“He had the power of the God of Thunder, as well as his hammer. And e’er since, that frog, newly dubbed Throg, uses yon hammer to protect his clan and stands e’er vigilant against any who would threaten them!”

Yes, this was a thing that happened. The Mighty Thor, God of Thunder, spent three entire issues in the 80s as a frog. And the thing is, it wasn’t a joke. Actually it was pretty darned entertaining.

Walt Simonson had a three year run on Thor as writer and artist. It is arguably the most recognized era in the character’s history. Simonson brought drama, pathos and humor to the book with memorable results.

Defiantly one of the most interesting (or infamous) was when Loki cursed Thor to live as a frog and banished to live in Central Park in a kind of fairytale.

Not many understood it at the time. Nowadays many see it as a classic, or at least a creative curiosity.

Simonson himself explained:

“Over the years, the two stories I’ve probably heard the most about are Beta Ray Bill and Frog Thor… For the frog story, we got about half positive, three or four crabby letters, and half saying, ‘Is this a funny story? Is this a joke?’ They were confused! They weren’t cranky, but they weren’t sure what to think. 25 years later, people have figured it out.”

Thor of course eventually returns to his Asgardian form but another frog known as Puddlegulp takes up the mantle as Throg, the Frog of Thunder. He wields the hammer Frogjolner and has many wild adventures with the Pet Avengers.

On a side note there is a thing called the Pet Avengers. But that is a tale for another day.