wind giant

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Asgard) magical being

Occupation: Force of destruction

Group Membership: Presumably the Wind Giants

Affiliations: Askella

Enemies: Balder, Greyval Grimson, Oddbrand Otter

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Oddbrand Otter's flask of containment, within his Bag of Wonders;
    formerly a purse held by Askella

First Appearance: (Wind giants) Thor Annual#2 (September, 1966);
    (this wind giant) Marvel Graphic Novel No. 15: The Raven Banner (1985)

Powers/Abilities: The wind giant could fly at great speeds, generating a powerful wind and a screeching howl in the process. It may have been akin to an air elemental, lacking a solid form and just directing the movement of the air/wind around it; or, perhaps it could take physical form to directly contact beings as desired.

    It is unclear whether the wind giant was an ally of Askella and followed her guidance, or whether the giant was under the control of whoever unleashed it.

Height: Though perhaps not a solid being, the wind giant appeared to be roughly 12-15' tall when unleashed by Askella. Presumably his size could vary greatly, as he could be contained within a flash that appeared able to hold no more than 500 mL.
Weight: Unrevealed; possibly immaterial (if he/it takes solid form, at the above height, as a giant of Asgard, he might weight 4000-7000 lbs.)
Eyes: Green
Hair: Tan/light brown

History:
(Marvel Graphic Novel No. 15: The Raven Banner) - Seeking to disrupt their quest to recover the Raven Banner, Askella the troll witch and another troll, Svin (possibly her son?), took humanoid form and tricked Balder, Greyval Grimson, and Oddbrand Otter into accompanying them aboard a ship across the Sea of Marmora. After Greyval learned the truth, he fatally impaled Svin.

(Marvel Graphic Novel No. 15: The Raven Banner) - Enraged, Askella released a wind giant from a mystic pouch, summoning it "by the rune of raw winter" and sending it to "howl forth free...to wrack this craft and rack this godling's soul--to darkest Hel with him!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    The wind giant burst forth, howling into the air and then encircling the ship with a powerful wind and churning the waters to tear the ship to pieces; and Askella took her own air-like form and flew off to the kingdom of the trolls to win another soul there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Recovering his wits after being cast into the water, Oddbrand Otter thought upon the Bag of Wonders granted him by his father. Wishing it to hold a bottle to contain the wind giant, the Bag performed as intended, and Oddbrand uncorked a flask that sucked the wind giant into it. After re-corking the flask, Oddbrand remarked, "That puts an end to the windy devil..."

    Oddbrand apparently placed the flask containing the wind giant back into his Bag of Wonders.

 

 

 

Comments: Created by Alan Zelenetz and Charles Vess.

    I had completely forgotten that there were pre-existing Asgardian "Wind Giants" until I checked for clarifications. Based on that information, my personal guess would be that the one in this story was indeed of the race of Wind Giants, and just demonstrated the powers they wield. Again, whether this Wind Giant was a willing ally of Askella or whether it was an enslaved being serving whoever released it from containment is unrevealed...perhaps a story for another day.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The wind giant should be distinguished from:

Wind Giants

 

    Dwelling in "the Nameless Land of the Wind Giants," at the opposite end of the infinite void (from Asgard) as the realm of Gymirsgard, a pair of wind giants, apparently battling for unrevealed reasons (perhaps a contest of some sort, or perhaps because they just like to fight) observed a bolt of energy from Odin spanning the Nine Realms (apparently) summoning the mightiest warriors in creation to come to Asgard for the Tournament of Champions.

    These giants appeared to be physical beings who dwelled in windy realm, though it may be that they could transform into wind/air and control wind.

 

--Thor Annual#2

 

 

 

images: (without ads)
Thor Annual#2, pg. 3, panel 4 (wind giants)
Marvel Graphic Novel No. 15: The Raven Banner, pg. 42, panel 1-2 (unleashed);
            panel 3 (flying/howling);
        pg. 43, panel 1 (attacking the ship);
        pg. 45, panel 3 (pulled into Oddbrand's flask);
            panel 4 (contained within flask)

Appearances:
Thor King Size Special (more commonly referred to as Thor Annual) #2 (September, 1966) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack Kirby (penciler), Vince Colleta (inker)
Marvel Graphic Novel No. 15: The Raven Banner (1985) - Alan Zelenetz (writer), Charles Vess (artist), Ralph Macchio (editor)

Last updated: 02/21/14

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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