Tor (comics)

Tor is a fictional character, a prehistoric-human protagonist who originated in comic books from the U.S. company St. John Publications. He was created by writer and artist Joe Kubert in "1,000,000 Years Ago!" (Sept. 1953).

The character went on to appear in new stories and reprint collections published by DC Comics, Eclipse Comics, and others.

Publication history

After his debut in "1,000,000 Years Ago" (St. John, Sept. 1953), Tor immediately went on to become one of the first comic-book characters to star in 3-D comic books. Tor #3 (May 1954) was once again in the traditional two-dimensional format. This series lasted until issue #5 (Oct. 1954).

In 1959, Kubert and inker Carmine Infantino unsuccessfully attempted to sell "Tor" as a newspaper comic strip. The samples consisted of 12 daily strips, reprinted in six pages in "Alter Ego" #10 (1969) and later expanded to 16 pages in DC Comics' "Tor" #1.

Eclipse Comics reprinted the two "3-D Comics" featuring Tor, both in 3-D and non-3-D versions. As well, the magazine "Sojourn" featured new Tor stories by Kubert, and in 1993, Marvel Comics' Epic imprint published the four-issue miniseries "Tor", with new stories by Kubert, who had acquired and maintained rights to the character.

A two-page story drawn by comics legend Lou Fine in a toy company's custom one-shot, "Wham-O Giant Comics" (1967), starred a prehistoric man named Tor who is unrelated to the same-name Kubert creation.

Alter Ego #77 (May 2008) has a long article on St. John comics by noted comic historian Ken Quattro. The cover reprints the cover of Tor #3 from the original artwork and there is a Roy Thomas interview with Joe Kubert about his experiences at St. John.

In 2008, DC Comics will publish a new 6 issue miniseries.

Bibliography of the original publication

The first six comic books starring Tor were published under three different titles — the second of these in multiple 3-D editions:
*"1,000,000 Years Ago" (Sept. 1953):Tor in "Dawn", 11 pages + 1 extra page, 11-page reprint in DC's "Tor" #2; "Danny Dreams", 7 pages, reprinted in DC's "Tor" #2.
*"3-D Comics" #2 (Oct. 1953):"Tor" 8 pages; "Fire", 6 pages; "Imagine", 3 pages, both reprinted in DC's "Tor" #6.
*"3-D Comics" #2 (Nov. 1953):"Killer Man", 6 pages, reprinted in DC's "Tor" #4; "Giant-One", 10 pages + 2 extra pages, reprinted in DC's "Tor" #5; "The Run-Away".
*"Tor" #3 (May 1954):"Isle of Fire", 11 pages reprinted in DC Tor 3; "Black Valley", 9 pages. reprinted in DC's "Tor" #4 with 1 extra page; "Danny Dreams", by Alex Toth.
*"Tor" #4 (July 1954):"Red Death", 10 pages; "Last Chance", 4 pages; "Great Wolf", 7 pages.
*"Tor" #5 (Oct. 1954):"Falling Fire", 10 pages; "Murder", 4 pages; "Man-Beast", 7 pages.

Reprints

Three hardback books published as the "DC Comics Joe Kubert Library" reprints the St. John comics from the 1950s, the stories of DC's 1975 "Tor" #1-6, and the 1993 Marvel/Epic miniseries "Tor" #1-4.
* "Tor, Volume One" - ISBN 1-56389-781-4
* "Tor, Volume Two" - ISBN 1-56389-830-6
* "Tor, Volume Three" - ISBN 1-56389-998-1

References

* [http://www.comics.org The Grand Comics Database]
* [http://www.comicartville.com/archerstjohn.htm Archer St. John & the Little Company That Could]