On Thor (and Þórr)

I’m writing this in response to this ask, but I’m not sending it to Raven as an ask because it’s mostly just me rambling.

So, let’s talk about gods and comic books.

Raven is, of course, correct - Thor (Þórr in Old Norse) is described in the heathen lore as having red hair (and I’ve never heard anyone question that on the grounds of UPG). But then, Sif’s defining feature is her golden hair (actual gold, that is - a gift from Loki to make amends for stealing her original golden blond hair), and Marvel makes her hair decidedly raven black. These seemingly pointless departures from the lore (pointless in that they add nothing to the story of the comic) are the result of Jack Kirby’s character designs. He was handed Thor with little knowledge of Norse myth beyond “some big guy with a hammer”, and nearly everyone after him has a) copied his designs for consistency and b) followed his tendency to not actually study the origin of Thor.

So, here’s my secret: I really like Marvel’s Thor. It’s J. Michael Straczynski’s fault. His run of thore (the first 16 issues of the latest run, 1-12, 600-603, and the “giant-size finale”) is phenomenal. It is as heathen as the comic book Thor is ever likely to get. There is still a good/evil dichotomy going on that feels out of place, especially in the treatment of Hel. Loki’s actions can at least be explained here by greed and jealousy, but Hel simply seems out of place - a Marvel character in JMS’ very un-Marvel take on Thor.

In particular, the scene where Thor talks to Captain America’s ghost is as heathen as anything I’ve ever read that ended in -saga. It talks of the power of oaths and evokes images of the warrior-king sitting out on the mound to seek counsel with the honored dead.

Also, the story of Bill is absolutely classic - it could easily have come straight out of the lore - call it Williamsmál, perhaps.

So, JMS really did his homework, and he wrote something that was powerful and heathen at its core. And after the comic got its hooks in me through JMS, I found that the story that picks up where he left off has retained a lot of his influence on it.

Is Marvel’s Thor culturally appropriative? How about Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, or Sandman in its entirety? It is possible. Certainly there is a common idea that our religion is ‘dead’ and so no one thinks twice about using symbols and figures from it for their own ends (this is a problem shared by most reconstructionist religions, I suspect). But I do think Thor himself would approve of these things, to say nothing of Bragi.

Also, in anticipation of anyone who wants to take this post and use it to talk about certain casting choices in the upcoming movie, I think the idea of casting Heimdall as a black man is fantastic. So stuff that in your racist pipe and, as they say, smoke it.