The Mighty Thor - the Whole Run up to 706 [spoilers]

[brettc1]

What do you mean "even now", it is no more or less his title or name now then it was during any other point in this run. If in-universe they feel picking up Mjolnir made Jane Thor then Odinson isn't because he can't. Jane is STILL the one worthy of the powers of Thor, Odinson still isn't. Mjolnir being destroyed does not change that.

Having the powers of Superman would not make you Clark Kent. Having the powers of Spider-Man would not make you Peter Parker.

And having powers exactly like Thor does not make you Thor.

[brettc1]

I think you mean the Congress of World's. The League of Realms was the team led on seperate occasion s by Thor and Jane.

Thank you, yes.

[JKtheMac]

Having the powers of Superman would not make you Clark Kent. Having the powers of Spider-Man would not make you Peter Parker.

And having powers exactly like Thor does not make you Thor.

Except when magical transformational artefacts are involved presumably. And when your identity is partially a mythic construct that serves as a way of projecting human psychology into the realm of myth.

Jane became Thor through self-identification and magical transformation. It’s a form of worship in-and-of-itself to self-identify with a god. Not for nothing was mystical self-identification with Christ considered a dangerous heresy. It makes for an interesting story about Thor to go that final step and say it is possible. Denying it is just saying ‘don’t tell me that story I have decided for my own reasons that this isn’t possible’. It is possible because the realms of possibility in comics are wide indeed.

[brettc1]

Except when magical transformational artefacts are involved presumably. And when your identity is partially a mythic construct that serves as a way of projecting human psychology into the realm of myth.

Jane became Thor through self-identification and magical transformation. It’s a form of worship in-and-of-itself to self-identify with a god. Not for nothing was mystical self-identification with Christ considered a dangerous heresy. It makes for an interesting story about Thor to go that final step and say it is possible. Denying it is just saying ‘don’t tell me that story I have decided for my own reasons that this isn’t possible’. It is possible because the realms of possibility in comics are wide indeed.

Even Jane said in #706 that Thor was just giving her his own name. It's not any more complicated than that. People can think what they like, and I can think what I like. Just because anything is possible in the comic book doesn't mean everything that happens in comic books is a good idea.

[Hypestyle]

so how many TPBs total are there for the Jane-Thor era? Including any pending TPB's for the final arc.

[MeloDet]

So seeing as I've seen it mentioned a few times here and there, does anyone who enjoyed the run as a whole have anything to say in defense of the whole "all the male characters are incompetent jackasses" thing? Or did it just not get in the way of your enjoyment?

[kilderkin]

Put simply for me

I liked most of what he did with Jane

I thought he wrote odin very poorly, deliberately badly and against historic type

I though thor was mostly a shadow of himself, with little progress over the arc

I saw little development of the reasons for thors inability to weild Mjölnir, and this annoyed me a lot

I am still very irritated by the entire read for that and found the story to mostly revolving around bashing the gods, Odin especially

I loved the art

I liked thors new pet dog, very funny moments and characterisation

I thought the war thor was a good idea but ended too quickly

overall I think the breakdown of thors character was poor and done badly

I think whilst it may not have started so, it became an attack of the idea gods in general, or at least religion in the real world, but others will definitely disagree with me on that, but that is my opinion

I liked the idea of jane being worthy of and weilding mjolnir I hated how they made thor unworthy to do this both in idea and by method

[marge_23]

Had it not been for the obvious bad treatment of male characters to make the female one's look better, I would've actually really liked this run. But it was just TOO obvious I just couldn't. That had to be Aaron's biggest

mistake--from what I've read he alienated older fans who are familiar with the past representations of the characters. Even though I really didn't like the characterization, I kept reading it cause 1. the art is awesome 2. I

was really hoping for some kind of redemption of Odin and Thor. Now I got that in 706 but I had to wait a LONG DAMN time for it. Honestly, I don't even know if it was worth it, cause it was so sudden and it really didn't offer

any explanation of why Odin acted like such a sexist asshole. I would've accepted the whole "Cul Manipulated him" theory, but nope. Nothing

[JKtheMac]

There is one glaring issue with this thread's setup. How do we define the "whole run". It would make more sense as a discussion about the volume, which is a discreet story about Jane being Thor. It could make some sense as the whole run from the beginning of Thor #1, but it seems to me there is no way to fully analyse this run unless one takes into account everything and we probably have a while to go yet.

So far Aaron's run on Thor has included:

Thor God of Thunder
Thor
Thors
Mighty Thor
Unworthy Thor
Original Sin
Original Sin: Thor and Loki (With Al Ewing)

All of these works have combined to place this current volume in context, and 90% of them are essential reading to fully consider most of the points raised in the OP.

Then there is the not inconsiderable issue that both the upcoming Thor and Avengers will also help explain and fill-in some of the missing exposition and background details as the story moves forward.

For example any questions over Odin's actions are still in the unexplained pile. We can theorise, and I believe with a certain amount of accuracy, but we can't make a judgement over them until the full picture is complete. Complete analysis of Aaron's handling of Mjolnir is equally tricky because it will remain part of the story both in the far future and distant past. Even Jane's story is not necessarily over.

So to open the discussion with an attack on the treatment of Thor Odinson, when his situation is explored in Thor God of Thunder, Unworthy Thor, part of Original Sin and and soon his new volume feels like cherry picking. The same with criticising the treatment of Odin when it is partly based on Fear Itself, elements of Original Sin, some parts of Ewing's Loki and unrevealed details in the upcoming Avengers Volume.

[brettc1]

Had it not been for the obvious bad treatment of male characters to make the female one's look better, I would've actually really liked this run. But it was just TOO obvious I just couldn't. That had to be Aaron's biggest

mistake--from what I've read he alienated older fans who are familiar with the past representations of the characters. Even though I really didn't like the characterization, I kept reading it cause 1. the art is awesome 2. I

was really hoping for some kind of redemption of Odin and Thor. Now I got that in 706 but I had to wait a LONG DAMN time for it. Honestly, I don't even know if it was worth it, cause it was so sudden and it really didn't offer

any explanation of why Odin acted like such a sexist asshole. I would've accepted the whole "Cul Manipulated him" theory, but nope. Nothing

Yeah, there doesn't seem to be anything to that at this point. I agree that art is excellent.

[kilderkin]

Except when magical transformational artefacts are involved presumably. And when your identity is partially a mythic construct that serves as a way of projecting human psychology into the realm of myth.

Jane became Thor through self-identification and magical transformation. It’s a form of worship in-and-of-itself to self-identify with a god. Not for nothing was mystical self-identification with Christ considered a dangerous heresy. It makes for an interesting story about Thor to go that final step and say it is possible. Denying it is just saying ‘don’t tell me that story I have decided for my own reasons that this isn’t possible’. It is possible because the realms of possibility in comics are wide indeed.

I would compare this to the ohotmu description of the cosmic cube the shaper

It was described as being able to recreate something even life exactly, down to a molecular scale, a cosmic being, but even that would still not be tge original

I accept magic could do anything, it's fiction

But, we can simply apply base logic, jane weilding mjolnir with thors power, is not thor, because thor was still walking around as himself

Even bill wasn't, neither was eric, as he was clearly his own mind and was only in thors bodily form

It might not really be important in the end, but at no way does the enchantment make them thor, only transform them into a godlike form with his power,

that said, it's magic

[MeloDet]

There is one glaring issue with this thread's setup. How do we define the "whole run". It would make more sense as a discussion about the volume, which is a discreet story about Jane being Thor. It could make some sense as the whole run from the beginning of Thor #1, but it seems to me there is no way to fully analyse this run unless one takes into account everything and we probably have a while to go yet.

So far Aaron's run on Thor has included:

Thor God of Thunder
Thor
Thors
Mighty Thor
Unworthy Thor
Original Sin
Original Sin: Thor and Loki (With Al Ewing)

All of these works have combined to place this current volume in context, and 90% of them are essential reading to fully consider most of the points raised in the OP.

Then there is the not inconsiderable issue that both the upcoming Thor and Avengers will also help explain and fill-in some of the missing exposition and background details as the story moves forward.

For example any questions over Odin's actions are still in the unexplained pile. We can theorise, and I believe with a certain amount of accuracy, but we can't make a judgement over them until the full picture is complete. Complete analysis of Aaron's handling of Mjolnir is equally tricky because it will remain part of the story both in the far future and distant past. Even Jane's story is not necessarily over.

So to open the discussion with an attack on the treatment of Thor Odinson, when his situation is explored in Thor God of Thunder, Unworthy Thor, part of Original Sin and and soon his new volume feels like cherry picking. The same with criticising the treatment of Odin when it is partly based on Fear Itself, elements of Original Sin, some parts of Ewing's Loki and unrevealed details in the upcoming Avengers Volume.

Can we not at least discuss characteristics of this specific section of the run then? Even if it isn't Aaron's complete run, the ending of Jane's tenure as Thor marks a clear section of it at least and that section can be analyzed as having it's own themes and traits that one might either like or dislike.

And with that in mind it seems fair to analyze the run's usage of male characters even if this thread doesn't take into account everything that Aaron has done or will do with Thor and Odin. After all the issue isn't just Thor's characterization or Odin's, it's that in this run that ostensibly aims to portray Jane as a worthy and admirable hero, with general female empowerment themes mixed in, it has the notable characteristic of having few if any competent or "good" male characters. Even if Thor and Odin are redeemed as Aaron's run continues and an explanation is given, the fact that this segment of the run has that characteristic can still be argued to undermine the apparent goal of said segment.

[Triniking1234]

so how many TPBs total are there for the Jane-Thor era? Including any pending TPB's for the final arc.

Two volumes of pre-SW Jane
Five volumes for post-SW Jane
One volume for Unworthy Thor.

(I almost wrote SJW instead of SW)

[charliehustle415]

Two volumes of pre-SW Jane
Five volumes for post-SW Jane
One volume for Unworthy Thor.

(I almost wrote SJW instead of SW)

Ha, Freudian slip

[Daniel22]

Simonson is really the only writer who has done Heimdall justice as a character rather than a talking prop.

And then there's Odin, whose best moments in this run were mostly when he was off the page. And frankly was the only sticking point for me in Dauterman's art. Clearly one can take that whole "bristling beard" thing to literally. You could use that moustache for kebab skewers. LOL

I can see the temptation to make Heimdall the God of Exposition, he's basically made for it. But I still would love to see more. One of the (very very many) things I loved about Gillen's Journey into Mystery is that we saw Volstag's homelife. We saw his wife, his kids, some of his past. I want the same thing from Heimdall. Does he have a family, does he get days off, was there a watcher before him... He's probably the "backup Asgardian" I'm most interested in learning more about (besides a series starring Leah living in Hel with Hela and Tyr as her de facto parents).