Today, we look at how Marvel adapted one of the oddest Norse myths involving Thor and Loki into a comic book adventure.

In every installment of I Love Ya But You’re Strange I spotlight strange but ultimately endearing comic stories. Feel free to e-mail me at brianc@cbr.com if you have a suggestion for a future installment!

THE NORSE MYTH

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Last week, while discussing how the Norse Myths depicted Loki's genderfluidity, I noted that there was a famous Norse myth that involved Thor and Loki dressing up as women. The story was recorded by Snorri Sturluson in the Poetic Edda, Thor's hammer is stolen by the Frost Giants, who will only return it if Freyja is offered up as a bride. Loki and Heimdall come up with the idea of dressing Thor up AS Freyja.

From the story:

Heimdall, the fairest of the gods, like all the Vanir could see into the future. "Let us dress Thor in bridal linen," he said, "and let him wear the necklace of the Brisings. Tie housewife's keys about his waist, and pin bridal jewels upon his breast. Let him wear women's clothes, with a dainty hood on his head."

The Thunderer, mightiest of gods, replied, "The gods will call me womanish if I put on bridal linen."

Then Loki, son of Laufey, said, "Thor, be still! With such foolish words the giants will soon be living here in Asgard if you do not get your hammer from them."

So they dressed Thor in bridal linen, tied the necklace of Brisings around his neck and housewife's keys about his waist. They pinned bridal jewels upon his breast, and dressed him in women's clothes, with a dainty hood on his head.

Then Loki, son of Laufey, said, "I will accompany you as your maid-servant. Together we shall go to Jotunheim."

Forthwith the goats were driven home to be harnessed. The mountains trembled, and the earth burned with fire as Odin's son rode to Jotunheim.

Thrym, the lord of giants, said to his kin, "Stand up, you Jotuns, and put straw on the benches. They are bringing fair Freyja, daughter of Njord from Noatun, to be my bride. I have golden-horned cattle grazing in my yard. They are pure-black oxen, a joy to giants. I have treasures aplenty and rule over great riches. Freyja is the only thing that I lack."

Day soon became evening, and ale was brought to the giants' table. There Thor ate an ox and eight whole salmons, in addition to all the dainties that were served to the women. Furthermore, he drank three measures of mead.

Thrym, the lord of giants, said, "Have you ever seen a bride eat and drink so heartily?"

The maid-servant wisely answered thus: "Freyja was so eager to come to Jotunheim that she has eaten nothing for eight nights."

Thrym stooped beneath his bride's veil, wanting to kiss her, then jumped back the whole length of the hall. "Why are Freyja's eyes so fearful?" he said. "I think that fire is flaming from her eyes."

The maid-servant wisely answered the giant thus: "Freyja was so eager to come to Jotunheim that she has not slept for eight nights."

Then a poor sister of one of the giants came in and dared to beg a gift from the bride. "If you want my love and friendship then give me the gold rings from your fingers," she said.

Then Thrym, the lord of giants, said, "Bring me the hammer to bless the bride. Lay Mjöllnir on the maiden's lap, let the two of us thus be hallowed in the name of Vor, goddess of vows!"

When Thor saw the hammer his heart laughed within him, and he took courage. He first slew Thrym, the lord of giants, then he crushed all the giant's kin. Finally he slew the old giantess who had begged for a bridal gift. Instead of coins she got the crack of the hammer. Instead of rings she received the mark of Mjöllnir.

Thus Thor won back his hammer.

WHAT KIND OF COMIC BOOK WAS MARVEL SUPER-HEROES?

Starting in the 1970s, under Editor-in-Chief Marv Wolfman, Marvel began compiling so-called "inventory stories," these were often scripts, but occasionally were also actually drawn stories, that were designed to be fill-ins in case a comic book fell behind schedule. They would be designed so that they could be plugged in whenever and often they would have team-ups, so that a comic could serve as a fill-in for multiple comics (like, say you have a Captain America and Spider-Man team-up, then you could use it to fill-in an issue of Amazing Spider-Man OR an issue of Captain America). Well, time passed and Marvel started to collect a lot of these inventory stories. Some of them were pretty darn good but there was now no place for them. So Marvel launched a series called Marvel Fanfare, which would be an interesting mixture of inventory stories and new stories by top Marvel creators (plus stories that no longer fit into continuity). Over time, though, it became pretty much just inventory stories. It was eventually canceled and then replaced by Marvel Super-Heroes, an over-sized quarterly series that just plugged a whole bunch of these inventory stories together. Amusingly, one of them (designed to be either an Iron Man fill-in or an Avengers West Coast fill-in) turned out to be the first appearance of Squirrel Girl!

In the final issue of the series in 1993, there was a story by Bill Mantlo and Don Heck (Mantlo had sadly already been in a major hit and run accident while roller blading in New York City a year earlier, so this was likely written a number of years before this issue). Heck passed away a year and a half later, but I have no idea when he drew this story.

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MARVEL'S VERSION OF THOR BECOMING A BRIDE

It's the same basic setup, although in a twist, Loki uses magic so that he will APPEAR to the frost giants as a handmaiden and doesn't actually dress up as one in the story...

As you can see in the above story, there's a whole lot of wacky shenanigans, like "Why does Freyja have such broad shoulders? Why do her eyes look so fierce?"

Ultimately, though, the hammer of Thor is presented at the wedding and Thor goes OFF....

At the end of the story, Loki uses his magic to put Thor back into his bridal outfit for laughs...

If anyone has a suggestion for a future I Love Ya But You're Strange, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!

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