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?
