In the 1940s, the comic book was booming in the United States, where stories were published for all kinds of audiences. It was mass entertainment, simple to make and easy to sell, so a good handful of publishers tried to dive in. This was the case with Fox Publications, which released Weird Comics, that contained several short stories, although it only lasted from April 1940 to January 1942. The comics inside were stereotypical of the time (science fiction, westerns, etc.), but there is one that, over time, we have seen in a new light: Thor, God of Thunder.
Zeus, I invoke you!
We all associate the name Thor with the Marvel character, the protagonist of four movies and a member of The Avengers, who has been wielding his hammer around the world since 1962. The truth is that Wright Lincoln came up with this mythological god during the first five issues of the magazine. In these stories, Thor decides to pass his power to an earthling named Grant Farrel, who is contemplating suicide because Glenda, his secret love, ignores him. For some reason, the son of Zeus decides that he is worthy of wielding his hammer. Well. That’s his opinion.
Transformed into Thor, Grant saves his beloved, and she falls in love with him, but without knowing—oh!—that behind the hero’s body is the man she has rejected several times. The comic itself is not consistent, as it sometimes claims he transforms into Thor’s body, other times he appears alongside him, sometimes it’s a silent transformation, and other times he is accompanied by a lightning bolt…
His powers are invulnerability, super strength, flight, and also, shooting lightning and using it to cover long distances. Occasionally, he would become a giant, discover new powers (such as a glove that increased his strength), end up fighting against Nazis and. More specifically, he squares off against Doctor Hsin, his nemesis, who intended to kill the entire planet, only to repopulate it with his strange creatures, in the style of Doctor Moreau.
The adventures only lasted five months. He was briefly replaced by another character using the same name (Dynamite Thor) and was never heard from again until, two decades later. Thor Odinson appeared for the first time in issue 83 of Journey Into Mystery. The rest, as they say, is history (both mythological and Marvel).
