Thor: Weathering Two Worlds

The Edda meets the Marvel Age of Comics

 Thor occupies an interesting place in the Marvel universe, and its publishing empire in general. He is sometimes treated as one of the company's flagship icons, and alternately like its red-headed stepchild. (An irony I couldn't even begin to get into) I would, in fact say, when you go through the hierarchy of Marvel's properties, he's the first to have what you could call "hiccups" in popularity, before you get to the next tier like Dr. Strange and Submariner. Though considered one of the Avengers' "Big Three", if there is a culling, he will be the first to go. There are periods where he'll disappear, and the book's lead will be some kind of replacement-Thor. There are times where his book will be off the shelves completely. Even times when he's written out of the Marvel Universe completely. Why is it the company and management are so bi-polar about the character's priority?

He started out with some reasonably compelling details. When originally brought into comics, he had, strangely enough, his own mild-mannered "secret identity", a doctor with a lame leg. For a decade, his main love interest was Jane Foster, and that itself created a recipe for stories. The concept of an immortal in love with a mortal has been a very popular premise in various TV and movies. There's always good conflict to be found Odin wishing Thor would spend more time at home, and being met with "Ah don't want your (eternal) lahf!) Loki was transferred from Odin's adopted brother to Thor's, and the dynamic has worked so well that most popular media has followed suit when adapting Norse Myth. It's royal intrigue, with the noble-but-headstrong brother vs. the snake-in-the-grass.
                                       
As I've mentioned many, many times before, the comic book superhero is the latest incarnation of the mythological superhero. Same purpose as avatar of values. Martial beings with great powers. So the idea of taking an actual mythological God and transferring him into a superhero setting is a natural fit.

Sometimes, however, it's as easy as a young adult moving back into their parents' house.

Early on, the conception was so vague, Thor seemed to be a suit one wears, as opposed to a person.

Comics may be the new heroic sagas, but there's always going to be chaffing with mythological characters. Comics, for the most part, are science-based, or at least modern in their cadence. Maybe it's a ludicrous double standard to be perfectly able to accept a man can, through radiation, increase his mass to become the strongest being on the planet, but not magic hammers. But even if it's an arbitrary aesthetic, it's still an aesthetic. Comics are a visual medium. Besides, science is so important in superhero comics, because, unlike the legends of old, the common theme of the superhero is an embracing of the future, not the glories of the past. It's fun to have an ancient God of Thunder running around, but utilizing the mystical and storybook-based stuff, there's a subconscious sense it's going backwards. There's also a tendency for them to be American. Even though Thor strangely feels more "English" than truly Norwegian,  there's something of an alien presence when a character and his lore aren't from the states. It should be said that international heroes always have a struggle fitting in, except for Wolverine. (And Canada, of course, isn't vastly foreign, bags of milk notwithstanding.)

On the other end of the scale, while superhero purists may not like chocolate in their peanut butter, mythology buffs may not care for peanut butter in their chocolate. When first conceived, Thor was a garden-variety (albeit very powerful) crime fighter. He fought aliens, time-travelers, foreign dictators, even gangsters. He was replete with a secret identity and a mortal love interest (despite the mythological Thor being off the market vis a vis Sif). The kinds of things one would extract from the Eddic Sagas would only slowly creep in, and at times vary wildly from the actual stories and characters Vikinings regale each other with. What happens though, is if the kind of person who would be more at home with a Spider-Man or Fantastic Four doesn't want to do the character, then it may in fact go to someone who wants to do Thor because he's heavily into Norse Mythology, and sees the original Lee-Kirby take as an astro-turf version. What then happens is, that author goes more heavily into the classic elements, and leaves more and more of the modern, superhero trappings behind...until Thor is no longer a superhero book. The temptation to place him more firmly in the fantasy genre is strong. The superhero genre does have a pretty heavy hold over the medium, and so Thor may provide a way out. Likewise, the popularity of the Lord of the Rings franchise had many wondering if they could explore that avenue.

Every now and then, creators feel Thor doesn't look like a sufficient Viking, and try to rectify that.

It probably doesn't help to write an all-powerful,, immortal character. The most popular characters tend to be at least moderate in the powers they possess, (Superman has kind of been grandfathered in, and even then, you get the sense some writers and readers find him to be the white elephant of storytelling) and there are types who find a character who is explicitly immortal to kill drama. (Every now and again, they dangle to threat of Ragnarok, a sort of Norse Book of Revelations, but that's the kind of thing that some feel loses its punch in longform storytelling like comics) Plus, it's one thing to be all-powerful, but Thor is really, really old. Millennia old. The really ancient and well-versed forces of good in heroic fiction are the mentor. So readers may sometimes find themselves unable to relate to the Thunder God. There's also the possibility some may not be the most comfortable with pagan figures (An idea explored in the comics stories themselves)Finally, it should be mentioned that he's by and far the glamor boy of Marvel's roster, which may breed resentment amongst the a fanbase that was built on characters like Spider-Man, the Hulk and the Thing.

Contrary to popular belief, Marvel didn't invent the Apollo-ish "Goldilocks" Thor

It's the hazards of genre-busting when the genre holds almost an entire medium hostage. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby helped firmly establish his superhero credentials early on, and the comics world's very, very strong sense of nostalgia helps keep him afloat. But the character and the line of comics sometimes find themselves having to "take a break", and he has very clear waxings and wanings in popularity. We'll see if the new movie helps him wax.