Thor’s Day
“When Thor shows up in a comic, all the other characters should go “OH FUCK IT’S THOR RUN FOR YOUR FUCKING LIVES HE’S A VIKING WAR GOD WITH A FUCKING MAGIC HAMMER” and if they don’t then that writer and artist FAIL.” – Sean T. Collins (via Journalista!).
You can’t tell me the above quote doesn’t sum up the character perfectly. Sean Collins also mentions Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant’s Song, and if Black Sabbath get an airing on the Iron Man trailer then Matthew Vaughan should keep the former in mind for his Marvel feature. Either that, or something indistinguishable from Queen.
Speaking of Queen, has there ever been a better matching of band to soundtrack than Highlander? Epic pomp covers both music and film. And damn, Highlander was a great film. I always thought the whole sword-fighting immortal thing was so mythic that it’s almost impossible to believe it wasn’t actually a pre-existing legend. I think maybe what I’m getting at is, if Thor gets his own film then they wouldn’t go far wrong with stealing vibe and atmosphere from Christopher Lambert’s finest couple of hours.
Thor’s a great character, both in myth and Marvel. Although I felt it ended up going off the rails a bit, Dan Jurgens and John Romita Jr’s first year on the Heroes Return title was absolutely awesome, the perfect mix of Kirby cosmicness and human soap opera. I haven’t picked up any of the Straczynski run but I plan to at some point. I know there’s been some negative reaction online, but when is there not? And besides, while I understand that JMS’ style isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, I’ve always really rated him.
Babylon 5 is still the best spaceship series I’ve ever seen, even beyond the mighty ST:TOS. Maybe better (and whisper it, lest Paul C’s head explodes) than Who. Sure, it has its flaws (many, many flaws), but it’s rare that any series, spaceship-based or otherwise, has engaged me as much. And part of it is due to JMS’ idiosyncratic writing style, one that’s individual enough that I can see why it rubs some people up the wrong way.
I really enjoyed his Spider-Man stuff, and despite all the controversies and the interminable Civil War/One More Day bits, he was exactly the kind of writer the title needed when he came on. Yes, I know the Gwen Stacy stuff did to the hardcore fan what my previous paragraph is currently doing to my mate Paul, but for fuck’s sake, before JMS came on the Spider titles hadn’t been any good for about fifteen years. Maybe more. They weren’t even barely competent during the 90s (then again, what at Marvel was?). Besides, no other writer (apart from Ultimate Bendis) has ever written Aunt May half as well, or the sadly-missed Spider-marriage.
And I’ve never understood the fanguish about the “mystic” spider stuff, either. Even JMS pointed out in the story that a possible “mystic” explanation doesn’t need to contradict the “scientific” (and come on, you’re telling me “bitten by a radioactive spider” isn’t a mystical explanation?) origin, any more than the scientific origin of the Sun can’t coexist with its religious significance. If anything (and I’ve touched a little on this some time ago), it offers the option of seeing how the cosmic science of the Marvel U is perhaps reflected in the Astral Plane, and how Ditko and Kirby’s vision may just be two sides of the same coin. Besides, as has been proven time and time and time again, there’s nothing one writer can do that can’t, or won’t, be changed by the next writer on the title, so everybody chill (and I guess that goes double for me, in re: Tony Stark).
Got a bit side-tracked there, actually, as this was meant to be a post about the Thunder God. But then again, there really isn’t anything to add to the initial quote, is there?
on April 10th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
I totally agree with you about Highlander I watched that movie dozens of times during my late teens. It’s always pissed me off that you can’t get the movie’s soundtrack. I know a lot of the songs are on the ‘Kind Of Magic’ album, but they’re different versions to the ones featured in the movie, and there’s also a great version of ‘New York, New York’ in the movie by Queen that isn’t anywhere to be found. Which is weird considering how Queen have flogged their back catalogue to death since Freddie snuffed it. People knock Queen, but if you want overtop pomp, they’re just the ticket, and knock wanky pretenders like The Darkness into a cocked hat. Whatever that means. It’s the same with their soundtrack to Flash Gordon, a totally camped up, over the top, just-plain-fun movie, and the soundtrack matches.
But man, do I love the first Highlander. Even with the strange casting of Christopher Lambert as a Scotsman (and Sean Connery as an Egyptian!) I think it was a fantastic idea and executed perfectly. Shame about all the sequels and spin-offs, though.
I’m just hoping the Thor movie is much better than the Thor we got in that Incredible Hulk Returns TV movie! That was very poor indeed.
on April 11th, 2008 at 9:03 am
The ludicrous casting just enhances the craziness. It’s one of those rare films that’s absolutely over-the-top, full-on flashy music-video directing, explosions, everything, but at the same time the plot just makes sense- it’s really not madness for madness’ sake. There’s a truth to it, an epic sweep. Plus, sword fights. When aren’t sword fights cool?
I don’t like knocking the beAffleked Daredevil because I irrationally like it, but it wasn’t a particularly good film. But despite everything, it had one thing going for it: it was a gajillion times better than Matt Murdock in Trial of the Incredible Hulk.
on April 11th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
I must admit I liked the Afflecked Daredevil movie as well.
The thing that makes me sad about Trial Of The Incredible Hulk is that Stan Lee gave it some kind of credibility by cameoing in it as a juror. I only know this because someiends of mine, at a loss as to what to buy me for my birhday one year, bought me those two Incredible Hulk TV movies in a box set. They must’ve thought, ‘well he likes comics, he’ll love this!!’
And because I’m such a nerd, I watched them (I had seen them before on TV), and they’re absolute shit. I’ve never watched them again.
on April 11th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
I don’t know why, but when I try and type comments on your blog, letters and words go missing. Sometimes I realise and go back and correct myself, but other times I miss what my computer isn’t doing. So, in the above comment, it should read ’some friends’ and ‘birthday’. I know it’s so anally retentive it borders on OCD to comment about these things, but when I leave spelling mistakes (especially ones that aren’t my fault!) it bugs the hell out of me!
(I had to go back and re-type ‘words go missing’. Isn’t that ironic?!)
on April 14th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Apologies from management- the server’s been acting a little oddly recently (and it was down a bit on the weekend too, and I have no idea why), so that may be causing some oddness, plus I still haven’t got round to upgrading the software yet, so any of these things may be causing trouble. Hopefully the new version of WordPress will be a little less buggy.