Thursday, January 29, 2015

Beware The Mighty Thorr!


We know that Thor, the God of Thunder, first cut his teeth in comics battle by challenging the Stone Men of Saturn--but awhile back, we saw that the inspiration for Thor might have come from another stone-creature that appeared a year and a half earlier:



Not exactly an uncanny resemblance between the two, granted. And the current-day Thor doesn't have a menacing bone in his body:


Hmm, maybe we should examine this connection more closely!



We can start with the title of the 1961 story:



It's "unbelievable," alright--check out the style of that lettering! Then remove the extra "R" and find your jaw dropping to the floor.

The story of "Thorr" begins with Linus, a professor of archaeology on his way to the south Pacific to investigate reports of stone statues on a volcanic island. Tagging along with him is Helen, an example of the standard girlfriend or wife in these early stories who's usually bored by the mundane profession of her boyfriend or husband and is always pointing out his shortcomings--that is, until the guy thinks his way out of the approaching doom and she suddenly has a new respect for him. Helen obviously has a ways to go before reaching that point with Linus:



When Linus inspects the ruins further, however, he trips an electric eye, which awakens one of the "statues" that's revealed to be a menace from the stars!




Yes, "the Mighty Thorr" lives! And with those giant stone fists, he doesn't really need a hammer to deliver the hurt.

Linus, realizing that the entire human race is imperiled, cooks up a (lame) plan to make Thorr think that the entire civilization of Earth is on this one island--but to what end?



Naturally, it's the perfect time for Linus's wife to pile on with the disparagement. Oh, Helen.

And so Thorr proceeds to "conquer," finding that, shock of shocks, the natives of this "world" are incapable of resistance to his might:



So, what now? Linus hatches Part 2 of his plan:



It's looking like Helen, however abrasive, might have a point about Linus--has the man gone mad? He wants Thorr's leaders to join the party? Well, we did mention that this is a volcanic island, and it turns out Linus is crazy--like a fox:




It's quite a humiliating end for Thorr and his stone brethren--doomed by their own bulk and weight, sinking into the ocean. Thorr probably shouldn't be expecting those honors he was hoping for. On the other hand, despite their noses, I don't know why stone creatures should worry about drowning--maybe they're still down there, hoping they're walking toward a land mass.

As for Linus, it looks like he survived the island's destruction and is due for a truckload of apologies:


Oh, Helen.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Groot was invented at this time and he's still around so these stone men are probably still on the sea floor somewhere. I love the way Thorr sends a message to the "furthest reaches of the universe" but the alien ship arrives the next day. Honestly, Stan Lee must look back on these days and think "thank heavens I invented the Fantastic Four". What's interesting is that in 1961 the name Thor was so little known that it could be used to create an alien name - unlike nowadays when it seems ubiquitous.

Comicsfan said...

Well, Colin, Thor makes it from Asgard to Earth in a matter of seconds, so I wouldn't put it beyond the technology of Thorr's race to come up with something like the Omni-Wave projector! ;)