Avengers #8 Review/SPOILERS

[PinnyPed]

One, Cap is making what is commonly known as a joke. He's being humorous, trying to ease Robbie's nervousness and making an exaggerated point to lighten the moment.

But all jokes must have a germ of truth to make them funny - do you not agree? Thor is the beneficiary of a royal education. I doubt any monarchy would leave their crown prince uneducated. Also, Thor was placed on an undergrad college campus (Thor #154 or #156, I believe) and went through that and Medical School. If Cap wants to talk about someone with less education he should probably have made a joke about himself since he is probably the only Avengers with no post HS graduate experience.

Two, Aaron is making another joke in reference to the size and unfamiliarity of the new Avengers HQ when he has Thor looking for a bathroom. No matter if someone grows up in Queens or Asgard, they can still not find the bathroom in a new locale. Doesn't mean their character is being assaulted.

You're right. Everyone needs to find a bathroom. However, if a member of royalty, let's say England's Prince William, needs to find a bathroom, I doubt he loudly proclaims that "he has to take a p*ss", which is the equivalent of the words Aaron put in Thor's mouth. Up until recently, Thor possessed a sense of honor and nobility. I can point to numerous instances of this important core personality trait of Thor's in the run from 1963-2013, but that Thor no longer exists.

Three, if you've read Thor for "years and years", I imagine some of those years would have included the Thor that Aaron's been writing since 2013. It's not as though his Avengers run is his first crack at the character.

Absolutely, and his portrayal has driven me away from the book. I don't know why you think longevity bolsters your view. Just because someone has been on the job for a long time doesn't impart quality, nor do sales. Selling 50,000 copies a month may be a sign of success now but it's pitiful when compared to earlier decades. I mean the Thor issues just before blood and thunder from 1993 sold around 110,000 and they were terrible.

Four, in any incarnation of Thor, when has he ever been depicted with an emphasis on his scholarly traits?

Thor's education has not been discussed overly, but Thor has been shown in the past to win fights with his brain, now not so much. I recall him:

• Rewiring the electricity of a house to stun and capture the Cobra during Lee/Kirby days
• Substituting a plastic hammer for his real one to defeat the absorbing man
• Performing surgery on a wounded man as Thor
• Imparting medical suggestions to a hospital staff to aid a gunshot victim (the Wasp) in the Avengers
• Stopping the acceleration of the Invisible Woman's force field in a unique way, prompting Reed Richards to say "There's more to that warrior than just brawn."
• Discussing the flaws in an antidote that the Beast was creating before he administered said antidote.
• Not to mention the whole Ragnarok arc where he became Rune Thor and showed both intelligence and wisdom on a very high level.

I could do this all day but I have other things to do. Suffice to say, I think Aaron is doing a passable job with his funny-book character, I just don't think the character he's writing is the Thor from 1963-2013

[kilderkin]

But all jokes must have a germ of truth to make them funny - do you not agree? Thor is the beneficiary of a royal education. I doubt any monarchy would leave their crown prince uneducated. Also, Thor was placed on an undergrad college campus (Thor #154 or #156, I believe) and went through that and Medical School. If Cap wants to talk about someone with less education he should probably have made a joke about himself since he is probably the only Avengers with no post HS graduate experience.



You're right. Everyone needs to find a bathroom. However, if a member of royalty, let's say England's Prince William, needs to find a bathroom, I doubt he loudly proclaims that "he has to take a p*ss", which is the equivalent of the words Aaron put in Thor's mouth. Up until recently, Thor possessed a sense of honor and nobility. I can point to numerous instances of this important core personality trait of Thor's in the run from 1963-2013, but that Thor no longer exists.



Absolutely, and his portrayal has driven me away from the book. I don't know why you think longevity bolsters your view. Just because someone has been on the job for a long time doesn't impart quality, nor do sales. Selling 50,000 copies a month may be a sign of success now but it's pitiful when compared to earlier decades. I mean the Thor issues just before blood and thunder from 1993 sold around 110,000 and they were terrible.



Thor's education has not been discussed overly, but Thor has been shown in the past to win fights with his brain, now not so much. I recall him:

• Rewiring the electricity of a house to stun and capture the Cobra during Lee/Kirby days
• Substituting a plastic hammer for his real one to defeat the absorbing man
• Performing surgery on a wounded man as Thor
• Imparting medical suggestions to a hospital staff to aid a gunshot victim (the Wasp) in the Avengers
• Stopping the acceleration of the Invisible Woman's force field in a unique way, prompting Reed Richards to say "There's more to that warrior than just brawn."
• Discussing the flaws in an antidote that the Beast was creating before he administered said antidote.
• Not to mention the whole Ragnarok arc where he became Rune Thor and showed both intelligence and wisdom on a very high level.

I could do this all day but I have other things to do. Suffice to say, I think Aaron is doing a passable job with his funny-book character, I just don't think the character he's writing is the Thor from 1963-2013

I could hardly agree more

Clearly some people love the current writing on thor, some clearly don't

I've said in the past that whilst I think Aaron wrote jane very well, I think his thor is a pale, shallow, 2 dimensional barbarian esque blunt trauma brute

is the writer in their rights to write how they see fir, sure and clearly editorial are ok with that, it sells well enough

but when I look at thor though the history of the character, I think this may be my least favourite ever, not the worst writing, but the worst version imo

At least as a sustained product

the noble, effective, truly mighty warrior who could engage almost any threat, without looking a little like a buffoon just does not exist any more under Aaron I feel

It's ok that he wants to do that, I'm not saying he should not, only that I think it's crappy

and it's ok that I don't like it and want to say that too

and it's ok when people font agree with me, coz no one's opinion is more valid, even if we think ours is, an opinion based on gut reaction and one based on a lifetimes academic study, moot, we're talking about what we feel about a comic book not some great bards opus

Opinions will vary

[Prof. Warren]

But all jokes must have a germ of truth to make them funny - do you not agree? Thor is the beneficiary of a royal education. I doubt any monarchy would leave their crown prince uneducated. Also, Thor was placed on an undergrad college campus (Thor #154 or #156, I believe) and went through that and Medical School. If Cap wants to talk about someone with less education he should probably have made a joke about himself since he is probably the only Avengers with no post HS graduate experience.

You're right. Everyone needs to find a bathroom. However, if a member of royalty, let's say England's Prince William, needs to find a bathroom, I doubt he loudly proclaims that "he has to take a p*ss", which is the equivalent of the words Aaron put in Thor's mouth. Up until recently, Thor possessed a sense of honor and nobility. I can point to numerous instances of this important core personality trait of Thor's in the run from 1963-2013, but that Thor no longer exists.

Absolutely, and his portrayal has driven me away from the book. I don't know why you think longevity bolsters your view. Just because someone has been on the job for a long time doesn't impart quality, nor do sales. Selling 50,000 copies a month may be a sign of success now but it's pitiful when compared to earlier decades. I mean the Thor issues just before blood and thunder from 1993 sold around 110,000 and they were terrible.

Thor's education has not been discussed overly, but Thor has been shown in the past to win fights with his brain, now not so much. I recall him:

• Rewiring the electricity of a house to stun and capture the Cobra during Lee/Kirby days
• Substituting a plastic hammer for his real one to defeat the absorbing man
• Performing surgery on a wounded man as Thor
• Imparting medical suggestions to a hospital staff to aid a gunshot victim (the Wasp) in the Avengers
• Stopping the acceleration of the Invisible Woman's force field in a unique way, prompting Reed Richards to say "There's more to that warrior than just brawn."
• Discussing the flaws in an antidote that the Beast was creating before he administered said antidote.
• Not to mention the whole Ragnarok arc where he became Rune Thor and showed both intelligence and wisdom on a very high level.

I could do this all day but I have other things to do. Suffice to say, I think Aaron is doing a passable job with his funny-book character, I just don't think the character he's writing is the Thor from 1963-2013

No long-running character stays the same.

The Batman of 2018 is not the same Batman from 1939 to whatever date you choose.

Spider-Man of 2018 is not quite the same character that he was from 1962 to whenever.

The same with Superman or Hulk or Wonder Woman or Captain America and so on and so forth.

I could do this all day too but trying to point out as a negative that a long running character's portrayal has shifted and evolved over the years is simply being stubbornly oblivious to how comics work as an ongoing narrative.

[kilderkin]

No long-running character stays the same.

The Batman of 2018 is not the same Batman from 1939 to whatever date you choose.

Spider-Man of 2018 is not quite the same character that he was from 1962 to whenever.

The same with Superman or Hulk or Wonder Woman or Captain America and so on and so forth.

I could do this all day too but trying to point out as a negative that a long running character's portrayal has shifted and evolved over the years is simply being stubbornly oblivious to how comics work as an ongoing narrative.

That's true enough

But most of those characters have defining qualities that help established and continue to establish those characters

when they are absent or diminished it stands out, like the batman of the 60's, but the current batman and the batman of the 70s or 90s are more alike, or at least more relatable say than the 60's one or tv series one or whatever

Current thor is, imo a very different beast than much of his history, and is I feel almost a completely different character

is it ok for a writer to do that, sure I can accept that

But in turn it's also ok for me, or anyone, to not like it (or to like it also)

Change might be inevitable, but it's value is always debatable