Marvel Comics

Main article: Thor (Marvel Comics)

Thor (often called The Mighty Thor) is a Marvel Comics superhero, based on the thunder god of Norse mythology. The superhero was created by editor Stan Lee and penciller Jack Kirby, who co-plotted, and scripter Larry Lieber, and first appeared in Journey into Mystery #83 (Aug. 1962). To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this comics-related article or section may require cleanup. ... Marvel Comics is an American comic book line published by Marvel Entertainment, Inc. ... Batman and Superman, two of the most recognizable and iconic superheroes. ... Thors battle against the giants, by Mårten Eskil Winge, 1872 Thor (Proto-Germanic: *Þunraz, Old Norse: Þórr, Old English: Þunor, Old Dutch and Old High German: Donar) is the red-haired and bearded god of thunder in Norse Mythology and more generally Germanic mythology. ... Norse or Scandinavian mythology comprises the pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian people, including those who settled on Iceland, where the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled. ... Stan Lee at the 1973 San Diego comic con Stan The Man Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber on December 28, 1922, New York, New York) is an American writer, editor, Chairman Emeritus of Marvel Comics and memoirist, who — with several artist co-creators, especially Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko — introduced... Jack Kirby (August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was one of the most influential, recognizable, and prolific artists in American comic books. ... Larry Lieber (born October 26, 1931) is a comic book artist and writer and is the younger brother of Marvel Comics writer/editor Stan Lee. ... In comic books, the term first appearance refers to first comic book to feature a character. ... Journey into Mystery is a comic book series published by Marvel Comics. ...

On a mission from his father, the omnipotent Lord of Asgard, Odin, Thor acted as a superhero while maintaining the secret identity of Dr. Donald Blake, an American physician with a partially disabled leg. Blake would transform by tapping his walking stick on the ground; the cane became the magical hammer Mjolnir and Blake transformed into Thor. In Norse mythology, Odin is the ruler of the gods of Asgard. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Cover to Thor Vol. ...

Thor often battled his evil adoptive brother Loki, a Marvel character adapted from the Norse god of mischief, and was a member of the superhero group the Avengers. Apart from this superhero Marvel featured a number of Thors (and similar characters) based on him. Norse gods Divided between the Æsir and the Vanir, and sometimes including Jotun, the dividing line between these groups is less than clear. ... The Avengers are a superhero team, consisting of many of Marvel Comics most popular heroes. ...

DC Comics

• In Adventure Comics #78 Sandman and Sandy the Golden Boy fought somebody claiming to be the thunder god Thor. His hammer was later stolen and used by the Ultra-Humanite.
• Thor is one of many minor deities seen in Neil Gaiman's Sandman. The mythological Thor also appears in DC Comics' War of the Gods and Jack Kirby's Fourth World. (It must be noted that the Thor seen in Sandman seems more like a parody of the character, and doesn't resemble the one seen in the other DC comics.)

The Sandman, alias Wesley Dodds, is a comic book superhero in the DC Comics universe, best known for his stories set during the 1940s and his costume consisting of a green business suit, fedora, and gas mask. ... Sand in the Justice League Unlimited episode Sandy the Golden Boy is a DC Comics superhero created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. ... The Ultra-Humanite is a fictional supervillain appearing in stories published by DC Comics. ... This is a list of characters appearing in The Sandman comic book, published by DC Comics Vertigo imprint. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Sandman was a comic book series written by Neil Gaiman and published by DC Comics for 75 issues from 1988 until 1996. ... DC Comics is one of the largest American companies in comic book and related media publishing. ... War of the Gods is a crossover and 4-part miniseries storyline published in 1991 by DC Comics. ... Cover to New Gods #1 (1971). ...

Willy Vandersteen group (Flemish)

The very influential Flemish comic artist Willy Vandersteen started three series in which a Thor was featured. His very first published newspaper comic series (when the war stopped US-import in 1941) was “Tor de Holbewoner”, about a caveman called Tor. Taking into account that “Tor” is a Dutch word for beetle, in Dutch the difference between T and Th is hardly (if at all) heard and that it was about a caveman living way before the invention of orthography, it’s no miracle that this caveman returned (still during the war) with his name changed to ‘’’Thor’’’ The notion Flemish has a double meaning : a linguistic one (the language of the Flemings), and a social/political one (everything that refers to Flanders or to one or more individual Flemish people or organisations). ... Willy Vandersteen (February 15, 1913 at Antwerp - August 28, 1990) was a Flemish creator of comic books. ... For other uses, see T (disambiguation). ... TH, Th, or th may stand for: the symbol for the chemical element thorium (Th) the 29th letter of the Albanian alphabet, see th (letter) the symbol of thoracic vertebrae (Th1-Th12) a digraph used in English to identify the sounds /θ/ and /ð/ (IPA). ...

In “De Rode Ridder” series the existence of the thundergod Thor is shown in #45, (The Hammer of Thor,1970) and the Thunderer has a role in #63 (The Valkyrie, 1974), in which the Rode/Red Knight has been chosen by Odin to complete a mission the gods cannot do themselves without causing Ragnarok. Both albums are by Karel Biddeloo. Unlike the Marvel Thor, Biddeloo’s Thor is more or less a country boy, with enormous powers but bound by responsibility (avoidance of Ragnarok). The hammer of Thor was a weapon mortals could and did carry and use, but it was too powerful to control.

In the most popular series started by Vandersteen Suske &Wiske (Spike and Suzy), Thor is featured once in #158 in a rather bad story by Paul Geerts. Thor in this version is a cruel, grey bearded god, going a bit bald on top, thundering and lightninging with his hammer, without throwing it. (Odin in this story is the young looking, bearded redhead). Like Biddeloo’s Thor, this one is also dressed in animal skins, and that may be seen as a reference to the caveman. The main characters of the Spike and Suzy series on a wall painting in Brussels. ... Paul Geerts (complete name Paulus Josephus Coleta Geerts) (16 May 1937 at Turnhout) is a Flemish comics drawer who succeeded Willy Vandersteen as the main drawer of the Spike and Suzy series. ...

Madsen’s Valhalla Thor (Danish)

This is Thor in the tradition of Asterix, Lucky Luke, Gilles de Geus, with this difference that where those series are using history as source material, Peter Madsen uses mythology for his series Valhalla (comic) (1978), with the same freedom to make jokes about current reality or other works of fiction, mostly following the Eddas. Thor is one of the main heroes of the series and can be seen as a central character. Thor is here rather correctly put, as the honest, red bearded muscular, powerful god, with a bit of extra human weaknesses to keep the comic funny. Statements that he would be fat are false, but may be based on his disguise in #3 as Volstagg, thus parodying Marvel's Asgardians. Thrud and Modi are his firstborn children (in #2), their mother is Sif (pregnant from the start of the series). Magni has Jarnsaxa as mother and shows up in #9. The cover of the 12th Valhalla album. ... Volstagg is a charter member of the Warriors Three, a trio of Asgardian adventurers and supporting cast of Marvels Thor comics. ...

Other uses of Thor in comics

Other uses of the name Thor in comics include:

• In issue 1-5 of the Golden Age anthology Weird Comics, a scientist given the powers of the Thundergod by lightning strike is active as Thor, while in issue 6-8 Dynamite Thor’s adventures were shown.
• Thor, along with the other Norse gods, appears in David Brin's comic, The Life Eaters.
• Thôrr-Sverd: The Sword of Thor #1-3, published ca. 1987 by Vincent Creations, began the telling of the story of the impact of the gods on the Proto-Indo-European people. It suggested that perhaps, contrary to canonical mythology, the giants were the good guys and the gods were the villains.
• Bill Willingham's Elementals series in the 1990's had Thor appearing as one of a group of super-powered beings that the main characters were allied with.

Bill Willingham (born December 1956 in Fort Belvoir, Virginia) is an American writer and artist of comic books. ... Elementals was a dark superhero comic book first published in 1984 and created by Bill Willingham, for which he was both writer and artist. ...

See also

• Ultimate Thor