Thor Appreciation 2023

[OBrianTallent]

Read Ewing's Immortal Thor #1 and it was pretty good. Wasn't expecting [spoiler]Gaea[/spoiler] to show up. The artist just draws Loki like his male version but with lipstick. The artists for the Loki mini do a better job especially in Loki #2.

I picked up the first issue on a whim and enjoyed it more than I expected to. I may stick around for a bit. Being a fair weather Thor reader, the old gods aren't something I have seen used in the last handful of years, so it's an interesting take for me.

[Frontier]

Gorr's problem in movie 4 is twofold.

1 he is not actually related to Thor's character arc. Thor's arc in that movie is largely tied to Jane's inevitable death from her cancer so Thor never develops that introspective arc he had in the comics interacting with Gorr. There's also the fact his goal was changed to simply wanting a wish from Eternity so basically spends most of the movie waiting until Thor comes to him.

2 the movie had no idea what to say about Gods. Ragnarok handled it better because tying Asgard to imperialism at least makes sense, but the L&T could never settle on what specific analogy the Gods are supposed to represent flip-flopping on whether they are just arrogant rich people or a natural force of the universe.

L&T as a movie was pretty unfocused.

On top of that his entire story was tonally out of place with the rest of the movie and they couldn't keep his power level consistent.

[Danvidar]

what happened to the Olympians/Greek gods?

During Avengers: No Road Home that joint venture between Mark Waid, Al Ewing and Jim Zub, Zeus and most of the Olympians got killed by Nyx but at the end during a conversation Vision posits "The Gods of Olympus are more than just physical bodies. They are potent myths woven into our collective reality and that I do do not believe the Universe is ready to let them go yet."
He is proven right on the next page:


This is continued in Ewing's Guardians run where the Olympians are reduced to a roving band of raiders, who arrive, wipe everything clean, then take tribute in blood and treasure to use as fuel for New Olympus:


Star Lord is able to seal them away at the apparent cost of his own life but both he and the Olympians come back before they are defeated for good in #12. With most of them being killed by the Guardians with Zeus and Athena being locked in a reality without Suns via a Black-Hole Bullet.


Not all Olympians were reborn this way however as seen in Valkyrie Jane Foster #3. When the rebirth happened it disconnected Hades from Olympus leaving it and Pluto behind resulting in them being " Half-Transformed, Half-Dead And Rotting. This is what allows the anchorites of Heven (the men) to try and steal it to use as an afterlife for their mistresses the Angels of Heven.

And finally their is Ares who survived No Road Home and served as the main? villain of the Jane Foster and The Mighty Thor miniseries but was killed by Frank (admittedly powered up) over in Punisher.
This leaves the current state of the main members of the Pantheon as follows (as far as I am aware):
Aphrodite: ?
Apollo: Dead
Ares: Dead
Artemis: Dead
Athena: Trapped with Zeus (Jailer)
Demeter: ?
Dionysius: ?
Hephaestus: Dead
Hera: Dead
Hercules: Active
Hermes: Coma?/Dead
Hestia: ?
Neptune: ?
Pluto: Dead?/ Half rotten corpse?
Zeus: Trapped with Athena

[Felipe Silveira]

Looking at it that way, Ewing seems just as bad for gods as Aaron.

[Danvidar]

Looking at it that way, Ewing seems just as bad for gods as Aaron.

As I posted it is his treatment of the Olympians that is his black mark in what I have read from him. I really enjoyed his Loki series, it helped provide some positive Odin and some slight shade on Freya while Aarons run was going on. Though I must mention No Road Home had multiple writers, the Valkyrie issue was co written by Aaron who also wrote the Punisher issue in which Frank kills Ares. So how much of the content of the Valkyrie issue was Aaron and how much was Ewing is up for debate. His Guardians run, which covers most of his work on the Olympians, was all him though.

[Sif]

Curiously Valkyrie Jane Foster #3, was one of reasons i was unimpressed by Al, that comic was written by him (at that point Aaron was just marketing), so Al tries the very essence of Thor, (Journey Into the Mystery), but the final result was sterile, Heimdall last ride should impact and have ramifications in the main title, and obviously Sif.

Issue that iirc Jane mentions her son Jimmy, so definitely no written by Aaron.

[Betty]

Read Ewing's Immortal Thor #1 and it was pretty good. Wasn't expecting [spoiler]Gaea[/spoiler] to show up. The artist just draws Loki like his male version but with lipstick. The artists for the Loki mini do a better job especially in Loki #2.

The art on the issue was pretty solid in general, but I wasn't a fan of this artist's take on Loki. Peralta's Loki, especially their female form, is much better, in my opinion. Then again, I always greatly preferred the Gillen/McKelvie design (like Peralta uses) over the Ewing/Garbett ragged look. I'm a Loki fan first, but it's good to see that Coccolo's Thor looks really good.

[Triniking1234]

Gorr wanted to wipe out a species, not a class of people.

Royalty comes close, but not quite

I guess that's a problem with how the movies portray gods compared to the books.

Like are all the Asgardians and Olympians Gods? That isn't the case for Olympians in the books and I doubt it's the same for Asgardians cuz there are clearly Asgardians who closer to normal humans than like Odin, Thor and Loki.

[Frontier]

The art on the issue was pretty solid in general, but I wasn't a fan of this artist's take on Loki. Peralta's Loki, especially their female form, is much better, in my opinion. Then again, I always greatly preferred the Gillen/McKelvie design (like Peralta uses) over the Ewing/Garbett ragged look. I'm a Loki fan first, but it's good to see that Coccolo's Thor looks really good.

I kind of miss the Lady Loki of the JMS era (even if it was just Loki using Sif's form to screw with Thor).

[Triniking1234]

The art on the issue was pretty solid in general, but I wasn't a fan of this artist's take on Loki. Peralta's Loki, especially their female form, is much better, in my opinion. Then again, I always greatly preferred the Gillen/McKelvie design (like Peralta uses) over the Ewing/Garbett ragged look. I'm a Loki fan first, but it's good to see that Coccolo's Thor looks really good.

What do those ones look like?

[Betty]

What do those ones look like?

McKelvie's design from the Young Avengers run with Gillen: https://twitter.com/DesignOfAHero/st...66834675933189
Peralta's version, which builds off of that but keeps Garbett's missing tooth: https://www.instagram.com/p/CuATG90v9Hg/?img_index=3

Garbett's God of Stories design: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/775322892102737988/ (this was the only image I could find of Garbett's design worksheet).

I kind of miss the Lady Loki of the JMS era (even if it was just Loki using Sif's form to screw with Thor).

It was a phenomenal design and I loved it, but I think it makes sense to go with a new design on Loki's female form. I just really don't care for the design Ewing seems to favor. Like I said, I thought Peralta's version in Loki #2 looked great. https://buzzpreview.buzzcomics.net/2...eview-6-1.webp

[Frontier]

It was a phenomenal design and I loved it, but I think it makes sense to go with a new design on Loki's female form. I just really don't care for the design Ewing seems to favor. Like I said, I thought Peralta's version in Loki #2 looked great. https://buzzpreview.buzzcomics.net/2...eview-6-1.webp

In general they seem to be going for a more androgynous look in general to capture Loki's gender-fluidity (to the point where the male and female form have little difference between them) but I think it worked better for Starfox's revamp than Loki.

Although who knows, if this run goes on long enough Ewing might revamp Loki again.

[Betty]

In general they seem to be going for a more androgynous look in general to capture Loki's gender-fluidity (to the point where the male and female form have little difference between them) but I think it worked better for Starfox's revamp than Loki.

Although who knows, if this run goes on long enough Ewing might revamp Loki again.

I get that. Personally I like that the two forms wear the same armor and have the same sense of style, but I'd like them to at least be easy to tell apart at first glance (unlike in Immortal Thor and Defenders: Beyond, where I genuinely had to take a second look to figure it out)

Yeah, I have not been a fan of Ewing's work with Loki, so I don't think I want him do another revamp. Although it might be worth it if it means Loki gets rid of the ragged clothes and remembers what shoes are. But I could write an essay on everything I dislike about Ewing's Loki, and I doubt that'd be much appreciated on a thread dedicated to Thor.

[Sif]

I said before that Al's work in Thor's world (before Immortal) was nothing special, weak here and there, Kieron Gillen work with Loki and even Hela, was clearly superior.

I believe the appreciation thread is about the character and his world, so why would anyone who reads Thor is disconnected from Odin, Sif, Loki etc.?

Besides, after 1# from immortal, Loki is going to have a big role, hopefully not overused.

[Mantis-Ray]

I said before that Al's work in Thor's world (before Immortal) was nothing special, weak here and there, Kieron Gillen work with Loki and even Hela, was clearly superior.

I believe the appreciation thread is about the character and his world, so why would anyone who reads Thor is disconnected from Odin, Sif, Loki etc.?

Besides, after 1# from immortal, Loki is going to have a big role, hopefully not overused.

Speaking of supporting characters, would it be unreasonable to hope Angela doesn't appear?