THOR: Marvel's Return to Greatness

I have just read the first 12 issues of Thor and the finale, as well as Thor 600 & 601 (going along with Marvel's return to original numbering, the flipside to the constant new issue #1s). This run by J. Michael Straczynski, drawn by Olivier Coipel & Marko Djurdjevic, chronicles the return of Thor and all of Asgard from the post-Ragnarok void that the God's rested in when I guess Marvel didn't know what to do with the character (along with the Avengers) and killed them all off.

JMS does an amazing job resetting continuity while moving the series forward story-wise. Thor is called forth to protect Midgard (Earth) and is once again bonded to Dr. Donald Blake (who are two seperate conscious beings). He's got the gnarled walking staff which he uses to transform into the God of Thunder. And he's brought back into Man's world to re-create Asgard on Earth to reconnect with humanity.

Heimdall, Balder, Loki, the Warriors Three, they're all back (although Loki in female form which works to unsettle and regain trust with the Asgardians just enough to manipulate them all, and later is revealed as a plot to keep Lady Sif from Thor). Everyone is back except Odin.

Though it appears Thor is purposefully not bringing back his father, he tells himself it is so the kingdom may not repeat the cycle of Ragnarok once more. It will be a fresh start for the Asgardians. But perhaps it is because Thor truly wishes to lead, to come into his own, to surpass his father.

To that end Thor journeys via Odinsleep, into the realm that now houses Odin and Surtur, who are locked in eternally repetitious cycles of violence against each other. Here we are told a tale of Bor, Odin's father, and how in defiance of him Odin created man, who his father plagued with monsters and beasts to punish his son and his creation. Odin understands the need for the cycle to begin anew with new leadership.

This tale of Bor also sets up an interesting twist on the origin of Loki and how he came to be adopted son of Odin, the guilty poison let into the kingdom. I won't spoil it past that as it is truly one of the most clever bits in this run. It also sets up the return of Bor who is brought to NYC dis at the hands of Loki, and then beset by Thor, who ends up killing his own grandfather.

A move that allows Loki to place Balder as King (after slyly revealing the truth that Balder is half-brother to Thor), and to have Thor exiled. This brings the Asgardians into Latveria, and Doom experiments on them, and there's a big fight with Doom's own version of the Destroyer suit. It's pure comic book here.

But it also has nice moments of the Gods interacting with humans, and even sets up a heroic death for Bill Jr. (aka William the Third) who fell in love with a female winter goddess. It's pretty well done and you really do root for the character and his death is handled exceptionally well if not blunt. But these are gods here. Depowered a bit on Earth, but gods among mortals.

There's even a bit at the end which makes it so Dr. Donald Blake once again is wounded and left with a limp so he needs the cane. It's all very neatly tied up with a bow, leaving us with a well developed story, an entertaining and engaging return of the great characters from this part of Marvel, and prepares us for Siege.

A small plot hole I found was, what was Loki's plan for Sif, it almost seemed as if he were just using her to distract Thor, or perhaps just using her mortal form to regain trust? I'm not sure, but it wasn't to remove her from him forever. Ahh wait, maybe it was in hope that Thor would use all of Odin's power to drain him somehow? For on his way to save her, Mjolnir damaged from the fight with Bor, he must go to Dr. Strange to repair the hammer by removing the Odinpower from himself and imbue it into his hammer, thereby linking him to his hammer as never before. Hmmm.

Either way, it's great to have Thor back, and the scene where Thor gives Iron Man what's coming to him for the Civil War/Thor clone debacle, and the Captain America memorial, well this really helps build up the need for a return of the Avengers.

Thor Trailer Reactions

So, hopefully you've all watched the Thor trailer a few times and digested it a bit before they took it off the web. Let us know what you're reactions were and what you think it's all about. But before that, let's check what the stars of the film had to say after seeing the trailer. Natalie? Chris? Ken?



And here's the little snippet we've got on the Thor video game:



A serious teaser there with no gameplay or anything. Well, io9 shows some of the scenery art from the game and tries to guess what it might be all about.

I don't know about you 'clubbers out there, I was hopeful that this movie would be awesome, but now I am psyched to see this!

As far as superhero movies go, Make Mine Marvel!

Thor Trailer Leaked

iO9 has a leaked Thor trailer, check it out here but be quick, these things don't tend to stick around for long.

Or, watch it below:

I've been very skeptical of the Thor movie, the character has never resonated with me, and I always thought that he was a bit too silly...I mean, a Norse god who speaks in a fake Medieval accent?? My favorite Thor moments have been when he's guest-starring in someone else's comic, because then he's generally silent and imposing.

This trailer though...well, it looks pretty good. The costumes work, the direction looks engaging, the effects look very good; though it was a pretty small aspect ratio, so who knows? When Odin yells angrily at Loki, then casts Thor out, I got chills.

Chills from a trailer. A Thor trailer.

Anyway, here are my predictions, take 'em or leave 'em:

The Asgard scenes will be amazing, but few. The Earth scenes will be cloyingly sappy and slow-moving. The fights will be intense but clumsy. Agent Colson will steal the show.

Check it out for yourself, and let us know what you think!

COMICON EXCLUSIVE: Marvel Studio's THOR & CAPTAIN AMERICA

[via Yahoo!]

Discuss.

Musings on Thor

Some images of Thor, from the upcoming movie "Thor," have been released this morning, one day after images of the Captain America costume were released.

Here are some thoughts from your local Write Clubbers: Tim & Jon.

Tim- Terrible! Just a terrible design in every sense. The cape is just about the only thing I like. It looks like some kind of retro-future version of Thor. Skirting the line between the newest costume design, and the Ultimates Thor design. Oh, plus some lame ren-faire leather pants with some kind of steel garter!? And they're not even cool, worn, warrior leather pants! They're like...hot-topic leather. Goth leather.

Is he wearing shin guards? Isn't he a god? Will he be doing extreme sports in this film? I kind of hope so now.

I must admit, full disclosure, I'm not a Thor fan. I don't really enjoy his comic, and as a character I can take or leave him, so maybe that's coloring my opinion of this new costume. But while I'm not a Thor fan, I have to ask, where's the helmet!? The helmet, and the hammer are the two things I think most people think about when they think of Marvel's Thor. I'd much rather have had them drop the cape in lieu of the helmet, instead they dropped the ball.


Jon - By Odin's beard that's bad! Maybe it's because the guy in the suit looks like James Hetfield after a day at the salon, or maybe it's because I actually liked the Captain America costume pictures that were released yesterday; whatever the case, I'm not impressed.

Everything about this looks cheap and lazily designed. His hammer, the almighty Mjolnir, looks like a toy prototype (and let's be honest: it is a toy prototype). His torso piece looks like it's made of a buffed car hood. At least with Cap, the costume looks like it's the result of some clever riffing on familiar and new styles. This is basically just Ultimate Thor, plus a little bit of his classic look. I guess we should just be thankful they didn't go for the winged helmet?

Truth is, I love Thor, but my hopes have never been high for the movie. More so than any other Marvel property, Thor's success (at least critically) will largely depend on the look of the film, which is what makes these photos so troubling. The filmmakers really have the look of Thor working against them, as the Asgardian costumes are already kinda cheesy. Will the movie make a lot of money regardless? Yeah, it will, and some of that money will come from my pocket. Way of the world when you're a nerd.

I just hope they keep the Rainbow Bridge.