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Cop a gander at the above panel from THOR #144, in which BALDER The BRAVE manfully suppresses his attraction for his golden-haired Asgardian buddy's girlfriend. What a hero!
But wait a minute - according to the panel below, from the TALES Of ASGARD back-up strip in JIM #102, SIF is his sister. Ugh! What a pervert!
Funny how quickly you can go off some people, eh?
However, worry not, O true believers. It was later revealed that Sif was actually the sibling of HEIMDALL, not Balder. Phew! (And that looks like Heimdall's helmet in the above pic, so Stan was likely responsible for the mix-up.)
In Norse mythology, Balder was kind of a Jesus Christ figure, like the slain god in other ancient religions.
ReplyDeleteIn comics he was a schmuck. M.P.
The question whether Sif was Balder's sister reminds me of the original Star Wars trilogy. In "The Empire Strikes Back," Leia kisses Luke passionately on the mouth. Watching that scene now, knowing how "Return of the Jedi" turned out, the reaction is, "Ewwwww!"
ReplyDeleteBalder was one of the last gods to be added to the Norse pantheon, when that religion was already fading out and Christianity was growing. So the concept of him as a slain martyr may have been influenced by stories of Jesus. In Marvel comics, he seemed to be one of the most popular Asgardian characters, for no reason that I ever saw. He seemed dull and bland. The Warriors Three were two-dimensional stereotypes, but even that was an improvement over one-dimensional. Re: Leia and Luke, I suspect that revealing them as siblings was a retcon contrived when Han Solo became more popular than had been anticipated. It was a way to resolve the love triangle without killing off either Luke or Han. -TC
ReplyDeleteI was sure I'd replied to all 3 comments in one response at the time, so either I inadvertently deleted it, or I imagined it, but I know I meant to. So, 6 years later, all I can say is - thanks for commenting, guys!
ReplyDelete