As I sit down to do my comic book review of this tale of Thor Vs. The radio-active Man, I quickly find myself wondering, if it will get a glowing review, or just be all  hype.  Now having read it, I do find that this tale did glow, but not as brightly as I might have hoped.

a basic synopsis of the story would be as follows. After Thor helps put an end to an invasion in India from communist china, the Chinese decide to put forth an effort to eradicate Thor. This leads to a Scientist named Chen Lu, steps forward with an idea and plan to stop Thor. Using his scientific knowledge he transforms himself into Radio-active Man. after the change he sets forth to stop Thor by going to New York.

The Story

I did quite enjoy the story, it seemed well thought out, and developed even if the comic book tale is only 13 pages long.  it contained everything needed, from a pre-story explanation that was interesting on its own,  to the action packed  tale of Thor Vs. Radio Active Man. This story also feature heroism, unlike any seen so far by Don Blake himself.  All leading to the story being quite good.

The Art

I feel the Pre-Radioactive Man look for Chen Lu lacked consistency. Despite this I do feel that overall the artwork in this issue was masterful.   I feel that Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers made a stellar team when it came to pencils and inking.

I also loved the use of foreshortening at several points in this issue; it gives the added depth of a third dimension to the work, something that can not aways be counted upon in comic book art.

Originality & Continuity

Radioactive man, does not seem all that original, his origin is quite similar to that of  many of our other marvel hero’s only instead of it being by accident, he intentionally changes himself for power.

But as i would not say the story is original, it also does nothing to break continuity and little to build upon whats been established.

Characters & Development

We see a bit of heroism out of Don Black as Don Blake in this issue, that’s beyond what is normally  characteristic of him, creating for a small part of the building tension in the work.

As for Radioactive Man, he seemed to have little growth beyond his origin, he was likely intended as just a one time menace for our godly superhero. it is not at all unreasonable or uncharacteristic for first time super-villains to see little development.  However At this point in Thors ongoing tales I would have hoped for more for our hero

Comic Book Review Summery

I feel that this tale between Thor and Radio active man was well written, and drawn.  however it could have had more character development  to have made it a perfect story.