So Thor is a woman now..

House of Blaze · 16-07-2014 7:53pm #1

Link:

http://www.wired.com/2014/07/new-female-thor/

Must say, I'm not really impressed with this.

I mean Thor-girl is already a character?

I'm all for increasing diversity yadda yadda yadda but this just seems like a bit much.

Fysh · 17-07-2014 7:09am

I'll be honest, I never really get why this sort of thing is a BFD. Considering that:
a), in general comic fans go along with the rolling retcons that go with Marvel's territory, and
b) in the specific case of Thor, we've already seen some interesting sort of bodyhopping with Loki that establishes that Asgardians are not fixed to a set bodytype,
it just seems irrelevant.

Plus, let's be blunt - the reason Marvel will be doing this is that the entire audience of DM comics knows that hardly anyone ever gets interested in or cares about the imitation characters, because most of them go no further than "She's like Male Superhero X, only female!".

Any particular or specific reason that you think this won't work?

Nervous Wreck · 17-07-2014 8:02am

I'd imagine this will go much the same way as Superior Spider-Man; a brief but fun interlude that reignites interest in the character. Kind of unnecessary at this point, given how great this run of Thor has been but sure it may still be quite fun!

Draco · 17-07-2014 9:19am

I think Texts From Superheroes sums it up best:

That said I've still no interest in buying any Thor comics.

Fysh · 17-07-2014 10:18am

I was wondering whether the frog thing would get mentioned :P

Amalgam · 17-07-2014 10:25am

Fysh wrote: »

I was wondering whether the frog thing would get mentioned :P

Had to Google..

Manach · 17-07-2014 11:07am

Whilst never following Thor's storyline that much, this seems to be more pandering to the PC Brigade and an attempt to garner a quick measure of publicity. By casting away such a key attribute of the character, it would seem to undercut a demograhic identification with such as well as showing a lack of creativity in the writers for failing to develop a new female character with her own fan-base. Will be interesting to see how long this lasts, or is it just a side benefit of Loki's reign.

House of Blaze · 17-07-2014 1:25pm

Fysh wrote: »

I'll be honest, I never really get why this sort of thing is a BFD. Considering that:
a), in general comic fans go along with the rolling retcons that go with Marvel's territory, and
b) in the specific case of Thor, we've already seen some interesting sort of bodyhopping with Loki that establishes that Asgardians are not fixed to a set bodytype,
it just seems irrelevant.

Plus, let's be blunt - the reason Marvel will be doing this is that the entire audience of DM comics knows that hardly anyone ever gets interested in or cares about the imitation characters, because most of them go no further than "She's like Male Superhero X, only female!".

Any particular or specific reason that you think this won't work?

Honestly I've been trying to pin what my problem is down the last day or so and reading around and my initial reaction was a little strong maybe.

I mean it still strikes me as weird that they would give someone else thors name when it is clearly not a function of his power (I mean it's not like your putting on a costume or a persona like iron man, it's his name like?

look at beta ray bill! )but honestly I think the main problem I have is something to do with what I feel is the ongoing disneyfication going on in the marvel books.

Between this, the new Ms. Marvel and the all female x-men book you can't help but get the whiff of corporate 'appeal' campaign. Plus they've come straight out and said it of course!

The marvel books were never as serious as DC of course imo but they still have most of my favourite characters. I want to see some sort of legacy preserved..

Obviously comics be comics and craziness can and does go on the whole time. As another poster pointed out though it probably won't last. Especially since they're making truckloads of cash via the movieverse.

I actually kind of like the new artwork too though I must say!

House of Blaze · 17-07-2014 1:27pm

The new 'unworthy' thor with the destroyer arm looks pretty class as well in fairness..

Delirium · 17-07-2014 1:31pm

House of Blaze wrote: »

Honestly I've been trying to pin what my problem is down the last day or so and reading around and my initial reaction was a little strong maybe.

I mean it still strikes me as weird that they would give someone else thors name when it is clearly not a function of his power (I mean it's not like your putting on a costume or a persona like iron man, it's his name like? look at beta ray bill! )but honestly I think the main problem I have is something to do with what I feel is the ongoing disneyfication going on in the marvel books.

Between this, the new Ms. Marvel and the Batwoman redesign (v. childish I thought) you can't help but get the whiff of corporate 'appeal' campaign. Plus they've come straight out and said it of course!

The marvel books were never as serious as DC of course imo but they still have most of my favourite characters. I want to see some sort of legacy preserved..

Obviously comics be comics and craziness can and does go on the whole time. As another poster pointed out though it probably won't last. Especially since they're making truckloads of cash via the movieverse.

I actually kind of like the new artwork too though I must say!

Has been done before though with the character who eventually became Thunderstrike

House of Blaze · 17-07-2014 1:35pm

SW wrote: »

Has been done before though with the character who eventually became Thunderstrike

Ha ha! True enough.

I guess I've never been a huge fan of spinning off new clone characters of established ones though.

Sort of like the hulk at one stage where just everyone was being hulkified!

Personal taste I guess.

CastorTroy · 17-07-2014 2:30pm

And they've revealed the new Avengers line up which includes the new Thor and the new Captain America, as well as a silver iron Man whose comic will be named Superior Iron Man.

So if you want the new Captain America to be a surprise (I didn't know who it would be before this pic) then better not click

http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/07/16/marvels-avengers-now-captain-america-is-black-thor-is-female-iron-man-has-a-new-suit/

One thing I did point out to a guy here is that Marvel owns the movie rights to all these Avengers.

House of Blaze · 17-07-2014 3:24pm

That actually looks like an awesome line up!

Nice to see Dr Strange will be back in the mix too.

<Ahem>

In advance of the rumoured Doc Strange movie announcement of course...

Morag · 17-07-2014 3:28pm

The new Capt is more inline with Cannon then the new Thor.
the new Thor doesn't sit well with me even with her being in alt universes.

Fysh · 17-07-2014 4:18pm

All I can say is, he's effectively a deity. It's anything but unheard of for deities to switch genders, so I don't really buy that having meat & two veg in his pants is a core attribute of the character.

Plus, let's be honest here - this is about generating conversation and trying to attract a wider audience. The Direct Market comics audience is extraordinarily conservative when it comes to new characters in established universes, so it's either this or silliness like Nick Fury Jr being crowbarred into the comics based on the film version.

House of Blaze · 17-07-2014 4:46pm

Fysh wrote: »

All I can say is, he's effectively a deity. It's anything but unheard of for deities to switch genders, so I don't really buy that having meat & two veg in his pants is a core attribute of the character.

Ha ha! I get that, but like I said, it's not actually the same character i.e. Thor Odinson who is suddenly becoming trans-thor, it's a completely separate character.

Thor will still be around but has been judged to be unworthy of wielding mjonir anymore so he will be without his thunder god powers (not sure if he will retain the odinforce? )

Hence my calling it a little strange that someone else can just pick up the hammer and 'be' thor.

Someone mentioned that it was done before with eric masterson / thunderstrike, but if memory serves masterson actually shared the mind / body of thor at the same time and was technically thor for a while... i guess...

I'm not too pushed about it anymore but it still strikes me as a little strange!

17-07-2014 10:34pm

Can't see why some sections of the comic reading world are complaining about it, at the very least it may make for something a little less generic that what we've gotten in recent times. It's rare that I'd pick up a Marvel title, the constant cross overs, reboots, etc, etc really put me off, as does the inflated prices they charge for the trades. This is the kind of move which may have me grab an issue or two and see how I feel about it, though this being Marvel, I can see Thor becoming male again pretty quickly.

Nervous Wreck · 17-07-2014 10:47pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Can't see why some sections of the comic reading world are complaining about it, at the very least it may make for something a little less generic that what we've gotten in recent times. It's rare that I'd pick up a Marvel title, the constant cross overs, reboots, etc, etc really put me off, as does the inflated prices they charge for the trades.

I don't find the trades particularly expensive... Crossovers and reboots aside, some of Marvel's current output is fantastic, in particular Daredevil, Hawkeye, Guardians of the Galaxy and Moon Knight.

17-07-2014 10:51pm

Nervous Wreck wrote: »

I don't find the trades particularly expensive... Crossovers and reboots aside, some of Marvel's current output is fantastic, in particular Daredevil, Hawkeye, Guardians of the Galaxy and Moon Knight.

Their trades are usually 4 or 5 euro more expensive than DC's and generally for less issues. I've been reading the recent Hawkeye and Guardians but most of Marvel's out put is rather generic and the constant reboots really do annoy.

House of Blaze · 17-07-2014 10:58pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Can't see why some sections of the comic reading world are complaining about it, at the very least it may make for something a little less generic that what we've gotten in recent times.

Yeah it just kind of bugs me the way they want to introduce more diversity etc. but instead of doing the braver, more difficult thing of actually flexing the 'aul creativity muscles and coming up with some decent original characters that can encompass that, they **** themselves at the prospect and just try to shoehorn it in.

One of my favourite recent enough characters was Hisako in the astonishing x-men series.

An asian girl with a cool power and a compelling character, who has been popular enough to get a top spot on the team without having to ride the coat tails of an existing character.

That to me is a much better idea than introducing these PR personality changes which you just know aren't going to be permanent anyway.

It just seems to me that they want to be seen to be promoting diversity etc. but without taking the risk associated with doing new flagship titles where they could perhaps, legitimately tackle the stagnation you mention.

17-07-2014 11:13pm

Marvel and to a lesser extent DC are way behind companies such as Image when it comes to offering up intelligent stories, compelling and diverse characters and stories which feel fresh and not simply a re-thread of the same tired material. Much as I've been enjoying books such as Hawkeye, it does feel like an independent or people who don't read anything but mainstream superhero titles.

I just shuddered a little bit there as I memories of reading the Age of Ultron flashed through my head. If I could scrub that book from my mind I would do so in an instant, it was painful to read and was everything that is wrong with Marvel atm.

House of Blaze · 17-07-2014 11:17pm

I know how you feel!

I started reading The Boys recently and talk about a breath of fresh air! I was shocked and impressed more in the first few issues of that book than I have been by anything in years.

Didn't read age of ultron as I figured it would only be movie sauce for the tie in.

17-07-2014 11:25pm

I picked up the first trade of The Boys recently and wasn't all that impressed by it. The whole thing just felt juvenile and tended to feature the worst of Ennis' traits. It was quite mean spirited, full of unnecessary gratitious violence nad a lot of the dialogue felt like it was written by a teenage who still thinks saying "fuck" is hilarious. There was a lot of potential in the set up but much like Just A Pilgrim the joke wore thin pretty quickly and I haven't bothered with any of the other trades. But it may just be me who doesn't really rate the books and Ennis. I used to be a huge fan of his work when I was younger but recently I tried to reread Preacher and was left rather cold by it.

If you're looking for a few recommendations then check out Criminal, Sleeper, Thief of Thieves, Chew, Three, Northlanders, Scalped, Sex, Sex Criminals, Mara, Rats Quens, East of West, Secret Smile or Umbral

House of Blaze · 17-07-2014 11:35pm

Cool cheers i'll check some of them out!

I'd agree with a lot of what you said there but to be honest it's been refreshing to read, even in it all it's crassness, purely by comparison to the kind of 'whitebread' stuff i've been reading for the last few years.

I actually have a digital copy of Umbral that i have kept aside for after the Boys. Looks interesting!

unreggd · 20-07-2014 8:17pm

She looks like a total Thor in those clothes

BlaasForRafa · 21-07-2014 12:19am

House of Blaze wrote: »

Yeah it just kind of bugs me the way they want to introduce more diversity etc. but instead of doing the braver, more difficult thing of actually flexing the 'aul creativity muscles and coming up with some decent original characters that can encompass that, they **** themselves at the prospect and just try to shoehorn it in.

The reason is that no creator in their right mind would create something new for Marvel/DC because it's work for hire and they wouldn't get any share of profits from the character.

That's why Marvel/DC endlessly retread the same stuff over and over with some minor changes, so Thor is a woman, the sidekick takes over from the hero (for a while), the hero dies (for a while) etc etc.

James Howlett · 21-07-2014 2:36pm

BlaasForRafa wrote: »

The reason is that no creator in their right mind would create something new for Marvel/DC because it's work for hire and they wouldn't get any share of profits from the character.

That's why Marvel/DC endlessly retread the same stuff over and over with some minor changes, so Thor is a woman, the sidekick takes over from the hero (for a while), the hero dies (for a while) etc etc.

I recall Brubaker mentioning in an interview that the first he heard of the Winter Soldier's inclusion in Captain America 2 was the same day as the rest of us Joe Public. The fact that he created the character did not seem enough to even gain him a phone-call to give him a head's up.

buckybarnes · 25-07-2014 7:25pm

House of Blaze wrote: »

I mean Thor-girl is already a character?

It's been stated that the current Thor will soon become unworthy and is forced to start going by a different name as a result. The thing is, she's not just a Thor-girl ripoff. She's worthy of Mjölnir and the God of Thunder title itself. She is Thor.

To be honest, I'm really excited for this comic. Her design is absolutely great and even though I doubt the new Thor arc will last for more than two years, it's always nice to see diversity within Marvel's big three.

Nervous Wreck · 06-11-2014 8:45pm

Anyone read this yet? Issue #1 was great, though the new Thor was only introduced in the last page or so.

chrislad · 07-11-2014 11:05am

Thor is one of those comics that I really, really enjoy, binge on it, then forget about it for a while. I read the last issue and it seemed like more of the same, which is so, so good!

cyberwolf77 · 05-02-2015 1:47pm

Just saying

So Thor is a woman now..

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