WORTHY

“I guess I’m just completely riddled with feelings of inferiority.”

PHILOSOPHER: 

I see. Incidentally, Adler is thought to be the first to use the term ‘feeling of inferiority’ in the kind of context in which it is spoken of today. 

YOUTH: 

Huh, I didn’t know that. 

PHILOSOPHER: 

In Adler’s native German, the word is Minderwertigkeitsgefühl, which means a feeling (Gefühl) of having less (minder) worth (Wert). 

So, ‘feeling of inferiority’ is a term that has to do with one’s value judgement of oneself. 

YOUTH: 

Value judgement? 

PHILOSOPHER: 

It’s the feeling that one has no worth, or that one is only worth so much. 

YOUTH: 

Ah, that’s a feeling I know well. 

That’s me in a nutshell. 

Not a day goes by without me tormenting myself that there’s no point in being alive.

“One of the cool things about Thor was the enchantment around Mjolnir and the original inscription on it. 

So I thought, well that means someone else can pick up this hammer and get this power, if they’re worthy! 

So since then, some other big characters, people’s favorites, have picked up the hammer, Captain America, Superman, whoever. 

But at this point, no one had ever picked up the hammer. 

I liked the idea of Cap walking to the bathroom and seeing it, and grabbing and just tugging, not being able to. 

So this had to be someone new. 

This is the most powerful weapon of the Norse gods. 

This hammer is a Killing Weapon. 

It’s used to kill Frost Giants and others. 

So, Superman couldn’t pick it up, cause he’s never going to kill anyone, and the hammer knows that. 

Captain America, he’s too patriotic. 

He’s too much a symbol of America to be chosen by this Norse artifact. 

So he couldn’t get it. 

So I created Bill because he’s noble, 

and he’s designed to kill. 

He’s got a great purpose as a warrior, and also the noble ability. 

That makes him “worthy” whatever that may be.

As far as appearance, back then, comics were these self-contained stories. 

So for Bill, I had to do this in short form. 

This was a four-issue story, and that was my longest on my entire run on Thor. 

We had to take him, make him into a character that the Hammer would recognize. 

So I wanted for Bill, I wanted him to have a “monstrous” look as a visual, so that everyone would think he’s a bad guy, and I got letters after the first issue that said 

“What on earth? Why is this monster picking up the hammer, what’s wrong with you?” 

and I said “I got it!” 

So I basically started with a skull, and then I made him a bit like a horse, with the gap behind the teeth. 

But horses are beautiful creatures. So what I was aiming for is a sense of death, a sense of monster, underlined by beauty. 

His costume was the same so that the minute you see that image, when he strikes the stick and becomes “Beta Ray Thor” or whatever, you know: OK, that guy has the powers of Thor. 

So that’s why Bill had the monstrous face, that’s why that stuff was done the way it was done."