Robert Jones's Blog, page 13

Ancient To Modern: Borrowed Gods (5)

Heimdall This is an interesting god conceptually. He is the watchman of the gods in Norse mythology, and he serves as the keeper of the Bifrost (rainbow bridge) at the entrance to Asgard. Here is a somewhat older rendering from Marvel Comics … … and a more recent one. I have lauded the Disney Marvel … Continue reading Ancient To Modern: Borrowed Gods (5) →

Ancient To Modern: Borrowed Gods (4)

Loki In Norse mythology, Loki is a shape-shifter (hence, a trickster) who is ascribed various powers in different versions or accounts. He is sometimes described as helping the other members of the Norse Pantheon and sometimes as working against them. This diversity makes him nuanced and interesting. In the original myths, he is completely unrelated … Continue reading Ancient To Modern: Borrowed Gods (4) →

Ancient To Modern: Borrowed Gods (3)

Thor He is the god of thunder, lightning, and strength, etc. Odin and Freya are his parents. His attributes make for some impressive imagery. As examples, consider the following paintings. Thor is only one of the Norse gods which Marvel Comics has borrowed. He first landed in August of 1962. As is often the case, … Continue reading Ancient To Modern: Borrowed Gods (3) →

Ancient To Modern: Borrowed Gods (2)

Continuing on in our series, let’s take a look at… Freya Actually, this goddess has a number of appellations and spellings as can be seen in some of my image captions. Also called Frigga in the Marvel Universe, she is the goddess of love, sex, fertility, beauty, war, death, etc. As you can see, their … Continue reading Ancient To Modern: Borrowed Gods (2) →

Ancient To Modern: Borrowed Gods (1)

Odin, Freya, Thor, Loki, and Heimdall were borrowed from the Norse pantheon and re-imagined by Marvel Comics. These characters were also used effectively in a number of movies by the Disney Marvel franchise. Keeping in mind that this series is all about eye candy through various media, let us begin with… Odin He was highly regarded … Continue reading Ancient To Modern: Borrowed Gods (1) →

Ancient To Modern: The Strong Man (3)

These next three characters have their origins in science fiction rather than mythology. One thing they all have in common is inhuman strength. Superman An alien refugee from the destroyed planet Krypton, Kal-El does really well in earth’s atmosphere and under earth’s sun. His secret identity in which he masquerades as an earthling is that … Continue reading Ancient To Modern: The Strong Man (3) →

Ancient To Modern: The Strong Man (2)

I originally intended to cover this subject in one post, but I discovered some images and a story line from the comics which incited me to mount my high horse. In the interest of relative brevity, I had to cut myself off. So here goes, and let’s see if I can honestly get the rest … Continue reading Ancient To Modern: The Strong Man (2) →

Ancient To Modern: The Strong Man (1)

There is a recurring theme in multiple mythologies. It is that of a man endowed with incredible strength. I’m sorry, ladies, but this concept emerged from male-dominated societies. I’m not talking about what should be – just what was. The nature of the strong man is varied. To explain this, let us examine some examples … Continue reading Ancient To Modern: The Strong Man (1) →

Ancient To Modern: Swift Afoot

As I get ideas, I will contribute posts to this new category that occurred to me recently. I thought it would be fun to examine images based on ancient mythology and relate them to multiple media today. This will NOT be a scholarly analysis. Instead, I will deal with surface impressions and similarities: eye candy … Continue reading Ancient To Modern: Swift Afoot →

Graphic Mythology: Kingdom Come

I bought Kingdom Come (DC Comics) because I appreciate the artwork of Alex Ross and because of the concepts behind the plot. The story was written by Mark Waid. This effort was an interesting combination of superhero imagery with quotations and themes from the book of Revelation. The first person POV character, a minister named … Continue reading Graphic Mythology: Kingdom Come →