commemorate Marvel's 70th Anniversary year Marko Djurdjevic was commissioned by Chris Allo to do 12 paintings which would cover one comic a month. "-all he wanted was just a simple version of each of the Marvel characters on a white background with a little touch of Marko in it."

"He gave me a list of the twelve characters and away I went; it's actually the fastest gig I've ever done. I painted all twelve covers in just ten days, so it's been a fantastic cover gig for me to do. I sat down and did all the sketches in one day while I was still in my first inspiration for the job, and then I just painted them one by one." - THE MARVEL ART OF MARKO DJURDJEVIC 

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #104 came out in early 1964 which was before I was reading THOR. 

When Marvel released their first set of cards and stickers in 1967 I first saw the iconic Christlike pose. Even though I knew that Marko's exposure to comics was limited to a few years in the mid 1990s and then not again until he was hired by Marvel it occurred to me that he might have seen the Kirby image.

It is easy to say this now that I know the truth but my best-faith guess would have been that Djurdjevic was not influenced by the Kirby cover. 

Hagen, Marko's assistant, posed my theory to Marko and he supplied a definitive answer: "I've asked Marko about the Kirby parallels, and he said that it is not the case. He says he's too young to be grown up with Kirby's work. Later he didn't get a connection to him, as he was confronted with other artists that inspired him more (like Enki Bilal, Tim Bradstreet, Phil Hale and Joshua Gabriel Timbrook, an almost unknown illustrator)."

IN THE SHOPS TODAY

Sculpted by Clayburn Moore! limited to 3,000 pieces $150 

MARVEL PREMIERE COLLECTOR THOR STATUE

The second full-size resin statue in the all-new Marvel Premier Collection is none other than Thor, God of Thunder! Based on a famous 1969 cover image, Thor wears his timeless classic outfit and swings his hammer as if preparing to hurl it skyward. Crouching on a circular base designed to represent Bifrost, the rainbow bridge of Asgard, this approximately 9" statue of Thor comes packaged with a certficate of authenticity in a full-color box.

As of this posting I DO know that this statue is still available and that at least 421 have sold.

WHAT DID KIRBY ADD TO THE THOR MYTHOS IN 1967 BESIDES A PLETHORA OF REGAL HEADGEAR?

HIGH-TECH TROLLS! 

IN THE SHOPS TODAY

THE BEST THOR COMIC THAT YOU"RE NOT READING?

from RAGNAROK #8

(pictures and words by Walt Simonson)

HOW FANDRAL THE DASHING EARNED HIS NICKNAME

COMICS' MOST PRODIGIOUS IMAGINATION ADDS SIX MORE GODDESSES TO THE NORSE/MARVEL PANTHEON.

From the fourth episode of Tales of Asgard's first continued story. (JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #120)

By JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #114 one third of the Tales of Asgard episodes were Lee/Kirby Four by Fours (A splash page followed by 4 four panel pages)

Fenris the Wolf God becomes the Big Bad Wolf in this clever combining of myth and fable. Do not confuse Fenris with Hati and Skoll, the two Wolf Gods introduced a year earlier.