Issue(s): Thor #134, Thor #135
Published Date: Nov-Dec 66
Title: "The people-breeders!" / "The maddening menace of the Super-Beast!"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Writer
Jack Kirby - Penciler
Vincent Colletta - Inker

Review/plot:
As Thor returns to the Rigellians, Galactus shows up, just to be cool as hell. He's contemplating going into the Black Galaxy to "destroy whatever life may therein exist". He's got to know that the only life that exists is a Living Planet! (It's kind of cool that this is the second appearance of Galactus. Sure, the first was a momentous event, but this is where we find out that he wasn't just some one-off menace; he's going to be a recurring character in the Marvel Universe.)

Thor returns to Earth with some Rigellians and they send Tana Nile home...

...where she is to marry the High Commissioner as a consolation prize for not being allowed to conquer Earth. She seems Ok with it. As they leave, the colonizers give Thor a 'psyche-search gauge' to help him find Jane Foster. The whole time this is happening, a bunch of police are standing around being incredulous.

Last issue (i didn't mention it in my review because i was too busy describing the awesomeness of the Thor/Ego fight) Tana was trying to convince these police that she was now in charge. In the past, Tana Nile was able to cause people (even Thor) to bow to her and obey her, but now they think she is a joke. Is it because the Rigellians have someone disabled her powers?

Thor finds his way to Wundagore where, after a fight with the New Men...

...Jane Foster is teaching the High Evolutionary's New Men.

Unfortunately, Thor's showing up caused such a commotion that the High Evolutionary accidentally left his "evolutionary ray" unattended too long, and now the wolf he'd been working on has turned into "the ultimate end of evolution... a combination of the supreme man... coupled with the supreme beast". He's super powerful and he hates all life.

Whoops! Guess that experiment didn't go too well, eh Evolutionary?

The Man-Beast is practically unstoppable, except when Thor gets really mad.

We find out that the High Evolutionary is an ordinary man underneath his helmet, which i guess is a little disappointing.

The New Men send the Man-Beast and his minions through a dimensional portal onto an empty world that they can rule for themselves (bad idea!). Then the "good" New Men and the High Evolutionary launch themselves into space as well. They'll be back.

This dialogue reads a lot like the dialogue in the Eternals, which leads me to think that Stan wasn't really even scripting these issues. I have no proof, but these Thor issues seem to be the mad creations of Jack Kirby alone.

There's a brief cameo by Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch in issue #134, hanging out in the valleys below Wundagore Mountain. The cover bills this as "possibly the briefest, most unnecessary guest appearance you've ever seen!". It was left out of the reprints.

This arc should get some points for sheer weirdness, right?

Quality Rating: B-

Historical Significance Rating: 9 - first High Evolutionary, first New Men, first Man-Wolf, first Wundagore

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• "As all Marveldom knows, Galactus first appeared in Fantastic Four #48-50 -- and, it is not unlikely that we shall meet him again at some future time -- when we, and mankind, least expect it!"

Cross-over: N/A

Continuity Implant? N

Reprinted In: Marvel Spectacular #5, Marvel Spectacular #6