Thor Odinson, God of Thunder Appreciation 2019

[Daedra]

eh it's the same when someones says It's largely positively received by people.

by your logic, no one can point that out but only the other way around.

I can say whatever I want.

quoting me every time is useless.

good points, I for one love reading your opinion about the latest Thor books so keep it coming and don't mind the thought police!

[JKtheMac]

To pull one issue you raised in the other thread and place it back here you said this

Now, here's the thing - pretty much EVERY male hero has undergone some deep seated trauma. Iron Man, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange... my God, do we even need to mention The Hulk? Cyclops saw his parents blow up, Deadpool is a walking cancer, Daredevil went blind and lost his dad... the list just goes on an on.

That’s is a very valid point. But the thing is, all of these characters were made during a very specific period of comic book history, or were inspired by that explosion of comic book creativity. On one level they are all quite old-fashioned.

I don’t say that as a criticism, because I grew up with those characters and have an affection for many of them. Most especially Cyclops. We live in an age where these characters are held up as great examples. Not every comic book character has to be like them. We shouldn’t use them as the benchmark anymore. Storytelling has changed considerably since those glorious days. Some for the better some for the worse.

It is not necessary for characters to undergo these highly dramatic and often heightened traumas to make them rounded characters. It can be detrimental because their core issues become unreal and disconnected from our own experiences. This is no more evident to me than the recent Titans TV series. It is full of ‘woe is me’ tragedy and I found it tedious in the extreme. Because I have no nostalgic connection to the characters it was even more obvious.

There is far more to this discussion and I am deliberately overemphasising the point here. But none of these things help us define the idea of a Mary Sue. Really that topic needs a separate thread all of its own. Except that I can’t imagine such a hot button topic staying focused for long.

[GodThor]

good points, I for one love reading your opinion about the latest Thor books so keep it coming and don't mind the thought police!

thanks!

I have special gifs when Jane starts to be the best All Mother and Valkyrie.

[brettc1]

Perhaps at the root of this is our different perspective on ‘deconstruction’. I see Jane as part of a thematic exploration of Thor, and so her positive and negative elements are all part of that deconstruction for want of a better term. They are thematically linked to Odinson. For me, reducing Odinson’s power is part of this thematic exploration not separate. It is entirely coincidental that this is a deconstruction and that this is about depowering him or rather depowering him flows from the themes and the deconstructive approach. Aaron didn’t wake up one day and decide to make Odinson’s life miserable, he asked himself some fundamental questions about who the character was and the way he settled upon to explore those questions involved Odinson confronting a crisis of faith and identity and another character coming at the same issues from a different direction. So instead of there being a double standard applying, what I see is two sides of the same coin. An extension of the same story. A story I am enjoying precisely because it is asking these questions. It explores ideas I am interested in as a Thor fan, and does it in an enjoyable and inherently comic book, wish fulfilment, superhero manner.

That seems to be your stumbling block. I can only draw conclusions based on the content of your posts, but you seem to think that because you enjoy it, if others don’t it must be because they lack your deep understanding and this is a problem you need to fix. But no matter how much you might like the taste of peanut butter ripple ice cream, there will always be people who would rather spend their money on a deferent flavour and get cranky when the company discontinues it for however long and sells nothing but peanut butter ripple.

The fact that you see it, is not proof of the writers’ intentions. I don’t read everything, so there may be instances of this, but it seems clear to me that this isn’t happening with Thor...

You express this very passionately, but I just don’t see it. I see the complaints, and I see the stories that have provoked these complaints but I don’t see the logical connection. You are explaining it very clearly, but from my perspective there is a flaw in the logic.

Clearly Thor will remain as an important hero for Marvel. I do see the ‘apparent’ double standard, but that doesn’t mean there is one. It just means that a group of fans perceive one. From my perspective it seems like a big misunderstanding. Misconstruing a writer expressing his passion for Thor comics as a writer undermining the character in favour of another. A perspective explained very succinctly by your post, but not actually reflective of the motives of either Marvel nor Aaron from my perspective.

I’ve heard it said that there are no perfect actions, only perfect intentions. But I’ve also heard the the toad to Hell (or in this case Hel ) is paved with good ones.in sure Jason Aaron isn’t an evil person whose plans not to write a Thor story that made and others cringe so that he could twirl his moustache and give a sinister laugh. But that doesn’t mean he created a flawless masterpiece of story telling.

It may provoke genuine anger and exasperation but that doesn’t mean it deserves that anger.

Frankly, I get more irritated by people trying to explain my apparent ignorance of the deeper themes in the subject material than I do about a comic book story I have problems with.

[brettc1]

If I believed you were either of these things I wouldn’t try and explain my perspective to you. You seem very intelligent in your approach, I just don’t share your point of view and am trying to explain why.

That is a fair enough criticism. Especially if it has dissatisfied you. I don’t think it is perfect. If I was Aaron’s editor I would have suggested he approached a couple of things slightly differently. However the story is as it is. Criticising something for what it isn’t or what it might be is a slippery slope.

Honestly, this statement makes absolutely no sense.

No they are most certainly not. But I do think we need to be considered in our criticisms of writers, and we should certainly be very cautious of ascribing negative motives to them as people. We can criticise their actual work but some of the criticisms I read here are highly personal and aimed at the individual.

I’m good with that. My concern is not for the state of the writer’s soul, just what they produce that I spend my money on to read.

[Ascended]

the toad to hell (or in this case hel )

hel toad!!!

[brettc1]

hel toad!!!

Heh. It’s a thing. Look for it in upcoming mini series of Throg, Frog of Thunder

[juan678]

War of the Realms #2 - Lady Sif and Thor by Scott Williams *

[brettc1]

War of the Realms #2 - Lady Sif and Thor by Scott Williams *

Great art, but when has Sif EVER used a bow?

[Panic]

Are we sure that's not Dani Moonstar?

[Alphaxman]

War of the Realms #2 - Lady Sif and Thor by Scott Williams *

That's defiantly Dani Moonstar, from the bow and arrow, down to her unique headdress and braid. Plus the her cape has a Native American style pattern to it.

[GodThor]

hey Thor is a little spoon in relationships.

that viking girl who is like 7 feet tall LMAO and She-Hulk who is also 7 feet tall.

[Wall-Crawler]

Just re-watched the first Thor movie, it's pretty good, much better than I remember.

And damn was Odin good in it, wise king and good father, as he should be.

Also, I didn't know Strazcynski was behind the story.

[Frontier]

Just re-watched the first Thor movie, it's pretty good, much better than I remember.

And damn was Odin good in it, wise king and good father, as he should be.

Also, I didn't know Strazcynski was behind the story.

I feel the first Thor movie is pretty underrated as far as MCU solo films go.

[rpmaluki]

I feel the first Thor movie is pretty underrated as far as MCU solo films go.

It is in my opinion. It remains my favourite Thor film to date.