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Thor T-ShirtsSilver Surfer T-shirt Prices $18.99 and upTo view details, click on images. Turn off your anti pop-up software. Thor T-Shirts - TOP SELLERS
Thor Discontinued T-Shirts
Thor, who represents Marvel’s deliberate effort to transcend all other super heroes, is nothing less than a god. Writer Stan Lee worked with artist Jack Kirby to interpret an ancient legend through a new medium, but in the process they produced a concept that would gradually take on a meaning different from the original myth Thor’s powers allow him to operate on a grandiose, cosmic scale, yet the old Norse tales that Marvel adapted demanded that he be subordinate to an even greater force. Odin, the virtually omnipotent leader of the legendary gods, is Thor’s father, and he rules with an iron hand. Many comic book heroes are orphans, inspired to fight crime because of the death of their parents, so Thor’s somewhat awkward position as a dutiful son sets him apart. None of this seems significant when the series began in 1962, but over the years the relationship between father and son has developed some interesting twists. The first Thor stories followed a common pattern of wish fulfillment. Frail Dr. Don Blake discovered Thor’s magic hammer hidden in a cave, and used it to transform himself into a being of incalculable might. Over the years, however, Blake failed to develop as a character, and Thor took centerstage. Eventually it was revealed that Blake was a fraud with no real existence at all. Odin explained that years before he had punished his son Thor’s arrogance by clouding his memory and placing his spirit in a mortal body. When “Blake” found the hammer and its power, he was only following his father’s unspoken orders. Armed with this knowledge, Thor dropped the Blake persona, yet could not bring himself to abandon the human race he had come to cherish. Marvel’s reworking of Thor’s story had taken on overtones of a more exalted ancient tale, one in which God sent his only son to earth to serve mankind. The Golden God By 1962, Marvel was on a roll. “It’s as if we were hit by lightning,” says Stan Lee. “What amazes me is that all the characters worked. The success fed on itself.” The little company was bursting at the seams, and was beginning to feel constrained by the deal with DC that allowed only eight Marvel comic books to be distributed per month. As a result, the next round of super heroes made their first appearances not in new publications, but as features in the already existing “monster” comics, which had now outlived their popularity. In August 1962, The Mighty Thor took the stage in Journey Into Mystery #83. “Nobody had done anything with the Norse legends,” Lee says, although the company had enjoyed some success with the Roman godess Venus in the late 1940s. “We already had The Hulk, the strongest man on earth,” says Lee, “so the next logical step was a character who was a god.” Jack Kirby was also fascinated by the idea of a mythological deity as the ultimate super hero, and by “the chance to use this concept with characters from our own day.” A typical flawed modern Marvel hero, Dr. Don Blake walked with a limp and used a cane until he discovered the long-lost hammer of the ancient god Thor. Its power changed Blake into the virtually omnipotent Thor, complete with armor, helmet and flowing golden locks – a haircut that seems prescient, since in a few years such coiffures would become fashionable among young men. In fact, in 1962, Thor was in other ways a little ahead of his time. The character was moderately successful at once because the switches between Earth and the mythical Norse realm Asgard were intriguing, but Thor did not achieve his full potential until the mid 1960s, when Lee and Kirby went to work and turned him into one of their indisputable classics. In the meantime, Thor was a solid addition to Marvel’s growing stable of super heroes. In the early 1960s the super heroes were popular, but they were coming out only once every two months, interspersed among the regular monsters, westerns and teenage humor titles. Lee had enough time to work on the plots, but he turned the detailed scripting of Thor over to his brother Larry Lieber, who had previously spent most of his time as a free-lance artist. The results were good, but to some extent Thor remained untapped because the tiny Marvel crew was just too busy to give him the attention he deserved. More effort was being expended on another new super hero, one who would eventually become the company’s best known creation, and ultimately its informal corporate mascot as well. Norse Mythology – Thor The son of Odin and a member of the Aesir, he was the god of thunder and the main enemy of the giants. He would smash their heads with his mighty hammer Mjollnir. To wield this awesome weapon he needed iron gloves and a belt of strength. Mjollnir would return to Thor's hand after being thrown and was symbolic of lightning. Thor would ride around middle-earth in his wagon drawn by two goats, His abode was Thruthheim [Land of Strength] and his hall, Bilskinir. His wife was Sif. He was foremost of the gods to the common man, who would call on him to ensure fertility, and widely worshiped. Hammer shaped amulets, a symbol of Thor because it was his weapon, were worn about the neck well into the christianization of Scandinavia. There are molds from that time which contain both cross and hammer shapes, side by side. His name occurs in numerous place names, and it was his statue which was central in the great temple at Uppsala. Thursday is named for him and he was associated by the Romans with Jupiter, therefore also parallel to Zeus. They were all the wielder of ligtning bolts. Some claim that Odin is the Norse equivalent to Jupiter / Zeus, however, one needs look not much further than the name given to the fourth day of the week by the Romans and then to its English equivalent to see that the ancients equated Odin with Mercury / Hermes. Thor is the wielder of Mjollnir and the defender of Asgard. He is described as a massive red-bearded champion wearing iron gloves and a belt/girdle of might, Megingjardir, which doubles his already tremendous strength. He is the only god forbidden to cross Bifrost, the rainbow bridge that connects heaven and earth, or Midgard to Asgard, for fear that his lightnings could destroy the bridge or that he would set it aflame by the heat of his presence. Thor rides in a chariot drawn by two goats, Tanngniost (Toothgnasher) and Tanngrisnir (Toothgrinder). The rolling of the wheels of this chariot is said to create the thunder that rolls across the heavens. Mjollnir- The hammer of Thor. Crafted by Brokk and Sindri, both dwarven smiths, it is a symbol of Thor's strength and of the thunderbolt he personified. The gods considered Mjollnir to be their greatest treasure because it alone could be used to defend Asgard against the giants. When hurled by Thor the hammer will always strike its mark and instantly return to his hand. Mjollnir was not only a weapon, but is also a symbol of fertility. During wedding ceremonies the hammer is always placed in the lap of the bride. Five Fabulous Decades of the worlds greatest comics, MARVEL. By Les Daniels, published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc NY. A Times Mirror Co. p. 92-94. Norse Mythology Web site Norse Mythology Encyclopedia of Norse Mythology by Todd Reimer Encyclopedia of Norse Mythology |
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