Ask Kurt Busiek

[Kurt Busiek]

Have you ever thought about doing an Aquaman story that looks into the way Atlantis interacts with the other Atlantean kingdoms, most notably Venturia and Queen Clea, but... there's several others as well.

I planned to do a lot with the undersea world. Didn't have specific plans for Venturia and Queen Clea, but I'd have probably made some along the way.

kdb

[Superfan90]

Hey Kurt, As I recall Wonder Woman defeated Wonder Man in arm wrestling and overpowered Hercules in JLA/Avengers, would you say she's equal to Marvel Thor in strength?

Thanks.

[Kurt Busiek]

Hey Kurt, As I recall Wonder Woman defeated Wonder Man in arm wrestling and overpowered Hercules in JLA/Avengers, would you say she's equal to Marvel Thor in strength?

I don't think strength really works that way.

I know, for example, that what I can lift on a Saturday afternoon at 3pm may be too much for me to lift at 3:05pm, but if I rest a little I might be able to lift it again. So my strength varies depending on a variety of factors. I assume it's the same for superheroes.

We did say in JLA/AVENGERS that WW beats Wonder Man at arm wrestling "every year," though, so it seems she's either stronger or more skilled at arm wrestling, both of which seem reasonably-founded to me. When Wonder Man was created, he had the strength of Giant-Man, and while he seems to have gotten stronger over the years, when he's said things like that his fists hit like Thor's hammer, that does seem to be more like bragging than like truth.

And we saw WW and Herc hit each other a few times, and we saw WW with Herc in a headlock for a single panel. Whether Herc was overpowered, whether he'd break free of it if we saw the rest of the fight, whether she got the best of him due to him slipping on a grease spot or something, we don't and can't know. It's not really wise to try to figure out eternal truths from a few moments in a chaotic scene. I've seen people say that some Marvel character defeated Doomsday and try to build on that as a foundation, when all we saw was that the Marvel character hit Doomsday hard enough to know him off-panel. We don't know what happened next, so it seems unsustainable to call that a fight with a conclusion.

That said, we've seen Wonder Woman go toe to toe with Superman, and he's pretty strong. And DC's described her for years as having "the wisdom of Athena, the strength of Hercules, the speed of Mercury and the beauty of Aphrodite" or, at times, said she's "stronger than Hercules, swifter than Mercury, and so on" -- indeed in WONDER WOMAN 60, Hercules flat-out tells her she's stronger than him (and Mercury admits she's faster, and so forth). And whenever DC's Hercules has matched up with Superman, they've seemed fairly equally matched in strength, too.

So Wonder Woman's clearly wicked strong. She goes up against some real heavyweights and holds her own.

Thor's wicked strong, too. Is their strength the same? Close to the same? Variable, but in the same ballpark?

That's for readers to have fun arguing about; I'm not writing either one of them at present and couldn't say definitively even if I wanted to.

But clearly, they're both wicked strong.

kdb

[Superfan90]

I don't think strength really works that way.

I know, for example, that what I can lift on a Saturday afternoon at 3pm may be too much for me to lift at 3:05pm, but if I rest a little I might be able to lift it again. So my strength varies depending on a variety of factors. I assume it's the same for superheroes.

We did say in JLA/AVENGERS that WW beats Wonder Man at arm wrestling "every year," though, so it seems she's either stronger or more skilled at arm wrestling, both of which seem reasonably-founded to me. When Wonder Man was created, he had the strength of Giant-Man, and while he seems to have gotten stronger over the years, when he's said things like that his fists hit like Thor's hammer, that does seem to be more like bragging than like truth.

And we saw WW and Herc hit each other a few times, and we saw WW with Herc in a headlock for a single panel. Whether Herc was overpowered, whether he'd break free of it if we saw the rest of the fight, whether she got the best of him due to him slipping on a grease spot or something, we don't and can't know. It's not really wise to try to figure out eternal truths from a few moments in a chaotic scene. I've seen people say that some Marvel character defeated Doomsday and try to build on that as a foundation, when all we saw was that the Marvel character hit Doomsday hard enough to know him off-panel. We don't know what happened next, so it seems unsustainable to call that a fight with a conclusion.

That said, we've seen Wonder Woman go toe to toe with Superman, and he's pretty strong. And DC's described her for years as having "the wisdom of Athena, the strength of Hercules, the speed of Mercury and the beauty of Aphrodite" or, at times, said she's "stronger than Hercules, swifter than Mercury, and so on" -- indeed in WONDER WOMAN 60, Hercules flat-out tells her she's stronger than him (and Mercury admits she's faster, and so forth). And whenever DC's Hercules has matched up with Superman, they've seemed fairly equally matched in strength, too.

So Wonder Woman's clearly wicked strong. She goes up against some real heavyweights and holds her own.

Thor's wicked strong, too. Is their strength the same? Close to the same? Variable, but in the same ballpark?

That's for readers to have fun arguing about; I'm not writing either one of them at present and couldn't say definitively even if I wanted to.

But clearly, they're both wicked strong.

kdb

That's reasonable but several characters including Namor, Hercules and Amora have stated that Wonder Man did indeed rival Thor in strength. Appreciate your thoughts on this.

Is it fair to say that Wonder Woman is generally in Thor's weight class in terms of strength if we go strictly by JLA/Avengers depictions of both?

[Gaastra]

Kurt thanks for including lesser known jla and avengers members in jla vs avengers like retro and the female dr fate for jla and two gun kid and the great lakes team who tends to get left out of these events.

Were the team up of the members in issue 4 picked a certain way or ones you just wanted to see team up like beast and plastic man and wonder woman next to big bertha and the all captain marvels or did you pick them at random?

[Kurt Busiek]

Is it fair to say that Wonder Woman is generally in Thor's weight class in terms of strength if we go strictly by JLA/Avengers depictions of both?

That's something you can decide for yourself, based on the depictions you see in front of you. You don't need me to give it a stamp of approval.

I think going by what you see in the comics is the best way to do it.

kdb

[Kurt Busiek]

Kurt thanks for including lesser known jla and avengers members in jla vs avengers like retro and the female dr fate for jla and two gun kid and the great lakes team who tends to get left out of these events.

George wanted to have everyone, so we put in everyone. Even The Yazz.

Were the team up of the members in issue 4 picked a certain way or ones you just wanted to see team up like beast and plastic man and wonder woman next to big bertha and the all captain marvels or did you pick them at random?

A lot of the one-panel rosters were George having fun. A few of them were mine, but I'd have to check the plot to see which ones, at this point. He took a free hand with the plot, to get as much in as he possibly could, and I was happy to have him do that -- it was energetic and crazy, and a blast to script.

kdb

[Rajjar]

Mr Busiek, I was just wondering about "half-powered Hercules" for a certain portion of Marvel history. I know that Zeus humbled him in Avengers #384, and I've read in handbooks that Zeus gave him the power back to fight for Olympus during the Ares mini-series. But I was thinking about his status under your pen.

I read your Avengers run with Morgan Le Fay, and I noticed how Hercules felt a little off when turned back to normal (costume switch and all), like the other Avengers ask him if he's alright and he waves them off. I then looked further into the run, before the Avengers face off with those mystical Exemplars, and saw that he said his godly powers were diminished. I also was referred to his fight in your Thunderbolts run from Dan Jurgens' Thor series, and Moonstone said word got around that he wasn't as powerful as he used to be. Would you say that these statements are reliable/accurate?
RCO010_1585628407.jpg


9319296-screenshot2024-04-02010509.jpg

[Rajjar]

Also, speaking of Morgan le Fay, I thought it was so cool that you added the part about her heritage being related to the Dark Elves to wield the Norn Stones. It reminded me of Walt Simonson's Thor run where the Fae Realm/Svartalfheim mystically intersects with Britain, and it made me think about how that could have been responsible for her bloodline way back in medieval times.

P.S. I was really surprised and delighted by you bringing all those villains from the lore in Thor: Tales of Asgard to fight the Avengers! That was truly awesome.

9247531-ezgif-7-bd2f12d46a.jpg

[Kurt Busiek]

Mr Busiek, I was just wondering about "half-powered Hercules" for a certain portion of Marvel history. I know that Zeus humbled him in Avengers #384, and I've read in handbooks that Zeus gave him the power back to fight for Olympus during the Ares mini-series. But I was thinking about his status under your pen.

I read your Avengers run with Morgan Le Fay, and I noticed how Hercules felt a little off when turned back to normal (costume switch and all), like the other Avengers ask him if he's alright and he waves them off. I then looked further into the run, before the Avengers face off with those mystical Exemplars, and saw that he said his godly powers were diminished. I also was referred to his fight in your Thunderbolts run from Dan Jurgens' Thor series, and Moonstone said word got around that he wasn't as powerful as he used to be. Would you say that these statements are reliable/accurate?

I dunno. It was a long time ago.

But it certainly sounds like I'm referencing whatever else was going on with him in the Marvel Universe at the time -- I wouldn't have had Moonstone says something like that if she wasn't referencing other events.

kdb

[Kurt Busiek]

Also, speaking of Morgan le Fay, I thought it was so cool that you added the part about her heritage being related to the Dark Elves to wield the Norn Stones. It reminded me of Walt Simonson's Thor run where the Fae Realm/Svartalfheim mystically intersects with Britain, and it made me think about how that could have been responsible for her bloodline way back in medieval times.

I'm not sure I made that up -- I mean, Morgan's been thought to have been partly fae for centuries, which is where the name comes from -- but if I was the first to mention it in a Marvel comic, I will take full credit. But I suspect I was referencing someone else having established it.

P.S. I was really surprised and delighted by you bringing all those villains from the lore in Thor: Tales of Asgard to fight the Avengers! That was truly awesome.

Thanks! We had fun.

kdb

[marhawkman]

I'm not sure I made that up -- I mean, Morgan's been thought to have been partly fae for centuries, which is where the name comes from -- but if I was the first to mention it in a Marvel comic, I will take full credit. But I suspect I was referencing someone else having established it.

Hmm... One thing I saw recently discussing the ambiguities of Norse Mythology... pointed out that some of the missing fragments we don't have readily available from Viking texts... could potentially be found in parallels from similar folklore in Celtic or British myths. And... I mention this because one specific similarity is between the Alfar(or elves)... and Fae.

[Raz]

Kurt, firstly I think it's wildly awesome that you have such a big presence on these boards. You really gave me my favourite Avengers run, your Thunderbolts was awesome, Astro City is on another level, and in general I just think you're neat </Marge Simpson>

My question is: of the new generation of Marvel superheroes (eg: Miles Morales Spider-Man, Kamala Khan Ms Marvel, Nadia Pym Wasp etc) - are there any in particular that you think will really last the distance and/or who you'd like to write at some point?

[Kurt Busiek]

Kurt, firstly I think it's wildly awesome that you have such a big presence on these boards. You really gave me my favourite Avengers run, your Thunderbolts was awesome, Astro City is on another level, and in general I just think you're neat </Marge Simpson>

Thanks!

My question is: of the new generation of Marvel superheroes (eg: Miles Morales Spider-Man, Kamala Khan Ms Marvel, Nadia Pym Wasp etc) - are there any in particular that you think will really last the distance and/or who you'd like to write at some point?

Well, I think Miles is on pretty solid ground these days.

I'm waaaaaay out of touch with recent Marvel books, but I can usually find something in any character to enjoy about writing them. I can't really say I've read enough of any of them to make me think, "Yeah, I want to write that one!" But you never know, I guess.

kdb

[Nomads1]

Mr Busiek, I was just wondering about "half-powered Hercules" for a certain portion of Marvel history. I know that Zeus humbled him in Avengers #384, and I've read in handbooks that Zeus gave him the power back to fight for Olympus during the Ares mini-series. But I was thinking about his status under your pen.

I read your Avengers run with Morgan Le Fay, and I noticed how Hercules felt a little off when turned back to normal (costume switch and all), like the other Avengers ask him if he's alright and he waves them off. I then looked further into the run, before the Avengers face off with those mystical Exemplars, and saw that he said his godly powers were diminished. I also was referred to his fight in your Thunderbolts run from Dan Jurgens' Thor series, and Moonstone said word got around that he wasn't as powerful as he used to be. Would you say that these statements are reliable/accurate?
RCO010_1585628407.jpg


9319296-screenshot2024-04-02010509.jpg

I dunno. It was a long time ago.

But it certainly sounds like I'm referencing whatever else was going on with him in the Marvel Universe at the time -- I wouldn't have had Moonstone says something like that if she wasn't referencing other events.

kdb

Yeah, that Hercules depowering sure had me confused around that time. How much did his depowering really affect him? Was there a gradual repowering? (Shortly after, in the pages of Avengers, he was shown to be shaken by a fall from a few dozen feet of hight, yet, soon, he was surviving Nitro's explosions and facing opponents as strong as his godself without missing a beat.) When did he actually get his godly powers back? (I don't really expect anyone to have the answers, they were just questions that plagued me over the years.) I actually prefer Herc in full force, and using his arsenal of ancient mystical weapons. Hercules should always be one of Marvel's heaviest hitters.

Peace