tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105177482024-03-13T14:34:26.727-04:00GraphiContent"Chad Nevett is the spicy mustard of comics reviews" -- Adam Langton, Lovable Fucker and Chad Nevett's Best ManChad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comBlogger2186125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-34870589796596654692024-02-22T08:00:00.005-05:002024-02-22T08:00:52.184-05:00The Last Thorsday: Rambling Thoughts on King Thor #1-4<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0TIjzR9Nu49EptLGCv7tFNkjh7wCZqXmvoBBd6zBTXbfN8y7RUkOpCwAF90K2IndWi2QNA7kBal-Sj4goc_a7xFi4eKn3w_JJsm5M85yT2xo_chNgb8lKiPy7ZnYHz6zp0u_bhyjeopWkl1kmJPSkrbWbf7UErmRvawn6pF9dyjOUQaQelFS0eA/s1661/kt4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1661" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0TIjzR9Nu49EptLGCv7tFNkjh7wCZqXmvoBBd6zBTXbfN8y7RUkOpCwAF90K2IndWi2QNA7kBal-Sj4goc_a7xFi4eKn3w_JJsm5M85yT2xo_chNgb8lKiPy7ZnYHz6zp0u_bhyjeopWkl1kmJPSkrbWbf7UErmRvawn6pF9dyjOUQaQelFS0eA/s320/kt4.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>Jason Aaron began his run on the Thor
titles in November of 2012. He ended it in December of 2019. Seven years. It
began with Thor: God of Thunder with Esad Ribić drawing the book and Dean White
colouring it. It ended with King Thor with Esad Ribić drawing the book and Ive
Svorcina colouring it. It’s been just over four years since the run ended and
it feels so much longer. A lot has happened between then and now, to say the
least. And, now, I find myself at an end, struggling to find a way to pull it
off, hoping that latching onto this wonderful finale may carry me through this
last Thorsday.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">As I end Thorsday Thoughts, I find it hard
not to see myself in Shadrak, the god of bombs and things forgotten and
imbeciles and imbecility, in Omnipotence City, fretting over the section of the
library containing the books of Thor. Knocking the books to the ground and
stopping to read them. For over seven years, I’ve been Shadrak in my office,
compiling and completing my collection of the books of Thor, dusting them off,
seeing what’s in them and trying to share some of the joy and wonder with you.
Trying to find meaning in them. “Why Thor?” Why not. Even though this
newsletter is ending, Shadrak’s words remain as true for me now and they’ve
ever been:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">“Oh well. Maybe I’ll...</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">“...I’ll have time to read another one. <i>Tomorrow</i>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">“The books aren’t <i>going</i> anywhere, right?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">“There will <i>always</i> be more Thor stories.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Even as I find solace in that idea, it’s
hard not to read it as a threat. Only a few short weeks after King Thor #4 came
out, a new Thor #1 hit the stands and, while I did not come to relitigate the
Donny Cates run, let me just get in one last jab: it wasn’t good. The greatest
Thor run that I’d been old enough to read in real time as it came out (a run
great enough to enter the debate of all time great Thor runs) ended with a
finale devoted to trying to define what makes this character so great – four
final issues that sum up Thor as well as any other comics I’ve read – and it’s
followed with no break by just some more Thor comics. Of course. <i>Of course</i>. That idea is buried right in
the middle of the final issue when Shadrak picks up a book titled “Thor Cop”
and the issue veers off on a tangent of three glimpses of Thor’s future, all
horrendous and dumb. At the time, I called it “Jason Aaron doing Jason Aaron
things,” and, now it seems like a recognition that part of the joy of Thor is
the ups and downs. Part of that is because, as part of mainstream superhero
comics, the character is nothing more than a piece of a franchise, something to
continue pushing out forever to provide fodder for other, more lucrative media.
Part of that is because, as part of mainstream superhero comics, these things
keep coming out and, sometimes they’re good, sometimes they’re not, sometimes
they’re awful, and sometimes they’re great. And you never really know what
you’re going to get. And, as clichéd as it is to say it, the downs are
important for the ups to happen. You don’t get “Worldengine” without the crater
of that Roy Thomas run. You don’t get Walt Simonson without a sense of blasé
hanging over the title. You don’t get Al Ewing without Cates. No matter how low
things sink, eventually, Thor is back being Thor doing Thor things.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">That’s one lesson given in King Thor, a
comic that easily could have been called Thor: The End or Thor Forever or
Immortal Thor or any other title that fits into a pre-established pattern of
Marvel titles. But, it’s not. It’s called King Thor, picking up right after
Thor #16, the aftermath of War of the Realms, which ended with Odin abdicating
the throne and kneeling before his son. Finally, Thor would be king of Asgard.
Except, Jason Aaron wouldn’t write that story. King Thor picks up at the very
end of his reign by returning to the beginning of the Aaron run: with the
Necrosword and Gorr the God Butcher. It’s a story about the endless struggle of
living, made painfully obvious in the final issue with a page of narration
about Thor’s lifetime struggle against self-doubt and his failures and his
efforts to be worthy. A struggle that never ends because it’s not about an end.
Living is a process and so is the idea of being worthy.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">It’s tempting to point to the Aaron run and
the central struggle of the Odinson to be ‘worthy’ as the reason why I like
Thor so much, but that would be a lie. I liked Thor long before Jason Aaron
began writing his stories and not too many people before Aaron seemed to give
the idea much thought. It had cropped up when Beta Ray Bill reached out and
took hold of Mjolnir at the beginning of Simonson’s run or when Eric Masterson
took up the mantle or when Odin tried to replace his son however many times.
The idea was there from the beginning, in Journey into Mystery #83, with the
inscription upon Mjolnir. Being Thor means being worthy every single day. And
what does that even mean?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">It’s a question that lingered over a large
part of the Aaron run as we followed the adventures of Jane Foster as Thor,
able to lift Mjolnir with ease while the Odinson couldn’t budge it an inch. He
was suddenly made unworthy with a single sentence: “Gorr was right.” Right
about the worthlessness of gods, their selfishness, their arrogance, their
demands, and their failures. Thor had seen enough gods to know that Gorr’s
criticisms were rooted in truth and the self-doubt lingered... was he, the
Odinson, like those other gods? Thor’s period of unworthiness is about
self-doubt overwhelming him and his struggle to regain his confidence. The
lesson winds up being simple: being worthy isn’t a static state, it’s a
process. It’s something you do rather than something you are. Jane proved it in
her time as Thor by putting the needs of those who rely on Thor above her own.
Being Thor was literally killing her, and she couldn’t deny the cries for help
that she had the power to answer.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">King Thor is about Thor, having sunk into
another low state and regained himself, proven himself worthy, remade Midgard,
and brought peace to what little remained of the universe... realising that he
hasn’t beaten anything. Gorr is the darkness inside that always comes back even
when you think you’ve defeated it for good. With his hatred of the very idea of
gods – the very idea of what Thor is – he is the embodiment of every
self-doubt, every negative thought, every bit of hatred Thor has for himself. Aaron
is a bit too on the nose, of course, with Gorr’s resurrection coming at the
hands of Loki. Loki wields the Necrosword in one last attempt to kill his
brother and brings back Gorr to kill him once that task is accomplished. It’s
so fitting that Loki thinks himself able to kill Thor with the assistance of
Thor’s own self-hatred and, then, will need the embodiment of everything
negative inside his brother – that Thor has spent his entire life overcoming
and beating back – to kill him, because he’s too weak to do it himself. The
sheer absurdity of it all!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">In the end, Thor overcomes. He is worthy.
But not by himself. Gorr is only defeated because of the help Thor receives
from his family and friends, because you can’t beat your inner darkness by
yourself every time. Sometimes, you need help. In an absolute fitting touch,
Gorr is defeated in, part, because of Thor’s humility. Of his willingness to
accept the help of others – to <i>ask</i>
for the help of others. And Aaron takes that idea of humility further in the
Odinson’s final actions: to go to the centre of the universe and spend the rest
of his life holding up the universe, to ensure it does not descend into
entropy. It’s a moment of servitude and humbling himself before every living
being. An act of proving himself worthy every moment forever.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">But, there was also another idea that
became the undercurrent of the Aaron run: that Thor is a title rather than a
person. Like being worthy, this was inherent in the first Thor story. While it
was eventually revealed that there was no Donald Blake (maybe), the idea
originally presented by Stan and Jack was that an ordinary person, worthy
enough to lift Mjolnir, is granted the power of Thor. Blake is transformed into
Thor, like it was a role that he could step in and out of. And this idea
recurred several times, with the aforementioned Beta Ray Bill and Eric Masterson
stories. With Red Norvell, he picked up a few of Thor’s belongings, grabbed a
big hammer, and declared himself Thor. Later, Odin literally bestowed the name
upon him and acted as if he were his actual son. Odin collected Thors for a
period, so paranoid about Ragnarok and the need for Asgard’s champion to defend
it, maybe even somehow avert it. No wonder Thor, on page seven of issue four of
King Thor, still struggles with what his father thought of him. In many ways,
Thor was never a person. Thor was an idea. Thor was a title. Thor was a
position. And, during Aaron’s run, the Odinson lost his title and Jane Foster
took it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">That’s such a fascinating thing to have
happen as it means that, when the Odinson was trying to regain his status as
worthy, he was actively trying to regain his identity, his name. When Odin sent
Thor to Earth to teach him humility and added the enchantment to Mjolnir, he
separated his son from himself. Not just in burying him in Donald Blake but
forever. Some part of Thor always remained inside of Mjolnir, separate from the
person. By the time we hit the end of the universe and Thor departs to hold
entropy at bay, he drops Mjolnir, leaving it for his granddaughters. Does he
leave a piece of himself? For whatever reason, I like to think so. That may
sound strange given that it seems like that idea of ‘Thor’ is an integral part
of the character. There’s a joyful triumph when he regains it, first in spirit
leading into the Thor series with Mike Del Mundo and, then, in actuality during
War of the Realms when he retrieves Mjolnir to battle Malekith. That’s <i>Thor</i>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">But, I like what he became without that
part of him.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">While so much of the period of Aaron’s run
with Russell Dauterman was focused on Jane Foster, the Odinson’s journey from
the depths of despair and unworthiness to building himself back up is so
integral to what makes that period so great. I love Jane’s time as Thor and
still stand by my assertion that she may, in fact, be the best Thor. The most
pure. The most heroic. The most focused and steadfast. Oddly, she provided a
sort of ideal, an example of what the Odinson could strive towards as he
regained himself. She was a reminder of those initial lessons in humility, in
being aware of the tremendous power in being Thor – in the idea of Thor. But,
that, again, makes Thor a role for the Odinson to play, even if he defined it.
His awareness of the artifice of ‘Thor’ and that being worthy of it is
something to continually work on is so important to the character, at this
point, for me. And, when he drops Mjolnir at the feet of his granddaughters,
he’s letting go of that struggle. He no longer has to <i>be</i> Thor. He no longer has to try to be that ideal. Oh, he failed at
it for such a long time. He stopped trying for such a long time. But, we saw
him regain the drive and the dedication to being Thor again – King Thor, the
All-Father of the universe, dedicated to nurturing and preserving all life.
And, in the end, he lays down that burden for one akin to Atlas. Destined to
hold up the universe forever, to keep destruction at bay. It’s a different sort
of struggle. An easier one, in many ways, because the purpose is so clear.
There are no hard choices or self-doubts like when he stands in front of Gorr
and Gorr points out the hypocrisy and arrogance of gods, and the death and pain
and suffering that they leave in their wake, and Thor can’t help but agree, to
an extent. King Thor is about the Odinson finally being able to let go of the
idea of Thor and just be what the universe needs: a big strong god who saves
everyone. Ironically, in leaving behind the idea of Thor, he averts a Ragnarok,
of sorts.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXSfmebkFcAxhatiUPxV4PaFQdmWt-5DKu8oWosJIQzkfumX3WFVl-UWFUFXLiECOtZrN-zjM8SICE5iXV5ZtE6PletZOxKi28LqWH5Q8ziDMYb4AD7ajhMLO_lFOYiBKs4-_7kZhjEofFmOMrqpNRUlWmT0iTAf8FjQNhIAiB3154hlVl4oON8g/s1660/ktatlas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1660" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXSfmebkFcAxhatiUPxV4PaFQdmWt-5DKu8oWosJIQzkfumX3WFVl-UWFUFXLiECOtZrN-zjM8SICE5iXV5ZtE6PletZOxKi28LqWH5Q8ziDMYb4AD7ajhMLO_lFOYiBKs4-_7kZhjEofFmOMrqpNRUlWmT0iTAf8FjQNhIAiB3154hlVl4oON8g/s320/ktatlas.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>I can’t help but focus on that final moment
because the work of Esad Ribić and Ive Svorcina on that page haunts me. It’s
not the final page of the story – there are two more – but it may as well be.
Aaron’s narration is a story of Thor as a baby and the way he’d cry during a
storm, ending with the obvious revelation that the storm <i>was</i> his crying and shows Thor punching at the darkness. Enveloped
in darkness with the only light coming from his fist as he punches the darkness
away. You can barely see Thor. He’s lit just enough to make out the shape of
his body and some details and it’s perfect. The amount of details in Ribić’s
line work make it ambiguous what version of Thor we’re looking at. We know that
it’s old man Thor, the former king of Asgard. But, the details hint at the
younger Thor that we know from the monthly comics. Is that his long hair or his
beard? Which helmet is that? Instead of it being the literal image of what
comes next following the previous page, Ribić and Svorcina give us the Platonic
ideal of a Thor drawing. It’s less the literal representation of what’s
happening in the story and more the visual depiction of who Thor is: the god
who fights at the darkness, who lights the way with his fists and the power
that comes from within. It’s such a beautiful page to cap the phenomenal work that
Ribić and Svorcina did throughout the mini-series. I really loved the way that
the darkness looked drawn with pencil sketches, often with the lines moving in
different directions. It’s the sort of line work that you don’t see in
mainstream superhero comics. It looks that way in the edges of Thor’s light,
pushing against the darkness. Those little pencil lines that remind us that the
darkness is never obliterated; just keep punching back at it.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">This is the final Thor story. Jason Aaron
continued the story of the granddaughters in the pages of Avengers and Avengers
Forever. He told stories about different sorts of Thors. But, this was the
final Thor story. And it’s perfect. Even with its flaws. Maybe because of them.
In four issues, you get a full summation of Thor, his relationships with his
family, his inner struggles, the duality of the man and the idea, and you see
what makes him so special.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">And you get Shadrak saying the words that
speak to me – and for me – more than any others in a Thor comic, particularly
as I bring Thorsday Thoughts to a close:</span></p>
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">“I don’t want it to end. I don’t want it to ever
end.”</span>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-89189851089472150382024-02-15T21:20:00.007-05:002024-02-15T21:20:48.342-05:00From God to Superhero: Alan Zelenetz’s Asgardian Work (Thor #329-336, annual #10-11, Bizarre Adventures #32, Marvel Fanfare #13, 34-37, and The Raven Banner: A Tale of Asgard)<p><i><span lang="EN-CA"></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkjXFzapEW5KXjpbPapDe9RpMjlRIVqCohpUY-bqIqWg95BA0SYW8UsPoQyX9kJhR5vC0tpVM0vG2mhf0A8fjiELnB10aWGUT0ofjXoK32gisqvws68YvL_TDqe06x4dX8z_TF1NsdaJMJyVq0hLqRh_PBBPtl-nXrH80KMN_er-SbWdYAbG9g6A/s2800/thorannual11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2800" data-original-width="1821" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkjXFzapEW5KXjpbPapDe9RpMjlRIVqCohpUY-bqIqWg95BA0SYW8UsPoQyX9kJhR5vC0tpVM0vG2mhf0A8fjiELnB10aWGUT0ofjXoK32gisqvws68YvL_TDqe06x4dX8z_TF1NsdaJMJyVq0hLqRh_PBBPtl-nXrH80KMN_er-SbWdYAbG9g6A/s320/thorannual11.jpg" width="208" /></a></i></div><i>Note:
There are three additional comics that I had hoped to include in my discussion
of Alan Zelenetz’s Asgardian work: Thor annual #12-13 and What If? #39, which
is about Thor meeting Conan. They were ordered and are currently in Chicago,
unfortunately. I wish I had them to present a complete picture of Zelenetz’s
body of work. I sure hope that they fit into the assertions I make below. If
they don’t... ah well.</i><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">“Alan Zelenetz? Never heard of him!” This
reaction isn’t unexpected nor is it unusual. As I was preparing for the final
eight Thorsday Thoughts, I looked through what was available and had settled on
Doug Moench’s run on the title as a topic, noticing that it spanned two Epic
Collections (The Lost Kingdom and Runequest), but not in their entirety. The
early part of the former had work by Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio, while
the end part of the latter was written by Alan Zelenetz. I knew the first two
writers, not the third. Looking into it, Zelenetz’s time as a comics writer was
relatively brief and only featured a small body of work. Working almost
exclusively for Marvel, he mostly wrote Thor, Moon Knight, Conan the Barbarian,
and Kull the Conqueror comics along with co-creating/writing Alien Legion for
Epic Comics. His time in comics spanned the early to mid/late ‘80s and, then,
he was gone, leaving behind, what, four dozen or so comics? Judging from what I
could find online, he focused more on his career as a rabbi and educator,
dipping into movie producing, and acting as a consultant on the movie Pi. I
didn’t see what drew him to comics nor what drove him away. I basically went
into his work knowing that he had a brief career and that’s it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">His Thor/Asgardian work reminds me,
conceptually, of Robert Rodi’s small body of work on the character/world. While
Rodi never wrote the monthly title proper like Zelenetz did, he also produced a
small but solid body of work with a few standout pieces like the Loki and For
Asgard minis. Both are a bit of ‘hidden gem’ writers in the history of Thor
comics. I started off thinking of Zelenetz as the ‘guy before Simonson’ since
that was his place as writer of the monthly title. Except, his work continued
past that point. He did two more annuals that came out during Simonson’s run
along with the comics with Charles Vess that he’s probably most fondly
remembered for: The Raven Banner graphic novel and the five issues of Marvel
Fanfare focusing on the Warriors Three. I imagine most people who hunt down
those issues do so for Vess’s art and the writer is treated as a bit of an
afterthought, which is understandable. Vess’s stature has grown over the years
and decades, while Zelenetz disappeared. Forgive me if I reverse the roles a
bit too much, placing a larger emphasis on Zelenetz’s contributions while
minimising Vess...</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Unsurprisingly, Zelenetz’s writing on the
monthly Thor title and his work outside of those eight issues divide easily
into two separate camps, for the most part. Picking up where Moench left off
and keeping things warm for Simonson, Zelenetz’s writing on the monthly title
is mostly continuity service. He deals with the after effects of Tyr’s
attempted coup, chips in on Marvel’s line wide use of Dracula, and, then, with
the lingering mystery of what happened to Jane Foster. In the middle, he
scripts one of the most interesting Thor stories over artist Bob Hall’s plot.
Ironically, those two issues that he’s credited as only a scripter seem much
more like the rest of his Thor/Asgard work than the monthly issues he’s fully
credited as writer on. The continuity-service issues, as I call them, are good.
They’re solid. The story of a giant left behind on Earth is a fun one, while
the Dracula issues have their moments even if the threat is mostly resolved
through a hand wave.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The “Runequest” story that the Epic
Collection takes its name from is heavily steeped in settling a longstanding
continuity issue, answering, finally, what happened to Jane Foster after he
soul was merged with Sif’s long ago to save the human’s life. The question
simmered towards the end of Moench’s time on the title when Sif joined Thor on
Earth. While he continued to switch between his Asgardian self and Donald
Blake, Sif remained Sif. The issue is brought to a head when Donald Blake is
questioned as the probable suspect in Jane’s murder. Looking to clear Blake’s
name, Thor searches for the Runestaff that merged the two souls, sending him,
Sif, and Keith Kincaid across the galaxy to retrieve it. In the grand scheme of
things, it returns Jane Foster to the Marvel Universe, an important detail
decades later, and mostly resolves any outstanding issues for the Donald Blake
persona. The run ends on an awkward note, indicating that the question of Sif
on Earth would be resolved in an upcoming graphic novel (which turned out to be
I, Whom the Gods Would Destroy, which wasn’t released for another four years
and did not have any involvement from Zelenetz) and also shows Sif already back
in Asgard. Basically, issue 336 ends with everything in place for Simonson to take
over the following month.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">During his time on Thor, Zelenetz did
script issues 330-331, one of the few stories that delves deeply into the
question of Thor’s impact on the world as a supposed god. Artist Bob Hall is
credited as the plotter for both issues with Zelenetz only scripting, but that
doesn’t matter. The two work so well together that you’d think it was written
by a single person. A small group of worshipers of Thor make their presence in
Chicago known after one of them fake a suicide attempt to get Thor to save her.
Arthur Blackwood, a Christian fundamentalist coming from a long line of them,
is so incensed that he’s expelled from the seminary his family founded and,
somehow, is visited by his father’s spirit and given superpowers by God,
dressing up as a knight called the Crusader. He initially defeats Thor in
battle, nearly killing him, until Thor returns and wins the day. The idea of
Thor as a religious figure is addressed head on along with concepts of
religious zealotry. Zelenetz’s dialogue is heavily critical of Blackwood’s
fanaticism while emphasising how out of step it is with the teachings of the
New Testament. Blackwood’s secondary conflict after Thor is with Father
William, the priest that expels him and, then, recognises him as the Crusader.
William continually preaches tolerance and love, siding with Thor and not
seeing any conflict between the Thunder God and his Christian faith.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The unease Thor expresses at the first sign
of worship is interesting and would carry over into one of the annuals Zelenetz
wrote. The phrasing of Thor’s reluctance to be an object of worship is
interesting as Zelenetz never discounts the idea that Thor is a god: “I DO NOT
SEEK <b>WORSHIP</b>, THAT IS LONG IN THE
PAST... WHEN THE WAY OF THE WARRIOR WAS ONCE ACCEPTED.” He continually shrugs
off worship of him as no longer being suitable for modern humanity. Even Odin
instructs him that “THOU CANNOT ACCEPT WORSHIP IN RETURN. FOR THE DAY OF OUR
KING HAS LONG PASSED.” Instead, Thor has settled into, as many others have
pointed out, the modern mythology: a superhero. The form of worship that he and
the Asgardians (usually known as Norse) had was one based around a specific
lifestyle that suited a specific time. Now, Thor’s role has evolved and
changed, shifting from one of worship to servitude. With superheroes, there
isn’t an expectation of payment, whether through behaviour or sacrifice, to
gain the favour of a god; there is simply the need for help. In the end, Thor’s
faith in ‘goodness,’ as he emphasises, overcomes the Crusader’s zealotry.
Thor’s initial loss is explained away as his doubt over his place on Earth.
It’s only when he fully rejects his former role as an object of worship and
embraces the humble role of servant that he’s able to win. It’s a rather clever
way to weave in the progression from ‘god’ to ‘superhero’ with the story of
Thor and his lesson in humility.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">But, Zelenetz addresses the idea of Thor as
an object of worship in annual #11 as well. That annual is basically a series of short stories
telling the highlights of Thor’s life. The fifth chapter is titled “The Worship
of Midgard” and has Thor going to Earth to show his favour to some of his
worshippers. However, when these Vikings slaughter a Christian monastery, Thor
reacts is shocked and looks to retreat from Earth forever, not wanting to have
a role in the killing of innocents. It’s a glossing over of the Norse gods from
mythology and seeks to portray Thor as always being the same as the superhero
version. Zelenetz makes Thor remaining on Earth as a superhero explicitly an
act of atonement to humanity. But, placing the gods of mythology within the
context of superhero fiction seems to be a concern of Zelenetz as he does
something similar in annual #10 where, when faced with the Demigorge (the god
eater), he has Thor assemble a group of gods from various pantheons, basically
making their own superhero team of gods. This approach aligns with the work of
Alan Moore and Grant Morrison among others. Morrison is particularly associated
with the idea of superhero as modern mythology in mainstream superhero comics
and this is clearly Zelenetz’s approach. More than that, like Morrison, it
seems rooted in the idea of stories possessing tremendous power.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">When you go beyond the monthly Thor issues
that Zelenetz wrote, there’s an artifice to his work. A winking knowledge that
he’s telling you a story. He leans on the Norns in a few stories to provide
narration and framing, but, as he dealing with characters from mythology, he
very much treats them within their original purpose: to tell stories and
provide morals. Thor annual #11 is so rigid in its adherence to retelling Thor
stories from mythology that it barely seems to resemble superhero comics. That
issue is more a series of fables than anything else, which works quite well in
the context of an annual. While annual #10 has him and Mark Gruenwald establish
a sort of unified order of the gods in the Marvel Universe that Al Ewing is
currently drawing upon, in a fashion, in Immortal Thor.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The Charles Vess stories all have the same
level of artifice, very self-conscious of their nature as stories. Characters
lack a certain amount of agency in the face of fate. In The Raven Banner,
Greyval tries to circumvent his fate and finds that he must work very hard to
regain it, righting his wrong of breaking the set story. The four-issue
Warriors Three story is all about Loki trying to doom Asgard by ensuring that a
prophesised marriage doesn’t occur while the heroes work to ensure that fate is
fulfilled – and, in the process, each of the heroes confronts some flaw in
themself, overcome it, and that triumph is key to the eventual righting of
fate. But, that’s his writing in the macro. At that larger level, he seems very
concerned with these stories as self-consciously constructed narratives that
exist within a specific storytelling tradition.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">In the micro, Zelenetz is acutely aware
that, for these stories to have any true power, they must keep the attention of
the reader. His work with Vess, in particular, is full of different types of
comedy. Puns and visual, physical comedy are the main ones. With the Warriors
Three, he takes each of their main personality traits and blows them up to
encompass entire situations, becoming the focal point of their adventures.
Volstagg’s bluster covering his cowardice coupled with his size; Hogun’s
incredible seriousness and devotion to duty; and Fandral’s womanising
conflicting with his chivalry. I mean, pairing Hogun with a doofus who won’t
stop running his mouth is a basic comedy idea, but adding on tiny fairies as
another level of foil, all while Hogun must carry a goat? Hilarious. And it’s a
bit of a revelation to see how adept Vess is at that sort of visual comedy. At
this point, his work is associated with a certain type of fantasy comic art
that, while not as serious as, say, P. Craig Russell, is still a sort of
respected and beloved serious that obscures how much humour in these stories
comes from his art. Of nailing these perfect panels where a look carries
everything.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Due to its lack of reprints, The Raven
Banner is somewhat overshadowed by the Warriors Three stories – that and the
familiarity of those characters. Part of Marvel’s graphic novel line of the
‘80s, the Raven Banner features appearances by some known Asgardians, but
mostly focuses on Greyval, the latest in a lineage of Asgardians who carry the
Raven Banner into battle for Asgard. Like many great mythological objects, the
Raven Banner comes with a boon and a price: the side that carries it into
battle is fated to win that battle, but the specific person who carries the
banner is fated to die in the battle. When Greyval’s father, carrying on the
family’s tradition as banner bearer, carries it into battle with giants, he
dies and... Greyval is nowhere to be found. Instead, a scheme by the giants and
trolls is revealed as they steal the Raven Banner, and we see that they worked
to keep Greyval from the battle under the auspices that he could avoid his fate
to die as the banner’s bearer and another god would take up that burden. After
his marriage to a Valkyrie, it’s revealed that the banner was stolen (his
excuse was that he was too busy killing giants to claim it) and he must
overcome his fear of his fate to recover it. With assistance from Balder, he
undergoes a quest to Valhalla, Hel, and other Realms, eventually confronting
his boastful cousin who succumbed to the seduction of the trolls to reclaim the
Raven Banner – and, in the end, he brings the banner into battle, giving Asgard
the edge in its battle and, of course, he dies. But, fear not, because he died
with honour and glory and, when the son he sired on his wedding night is able,
he will take up the mantle as well. It’s an incredibly captivating story,
watching Greyval struggle to avoid his fate but also hide that he’s working to
do so. It’s very much a story of redemption as Balder takes up his cause,
learning the full story of what happened, and pledging to help Greyval make
right his mistake, arguing that no one should be judged only by one moment.
That idea of an inescapable fate butting up against having to win back your
fate works so well in the Asgardian context. It’s a shame that it’s yet to be
reprinted, that I know of.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The idea that these characters’ lives are
ruled by fate comes up in many of the stories, as they both fight against fate
(and lose) or must fight for fate (and win). But, never within the context of
the superhero stories. Fate only plays a role within the realm of mythology and
legend. In ‘tales of Asgard.’ Whether it’s Thor trying to save a sole remaining
sailor from his fated death or the Warriors Three trying to ensure a marriage
happens or Greyval first avoid and then embracing his fated death... Even Thor’s
eventual claim to Mjolnir is treated an inescapable fate. It’s only when he
moves into the modern world and Asgard’s time has ‘passed’ that the idea of
fate ruling them has as well. Zelenetz never tackles that idea head on, but
it’s such an interesting one that you can see only when looking at his various
works from a distance. What about modern humanity makes the idea of fate
irrelevant and lacking in power? Why are Asgardian rules by fate while Thor the
superhero is not? What has changed? We never get an answer. We never even get
the question. Yet, it hangs and is part of what makes these comics so
fascinating to read.</span></p>
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">It’s understandable that Zelenetz’s name isn’t mentioned
too often. He was one of those writers who passed briefly through the industry
and, if you didn’t look at the specific areas he touched, you wouldn’t have
even noticed him. Reading his Thor and Asgardian work, though, makes me want to
track down the rest of his writing. He shows such a keen, clever mind. His
approach to Thor takes some of what Roy Thomas, Mark Gruenwald, and Ralph
Macchio did and take it further. Numerous writers that followed him, including
Walt Simonson, Robert Rodi, Matt Fraction, and Al Ewing, are all working within
a similar tradition. Without knowing it, I had been missing on some crucial
Thor comics. I’m glad that I’ve finally rectified that oversight.</span>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-52695807181591123012024-02-08T08:21:00.002-05:002024-02-08T08:21:40.418-05:00Ultimate Thor: Thor the Mighty Avenger #1-8 and Free Comic Book Day 2011 (Thor the Mighty Avenger)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisk8awDRms0b6ZdTbpikr4gp7BovwvxWci-0Pdb9wNGn2PWAaiMb1tpfFWexPTy3MvIqDbcWLlvoKOEuG4uI45ulqWtbI2EHVfBKpx4N57lmkGT-ylQ_bQO-f68yTzJHKSzWru3ErlWG2tV6RypwJVZHwsoihP7-cSG61SR9eFEIlStGMQCSB6dQ/s2700/9781302953140.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="1800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisk8awDRms0b6ZdTbpikr4gp7BovwvxWci-0Pdb9wNGn2PWAaiMb1tpfFWexPTy3MvIqDbcWLlvoKOEuG4uI45ulqWtbI2EHVfBKpx4N57lmkGT-ylQ_bQO-f68yTzJHKSzWru3ErlWG2tV6RypwJVZHwsoihP7-cSG61SR9eFEIlStGMQCSB6dQ/s320/9781302953140.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>From summer 2010 through summer 2011,
Marvel published a lot of Thor comics from one-shots to mini-series starring
both Thor and his usual supporting cast. The reason was simple: April 2011 was
when the first Thor movie came out and, in preparation, Marvel started to get
the periodical releases of comics that would, then, be collected for a more
mass market appeal and filling up book and comic book stores when,
theoretically, regular folks would pour out of theatres and want more Thunder
God media to absorb. As we all know, the film-to-comics pipeline has never
really worked too well, but that wasn’t yet proven in those nascent days of the
Marvel Cinematic Universe. Thor was really the test case of pumping out a ton
of comics in the hopes of transitioning moviegoers into comics readers.
Marvel’s failure was our gain, I suppose, as we got the likes of the Loki
mini-series, Thor: For Asgard, the Ages of Thunder one-shots, a bunch of other
random Thor-related stuff, and, of course, the most fondly remembered comic of
the bunch: Thor the Mighty Avenger. Brought to you by the team of Roger
Langridge, Chris Samnee, Matt Wilson, Rus Wooton, and editors Michael Horwitz
and Nathan Cosby, the series is one of those beloved critical classics.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">So beloved that I had actively avoided
rereading it and writing about it throughout the entire duration of Thorsday
Thoughts... until now. In fact, I had not reread a single issue of this series
since it finished in early 2011. I remembered it so fondly that I was terrified
that revisiting it would reveal previously unnoticed flaws, that it would fail
to live up to my rose-tinged memories. I preferred the half-forgotten version
that existed in my head to confronting the reality of ink on paper. In short: I
was a coward. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">But no more</i>. I have now
sat down and reread these comics and, more than that, am putting fingers to
keyboard to put down some Thoughts on these comics.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Regardless of the quality, the choices that
Langridge makes interest me quite a bit. This is a ground up
reworking/retelling of the Thor story, able to draw upon anything in the
character’s past, and what Langridge chooses to use and what he chooses to
ignore are both insightful into what he’s trying to accomplish. This is meant
to be an entry level Thor comic where you require no familiarity with the
character, though some familiarity definitely helps to catch various references
and the way that Langridge plays off previous stories and versions of
characters. Given that the series launched nearly a year before the movie hit
theatres, while it may have taken some inspiration from the early concepts
known, it wasn’t directly influenced by the film, at least not in too many ways
that readers would know at the time.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The premise is simple: Jane Foster works at
a museum in Bergen, Oklahoma, and comes into contact with a strange, seemingly
homeless man that turns out to be Thor. He is virtuous and defends her (and
others) from the terrifying threat of Mr. Hyde, and she offers her couch to him
with the two eventually becoming romantically involved. Thor is on Earth for
reasons he does not know, eventually learning that he did <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">something</i> to cause his father to send him away to learn humility.
By the end of the eighth issue, we discover the reason for Thor’s memory gap,
but don’t know any specifics about the how or why of his banishment.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">From that little bit, the choices that
Langridge makes all manage to reflect the Thor story that we know, while
putting his own spin on them. There’s no Donald Blake or any other human alter
ego. Jane Foster isn’t a nurse or a medical doctor. Nor is she the physicist
that Natalie Portman would portray in the movie. Even the setting moves away
from New York, while maintaining Oklahoma from the J. Michael Straczynski run
and movie, but in a different fictional town, one that takes its name from
Norway. As the issues progress, we learn more and more about this world, which
seems like a version of the early Marvel Universe with Ant-Man, Wasp, Namor,
Captain Britain, Iron Man, and Captain America all making appearances. Thor’s
supporting cast in Asgard is all familiar faces: Odin, Loki, the Warriors
Three, and Heimdall (while she doesn’t make an appearance, it looks like Sif is
on the cover of the first issue as well). Within that larger context, the focus
on the series is very much on the interactions (and relationship) between Thor
and Jane. This series easily could have aped the title of Mary Jane Loves
Spider-Man and called this book Jane Loves Thor. Instead, it takes its title
from an early version of the movie’s title when it was to follow Captain
America: The First Avenger as Thor: The Mighty Avenger. We don’t actually see
the Avengers in any coherent form in the series.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Excising Blake (or any human alter ego)
simplifies Thor’s story immensely, while recognising that his exile on Earth is
already enough to hang his character on. The complexity of being both an exiled
Norse god <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i> juggling a human life
would be too much for this series, which focuses on coherent single issue
stories. I’m sure Langridge and Samnee would have loved to play around with the
idea at some point, particularly the comedic elements, but, in these nine issues,
there’s clearly no room. Instead, the focus is on the contrast between Thor and
Jane, the immortal god and the regular human as the former tries to learn about
this new world he finds himself on and the latter tries to adjust with this
alien being suddenly up-ending her life. Once Blake is removed, Jane being a
nurse or doctor doesn’t make a lot of sense. Having her work at a museum gives
her an overlap with Thor, particularly when she’s given oversight into the
Viking exhibit at the beginning of the first issue. She has familiarity with
Thor conceptually and is receptive to the idea that he’s telling the truth
before any evidence is given. In fact, the subtle implication is that this is
the sort of thing she always hoped would happen to her. It’s basically her job
come to life and sleeping on her couch!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The structure of the series isn’t as simple
as a series of self-contained issues, mostly because none of the issues are
self-contained. The first two and final two issues are two-parters, while the
rest of the issues are complete stories that link up and flow to and from the
other issues. I was actually surprised how many plot threads carried over from
issue to issue and impressed at how well each issue manages to tell a complete
story, while picking up a detail or two from a previous issue. The third issue,
for example, is a direct sequel to the first two issues where, in the course of
his rampage, Mr. Hyde kills the scientist that invented the serum that
transforms him – a scientist that, it turns out, helped mentor Hank Pym,
prompting him to, then, investigate the murder. While the third issue tells its
own story, mostly about a trick Loki plays on Thor, causing him to perceive
Giant-Man as a Frost Giant, it very much flows out of the second issue. That
flow from issue to issue exists throughout the run, but almost every issue
works on its own.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">That progression is central to the series.
There is a constant feeling that things are moving forward: Thor and Jane’s
relationship; Thor’s uncovering the reason for his exile; Thor’s growth as he
works to return to Asgard; and Jane introducing Thor to the wonders of Earth.
Each issue advances those four things in one way or another and, while the
series ended before any of them could resolve, that sense of forward momentum
is an exciting element of the series. The combination of self-contained issue
with constant progression seems like a contradiction – and it was definitely at
odds with the storytelling in most superhero comics at the time where trade
paperback-sized stories driven by decompression and issues that seemed to
linger on moments so long as to feel stagnant at times. Yet, Langridge makes it
work by tying all four elements into the main plot of each issue. While each
issue’s plot would resolve, it would also advance those four elements a little
bit, giving both a sense of completion and progression. Dipping in for a single
issue would be satisfying on its own; reading the entire run would give a
larger story. And by focusing every issue around those constant elements, it
allows Langridge and company to ground any new ideas, keeping things on track
and with a purpose. If the Warriors Three pop into town to visit, it will serve
to advance the subplots of the series.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">When I call the series simple, it’s because
of that central focus. The plots don’t get too complicated, there isn’t a lot
of intricate moving pieces. Everything revolves around Thor and Jane, often as
a pair. More than revolving around them, every character and plot exists only
in relation to them. There is no ‘extra’ in these issues. No go-nowhere
subplots. No extraneous scenes or characters. This is a ‘simple’ comic in the
sense that it is incredibly disciplined and focused, both in the writing and the
art. Langridge and Samnee prefer to tell stories through the characters. Every
issue’s plot can be summed up quickly and usually resolves itself through long
character interactions. While Langridge’s dialogue is clever and insightful, I
usually lingered over Samnee’s drawings.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">One of my favourite interactions is in
issue six when we see Thor try to return to Asgard, only to be barred entry by
Heimdall. Samnee’s Heimdall takes its cue from Idris Elba’s casting, depicting
him with brown skin, but that choice is only one of many interesting ones. As
guardian of the Bifrost, Samnee draws him as towering over Thor and his eyes
constantly in shadows. Given that he’s meant to literally see everything in his
duties, that you never see his eyes (barring one panel) shows the hidden layers
of the character. As we see, his powers are much different here than we are
used to as he transforms his form to keep Thor out of Asgard, including
becoming a dragon that resembles Fin Fang Foom and, then, a literal rockslide,
all while maintaining a calm, even demeanour. His shadowy face matches his
stoic, matter of fact tone in dealing with Thor. He’s cool, calm, and
constantly supportive of his young friend. That Samnee draws him as a good two
or three feet taller than Thor emphasises the sort of mentor/protégé
relationship that seems to exist with Heimdall as the wise older warrior that
often gives sage advice to the young prince – just as he does throughout their
confrontation.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Thor’s youth is constantly emphasised.
Despite being thousands of years old, in the life of a immortal, he’s barely
out of his teens. His strength isn’t quite the ‘challenge the Hulk’ level that
we’re used to and our expectations of the character are often toyed with. In
the first issue, he’s wrestled to the ground by museum security and thrown
several times through the window of a bar. Even after he regains Mjolnir and
his full strength, he’s still very much a young god that, while stronger than a
human, is a far way from where he’ll someday be. It’s usually his courage and
determination that carries the day more than brute strength. Continually, he’ll
do what’s right even though it seems likely he’ll fail or suffer dire
consequences. Part of what wins over Jane in the first issue is his
unwillingness to back down from defending a woman from the unwanted advances of
Hyde even through Hyde keeps overpowering Thor. Honestly, it’s not an
unfamiliar take on the character. It’s the regular version of the character
distilled to a narrow, specific form. He’s young, he’s headstrong, he’s got a
good heart, and he’s got a ton of potential. This is as pure a form of the
character as you’re likely to ever get.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The character that I struggled to fully
wrap my head around is Jane. In many ways, she’s the main character of the
series, at first. While it does become a Thor-centric comic (I’d argue the
fourth issue when the Warriors Three visit is when it transitions from Jane to
Thor), she’s almost a co-lead. I wasn’t kidding with the “Jane Loves Thor”
idea. At the same time, what exactly motivates and drives her is a bit more
opaque. Where Thor is a known quantity and, largely, he’s merely a version of
that character that we know, Jane is a bit more of a new creation. The regular
Jane Foster suffered in the original comics from being a bit of a hollow
character. An ideal woman that Thor/Blake loved without much justification. She
was a nurse and an inherently good person, although it was her beauty that was
often emphasised. I’ve never had as much of a problem with the idea that a
fictional character is appealing for reasons never quite articulated as others,
since that actually mirrors reality, for me. I could give you a bunch of reasons
why I love my wife, but they would never really capture the core truth, one
that seems beyond words somehow. I don’t think that Jane is entirely in that
territory here, although there are elements of that. I mean, part of what makes
her so appealing to Thor is that she’s there. He meets her, there’s a mutual
attraction, and admiration, and that grows over time. Dead simple.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">But, what I’ve been reflecting upon is what
Jane actually wants in this series. When it begins, we learn two things about
her: she likes her job and gets a promotion despite believing she may be fired,
and she has had an on again/off again relationship that she’s decided to end
permanently. In her professional life, she’s successful but has low confidence;
in her personal life, she’s not as successful but has self-awareness and
self-respect. It’s an interesting combination to introduce a Thunder God into.
What it results in, initially, is that, without a human alter ego for Thor,
Jane kind of fills that role. The involvement of Thor introduces professional
and personal drama into her life, both good and bad. Early on, she nearly loses
her job thanks to Mr. Hyde (and Thor, kind of), but that same conflict provides
the catalyst for her to have it secured as a favour from Janet Van Dyne. The
idea of off-loading all of that usual alter ego drama onto Thor’s romantic foil
is an interesting one and, while it doesn’t maintain its steam after the first
few issues, that’s actually a good thing. One of the more frustrating elements
of the Marvel style of superhero comics, at time, is the constant need for
‘human level’ drama that usually involves the hero sacrificing something in
their personal life to do good as a hero. It works for Spider-Man and, thus, it
became the norm. After that initial blip, the series settles into ‘human drama’
meaning people just having weird things happen and having to deal with those
weird things without the constant pressure of job loss or eviction or whatever
other extreme crisis could arise.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">But, still, that doesn’t quite answer who
Jane is in this series. Why is she drawn to Thor? While Thor is a good person,
she does seem to be repeating her romantic history in a way. When she breaks up
with Jim in the first issue, her big reason is that he’s inattentive and more
focused on his career than her. Thor is definitely attentive to Jane, using up
one of three tips on a magic chariot to take her on a picnic, yet his primary
focus is his personal problem is learning why he was banished from Asgard and
returning home. At some point, Thor will leave Jane. Had the series continued,
that crisis would have no doubt come up as Thor would be forced to choose. And
I think we all know that, eventually, he would return to his home. He’s an
exciting, thrilling person to be around, no doubt. I love that their
relationship is clearly doomed as she found someone who obviously has
priorities that don’t include her after she broke things off with a man for
just that reason. Maybe the self-awareness I attributed to her isn’t there as much
as I thought...</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">That eventual doom in their relationship
mirrors the structure of the series that I spoke of earlier. What we get in
these issues are all of these little romantic adventures that progress their
relationship, all while that reckoning is no doubt coming. The cancellation of
the series means that we never actually get that resolution, for good and ill.
I really do think that there is a positive to the limited nature of the series
and it relates to the hesitancy to revisit the series that I started this piece
with. The legacy and idea of Thor the Mighty Avenger benefits from the eighth
issue getting a little “of 8” added to its cover. Much like Thor and Jane’s
relationship, there was no decline in this series. It may have had unrealised
highs that we’ll never experience; but, it also never got bad. It remains a
book of unknown potential and possibilities.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">It remains the best and most effective
distillation of the Thor concept. If you’re looking for the true template that
an ‘ultimate’ line of comics that modernises and simplifies decades of
continuity and character development, look no further. I’m so glad that I got
over myself and finally pulled this out of the long box to read again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-58933776444638354502024-02-04T09:00:00.001-05:002024-02-04T09:00:00.130-05:00The Most Jim Starlin Thor Comic: Some Brief Thoughts on Thor #323<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMVIADfaHtTV2hPz6vFQmZfhsEfbsF6z7MV47Zem6RvIZ6V5mMlZC4CsQWbFbvFZY8ZABM3b8rAo6_s4iQlq5hEyWhgmHyhybO7BqKdRNoSa31fSDaNmmb3JasAwb1_SFhDqcyiNNvEVmzbqjEtpgePbZLXO3dHqXgK28R5FS6ugiv16H06mN99g/s850/thor323.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="850" data-original-width="550" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMVIADfaHtTV2hPz6vFQmZfhsEfbsF6z7MV47Zem6RvIZ6V5mMlZC4CsQWbFbvFZY8ZABM3b8rAo6_s4iQlq5hEyWhgmHyhybO7BqKdRNoSa31fSDaNmmb3JasAwb1_SFhDqcyiNNvEVmzbqjEtpgePbZLXO3dHqXgK28R5FS6ugiv16H06mN99g/s320/thor323.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>Thor #323 does not have Jim Starlin’s name anywhere
in the credits. A random fill-in issue (no doubt an inventory issue used for
one reason or another) by Steven Grant, Greg LaRocque, Ricardo Villamonte,
Diana Albers, and George Roussos, it breaks up the meat of the Doug Moench run
on Thor with a story in Thor’s past. While out on some sort of adventure with
Loki and the Warriors Three, they come across a large, muscular blue being with
a giant war hammer that threatens them for coming too close to the border of
his domain. What follows is a bit of a spin on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
with him insulting Thor into agreeing to a contest where, first, Thor will
strike the first blow and, then, the ‘Dark One’ will return the blow. Thor hits
him with Mjolnir and knocks his head off and, like the Green Knight, the ‘Dark
One’ simply picks up his head, jumps on his horse and demands that Thor follow
him to his domain or be dishonoured. Thor insists on following despite the
warning from Fandral that only Odin has ever come back from that region and
that it is certain death. Taking Loki with him, as they come to a golden
bridge, they encounter a seductive woman who tries to get Thor to stay with
her. Before he rebuffs her, Loki rides off, leaving Thor concerned that he will
tell all of Asgard that he has behaved dishonourably. To prove that he did not,
Thor charges ahead, overcomes the bridge crumbling, and squares off with the
‘Dark One.’ Despite nearly dying from the first blow, Thor continues on, even
as he’s beaten down more and more, taunted by both the ‘Dark One’ and the woman
(his wife) as they tell him he’ll soon be their prize, turned into a statue to
accompany the dozen or so that he passed at the entrance that were once
warriors like him. In the end, Thor is spared because, as he’s about to die, he
thinks only of his love for his father and the love Odin has for him. The ‘Dark
One’ spares him and sends him back to Asgard with the gift of a horse having
triumphed as Odin once did. Odin dismisses the gift and tells Thor that he
faced Fear and his wife Desire, the enemy of all warriors, and that he would
face them many more times in his life as a warrior.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">It’s such a strange story, based in part on
the story of Gawain and the Green Knight, but doesn’t adhere to it strictly,
instead taking the rough plot and a little bit of the seductress/noble knight
resisting elements. The opening scene is downright delightful in how it leans
into Thor being a jerk of a big brother to Loki, fitting in nicely with the
reworked issue 272 in the recent Immortal Thor #6.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Where I see the similarity to the work of
Starlin is in the end and some of the artist choices. The idea of a story where
Thor faces off against the physical embodiments of Fear and Desire is very much
the ‘metaphor made literal’ approach that Starlin often embraced, particularly
when a character would allow for that sort of mystical quality. His cosmic
being often represented a specific quality like this and, even his Thor run
with Ron Marz, leaning heavily into the physical manifestation of a
psychological aspect.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">In the art, it’s hard not to see Starlin
both the ‘Dark One’ and his wife’s designs. The ‘Dark One’ is a blue-skinned
giant of a man with a goatee and a Mohawk, looking straight out of ‘random
alien casting’ from Warlock or Dreadstar. His wife, on the other hand, has
similarly blue skin, but circles discolourations around her eyes, recalling
Gamorra or Heater Delight along with similarly form-fitting garb. Apart, it
would be easy to dismiss as a coincidence. Together, it definitely seems like a
concerted effort to mimic Starlin’s aesthetic. LaRocque is around seven years
younger than Starlin and could have been influenced by him, especially if this
was an inventory fill-in done years previously when Starlin’s Warlock would
have been a particularly strong enough. The line work of LaRocque and
Villamonte definitely has a few Starlin-esque moments, while maintaining a
different enough style.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">While reading the Moench run, this fill-in
was a pleasant treat. The ending is a little hokey, but, for a Starlin guy, it
was interesting to read something that seems influenced by his work, even in
small ways.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-8847399130549201712024-02-01T22:29:00.001-05:002024-02-01T22:29:25.664-05:00The White Knight: The Doug Moench Thor Run (Thor #303, 308, 310-322, 324-328)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4xWfLaJTjpxAKMlXy8HpR7ru_c8oWi0R3P1BIK9q_eaiupJGwWCtYOOcAXS_oTmW0Oc49w83_FNe-9sHcZc_tbSXlgyN4XpLn4VivUBeY1Sqn_FQZZfqtippdXGnceWSLwvTPEF6hnXgkqJ3y5PvyfGnZ_ACglIyC7NaP8ye2_CfqHYxLOwVwUg/s850/thor311.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="850" data-original-width="550" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4xWfLaJTjpxAKMlXy8HpR7ru_c8oWi0R3P1BIK9q_eaiupJGwWCtYOOcAXS_oTmW0Oc49w83_FNe-9sHcZc_tbSXlgyN4XpLn4VivUBeY1Sqn_FQZZfqtippdXGnceWSLwvTPEF6hnXgkqJ3y5PvyfGnZ_ACglIyC7NaP8ye2_CfqHYxLOwVwUg/s320/thor311.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>It’s a little weird to think of these
comics as comprising a ‘run’ in modern terms. It lacks many of the hallmarks of
what we consider a run on a monthly comic, especially over the past 20 or so
years. There’s no overarching story, no big plans, very few traits that make it
stand out, honestly. If I handed you these comics, you’d probably say that they
look and read like any random Thor comics from the mid-70s to early 80s prior
to Walt Simonson taking over writing and drawing duties. I’d even admit that
they don’t read much different than the Thor comics from the year that Simonson
was artist on the title years prior. Monthly superhero comics of this time
period weren’t necessarily meant to stand out and have a unique voice to them.
The idea that you’d take over Thor and do something different and radical
enough for people to stand up and take notice was a little strange. Instead,
you were working within the general idea of what a ‘Marvel Comics’ monthly was
meant to be, especially if you were on one of their marquee titles.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">But, you know what, I’ve spent so little
time with Thor comics of this era that there is a certain novelty to them. For
most of us, these comics fall into that broad, ambiguous category of ‘Thor
comics between Kirby and Simonson’ where maybe some John Buscema issues may get
some notice, maybe that Roy Thomas-led Eternals/Celestials stuff, but not much
else. There’s something fun about diving into some ‘generic’ Thor comics and
seeing what exactly that means.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">For the most part, it means a lot of Donald
Blake and a lot of sad sack manoeuvring to make his existence tolerable. The
odd contradiction in the character is that it’s recognised that Blake is not a
real person, that he is a creation of Odin who existed solely to teach Thor
about humility by living as a mortal, and, yet, Thor cannot give up his ‘life.’
Even though he has no job, no money, no reason to actually live. His one
possible justification is his incredibly skill as a doctor, except that is
constantly sabotaged by the demands of being Thor as well. Unlike a Peter
Parker who has always been Peter Parker and dons the identity of Spider-Man due
to a moral calling where you can see how he’s in a bind regarding priorities,
no such dilemma exists with Thor and Blake. As we see when Simonson does away
with the human alter ego in issue 340, there is no reason for Blake anymore aside
from convention, inertia, and a bit of nostalgia. Blake is there because <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blake was always there</i>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Not only is Blake there, you could make a
strong argument that he’s the central character of these issues. Everything
revolves around him, his need/quest for a job, and the charade that is his
life. Moench inherits Blake trying to re-establish himself by working at a
small clinic in a poor area of New York, ends that in relative short order, has
Blake do some work for Tony Stark before setting him up for a move to Chicago,
which is, coincidentally, Moench’s hometown. Despite the change in scenery and
Moench’s familiarity with Chicago, it doesn’t result in much substantive
change. There’s a bit of a love interest in an old med school classmate who
prompts the move and that’s about it. The only way that you can tell that Thor
lives in Chicago is that the surface details are no longer New York specific.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The relationship between Thor and Blake
remains unchanged after the move: Blake tries to have a normal life and it is
disrupted by Thor. What’s lacking is a reason for Blake at all. Why does Thor
maintain this fake life his father made up? The closest we get to an
explanation is in issue 324 when Blake is in New York at Avengers Mansion and
winds up having an all-night conversation with Janet Van Dyne: “AND THOUGHT I
KNOW DON BLAKE IS A FALSE PERSONA CREATED BY ODIN, WHEN I’M JIM, HE SEEMS JUST
AS REAL AS THOR!” It’s not the strongest explanation for why Thor maintains
being Blake. Blake feels himself to be a real person despite the shared mind
with Thor and the knowledge that he’s not a real person. Does Thor maintain it
only because of the enchantment where he’ll revert to Blake if he stops holding
Mjolnir for 60 seconds? Is it a compulsion? A secret desire to be mortal? It’s
never explained and, 40 years later, it hangs over these comics. Unlike nearly
every other superhero with an alter ego, Thor can walk away from this one.
Blake, basically, doesn’t exist as far as the rest of the world is concerned
most of the time and it’s only his efforts to re-establish his life that reform
connections with the world. Thor could easily let this persona fade away, barring
the enchantment, which Odin could easily remove. Would abandoning Blake be akin
to murder, perhaps?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">That unwillingness to inflict such
permanent harm on another, even a fake other, would line up with the most
consistent qualities of Thor throughout this run: his unwavering nobility and
goodness. His steadfast belief in doing ‘the right thing’ and acting
‘honourably’ drives almost every action that he takes. To a certain extent,
Thor lacks any other personality traits. At times, it comes off as almost too
good. Too sickly sweet, if you know what I mean. Once he decides on what is
right, he does not budge, stubborn to a fault. In some cases, like his
conflicts with Mephisto, it makes sense; in the more ambiguous case of the
menagerie of mythical animal-like creatures who transform the bodies and minds
of some humans, it’s less clear, especially when they show that it is very much
a merger of the two beings, not a possession.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Even with Thor’s straight ahead morality,
there are some grey areas in these comics, usually through either
misunderstandings like with the Scarlet Scarab or the Death-Demon, both
well-meaning characters whose true intentions need to be worked out (after a
bit of fighting) or with situations that are less clear-cut, like with the
menagerie. Or, with issue 311, the most morally complex issue of the run, and
the only one that feels like it could be published now.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">“Grief More than a God May Bear” tells the
story of a young black man shot by the police after one of the officers thinks
he’s reaching for a gun when he is, in fact, reaching for pills for a heart
condition. He’s taken to the clinic where Blake worked and the outrage over the
shooting causes members of the community to storm the clinic and plant
themselves in front of it. Of course, the police then respond in force and
tensions run high as both sides stand off, ready to engage in violence at any
provocation. After he seemingly saves the boy’s life in surgery, Blake
transofmrs into Thor to try and ease tensions, mostly through lecturing,
disarming many with Mjolnir, and, finally, creating a literal chasm in the road
between the two sides. While he gives a big speech, the boy’s heart condition
results in his death and it’s only the boy’s mother who manages to defuse any
violence. The issue ends with her and the police officer who shot her son
exchanging meaningful glances of grief, while Blake is suspended for abandoning
his patient (to be Thor). It’s a very ‘both sides’ comic, bending over
backwards to make both sides seem equally prone to violence and anger, and to
regret and grief. It’s very simplistic, particularly in the way that Thor
focuses on defusing any and all violence with no regard for consequences or the
systemic reasons for what happened. Why are members of the community so quick
to anger that they’re willing to violently burst into a local clinic? Why is
the officer that shot the boy still amongst the assembled officers, still on
duty? How in the world are we to stomach the panel where the officer and the
boy’s mother seem to give knowing glances? It’s the sort of issue that’s good
for raising a very real problem and that’s about it. The moral complexities lie
in the implications.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">But, they also lie in the moral simplicity
of Thor, so convinced of the rightness of his actions that he never considers
the obtuseness of his judgment – nor the consequences of choosing to act as
Thor over remaining as Blake. If ever there was a moment that justifies Blake’s
continued existence, it’s this issue where he seemingly saves the boy’s life
with surgical skill that, apparently, only he possesses... and, then, he
leaves. It’s suggested that nothing could have saved the boy, but, as Blake’s
boss tells him, they’ll never know because his incredibly talented doctor
wasn’t there. The larger implication is that, as we see Blake struggle to
maintain a consistent life, given his profession and the amount of good he
could do, particularly as the other half of an immortal god, is the moral thing
for Thor to abandon being his Asgardian self and devote even more of his
existence to Blake? It’s odd that that question is never broached. For all of
the challenges in maintaining both lives, the idea of choosing one is
unexplored, even as the justification for maintaining both is never offered.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The run is an entertaining one, make no
mistake. Its flaws are the strict superficial level of morality and character
depth that it rarely wavers from. Blake struggles to have a life, while Thor is
Thor, a steadfastly moral and honourable god. A common tactic to give Thor the
illusion of depth is for the true motives of his enemies to actually be good or
misunderstood, making the character seem reasonable and flexible by not
continuing to pound them with his hammer. Instead, it simply makes him not so inflexible
as to be a moron. When it comes to truly tough choices, he tends to stick to
the middle ground. But, what else can you expect?<o:p></o:p></span></p>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-55438334563491740382024-01-25T08:13:00.002-05:002024-01-25T08:13:29.565-05:00Lessons in Humility: Ages of Thunder (Thor: Ages of Thunder #1, Thor: Reign of Blood #1, Thor: Man of War #1, and Thor God-Size Special #1)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKGt49YuVeHbx8u27jVXpl76gAVUu1DUB1ZJekzjnUPZ9WedoOg5kpcc-r-WiObuRC_qfqMfk8SPgMoZvSpcG5uSy_7cItKr8Tt-TLfuRUOLiD3JJ7U598rgIf3Z0y106oGQl81ahHB2c8I38wofG67fPGoDeR6eYhviP5HYyrpZchgqhmyhBrIQ/s922/Thor_Ages_of_Thunder_Vol_1_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="922" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKGt49YuVeHbx8u27jVXpl76gAVUu1DUB1ZJekzjnUPZ9WedoOg5kpcc-r-WiObuRC_qfqMfk8SPgMoZvSpcG5uSy_7cItKr8Tt-TLfuRUOLiD3JJ7U598rgIf3Z0y106oGQl81ahHB2c8I38wofG67fPGoDeR6eYhviP5HYyrpZchgqhmyhBrIQ/s320/Thor_Ages_of_Thunder_Vol_1_1.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>It’s hard to write about Matt Fraction’s
Thor. It looms oddly large in my life. His run was going to be big. It was
going to be amazing. It was going to be fantastic. It was going to be one of
those legendary runs that people talk about with a bit of awe and love in their
voice for decades. The build up was huge, the wait was long. Firstly, for J.
Michael Straczynski to wrap up his run, then for Kieron Gillen to tie off loose
ends and, then, vamp for time. But, Fraction was coming! That was the promise!
And, then, he came and... well, expectations are a right bitch. And living up
to them just isn’t in the cards sometimes. If you weren’t there, it must all
seem so silly. I feel silly when I write about it. I feel mean and unfair, and
I don’t intend to be, but maybe I’m still hurt, unjustifiably I’d concede. The
comics weren’t as bad as they seemed and the demand to be not just good but
Great was unfair, even if it came from a place of love and excitement. And it
did, I swear. None of us were sitting there building Fraction up, hoping that
he would fail. I don’t think I’ve been quite as excited for a writer to take
over a work-for-hire book, before or since. It was a specific sort of
excitement and anticipation, because it started well before the gig was announced.
I don’t know if it was always part of the plan or if it was because we demanded
it. The fervor for Fraction writing Thor started over two and a half years
before his first issue came out, which is an absurdly long time. So absurd as
to be presumptuous on fans’ parts. Jeez, it was unfair, wasn’t it. How do you
live up to two and a half years of waiting? I guess you don’t.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">But, to be unfair one more time: it was
kinda his fault for writing Thor: Ages of Thunder.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The first of three one-shots released in
2008, Ages of Thunder was a decidedly post-Ragnarok (the Michael Avon Oeming-
and Daniel Berman-penned story) comic felt so fresh and new, so bold and
confident. It began with the caption “IT IS THE ERA OF THE <b>THIRD RAGNAROK</b>,” while the second story (each one-shot had two
stories) began “IT IS THE ERA OF THE <b>ELEVENTH
RAGNAROK</b>.” That alone set it apart, leaning into the cyclical nature of the
Asgardians, of their continued existence that ends with the gods dying and beginning
anew. This wasn’t a superhero comic; this was a comic about Thor the myth. The
Thor of stories. In that first one-shot, word balloons were rare as Fraction
relied mostly on narrative captions to tell the story alongside the art, a
complete break from a decade of dialogue-driven writing with few captions save
ones that indicated a location. Ages of Thunder was so different from the
monthly Thor comic – and everything else Marvel and DC were putting out.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Even the idea of telling stories of Thor’s
past, of leaning into the mythology Viking god side of the character was
something new at the time. Others had told stories of Thor in the past,
interacting with Vikings or other people of Earth. Not many had done so with
such brutality and ugliness. Of leaning into the idea that the gods were once
everything that humans are, only bigger and more dramatic. Their highs are
higher, their lows lower. It very much seemed like Fraction was coming at Thor
and his world from a perspective we’d never seen before and that was exciting.
We wanted more – and we got it two months later with another one-shot that
continued the loose larger story that would connect all three issues. The third
one-shot took several months and was followed quickly by a fourth, unrelated
one that would actually be more of an indication at where Fraction was coming
from. It’s a little surprising that the second two one-shots didn’t temper
expectations and the demand for Fraction on the monthly book. The God-Size
Special, in particular, seemed like a disappointment at the time. It’s not a
bad issue by any means. It’s a loving tribute to one of the memorable moments
of Walt Simonson’s run, the last stand of Skurge the Executioner (a moment so
memorable and cool that it made it into a movie) that also ties up a dangling
thread, of sorts, from the Tom DeFalco/Ron Frenz run. If you take the issue as
it comes, it’s an entertaining read and has some great art by Dan Brereton
(recreating the Simonson story) and Michael Allred (such a goofy chapter)
amongst others. It also reprinted the original Simonson issue, Thor #362, so...
how could you complain? When I read it now, I tend to look upon it pretty
favourably. It’s the finale of the Ages of Thunder trilogy, Man of War, that
gives me much more of a pause.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">We return to expectations and reality, once
more. In this case, it’s the expectations created by the story and the reality
of how it plays out. The broader story of the Ages of Thunder one-shots is that
the Asgardians are thoughtless and frivolous people. They are gods in their
glory, making rash, short-sighted decisions that require them to find a rapid
solution to the problems of their own making. Odin is arrogant and selfish,
quick to blame others and to demand that he get what he wants. And, usually, what
he wants is for Thor to fix things. And Thor does it. In that first issue, he
saves Asgard from itself by killing Frost Giants at his father’s behest – but
he also clearly understands that the reason why he’s needed is his own people’s
foolishness, particularly that of his father. So, he’s resentful and usually
not in much of a mood to celebrate saving his people. In Reign of Blood, Odin’s
selfish lust puts both Asgard and Earth in peril, prompting Thor to act – only
to be betrayed by the people he’s trying to save. The thrust of these two
issues is that, yes, Thor grows cold and cruel, but it seems somewhat justified
given that the problems he’s solving with his hammer are created by the people
he’s saving. Who wouldn’t, after a while, grow tired of saving everyone from
themselves? Particularly when the main cause of these issues is his own father,
Odin?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">From the end of the first issue, it’s clear
that a confrontation between Thor and Odin is coming when Odin invites Thor to
celebrate the return of Idun and her ability to cultivate the golden apples
that grant the Aesir immortality, and Thor rejects the offer, saying “SOME OF
US HAVE BEEN <b>KILLING GIANTS</b> TODAY
AND AREN’T IN THE <b>MOOD</b> TO HAVE A <b>TEA PARTY</b>.” Artist Khari Evans gives
Thor such a wonderful sneer as he says this, solidifying just how little Thor
thinks of his father and the rest of Asgard in that moment. What are <i>they</i> celebrating? What did <i>they</i> do? What did <i>Odin</i> do, except beg his son to solve his problem? The issue ends
with the following captions, which point to the eventual confrontation:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA"></span></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">AND THUS DID ONE-EYE, AND THUS DID
ALL-FATHER, AND THUS DID THE SUPERLATIVE ODIN COME TO SENSE THE COLD AND
ARROGANTLY CRUEL MAN HIS SON HAD GROWN TO BE.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">AND A CHILL BLEW THROUGH ASGARD...</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">BAD DAYS WERE COMING.</span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Reign of Blood only increased the conflict
between father and son with two stories where Odin’s selfish lust nearly brings
ruin down on Asgard. In the first, Thor is mostly a bystander, albeit one who
makes it clear that he knows that Odin and Loki need to find a way to clean up
their own messes; in the second, Thor goes to Earth to defeat an army of the
undead. It requires creating a Blood Colossus, this monstrous creation of dirt
and metal and lightning with Thor at its heart. It takes forty days and forty
nights for Thor to defeat this army of the undead and, before he goes into the
Blood Colossus, he tells the people of the village he’s helping to save, that
he needs his horses to win. That, though they will die, if the people drag
their bodies onto a fire and burn them, they will be reborn the next day. No
matter how hungry they are, they must resist eating the horses. It’s the one
thing Thor asks. Loki, of course, convinces them to eat the horses and, upon
saving the village and discovering that they had eaten his horses, coupled with
the long and weary battle he’d undergone, he, ah, gets a bit angry, brings down
rain and floods, creates a new horse, and vows to bring down a rage on humanity
unlike any before. This is where things begin to turn with the third issue, Man
of War, having Odin send his Valkyries to stop Thor (until they unite against a
common enemy) and, then, suiting up in the Destroyer armour to fight his son
directly.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The thrust of the story up until the end of
the second issue is one where Thor’s diminishing patience for those around them
seems justified. We see Odin and Loki make choices that are poor and require
Thor to act to right matters. Odin’s choices come from arrogance and
selfishness; Loki’s from envy and maliciousness. The result is that Thor is
beyond his breaking point and the third issue’s resolution is to cast Thor as
little more than a child throwing a temper tantrum in sore need of a lesson in
humility. It may be that Fraction’s perspective is not that of Odin, but it is
the dominant (and victorious) perspective in the comic. There’s a coupling of
‘humility’ with ‘cheerful obedience’ that’s difficult to accept.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Perhaps, that discomfort is where this
comic needs to live. There’s a genuine sense that Thor is treated unfairly by
his father who decries his son’s lack of humility while displaying only
arrogance and selfishness. The issue ends with Odin besting Thor in battle and,
then, stripping him of his godhood and sending him to Earth in the body of a
human who tends to the sick while suffering from a weak and handicapped body:
Arkin Torsen. In the end, we see that Odin sending Thor to Earth to learn
humility is just another element of the cycle. It’s a cruel sort of ending that
never sits right with me, particularly the final captions: “IN SHORT, THE MAN
KNOWN AS ARKIN TORSEN WAS KNOWN FOR HIS HUMANITY. / IT WAS A START.” I hesitate
to call that a ‘happy ending,’ yet it’s clearly portrayed as a positive ending.
One where justice has been served on a brash, young god who should have just
shut up and did what he was told with good humour. It’s a disconcerting sort of
ending, because Thor’s rage at the end of the second issue and beginning of the
third is excessive and needing someone to curb it. Yet, it was the choices and
actions of Odin and Loki that brought him to that point, and they suffer not
even no consequences, but no recriminations. Taken on its own, you would think
that Thor’s anger was rooted solely in the arrogance of a young god who has
overreacted to a minor slight.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The stories told in these issues are not
fair or nice ones. People suffer unjustly. The Frost Giant that Thor kills at
the end of the first issue is tricked by Loki’s schemes just as much as Thor is
in the second issue, for example. And he dies anyway. That Thor suffers an
unjust fate with no regard for what caused his rage is not necessarily out of
place with the overall tone of the issues. There is little fair or just in
these pages. All there is, truly, is the idea that the strength and will of the
mighty dominates that of the weaker. And that’s what happens, in the end. Odin
is more powerful than Thor and that might is the true decider of who is
arrogant and in need of a lesson, and who is justified in their actions. It’s
as much a part of that ‘bold, new approach’ to the character that I mentioned
above as anything.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">That the different stories all take place
across different eras of Ragnarok firmly places these stories within the idea
that Thor and the Asgardians are inextricably tied to cycles. These stories
form one larger one spread out across different cycles of existence, suggesting
that these events repeated themselves again and again, confirmed by the final
pages of Man of War where Thor becomes a man clearly meant to allude to Donald
Blake, hundreds of years before Blake existed. These are recurring mythical
stories where the events are somewhat divorced from typical motivations as we
know them. These characters are less characters than roles that they inhabit by
decree of fate. Odin is the arrogant patriarch; Loki the trickster that no one
trusts yet everyone tolerates; Thor, the brash young god. It doesn’t matter why
they do the things that they do, they just do them and events play out as they
will. Fraction revisits this idea, in a subtle manner, in his Thor run when
Thor resurrects both Odin and Loki, seemingly for no reason other than he
misses them and wants them back. You could place that in Fraction’s recurring
theme of family, or that, even though Thor has broken the cycles of Ragnaroks,
there is some generational memory that he can’t escape. He can’t help but
recreate these familiar roles and situations as displayed here. How many times
must Loki betray them? How many times must Odin rage at Thor’s arrogance while
displaying his own? How many times must Thor get over himself and do what’s
‘good for Asgard?’</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Despite the frustrating third issue, Ages
of Thunder remains a startling work, one that clearly influenced the Thor
comics that came after Fraction. You don’t get much of the Viking metal
elements of Jason Aaron’s run with these comics. Nor even the bleak Thor of
Donny Cates. Look closely enough and much of what Fraction did as the writer of
the ongoing monthly book is foreshadowed here. But, these comics exist outside
of continuity. When was the era of the third Ragnarok exactly? Or the eleventh?
Or the twenty-third? I know when Fear Itself takes place, though. Ages of
Thunder raises expectations and promised a bold, new perspective for Thor, even
if it’s one that isn’t compatible with mainstream corporate superhero comics.
Sometimes, in hindsight, you can see everything that led to a specific place
and, still, someone has to get punished, has to fall, has to get a lesson in
humility.</span></p>
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Sorry, Matt. I’m trying.</span>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-81717862055450367262024-01-18T08:21:00.003-05:002024-01-18T08:21:39.424-05:00 Because: Roy the Boy in 94/95 (Thor #472-489, annual #19, and Avengers annual #23)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ2J4x6hkTOsTX1kQPb1ei7No9JM5gmWiGFaVR4VMciYoD5GPdw9Pb_qs_0h0wr2Xlf9ja1XGP0DkqHwvct7dqLKxrUUJMi3xeF0uRw2QKEsvporQivT-6p5nKVGx2Wdxjq06GXFei9fBI4DQG_Mfvkgg6zBkhkNQUb0yOKR29Y0t9xXhyphenhyphenIOjCEg/s2800/thor482.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2800" data-original-width="1840" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ2J4x6hkTOsTX1kQPb1ei7No9JM5gmWiGFaVR4VMciYoD5GPdw9Pb_qs_0h0wr2Xlf9ja1XGP0DkqHwvct7dqLKxrUUJMi3xeF0uRw2QKEsvporQivT-6p5nKVGx2Wdxjq06GXFei9fBI4DQG_Mfvkgg6zBkhkNQUb0yOKR29Y0t9xXhyphenhyphenIOjCEg/s320/thor482.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>The ultimate test in the limits of
nostalgia is facing a formative work in your life after years of distance and
seeing that is an absolute piece of shit. This was the first full Thor run that
I read month in, month out, and it’s terrible on nearly every level. Every
creative element shows brutally basic flaws throughout. It is directionless,
meandering, contradictory, riddled with basic technical errors, and could
easily be held up as everything wrong with Marvel Comics in the mid-‘90s. I
remain baffled not that it’s a run of a year-and-a-half (containing two
anniversary issues and two annuals, making it feel ever-so-much longer) but that
it happened at all. Looking at the run, I can’t quite understand the confluence
of events that would lead to a monthly Thor comic written by Roy Thomas and
drawn by MC Wyman. With all of the creative options available... <i>this</i>?<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The beginning (and end, to an extent) of
what makes a great Thor run rests on the title character. As much as Thor is
sometimes about the world around him, it is still his comic and everything is
grounded in him. From the first issue of the run, it’s apparent that Thomas has
no strong vision of the character, of what motivates him, and where that might
lead. Beyond some of the vague pieces that make up the character or inform him,
like butting heads with Odin, Thor flits through this entire run from one moment
to the next, either reacting to events or making choices devoid of any reason.
Why he does anything is a mystery. In the opening issue, he awakes from a deep
weeks-long sleep, recovering from his mental break, dreaming of Ragnarok, and
promptly declares that he’s headed for Earth with a pissed off “HANG MY DUTY --
<b>AND HANG ALL ASGARD!</b>” Ostensibly,
this results from chaffing under Odin’s authority and his meddling, the very
reasons given for the emergence of Valkyrie and the entire previous year of
Thor comics. This issue literally could have been Thor #460. Perhaps, that was
the goal: post-Tom DeFalco/Ron Frenz Take 2. Pretend that Ron Marz and Jim
Starlin never happened. But, at least they had a plan. At least there was
logic.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">All Thomas offers up are the High
Evolutionary, his Godlings, and references to older, better stories. But, to an
extent, that’s what Thomas has spent a career churning out: <i>references to older, better stories</i>. Why
should this, his final run in the Marvel Universe be any different?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">If you’ve never heard of the Godlings,
renamed the Godpack partway through the run, it’s because they never appeared
again after this run. In fact, save one guest appearance in a Thomas-penned
issue of Fantastic Four Unlimited, their only appearances are in these issues.
Yet another High Evolutionary experiment, they rehash the beings from the
DeFalco/Frenz run where the scientist used gods as his templates. Patterned
after different Asgardians, the High Evolutionary uses the corpses from a
prison bus crash to create his new pantheon, supplanting his latest versions of
human/animal hybrids. Thor comes across the two groups in a survival of the
fittest brawl set up by the High Evolutionary. And the Thunder God decides to
tag along, because... Ah... <i>because</i>.
Get used to that word showing up. It is the only reason you’ll ever get for any
and all choices made by pretty much every character – and even the writer. <i>Because</i>. Full stop.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">From there, Thor comes and goes from the
High Evolutionary and Godpack. Flitting between them and whatever randomness
grabs his attention. In many other instances, Thor in a separate location would
transform the comic into an ensemble piece, splitting time between Thor and the
Godpack, almost acting as a ‘backdoor pilot,’ of sorts into their own series.
That doesn’t happen here. Beyond Blitzanna, the yellow lightning Godling
patterned after Thor, none of the group are given much of a personality and hers
barely expands past ‘combative.’ She resents Thor and the way that he
overshadows them, her in particular, along with her lack of memories of her
previous life. That’s the sum total of her character and she’s, by far, the
most developed of the bunch. Deeper into the run, after they’ve already
defeated an Ani-Mutants (new term for the New Men) led by a returning Man-Beast
(now called Karnivore) and have moved onto their predecessors in space, one of
the Godpack betrays the group and it means nothing. There’s no reason to care,
because the betrayer never had a chance to connect with readers, making his
betrayal affect them in any way. Moreover, it’s inconsequential aside from
adding another story beat to the conflict. It recalls Count Tagar’s previous
betrayal as the entire story recalls earlier, better stories. The last time
that Thor went into space with the High Evolutionary and his god-like
creations, it was at least to help his friend, Hercules 60-ish issue previous.
Here, after much cajoling to get an explanation, it’s a vague threat to Earth,
maybe.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">That conflict plays out in the anniversary
issue 482, marking the 400th issue of a Thor comic (treating Journey into
Mystery #83 as if it were issue 1), and it begins with the ultimate in
meaningless references: an attack by the Kronans, or, as Thor explains, “THE <b>ALIEN RACE</b> WHOM I ONCE KNEW AS <b>THE STONE MEN OF SATURN!</b>” Apparently
under the thumb of the New Immortals, their attack is quickly defended and
their use in the issue is only to cause us to go “<i>Oh</i>, just like in Journey into Mystery #83! The first appearance of
Thor! <i>I get that reference</i>!” Were it
the only such instance, it might be a bit of fun; instead, it’s a run made up
of such instances to one degree or another. The third issue is a sequel to the
story of Mogul of the Mystic Mountain from the Kirby/Lee run that ran as a
backup, told in flashback, because. Jane Foster returns, becoming the tutor
once again of the High Evolutionary’s animal creations, because. Odin uses Red
Norvell as a stand-in for his son in the advent of Ragnarok, because. The
origin of Thor and his relationship to Donald Blake is revisited and revised,
because. Blake is discarded as a bit of magic when convenient, because.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The Donald Blake retcon is the most
egregious and unnecessary one in the run. During the battle at Wundagore with
the Ani-Mutants and Karnivore, Thor comes across a cavern that looks identical
the one where Blake found the stick that transformed him into Thor – and there
is a man who looks like Donald Blake frozen, about to strike a stick against a
boulder just as happened in Journey into Mystery #83. It turns out, this is
Donald Blake. The real Donald Blake. That whole story about Odin creating a
human guise out of nothing, patterned on Keith Kincaid, was a lie. The whole
story about Odin sending Thor to Earth to teach him humility was a lie.
Instead, in what can only be called the only consistent through line in this
run, it stemmed from his fear of Ragnarok and Thor dying before that event
finally befell the gods. After Thor’s death was prophesised, Odin sent his
spirit to dwell within Donald Blake until the time of his supposed death passed
and, then, Odin arranged for the events of Journey into Mystery #83 to
transpire. At the moment when Blake struck the boulder, Odin set Thor free, and
moved Blake to that cave in Mount Wundagore, forever to be frozen. The kicker?
This is partly an explanation for why, over time, Blake was drawn less lean and
more muscular. <i>It’s a retcon to explain
artists drawing the human alter ego of Thor with too many muscles</i>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">It is that revelation where it’s obvious
that there’s nothing here. If ever you needed proof that there is no line
between ‘fan fiction’ and official, in continuity, published by the real deal
works, it’s this fucking run of Thor comics. Roy the Fanboy brings back Donald
Blake, once again revising the origin of Thor, so he can justify, in
continuity, the way that superhero comic artists tend to draw people more
muscular than they should be. What are we even doing here, people? This is the
peak moment of a career devoted to bullshit like this, forever trapped in the
past and finding new ways to take those things that he’s obsessed over and use
them again and again and again. And why? What did this add to Thor? How did
this make him better? It’s so completely ignored that I would be shocked if you
were aware of this retcon unless you read these comics – and, honestly, even
then, leaning that you had no memory beyond a vague sense of ‘awful’ wouldn’t
surprise me. Even within the run, it becomes meaningless after seven or eight
issues when Blake magically absorbs Thor, is destroyed when Thor is let loose,
and, then, revealed to be a magical construct created by Loki’s wife after she
accidentally killed the real Blake after Odin put him in Wundagore. <i>Of course</i>. A retcon so pointless and
devoid of meaning that even Roy Thomas retcons it half a year later. Except not
entirely. His little spin on Thor’s origin still remains. Even ignored by every
single writer that followed him on Thor, it’s still there. His little doodle in
the corner of a panel from the Kirby and Lee run that you can’t erase without
making a bigger mess of things.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">What’s funny is that there’s a sense that
Thomas knows that these are bad comics as he’s working on them. The main threat
of the New Immortals is the ‘evolved’ Analyzer (formerly the Recorder) that
calls itself Deus Ex Machina. There are frequent self-deprecating bits in the
dialogue (he, like most of us, did not seem to be a fan of Thor’s new costume
that debuted in issue 475) of various plot points and characters. A recurring
idea in the latter part of the run is spirits influencing the actions of
characters or possessing/controlling them outright, causing them to do things
completely out of character, and, if that is not the perfect metaphor for this
run, I don’t know what is. All I can think is that he got the gig and kept
hoping that a real idea for what to do would occur to him and, until it did,
he’d play off old stories and hope that it wasn’t too bad.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Were Thomas’s failings all that marred
these comics, the run would be salvageable. Instead, most of the run is drawn
by the art team of MC Wyman, Mike DeCarlo, and Ovi Hondru in a bastardised
attempt at something approximating the work of the Image founders. In some
places, I see Liefeld, in others Lee... but lacking their flair for dramatic,
eye-grabbing layouts and storytelling. Too often, the storytelling is muddled
and difficult to parse with Thor reaching Hulk-like proportions. The colouring
work of Hondru (credited usually simply as ‘Ovi’) does few favours, often getting
details like hair or costume colour schemes wrong, confusing one character for
another when the line work is fairly clear. It’s almost as if the art is as
directionless as the writing, unsure of what it’s trying to accomplish on the
most basic of levels. There’s a lack of quality control that shows in every
issue, which is, ultimately, the fault of editors Ralph Macchio and Mike
Rockwitz.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The one aspect of the run that works is
Odin’s obsession with Ragnarok. This is enough of a recurring element of the
character that it never seems like a forced allusion to the past. Odin’s
actions being dictated by the eventual Twilight of the Gods ebbs and flows, and
that facing an insane Thor that he nearly had to kill might bring about a new
bout of Ragnarok obsession makes sense. For a moment in that first issue, it
seemed almost like Thomas was going to have Thor join him. After all, the run
begins with Thor dreaming of Ragnarok and his eventual fight with the Midgard
Serpent. Right up until he declares his intention to go to Earth, there’s a
sense that the dream and his experiences with Valkyrie would cause a renewed
fealty to Odin and Asgard. Instead, his departure causes Odin to prepare in new
ways, like bringing back Red Norvell as the new Thor – and treating him as his
son, steadfastly refusing to acknowledge that there is any other Thor (despite
Beta Ray Bill pledging himself to Asgard). Even the Donald Blake retcon is
rooted in his Ragnarok obsession. While I find this version of Odin a little
tiresome, it’s a portrayal that makes sense and is the sole bit of consistency
in the run.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The final two pages of issue 489 are so
baffling as to amuse in how quickly Thomas returns things to something
approaching a status quo. Sif returns to Asgard just as randomly as she left it
to be at her love’s side, while Thor also quits the Godpack with as much reason
that he gave for joining. It’s a rare feat to give off the impression that you
had more to say on a title while saying so little of substance over the course
of a year and a half. The point that I keep returning to is that Thomas references
the works of others frequently and the paradox of that is the affection he
clearly has for the work of Kirby, Lee, and Simonson, while not necessarily
having much of an opinion on Thor. By the end of the run, it’s apparent that
Thomas never had anything worthwhile to say about the character aside from
“I’ve read a bunch of Thor comics that I sure did like!” As much as superhero
comics fandom seems to think of one of their own taking over the creative
direction of a book as a requirement for it to stay true to what it really is,
while a writer who says that they’ve never been a fan of the character is the
sign of a mercenary just as likely to deviate from what you love about the
character as not, there’s something worse in delivering a creatively vacuous run
under the auspices of being a loving fan. It’s ugly and cynical and sad.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">This was the first full run of Thor comics
that I read and owned. I read and reread these comics and, eventually, when I
was moving, I tossed them. Eventually, memories faded and they were reprinted
across two Epic Collections that, as the writer of Thorsday Thoughts, I had to
have. To be a completist. <i>To be a fan</i>.
Because. Fuck me.</span></p>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-48997580476178119862024-01-11T08:10:00.001-05:002024-01-11T08:13:33.612-05:00 Embracing the Past: Thor: Godstorm #1-3<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsErJsFEb976KcAowLR5CTx9uU5nyAS0HgbBd4gQD5Xvo9_MjwYNBMmG9rJzLC3tXocmT5gvfPhokxBu5XJZ5xlazPhi_BYvDORTSnnmM8v3asGNsJo2Q7jTxR1jY5cLbcAMoTH5wzJ-bDwOBS5eXC2tj2v6VlPOtI0mwNVfUpieaS8W9CC9iM5Q/s846/godstorm.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="846" data-original-width="550" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsErJsFEb976KcAowLR5CTx9uU5nyAS0HgbBd4gQD5Xvo9_MjwYNBMmG9rJzLC3tXocmT5gvfPhokxBu5XJZ5xlazPhi_BYvDORTSnnmM8v3asGNsJo2Q7jTxR1jY5cLbcAMoTH5wzJ-bDwOBS5eXC2tj2v6VlPOtI0mwNVfUpieaS8W9CC9iM5Q/s320/godstorm.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>Published in the tail end of 2001, this
three-issue prestige format (32 pages each with no ads and a cardstock cover)
is by Kurt Busiek, Steve Rude, Mike Royer, Greg Wright, John Costanza, and JG
of Comicraft and takes place in three different time periods with a framing
story. Before reading it, part of me was somewhat shocked that it wasn’t part
of that wave of Thor reprints that happened around the release of Ragnarok.
Busiek and Rude with Royer on inks seems like the sort of thing that a lot of
folks would be interested in. I’ve never actually heard much about Godstorm.
I’ve always been awake it existed and was on the look out to pick it up, but
that’s about it. Having read it now, I kind of get it. I’m forced to damn it
with the worst praise you can give something:<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-CA">It’s
fine</span></i><span lang="EN-CA">.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Parts of it are better than others. On the
whole, it’s a perfectly solid Thor comic and that’s a little disappointing. I
think it’s a matter of expectations. You see those three names on the cover and
you’re expecting something really special. The sort of book where you’re
confused about the lack of recognition for it. It’s very much a love letter to
the character and the Kirby beginnings of it. The conceit of the story, which
follows the returning menace of a rogue storm that was turned against Thor by
Loki once upon a time, is a solid one and suited to a three-issue story like
this. From the beginning, the pacing seemed off in that the three time periods
aren’t divided evenly, but spaced somewhat randomly with the first one taking
up half of the first issue, the second one taking up the second half of the
first issue and three quarters of the second, and the third one taking up the
final quarter of the second issue and the entire third with some of the framing
story elements interspersed around and in all three time periods. That roughly
spaces out the final two time periods taking equal space with the earliest
roughly two-fifths that size. To an extent, that makes sense given that the
earliest story is akin to a “Tales of Asgard” backup almost compared to two
full-size adventures. Conceptually, I understand it; reading the comics, it
doesn’t feel right.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The choices of time periods is part of the
problem. From the Rude-painted covers to his luxuriating in Kirby-ness
interiors with Royer, an artist whose name conjures his work as Kirby’s primary
inker in the 1970s, the third time period, taking place during the Dan Jurgens
Thor run, seems out of step with the other two. Rude and Royer doing a “Tales
of Asgard” style story and, then, a large story during the early days of the
Avengers (ask Busiek and he’d probably tell you exactly where in Thor and
Avengers continuity that part takes place) is pure Kirby-in-the-Marvel-Age
stuff. It looks and feels like it’s trying to live in that period to a large
extent and to have that feeling continue on to a period marked by modern art
styles (Thor #41 came out the same month as Godstorm #1 and featured Stuart
Immonen as the penciller) without any change or adaptation, while giving the
book a sense of visual cohesion, also gives it an inauthentic feeling. I don’t
mean for Rude to change his style as, despite my saying that he and Royer are
in ‘Kirby mode’ here, Rude’s style is Rude’s style. A hybrid of Kirby, Alex
Toth, Paul Smith, and others, Rude looks like Rude. No, I’m talking about the
approach to the page in layout.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Aside from the Avengers sequence at the end
of the first issue, which is almost entirely in the two by two layout, most of
Godstorm is in a two by three six-panel layout, or is there as the default
layout that Rude plays with by dividing or merging panels. Only a handful of
pages break from that basic layout outside of the Avengers sequence. Even
though Rude plays with that two panels per tier, three tiers per page layout
throughout the series, it’s obviously there and is a key visual marker. Along
with the two by two layout that I’ve often spoken of associating with “Tales of
Asgard,” it’s a common Kirby default, because it provides a good base for
churning out pages. Six panels per page is a good number to give room for solid
action beats, a couple of word balloons, and not leaving the reader feeling
like they’re flying through the issue. Again, the association with Kirby’s
approach to Thor (and other Marvel comics) when drawing stories during/around
the first two time periods makes that continued approach in a then-contemporary
Thor story feel temporally out of step. While Rude’s style always echoes the
past a little, the inventiveness in layouts and panel compositions in a work
like Nexus always looks fresh and exciting. The third issue of Godstorm does
not. The entire project looks and feels like something out of the past, yet
over a third of it takes place in the (then) here and now!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Maybe the problem is, as I said earlier,
expectations. Despite runs on Iron Man, Avengers, and Thunderbolts, Busiek’s
involvement at Marvel always seemed inseparable from his strong knowledge of
continuity, to the point where even present-day runs felt like they had one
foot in the past. He’s the Marvels guy. The Untold Tales of Spider-Man guy.
That’s unfair and it is what it is to an extent. Add in Rude on art, he was in
the middle of a streak of small projects like this for Marvel that either took
place in the past or played off past stories in a big way. Out of those
projects, this is the only one where Royer inked Rude (aside from a story in
Fantastic Four #50 in 2002) and is the most heavily Kirby-based. It’s a project
dead set on evoking the past, with the first two issues largely taking place in
the past, and this seems like a project rooted in the lost cracks of
continuity. <i>And it is</i>. To the point
where the final third seems incongruous even though it features numerous
elements that fit cohesively with the two first issues. Rude and Royer’s art is
incredibly consistent, while Busiek builds up themes and plots that make sense
as they follow one another. It’s a disconnect between what makes sense
intellectually and what feels off. I hate leaning on words like ‘feels’ and
‘seems,’ yet can’t avoid it because so much of why you like or dislike
something comes down to those words. This is an exercise in trying to make
sense of it all.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The framing story takes place in the year
912 in a village on the coast of the North Sea. An old, wiry man tells stories
of Thor to two young boys (who resemble Thor and Loki somewhat). The first
story is from the past and explains how the leader of their village’s family
came to possess a piece of Mjolnir that hangs on a necklace, passed down the
generations, while the next two have the old man divine the future and tell two
more stories based following up on the events of the first one. A storm led astray
by Loki is the continuous villain through all of the stories, taking different
forms, and acting as an anchor, of sorts. The first story is very much a simple
one, laying the foundation with Thor pissing off Loki, Loki taking revenge by
turning one of his own storms against him, and Thor being forced to exert his
power and imprison the storm deep in the sea. During this story is when a piece
of Mjolnir is broken off and Thor gives it to the brave Vikings that assisted
him.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The second story is the exact sort of story
that you’d expect from this project, taking place sometime during the first
year of Avengers with the lineup of Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Giant-Man,
and Wasp. Introducing a new villain, the Weather-Maker, it almost comes off
like Busiek decided to do a one-off “Untold Tales of Thor” story. Were it only
the Avengers taking down a previously unknown villain, it would be an
entertaining story; Busiek, though, adds in elements from Thor’s solo
adventures when, the object of the villain’s affection (he’s a complete incel)
is gravely injured, Thor must use the skills of Dr. Donald Blake to save her
life in defiance of Odin’s call for his son to return to Asgard due to a
conflict with Trolls. Obviously, Blake saves the woman and Thor incurs his
father’s wrath. Meanwhile, in prison, the Weather-Maker uses a hidden piece of
his weather technology and accidentally summons a portion of the
long-imprisoned storm that merges with him/imbues him with power, creating a
new villain, Torrent. The second half of this story has Thor making a deal with
Odin to return to Earth to handle Torrent under the condition that he will
return in time to parlay with the Trolls or Loki will take his place as Crown
Prince of Asgard; of course, Loki has betrayed Asgard, is working with the
Trolls, and they attack the Asgardians prior to the parlay, leaving Thor
looking like he has failed his home again. Somehow, Thor manages to defeat
Torrent in a manner that also defeats the Trolls, and all is well, while the
small part of the storm returns to the whole, still deep in the sea.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The third story has Jake Olsen on a cruise
to Norway and friendly with a woman on board. She’s visiting home and it met by
her brother, an off-shore oil driller who was meant to be a fisherman like his
father before him. The choice to be something different has caused a big family
rift. The man’s drilling frees the imprisoned storm and Thor must battle it,
while saving the lives of the drillers. Loki gets involved and betrays the
storm, but all is made right by the end, including the family rift – and we learn
that this family are the descendents of the leaders of the village where the
framing story takes place. And, then, we learn that the old man telling the
stories is, in fact, Odin. Ta-da.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">On the whole, it’s a cohesive story with
the recurring antagonists of Loki and the storm and, the theme of fathers and
sons with different expectations and desires. The middle story is the most
successful in its attempt to both tell an entertaining, compelling story and
act as a bit of a ‘love letter’ to the Kirby/Lee run. Rude, coupled with Royer,
manages to capture the feel of Kirby quite a bit. Although Rude’s line work is
a lot softer and rounder than Kirby (few jagged lines from Rude), there are a lot
of places where he lives inside Kirby’s style and gives it his own spin. He’s
fantastic at those Kirby panels where you get a character’s face that
highlights the asymmetry, one side looking somewhat normal, while the other is
completely unhinged. Kirby’s Thor also slowly grew over the time, never to the
muscular size of subsequent artists and Rude captures that lean power of the
early Thor. Additionally, his take on the Trolls is pure ugly Kirby with
square/rectangular heads and the closest to hard, sharp line work. Busiek
couples that with the recurring ideas and themes of that run, the conflict
between Thor and Odin as the son emphasises the importance of his time on Earth
(<i>where his father sent him</i>) against
the father’s insistence that Asgard should take priority at all times. The
weird bargain where Loki would become Crown Prince should Thor not return in
time is such a hoot that I’m surprised Lee and Kirby never did it. The middle
story very much could have been released as a single one-shot and been incredibly
successful in its nostalgic love.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The third story doesn’t just suffer from
Rude’s strict adherence to the Kirby style and page composition that doesn’t
suggest a change in time, but in that it’s a fairly generic Thor story. Nothing
much is at stake for Thor beyond saving innocent people and defeating the out
of control storm and Loki. Where the first story is like a “Tales of Asgard”
short in its brevity and simplicity, and the second is an “Untold Tales of
Thor” in all of the best ways, the third is your ‘random issue of Thor that
means nothing at all except for how it reuses some stuff from some old comics
and doesn’t actually do much with them.’ If it wasn’t part of this project and
was just released on its own, I’d be tempted to call it a bad attempt to do
what Kurt Busiek does so well when he pulls in bits of old continuity for
modern stories. Aside from the thematic connection with the father/son and
wrapping up the storm story, there is no true point to this third part. It so
genuinely underwhelming and unnecessary that I do wonder if Godstorm would have
been better served by eliminating the third story/issue altogether and finding
a way to either be a 64-page one-shot or only two issues. I wonder how much my
reaction to Godstorm would be changed if that had been the case.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">What I had hoped would be a bit of a lost
classic turned out to be a little more complicated. I admire the skill and
concept of Godstorm more than I enjoy reading it. If it stuck to the idea of
being a lost story from Thor’s past, that’s where the team of Kurt Busiek,
Steve Rude, and Mike Royer truly shine. I’m not sure where the idea to tell a
portion in then-contemporary continuity stemmed from, but it was a mistake that
mars the story. It feels out of place and doesn’t justify itself beyond
wrapping up some loose ends that don’t need closure. The final issue comes off
as more obligatory than anything. Great looking and competently crafted though
it may be. It would be a curious exercise to take out the framing elements,
turn the middle story into a comic with the first story as a backup feature and
release that as a single comic. That seems like what this project wanted to be
before it bloated. If I sound overly critical, it does betray how enjoyable the
first two issues are – and, despite my criticisms, the third issue is perfectly
entertaining. It’s an incredibly well-drawn Thor adventure that surpasses most
random Thor comics.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">It’s about expectations and potential. This
could have been a great Thor comic, an all-time classic. Instead, it’s <i>fine</i>. Gorgeous throughout, clever at
times, and a good way to spend half an hour or so.</span></p>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-61457118513082791472024-01-04T20:00:00.000-05:002024-01-04T20:00:13.411-05:00Bits and Pieces: The Ron Marz/Jim Starlin Thor Run (Thor #460-471 and annual #18, Silver Surfer #86-88, Warlock Chronicles #6-8, and Warlock & the Infinity Watch #23-25)<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvbWhnqonotHNwkFih4VcTbTYTyE_JbgVjF_cZi7Fv4WRd3R5DZVe5qGWY7Uiw_TXQx2wpQI30TBaF3kY-Soq81oFaemdtHoQ3ySd8Psue63WeGFCahWKAiHfcVSFKhbnQWsM4-g6s_ba6CARwQw6LwvqM_83t7jANK8U16UZH7-LLjKbAKdoqjw/s1320/THOR462.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1320" data-original-width="870" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvbWhnqonotHNwkFih4VcTbTYTyE_JbgVjF_cZi7Fv4WRd3R5DZVe5qGWY7Uiw_TXQx2wpQI30TBaF3kY-Soq81oFaemdtHoQ3ySd8Psue63WeGFCahWKAiHfcVSFKhbnQWsM4-g6s_ba6CARwQw6LwvqM_83t7jANK8U16UZH7-LLjKbAKdoqjw/s320/THOR462.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">I’ve read this run in different forms over
the years. As just the “Blood & Thunder” crossover. Or just the Infinity
Crusade tie-ins. Or maybe just a random issue from earlier in the run. Up until
this reread, I’m not certain that I’ve ever read it from beginning to end as a
single piece. It’s a bit of a forgotten run – or a maligned one when
remembered. Neither of those assessments seem fitting to me despite my sharing
of them in the past. While this isn’t an all-time great Thor run, it offers
enough intrigue and oddities, in both writing and art, to be a worthwhile read.
What stands out most of all is how simple a story it is. Despite the various
subplots and added characters and crossovers, Thor’s journey from issue 460 to
471 is linear and focused. It’s a run about a specific idea for the character
and doesn’t deviate from that idea despite the extra elements built up around
it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Basically, Thor succumbs to Warrior’s
Madness, or so it seems. In the wake of his imprisonment within Eric
Masterson’s subconscious, he finds it difficult to return to his old life. He
spurns Sif’s affections and begins getting in brawls in bars and taverns across
Asgard. At Odin’s suggestion, Thor sets sail across the cosmos, seemingly to
regain his sense of self and calm in peaceful solitude. Except, a raven-haired
Valkyrie is aboard the craft and Thor begins a torrid love affair with her. She
encourages and cultivates his sense of discontent, provoking him to begin a war
march towards Asgard, to destroy his home and all of his loved ones for
perceived slights and betrayals. Before Thor’s sanity is regained, he fights
against Beta Ray Bill, gravely wounds Ares, joins the Goddess’s crusade,
battles the Silver Surfer, Warlock and the Infinity Watch, gains the Power Gem,
and even fights Thanos. Taken as a whole, it’s a singular, focused story not
quite like any other for Thor.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">This is an odd run in that it’s only a year
of Thor comics yet, if you expand it out, it’s 12 issues of Thor plus an annual
and, then, another nine issues, one of which is a larger one. Hell, if you
decide to go even further and begin bringing in The Infinity Crusade (which
Thor #463-467 are listed as tying into), you can easily add six more larger
issues of the event series plus another five issues each of Warlock Chronicles
and Warlock & the Infinity Watch. And, then, while we’re at it, the tie-in
issues of Silver Surfer since Marz writes them as well. It can easily balloon
from a single year of Thor to over 40 comics total depending on how thorough
you wish to be. I wouldn’t suggest going past the issues I’m discussing here if
your interest is in Thor only.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">It’s also an unusual run in the way that
it’s co-written to a certain extent. Ron Marz is the writer of every issue of
Thor (including the annual in its entirety) and Silver Surfer, while Jim
Starlin writes the two Warlock series... but also co-writes Thor #460-462 with
Marz. It’s very much the product of the two men with what came from which
unclear. Within the work of Starlin, it’s a rare co-writing situation. While he
had others script some of his early comics as writer/artist, he rarely co-wrote
after that easily period, aside from novels with his then-wife, Daina
Graziunas. Starlin’s involvement mostly slides under the radar within his body
of work, overshadowed by the Infinity events of the period, with even the two
Warlock series he wrote being viewed as mere crossover issues servicing Marz’s
Thor story rather than Starlin kicking the entire thing off with Marz in the
first three issues of the run.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Starlin’s influence is possibly visible in
the way that Thor is transformed, in a sense, into the Hulk, Starlin’s
favourite Marvel character (aside from his pet stable of cosmic characters, of
course). The story of Thor succumbing to a madness that turns him into a
violent brute, bent on destroying everything and, eventually, made even more
unstoppable thanks to the Power Gem, echoes the Hulk. A rampaging monster, not
one confined to Earth, creating a path of destruction across the universe.
Given the longstanding question of who would win in a fight, Thor or Hulk,
there’s something kind of fun about Starlin and Marz turning Thor into a cosmic
Hulk for a year. He’s not quite as mindless as the Hulk often is and the added
influence of Valkyrie gives the whole a bit of a different feel. While any
sense of the Hulk’s lack of agency is due to a lack of self-control, of another
aspect of himself overwhelming him, Thor’s lack of agency is presented as a
seduction from outside (despite the final revelations about Valkyrie’s true
nature). Thor’s descent into madness and rage is him as a victim of Valkyrie’s
manipulations, seemingly beginning before she appears at all. While she’s
eventually revealed to be a portion of his psyche, she remains an ‘other,’ an
enemy to defeat, one that seeks to dominate and control Thor’s mind rather than
a part to come to some sort of stable state with. It’s a bit of a clumsy form
of mental illness that veers wildly between schizophrenia and Dissociative
Identity Disorder (DID) without actually reflecting either entirely with a
solution that may suit a superhero comic but has less basis in reality.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The cause of Thor’s instability and the
genesis of Valkyrie is a soft retcon, of sorts. While many writers have
emphasised Odin’s paranoia about Ragnarok and Thor’s role as defender of
Asgard, causing him to ‘bank’ Thor backups, this behaviour is treated as a
source of trauma for Thor. Additionally, the ‘humility lesson’ of Donald Blake
is also a contributory event, related to the idea that, as Odin continually
messed with Thor’s sense of self, he lost more of it. He was, as he repeats
throughout the run, “reduced to bits and pieces.” That the events that caused
this ‘madness’ and allowed Valkyrie to grow within his mind happened so
recently and were external events (rather than infancy/childhood trauma or
genetic/chemical) also makes the whole thing stand out as a fictional mental illness.
You might as well chalk it up to ‘Warrior’s Madness’ for all its root in
reality.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">That Odin is, in part of whole, responsible
for Thor’s mental state is an interesting idea. The climax of the story, where
Odin realises that it’s his fault and he must journey into Thor’s mind to help
free his son of Valkyrie doesn’t quite land as strong as you’d like. It’s
thematically sound as Thor is still positioned as a victim, someone to be
rescued, even if he shows some agency in casting off his mental chains and
fighting by his father’s side. Yet, it points to one of the biggest flaws of
the run: Thor lacks control throughout the entire thing. He’s not the
protagonist or the antagonist. He’s a sort of character-like object pushed and
pulled in various directions. Fretted over and discussed and treated as
something for others to act upon. For the Valkyrie, he’s a weapon of rage –
and, eventually, a servant when the possibility of her being a corporeal being
occurs. For the Goddess, a follower. For Warlock, a means to gain another
favour for future use. Even for more caring actors like Sif and Beta Ray Bill,
there’s a sense of controlling and shielding Thor, treating him like someone
with no ability to determine his own course of actions. Before learning of the
root of his issues, they automatically assume that something must be wrong with
him, that something like Warrior’s Madness must be afflicting him, as there is
no way that he could come to the conclusion that he doesn’t love Sif or views
Beta Ray Bill as a mocking thief of his identity or that Odin has continually
used him as a pawn for his own schemes. I admit that maybe the Beta Ray Bill
fight seems out of character (although repeated at other times, before and
after, so...) but the others have a solid foundation in the character.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Perhaps that’s why the victim role for Thor
seems so grating. It makes sense that, after his imprisonment in Masterson’s
subconscious, Thor would be off. That’s a traumatic experience and living
through another taking on his identity would call into question his sense of
self and identity. Thinking through his life, it’s pretty easy to see why he
might come to the conclusion that Odin has treated him poorly, while Asgard as
a whole has gone along with every one of those schemes, seeing Thor as a
hammer-wielding warrior protector with little care about who is actually
wielding the hammer. From a certain point of view, growing bitter and angry at
these conclusions is logical. While Odin’s manipulations is the stated cause,
it’s also hand-waved away at the end, all of the actual harm blamed on
Valkyrie. It seems to be a pattern in Thor comics to come to the conclusion
that Odin is just about the worst father in the universe and, then, not be able
to actually do anything about that given the nature of superhero comics. The
best stories to grapple with this idea usually come to a final place where it’s
recognised that he was terrible, but he was also Thor’s father and separating
those two things is impossible and messy and complicated. No such complexity
exists here.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">It’s hard not to wonder if part of that
simplicity, particularly in the wrap up of the story, comes from a change in
plans regarding the longterm direction of the title. Was Marz always meant to
depart Thor at the end of “Blood & Thunder” or was the switch to Roy Thomas
as writer made well into the run? One clue towards a change in plans is that
Thor annual #18 introduces a new Thor antagonist, the Flame, and seems to set
him up as an ally of Loki for a future story. There was no room for the Flame
(or Loki) in the Thor/Valkyrie/“Blood & Thunder” year-long story, but issue
471 ends with a hint towards a future threat from Loki and it seems like the
Flame and Loki taking on Thor in a short story culminating with issue 475 could
have been in the cards. As it stands, the Flame would, instead, return in Thor
annual 19, written by Thomas. However, this was around the time that Marz began
working for DC, particularly on Green Lantern. He stayed on Silver Surfer for
nearly two more years, but this was a time of transition in his career away
from Marvel and toward DC. Marz has stated that he walked away from the title
due to disagreements with editorial and also hinted at dissatisfaction with the
art. He quickly touched on the run <a href="https://www.gamesradar.com/ron-marz-secret-origin-green-lantern-silver-surfer-witchblade/" target="_blank">in a career-spanning interview in 20202 withNewsarama</a> where he revealed that he was originally instructed to find an artist
for the run and had Cully Hamner lined up before editorial hired Bruce Zick
(who gave way to MC Wyman at the end of the run). It seemed like, aside from
working closely with Starlin, the run was a bit of a regret for Marz – like a
missed opportunity that didn’t work out like he had hoped.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">For the longest time, I could relate to
that feeling, particularly when it came to the art on this run. Bruce Zick drew
the first nine issues, 460-468, and his style is so peculiar for a Marvel
superhero book. He looks like he should be writing and drawing a self-published
fantasy comic that appeals to stoner college kids, if that makes any sense.
Incredibly detailed with stiff figure work, it really had that late ‘70s/early
‘80s Dungeons & Dragons sort of feel. With every reread, it grows on me a
little more. It’s twisted and strange and reflects the altered mental state of
Thor. It’s like we’ve stepped into the version of Asgard and the universe as he
sees it. You’re probably not too familiar with Zick’s name or work as he didn’t
do many mainstream comics, this nine-issue run on Thor being his longest and
most high profile assignment in the ‘90s. Without seeing the scripts, it’s hard
to tell how much of the pacing and layouts came from Zick, but he seems to
really work within the mould of Starlin as an artist. Lots of repeated panel
layouts with gradual changes as Starlin is fond of using. Some figure choices
that seem more symbolic than literal. His cover for Thor #462 is complete gonzo
metal fantasy: a corner box featuring an energetic/crazy Thor wielding Mjolnir
with the main image being Pluto and Ares caught up in strands of Thor’s hair as
his giant, raging face floats above them. His eyes red and pupils split by
lightning, he looks completely unhinged. The caption (accurately) reads
“WITNESS THE <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">TERROR</b> OF A <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">THUNDER GOD</b> GONE <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">MAD!</b>” It’s one of the greatest covers this series has ever had.
Yet, I understand if it takes some time for Zick’s work to grow on you; it
certainly did for me.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Beyond Zick, the run, on the whole, has
solid to great art. Early Tom Raney on Warlock Chronicles is a bit hit and
miss, while Andy Smith’s Silver Surfer is over the top fun. The less said about
MC Wyman’s art the better (and will come soon enough when I get to the Roy
Thomas-penned run that followed in a couple of weeks...), particularly when
compared to Zick’s. Angel Medina popping in for the anniversary Warlock &
the Infinity Watch #25 is a real treat as he’s so good at big action. Starlin
actually gets out of the way quite a bit in that issue, letting pages go by
with no words, allowing Medina’s stunning fight scenes to carry things... which
is unusual. He doesn’t usually refrain from captions and dialogue with his own
art let alone others, a testament to Medina’s skill. But, the real standout
(aside from Zick) is Tom Grindberg, who draws the main story and a backup in
the Thor annual along with issues 23 and 24 of Warlock & the Infinity
Watch. Issue 24 is probably the best single issue of “Blood & Thunder,” a
fun side adventure with Trolls as Adam Warlock battles Ulik’s brother. Grindberg
worked in a very similar style to Mike Mignola with heavy blacks and rigid,
blocky art. Along with Zick, he’s an artist that I didn’t appreciate when I was
younger, but I love more each time I come across it. In fact, as much as I’m
critical of the larger use of Thor in this run and the way that he’s pushed to
the side as a character, the art of the comics in this larger run is one of the
reasons why I enjoyed the reread so much.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">This may sound a little suspect coming from
me: the association with Starlin’s work hurts it in places, particularly the
tie-in issues to the Infinity Crusade, at least as presented without at least
one additional Starlin-written issue. Conceptually, until Valkyrie’s true
nature is revealed, the idea that Thor would fall under the influence of
another is ripe for exploration. That doesn’t happen in those issues. Instead,
Marz winds up writing around the first five issues of the event, telling a
disjointed story that tries to engage with the idea that Thor is not in
complete control of his mind and prone to explosive violence. Thor in this
state never feels like a true fit for the Goddess’s crusade. You can see why
they would take a mythological character and have him sympathetic to the
influence of a being preying on people’s inner faiths. Dig a little deeper and
I’m convinced that the opposite would be true. Thor is an object of worship – a
creature on the other side of the concept of faith. People believe in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">him</i>, not the other way around. His
entire familiarity with these ideas come at it from the opposite side of things
and him becoming a follower of the Goddess only makes sense given his weakened
mental resolve and Marvel’s need to shore up her side of the conflict. Except,
as I said, those two motivations are somewhat at odds. The true through line of
those issues is Pluto’s scheme to have Zeus attack Thor, while Sif seeks to
expose it. The final two tie-in issues are even more divorced from the event
with Thor #466 being a different version of the Thor/Drax fight from Warlock
& the Infinity Watch #21 (that began at the tail end of The Infinity
Crusade #4). Written by Starlin with art by Grindberg, it’s probably the issue
not collected as part of this run that I would add to it. Given his close
working with Marz on the larger story, he manages to really hone in on Thor’s
character at the time, including defying orders from the Goddess to stop
fighting Drax, refusing to be anyone’s thrall anymore. It’s a crucial moment
that actually brings the issues tying into this event into focus. Up until this
point, we had thought that Thor was under the control of Valkyrie, but see that
he also chaffs under the direction of anyone.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Taken together, Thor #466 and Warlock &
the Infinity Watch #21 make for a really strong character piece. While the
Infinity Watch issue details the Thor/Drax fight with all of the dialogue and
motives, the Thor issue presents splash images of that fight throughout,
contrasted with a story about Thor’s younger days told by Odin at a feast. It’s
a story about Thor encountering a belligerent Troll that does everything to
provoke him to violence, and Thor’s continual refusal to do so. While we think
of Thor as a warrior, he is the best sort: one that knows that violence is
awful and something to be used when every other attempt at a solution has
failed. Page after page of this Troll insulting Thor and provoking him, while
Thor tries to reason with him. It’s only when the insults grow too much that
Odin affirms that violence occurred – he’s clear to explicitly state that Thor
didn’t kill the Troll or hurt him beyond what was necessary. Set against pages
of him fighting Drax and knowing that, in the Infinity Watch issue, he was told
to stop the pointless fight but chose to continue on, we’re shown how far he’s
fallen from his true self. The following issue of Thor sets up “Blood &
Thunder,” putting Thor back under Valkyrie’s influence. Instead of the
demanding obedience of the Goddess, she follows a path more like the one Thor
took with the Troll: reason. She walks him through all of the ways he’s been
manipulated and betrayed by Odin and everyone else. She presents the evidence
in a such a way that he will come to the conclusion that she wants, but it is
his conclusion. It’s his choice to join her on a path of destruction, presented
as him following her down a spiral staircase into the dark.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">“Blood & Thunder” is the weakest
stretch of the run if you’re focused on Thor. It’s less a Thor story than one
that’s about Warlock, the Infinity Watch, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange,
Thanos, and Asgard all trying to manage the Thor problem. It’s him in full Hulk
mode, running through opponents like they’re nothing and, at one point, taking
the Power Gem from Drax, augmenting his strength. It’s only the power of Thanos
and his technology that can even contain him, for a time. After the eight
issues of set up, there isn’t much more to add to Thor in this state. Marz and
Starlin let him go with things like the Power Gem or the Valkyrie gaining
corporeal form being the only real additions to what came before.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The concluding issue of the run and “Blood
& Thunder,” #471, is actually the first issue of my collecting Thor comics.
I received it for my 11th birthday amongst other gifts (including my first
short box) along with my dad telling me that he wasn’t interested in buying
Thor for himself anymore. He would, however, keep buying it for me if I wanted,
something that was kept up through the end of “The Lost Gods” in Journey into
Mystery. (He returned to buying it for himself with Jurgens/Romita and I read
his copies...) As a conclusion, it leaves me fairly unimpressed. As I said, too
much hinges on Odin’s presence and not enough on Thor’s agency and ability to
break Valkyrie’s control. It’s only when Odin breaks Thor’s chains that he
finally stands up for himself. Valkyrie also never gets a thorough enough
explanation. Her role throughout the run is too ambiguous and shifting when
convenient. The idea that she was always there and it was only the experience
with Eric Masterson that gave her enough strength to assert herself is a bit
cheesy. As with much of this run, there’s a germ of a great idea that never
reaches its full potential.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">One of the more telling aspects of this run
is that Thor’s mental instability is not revisited in later stories. While not
the complete measure of a run’s quality (I say as I note how much the Tom
DeFalco/Ron Frenz run has been ignored...), there have been several instances
where the idea could have logically returned and did not. The idea that Thor
once suffered from ‘Warrior’s Madness’ (or schizophrenia or DID or... <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">whatever</i> this is) is largely confined to
that corner of continuity that no one visits. I maintain that, even for its
faults, this run is far too interesting, both in writing and art, to be left
forgotten. It scratches one of my weak spots of interest: the ambitious
failure. It genuinely seems like Marz and Starlin were trying to do something
different with the character and editorial’s one bit addition was giving them a
wild artist like Zick. It’s truly unlike any other Thor run. Ironically, I
would be tempted to cut it down a bit and trim the fat a bit. Refocus it and
really home in on the best, more interesting parts. Reduce it to bits and
pieces, as it were.</span></p></div><p></p>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-53600603867708149912023-12-23T00:09:00.002-05:002023-12-23T00:09:29.567-05:00Merry Christmas, Eric Masterson!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAOpoU_UMpAZ6a-JwE2PTC9ng2C5jDlaDUAIipm9Rt5PZgiZ9GJrk50d5aWXRdiAzaF3u03Tsh9tMVKx4LHjJGUAAmf46cT9D2acoaI70Go8sw0lgs0iaZkd6I8KYblNgDoOO1gCuxd8cCK6cZQrFkHe_1s8cv_YnhZ-OcE20oYIvKkzU0o5zQpg/s954/groonk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="954" data-original-width="630" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAOpoU_UMpAZ6a-JwE2PTC9ng2C5jDlaDUAIipm9Rt5PZgiZ9GJrk50d5aWXRdiAzaF3u03Tsh9tMVKx4LHjJGUAAmf46cT9D2acoaI70Go8sw0lgs0iaZkd6I8KYblNgDoOO1gCuxd8cCK6cZQrFkHe_1s8cv_YnhZ-OcE20oYIvKkzU0o5zQpg/s320/groonk.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>You may find it hard to believe, but Thor
#444 is the only Christmas issue of the title’s 60-plus years. Maybe I missed
another issue or two with a reference to Christmas, this is the only issue that
you could say, beginning to end, is pure holiday schmaltz. I don’t think that
it’s a coincidence that it came during Eric Masterson’s time as the Thunder God
while the Odinson was exiled beyond the known universe by acting All-Father
Heimdall for killing Loki. An Asgardian and a Christmas issue don’t exactly mix
given the North American view of the holiday and its origins. Taking a regular
guy who happens to gain the powers of god when he taps a cane on the ground and
putting him smack dab in the middle of a good ol’ fashioned holiday depression,
though? That’s classic bordering on cliché.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">“How the Groonk Stole Christmas!” lives for
the holiday cliché. Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz, well into their creative
partnership, manage to take a fairly regular issue of their Thor run and deck
it out with as many Christmas clichés and references as they can manage. From
the titular Groonk being a friendly allusion to the Grinch, from his green
appearance and Santa suit to his dog Max with one antler to a little girl named
Cindy Lou that sticks up for him. Beyond that, there’s every holiday movie
about a parent feeling estranged from their kid, or down on his luck due to
money issues, or feeling like a worthless human. DeFalco and Frenz rip off the
classics from A Christmas Carol to It’s a Wonderful Life. And, surprisingly, it
works.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">What could be eye-rolling never quite
crosses the line because, firstly, DeFalco and Frenz are pretty clear that they
know how cheesy and sappy this comic is. Every reference comes with a little
wink that lets you know that they’re in on it too. Mostly, it’s that those
elements are flourishes added here and there to what could be a non-Christmas
issue of Thor. The entire issue is rooted in the ongoing struggles of Eric
Masterson with the holidays acting as a focal point to magnify some of them.
That root in Eric and his problems carries the issue past the Christmas clichés
and actually lets a few of them land. By focusing on the genuine goodness of
that character as he struggles to get through the day, DeFalco and Frenz
transform Christmas clichés into a moving finale that feels earned – and
welcomed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The issue opens on Eric having spent nearly
five hundred dollars on a gift for his son. Broke, about to lose his apartment
due to superhero-related destruction, his architect career barely hanging on,
and the general feeling that he’s a failure as Thor, the first page and a half
is one long self-pitying monologue over a dozen or so thought bubbles. When a
fellow shopper is robbed of only one of her many presents, the superhero plot
of the issue is introduced. Apparently, there is a mugger who has been stealing
a single present from people, seemingly at random (the people and the present).
It seems like a simple criminal to take down and one that Eric feels good about
trying to stop. There’s a sense that, if he’s able to catch this thief and
return the stolen presents, he’ll have done something good at the holidays. He
never says it outright, but the alluded outcome is that he’ll be saving
Christmas, in a sense.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The visit with his son, Kevin, does little
to lift his spirits. Despite giving him a much-desired gift that he can barely
afford, Eric feels like a letdown to Kevin. His ex-wife is married to a
professional football player and Eric feels like he can’t measure up to the
lifestyle that they’re providing for Kevin. Even though his relationship with
his ex and her husband is amicable, especially since he willing gave up custody
of Kevin (to spare him the fallout of his double life as Thor), the strains of
his superhero alter ego and the time away from his son turn it into a
competition in his mind. He readily acknowledges that the expensive gift is an
effort to ‘bride’ Kevin into overlooking his failings as a father and he’s so
wrapped up in those feelings of inadequacy that he blows off Marcy’s invitation
for him to join them for dinner and spend more time with Kevin.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">His self-sabotage and desire to prove
himself is a recurring feature in the issue, especially when he finally
confronts the robber. It turns out to be a giant, hulking green monster in a
Santa outfit that only yells the word “Groonk!” Their battle takes them into a
shopping mall and Eric’s need to take down this seeming monster causes him to
go all out and not do the best job at keeping the innocent people around them
safe. At one point, he ducks an eye blast from the Groonk before realising that
it was meant for a beam that, now broken, allows part of the ceiling to fall
in. When the battle leads into the sewers, Eric almost fights against a group
of homeless people living there until a little girl, Cindy Lou, intervenes and
explains the situation. The Groonk is normally a gentle creature that, inspired
by a story about Christmas, has been stealing presents to give everyone living
in the sewer a proper Christmas. As I said, it’s a little cloying except for
the way that it works against your typical superhero story.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Captain America would later chastise Eric
for his handling of the situation: Eric takes back the stolen gifts, but
doesn’t turn the Groonk into the police. He’s able to see that there’s no
justice as it was a well-meaning gesture by someone who didn’t know any better.
And that’s without getting into the question of whether or not it was wrong at
all and what more could be done to help the group of people living in the
sewers. Eric’s willingness to not do the typical superhero thing and treat the
‘bad guy’ with genuine respect and compassion is one of the things that sets
him apart. Not many superheroes are willing to give a seeming villain a chance
– and the comic’s continued use of Captain America’s ‘disappointed dad’
lectures is meant to drive that point home.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Like many Christmas stories, that decision
to do something nice and good almost seems to provoke a chain of good fortune
for Eric. Visiting his assistant and friend in the hospital, she finally wakes
up from a coma that Loki put her in; running into Captain America on the
street, the Avengers leader offers Eric a room at the mansion since he’s losing
his apartment; and, returning home, he finds that his son and friends have
organised a Christmas party for him. They all know that he’s going through a
rough patch and want him to know that they’re there for him. This reveal is
alluded to in a couple of earlier scenes where the beginnings of it come
together via Kevin and one of Eric’s friends. That he has a group of people who
care about him and love him is that reminder he needs that he’s a good guy and
he’s not a failure. None of them (save Hercules in his ‘Harry Cleese’ persona)
know that he’s Thor and the good that he does all of the time – but they know
Eric and the good that he exudes in his daily life. The sort that we see when
he’s Thor and, instead of continuing to punch the Groonk in the face, he hears
out why this seeming monster is stealing Christmas presents and, then, acts
with compassion rather than some rigid concept of justice that does no good for
anyone.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Even with all of this, DeFalco’s dialogue
can lean into the cheese a bit, whether it’s melodrama or hamming it up with
the jokey quips, and Frenz’s art carries a big part of ensuring that the
emotional beats of this issue land. He’s so good at pacing those scenes and
giving the perfect panel when it’s needed. Like the genuine shock on Eric’s
face when he returns home to find his son waiting and, then, to see the party
that everyone has made for him. Or the chastised look of self-pity when Captain
America lectures him. Or, my favourite, the three panels of Eric hugging his
son goodbye where the moment lingers too long because neither one wants to let
go. All of my favourite Ron Frenz Thor moments are between Eric and Kevin
because Frenz depicts the genuine love between them in a way that transcends
words. It’s so obvious and immediate when you see the art on the page. It
always hits me hard.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">And that’s what I mean when I said that
this is a regular issue of the DeFalco/Frenz Thor run with Christmas elements
added on top. While the two use those elements to play up the problems that
Eric is going through, they rely on those pre-existing, ongoing problems. These
aren’t new difficulties that arise when the issue begins and are solved when
the issue ends. Taken by itself, I think that the final pages are earned by
what happens throughout the issue leading up to them. I’m sure some will
dismiss it as a bit too much of It’s a Wonderful Life with the whole group of
people coming together to throw Eric a party – for ongoing readers who have
seen the build up of Eric’s various problems, things like Susan waking up and
Eric coming home to a party thrown by his son and friends is the exact thing
that a Christmas issue needs. It needs a sappy feel good ending.</span></p>
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">And so does Eric
Masterson.</span>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-88566333187164406422023-12-17T22:18:00.001-05:002023-12-17T22:18:39.171-05:00Schrödinger’s Robin: The Meaningless of Batman 428: Robin Lives! #1<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx0AXMCffa2iKryd5B2E-eTo6gb9Ob_8rBZ7yOhisEQktIeP7xKYPOH081IEwtaBdalW2vqfK26me6j1lP3luBalv99CCa9B84AwRNPopdRr50gzblCSfsld90HDG6dph5EgI7lwlkpxM9U3osdl-m0k670IHaSZyAZqkGTG3_lugvWQXXzKbCLg/s984/batman_428_robin-lives.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="984" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx0AXMCffa2iKryd5B2E-eTo6gb9Ob_8rBZ7yOhisEQktIeP7xKYPOH081IEwtaBdalW2vqfK26me6j1lP3luBalv99CCa9B84AwRNPopdRr50gzblCSfsld90HDG6dph5EgI7lwlkpxM9U3osdl-m0k670IHaSZyAZqkGTG3_lugvWQXXzKbCLg/s320/batman_428_robin-lives.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>It has long been the ultimate ‘what if?’ in
mainstream superhero comics. In 1988, DC Comics ran a call-in phone poll where
readers voted on the fate of Jason Todd, the second Robin. Should he <i>live</i> or should he <i>die</i>? It was callous and cruel and what a gimmick. Mostly, it
stemmed from writer Jim Starlin’s lack of affinity for the character, as he
admitted in <i>The Art of Jim Starlin: A
Life in Words and Pictures</i>:<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA"></span></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">I tried to write stories that didn’t
involve Robin the Boy Wonder.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">It had always struck me that if you were
fighting crime in a dark and murky costume and chose to bring along on these
dangerous adventures a teenage sidekick, whom you dressed in bright primary
colors: this could only be considered child endangerment. But it had been going
on for more than 40 years and, so, was now tradition. Just turn off your brain
and write the story, Starlin!</span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The four-part <i>A Death in the Family</i> ran from <i>Batman</i>
#426-429 with issue 428 containing the oh so crucial moment that readers voted
upon. Given the production demands of monthly comics (they’re produced
incredibly close to when they’re released, particularly in comparison to other
media, but still), the issue was written and drawn with two different versions
of events, one where Robin lives and one where he dies. Starlin succinctly
summed up what happened: “The vote comes in, Robin gets the thumbs down, and <i>A Death in the Family</i> sell through the
roof.” As such, the published version contains the pages where Jason Todd
doesn’t survive an explosion engineered by the Joker. While some of the
alternate art has been published for the version of the issue where Jason won
the vote, this new edition of <i>Batman</i>
#428 is the first time that readers get the complete alternate issue. Now, you
can read the first two parts of <i>A Death
in the Family</i> and opt for a slightly happier version of events in the third
part... but does that matter? Isn’t this just another gimmick?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Putting the two versions of the issue side
by side, four pages have completely or partially altered art, while a fifth has
slightly tweaked caption boxes. That Jason lives is the only substantial change
to the comic, one whose overall structure and story remain unchanged. Instead
of burying Jason and his mom at a funeral in Gotham, it’s only one coffin. Even
the only scene that amounts to a truly ‘alternate’ one, after the funeral,
contains most of the same dialogue. In the originally published version, Alfred
asks if he should get in touch with Dick Grayson and Bruce says not to, that he
wants to handle things alone from now on. In the new version, Dick is visiting
Jason at the hospital and asks Bruce if he wants help tracking down the Joker.
Bruce turns him down, saying that he wants to handle things alone from now on.
Call it an incredibly crafted issue to allow for minimal disruption from a
publicity gimmick; or call it for what it truly is: Robin’s death was
immaterial to the story, even though it has grown to define it. Even the fourth
part of the story barely hinges on Jason’s death: there are only four specific
mentions of it in dialogue and captions, all of which are easily altered or
omitted.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Putting aside the gimmick of the call-in
vote, Starlin’s desire to no longer write stories involving Robin shapes <i>A Death in the Family</i> completely as the
two alternate versions show. Whether or not Jason lives or dies <i>does not matter</i>. It means some art
changes, some dialogue tweaks, some different scenes, but the substance does
not change. If you believe Starlin’s version of events, his parting with DC
came about due to the backlash to the death of Jason Todd (fans, merchandise
licensing, even the theory that the vote was rigged), so, say Jason had lived
and Starlin continued writing <i>Batman</i>
well beyond this story. Do you think that Jason would have been back as Robin
in issue 430? 431? 432? Or ever while Starlin was writing the title? <i>The Joker blew him up</i>. It’s clear that
Starlin was writing a Batman that had no interest in having a sidekick from
that moment on. In both versions, he makes it clear that, from now on, he’s
going it alone. I don’t know how the conversation about the call-in gimmick
went, but it’s clear that, one of the reasons why Starlin went along with it is
that it had very little impact on the story that he was telling. The sheer
violence of the act of the Joker blowing up Robin was enough. If the readers
had voted for Jason to live, it most likely would have led to a future issue
where Bruce tells him that his days as Robin were over and he’s being sent away
to some boarding school where the character would have been ignored or become
fodder for some solo stories or a possible return to Gotham eventually... Maybe
Tim Drake would have still happened, maybe not. In the short-term, following <i>A Death in the Family</i>, Robin was dead no
matter what the readers decided.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Seeing these two versions of the comic side
by side, it strikes me as typical Starlin that Jason’s death doesn’t matter in
the slightest. He’s always been a writer with a “it’s my way or the highway”
attitude, singularly focused on seeing his vision through or walking away.
There’s no way that he would leave the story that he wanted to tell up to
chance, to the whims of the readers. And it’s such a Starlin move to disguise
his true story under some meaningless element that everyone would focus on. His
trio of <i>Infinity</i> events in the 1990s
(none of which would have happened if not for his leaving DC after this story,
by the way) are filled with meaningless subplots featuring the popular Marvel
heroes while the actual story is dealt with and resolved by Adam Warlock and
Thanos. Take out the filler and you get a couple of issues’ worth of actual
comics, if you know where to look. Everyone else sees these big events that
span the entire Marvel Universe and feature all of their favourite heroes. Not
that they are used as cannon fodder, distractions, and general dismissed as not
being up to the cosmic tasks at hand. Starlin likes to give people the
spectacle that they want in order to tell the story that he wants. The
(possible) death of Robin is such a spectacle – and everyone has been dazzled
by it for three and a half decades.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">A question I’ve grappled with for years is
where to place his <i>Batman</i> run within
his body of work. The majority of Starlin’s comics work is what he’s most known
for: cosmic. Over the decades, he’s done a handful of ‘realistic,’ decidedly
non-cosmic comics with his run on <i>Batman</i>
being the only sustained work that no one refers to as cosmic. It deals with
many of the same themes as his cosmic work, particularly the focus on the
meaning of death, but it’s a fairly grounded, ‘realistic’ book comparatively.
Except for the vote for Robin’s fate. That is the transcendent moment of the
run, the one that approaches the cosmic. A truly unique moment in Starlin’s
career, it’s one where the fate of a character was taken outside of even his
hands, left up to some nebulous, unknowable power. It’s the closest that any of
his work (or anyone else’s, honestly) has come to being left entirely up to
chance. Just like life. Call it a readers’ vote, call it god... life and death
determined by a faceless, uncaring void is pretty damn cosmic. The final
kicker, of course, is that, like one of his characters facing the same sort of
forces beyond their control, Starlin planned for it and made sure that any
result would accomplish his goals.</span></p>
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Robin dies? Robin
lives! Robin’s gone. <i>It doesn’t matter</i>.</span>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-55415845373600372102023-08-24T18:00:00.012-04:002024-01-26T12:15:42.366-05:00The Platonic Ideals of Smiles and Gods: The Immortal Thor #1<p><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizeUiCexzQksqt0MUJdUqa6Pw2u25GX578z1l5th-2muCnYBC08WAuJidW7cBlSXMmWrYs7gyQh0LrG5VOuap68c3K6AFMh2lmJhNBbdtdfzjJQRfr8hrDPwENEY09AOfSj7jH5wfH2sdN8aIEwLPLuDIyucoyci64hveDfLbZGeGOkqcg6bvi9w/s846/immortalthor01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="846" data-original-width="550" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizeUiCexzQksqt0MUJdUqa6Pw2u25GX578z1l5th-2muCnYBC08WAuJidW7cBlSXMmWrYs7gyQh0LrG5VOuap68c3K6AFMh2lmJhNBbdtdfzjJQRfr8hrDPwENEY09AOfSj7jH5wfH2sdN8aIEwLPLuDIyucoyci64hveDfLbZGeGOkqcg6bvi9w/s320/immortalthor01.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>How many Thor #1s have I seen as a reader? The Jason Aaron run alone had eight. Half of those were mini-series, the other four were presumptive ongoings. If you ignore the mini-series and one-shots, The Immortal Thor #1 is Thor #1 number nine. It would have been fitting to be number ten or, perhaps, eleven. Alas. Each of them has come with their own expectations and declarations of what Thor is now. Some were regressive (Heroes Reborn, JMS/Coipel), some were declarative (Aaron/Ribic), some were continuations rather than proper beginnings (every other Aaron-penned number one along with Fraction/Coipel), some were baffling (Fraction/Coipel again because it started at the same time as Fear Itself and had nothing to do with it), and some were disappointing (JMS/Coipel, Fraction Coipel, and Cates/Klein). I want to slot The Immortal Thor #1 into that declarative category alongside Thor: God of Thunder #1 by Aaron and Esad Ribic... but, it also has shades of regressive, for me.<p></p><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Let’s get the praise out of the way. I very much enjoyed this issue. It was witty and joyful. Both Al Ewing and Martín Cóccolo seem to take great pleasure in presenting us with a confident, happy Thor. It’s not a version of the character that we get to see often and it’s almost a shame that the big run plot stuff intruded at the end to spoil that feeling. Even the opening with Thor confronting the Frost Giants, expressing his disappointment in the blizzard, and doing everything he could to avoid killing everyone, while it never showed Thor smiling, it felt of a piece with the smiley Thor that took up most of the rest of the issue. It’s a Thor that’s comfortable with himself and his place, which we glimpsed a bit of at the end of the previous volume.</span><br style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: none !important;" /><br style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: none !important;" /><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The scene where Thor reflects on Mjolnir and the idea that he doesn’t worry about worthiness anymore, because he gets to decide who is worthy went a long way to communicating this idea. Not just, as Ewing said in interviews leading up to this issue, that his Thor won’t be one who doubts his worthiness anymore as that ground has been well trod over the past decade; it also points to his comfort in the role his father occupied, particularly with the followup thoughts about no longer having his father’s rules to push back against. Thor now decides. That agency is shown in both how he handles the Frost Giant invasion and the way that he decides to test out the rebuilt Bifrost by going to Earth with no explanation or excuse.</span><br style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: none !important;" /><br style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: none !important;" /><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Skrymir mocks the gentle nature of Thor, comparing it to the overwhelming force approach of Odin, calling the new king of Asgard weak. He’s not wrong in his comparison to Odin as Odin was always quick to anger and quick to arrogance (perhaps why he so abhorred those qualities in his son), and would have simply cut the Frost Giants down. Thor’s approach is a subtler use of power, almost equally dismissive as Odin’s hand wave of destruction. Odin showed his arrogance through how easily he could end a threat; Thor shows his through how desperate he is to show mercy and how easily he commands the blizzard. He literally takes control of Skrymir’s magic and nullifies it by expressing disappointment. The three young Frost Giants supporting the wizard rightly run away in fear, understanding the true meaning of what Thor did. While part of it is his determination to not be his father, another part was a show of complete power that communicates the ease with which he can end this threat. The Frost Giants aren’t worth his strength of force when a few words will do the job. It’s only when Skrymir ignores the warning and attacks Thor that the Thunder God displays the minimal power at his disposal and eliminates the threat with his pre-king weapon, Mjolnir. Still, Skrymir isn’t worthy of the full attention of the king.</span><br style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: none !important;" /><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: none !important;" /><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The journey to Earth is different in the lack of reason. In the previous volume, there was a strong emphasis on the idea of what a king of Asgard must do – namely, none of the things that Thor did before he was king. That’s always been a key idea about ruling Asgard throughout the history of the book, often ignoring the way that Odin would intercede in events or even go wandering incognito. There was a continued false idea that the king of Asgard must sit on the throne all day and never leave the palace, and that was a continued source of conflict in the previous volume. No more, it appears. The idea of what Thor as king is subtly redefined in this issue, first, by his intervention with the Frost Giants and, then, by his journey to Earth. As the narration states, Asgardians know that their king is a god of two worlds and they accept that. Thor doesn’t need to make excuses to go to Earth, because he’s the king and his people understand that. They understand him and he’s comfortable and confident enough to be the god that they already know.</span><br style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: none !important;" /><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: none !important;" /><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">While it doesn’t seem like much necessarily happens in those pages, the way that Ewing and Cóccolo emphasise this confidence and comfort is a key part of this issue’s declaration. The contribution of Alex Ross to the issue, beyond the cover and some designs, is the way that he, apparently, convinced Ewing to go with the return to the modified look of Thor’s original costume. That’s the final piece of showing us what sort of place Thor is in currently. While numerous modern costumes have looked great and felt naturally Thor (the Coipel and Ribic costumes, in particular, were great), this is the one that he wore for the majority of his existence as a character. It’s the iconic ‘Thor’ costume and look, and what better way to assert that Thor is comfortable in his own skin than put him in the most ‘Thor’ like outfit there is? This is Thor adopting the Platonic ideal of his look, you could say...</span><br style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: none !important;" /><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: none !important;" /><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And this is comic about Platonic ideals, it seems. The second page of the comic alludes pretty heavily to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave as it introduces Toranos, the Utgard-Thor. The introduction of this character along with Utgard-Loki (who Skrymir claimed to be in the past) seems to run up against Those Who Sit Above in Shadow as previously seen... basically, the gods of the gods. Ewing is repurposing various pre-existing ideas for this story and it’s not entirely about the idea of more powerful versions of these characters. He seems to be leaning into the idea of Platonic ideals – the ideas of what these characters are meant to be. Thor, as we know him, is a character – but what is the essence of Thor the Thunder God? What is the essence of Loki – not the skald god of stories that they have become, but the basic concept? Ewing has said that he’s using the Eddas for inspiration here and, damn, I wished I had better knowledge of those. The name Toranos is one of the variations of a Celtic god of thunder/storms that seems related to Thor, at least if you go back far enough. As with a lot of mythology, what we know is based on what has survived and a lot of similar ideas arising in various places. As Ewing references, Matt Fraction used the name for Ulik’s usurpation of Thor’s place in the fallout of Fear Itself when he went by Tanarus. Utgard-Loki, on the other hand, was a Frost Giant also known as Skrymir (amongst other names) and that has been the use of the name/character up until this point.</span><br style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: none !important;" /><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: none !important;" /><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The ‘essential’ reading for previous uses of these names and concepts isn’t much. Personally, I went back and reread Thor #272, Balder the Brave #1-4, skimmed Thor #375-382, and reread the second half of Thor #83 and all of #84-85. But, everything up until Thor #83-85 covers the previous appearances of Utgard/Skrymir/Utgard-Loki (save a brief appearance in the Aaron/Russell Dauterman Thor run). Thor #272 is an interesting comic and is possibly referenced explicitly in The Immortal Thor #1 when Utgard-Loki says, “Thor will be tested by more than trolls now. As he was before, long ago – when he journeyed to the Utgard-Hall in his youth. And as before, if he breaks – if he falls – if he fails to be what he must be – it will mark the end of all that is.” This suggests that the Utgard/Skrymir of issue 272 is not the same character as the Utgard-Loki/Skrymir of the Walt Simonson/Sal Buscema comics.</span><br style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: none !important;" /><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: none !important;" /><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In issue 272, Thor tells a story to some kids about a time when he and Loki became lost. They eventually happened upon a giant named Skrymir who was going to Utgard-Hall and they were in the land of Utgard. (A brief aside: Utgard is normally associated with the land of the Frost Giants, but that isn’t stated here at all. It was another case of Roy Thomas bringing in real mythology, in his own way.) Once they arrive at Utgard-Hall, trailing Skrymir, they come across the ruler, Utgard. Not taking kind to these tiny interlopers, he says that if they can best his five challenges, he’ll let them live. Loki and Thor fail them all, and, at the end, Utgard reveals that he is also Skrymir, and that every challenge was actually a trick of magic somehow. In fact, Utgard itself was an enchantment and the story ends with the two gods on a rocky wasteland, the castle and the green, lush landscape that they traveled through all gone. It was all a big trick by a power beyond their ken.</span><br style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: none !important;" /><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: none !important;" /><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">While never explicitly linked to the Utgard-Loki that leads the Frost Giants in the Simonson/Buscema comics, there’s been a general assumption that they are related. Ewing, here, seems to be making it definitive that Utgard-Loki/Skrymir the Frost Giant is a different being from the Skrymir/Utgard that appeared in that story. The Utgard-Loki at the end of this first issue’s words make that pretty clear. I think it’s a smart choice that works, because the power levels of the two characters never matched up entirely. The Skrymir/Utgard of issue 272 was clearly much more powerful, while the Frost Giant was a bit of a poser, calling himself those names, in particular, Utgard-Loki to puff himself up. Of course, ‘Utgard’ doesn’t mean anything like ‘ultimate’ or ‘better’ or anything to denote a superior version – it means, literally, ‘Outyards.’ Obviously, you look at a word like that and stick it in front of an existing character’s name in a superhero comic and your typical reader is going to galaxy brain their way to something like ‘ultimate.’</span><br style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: none !important;" /><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: none !important;" /><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And that’s where Those Who Sit Above in Shadow come in. As longtime readers know, the Thor: Disassembled story, “Ragnarok,” is one of my favourite Thor stories of all time. It has little to do with Avengers: Disassembled except in how it’s used to end Thor’s story. Writers Michael Avon Oeming and Daniel Berman give us the full scale Twilight of the Gods, drawn amazingly well by Andrea DiVito. I remember reading this when it came out and being completely blown away by the methodical, epic nature of Asgard’s complete destruction. I only reread the second half of the story, because that’s where Oeming and Berman really swing for the fences. Basically, Thor goes down the same route as Odin, sacrificing an eye (and then his other, because more is needed) before hanging himself to gain the knowledge to save his people. Instead, he learns of the cyclical nature of his people – how they continually live only to go through Ragnarok and, then, are reborn and do it all again. This cycle had one change, though, as Odin became aware of the cycle: Thor’s time as Donald Blake. By introducing that mortal existence into his son, Thor exists both inside and outside of the cycle and, through performing the same ritual as Odin, is able to gain knowledge from outside of it. Thor gains an audience with Those Who Sit Above in Shadow, the gods of the gods. They are depicted in black and white reverse/negative colouring and look down on this tiny god. At the end of the story, when Thor is poised to end the cycle after ensuring it reaches its conclusion, they offer him a spot amongst them. He refuses, cuts the thread of fate and, seemingly, ends Asgardian existence forever.</span><br style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: none !important;" /><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: none !important;" /><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Of course, they all came back when Thor was relaunched by J. Michael Straczynski and Olivier Coipel. There was some lip service to the idea that they were free from the cycles of Ragnarok now and could be whatever they wish, but I don’t think anyone ever really believed that. While there are the obvious ways to read Toranos’s words “Too long have you chosen illusion over change” and I don’t fault anyone for reading the obvious metafictional there, I think it may relate to the way that Thor and Asgard have, for the most part, settled into their old routine, specifically. While Those Who Sit Above in Shadow (the Utgardians) were shocked by Thor’s actions to break the cycle, they were also impressed. Just as Thor is impressed when humans grow beyond their seeming limitations, so too were his gods pleased by his ability to be more than he was. And, now, he is less. And, so, he must be tested. Ewing has said numerous times that calling the comic “The Immortal Thor” is a challenge to himself after Immortal Hulk. The reveal of the title was a bit of a joke given that Asgardians are immortals. But... part of their immortality was their existence within the Ragnarok cycle.</span><br style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: none !important;" /><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: none !important;" /><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I’m really just grasping at loose threads here that I see hanging everywhere. As you can tell, I’m pretty excited at the various ideas teased in this issue. I admire the confidence in setting out a specific status quo and, immediately, upending it. I didn’t discuss everything in this issue (like what’s up with Loki) and I won’t. I want to leave it there as that’s where my mind mostly rests after reading this. The Thor-centric reading that dives into back issues to try and glean a bit of what’s coming. It’s an impressive first issue, one that made me laugh and smile and gasp – and, like, the eight Thor #1s that preceded it, its eventual designation will rest heavily in what comes next.</span>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-22377520150272798352023-05-25T10:00:00.010-04:002024-01-24T10:19:20.462-05:00The Everyman Thor: Eric Masterson in Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz’s Thor and Thunderstrike<p><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrsELTAGYCHsixwctC8TQhmkX7GMRGK6aulsrCG0ZjuePU-Yv9O9UaWONNkmBawgcgCJNL2PMt1CfOKB9qKAomEZ1VoKGupeS_nL5TBGpr_kLbp5TY4eZyeqpw9dPmBEJbsjW-havWTEhvhSSscKXdU-ZZ8EAiLwh4a20P6oTpkBz7kDovKDwm6w/s2800/thor433.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2800" data-original-width="1821" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrsELTAGYCHsixwctC8TQhmkX7GMRGK6aulsrCG0ZjuePU-Yv9O9UaWONNkmBawgcgCJNL2PMt1CfOKB9qKAomEZ1VoKGupeS_nL5TBGpr_kLbp5TY4eZyeqpw9dPmBEJbsjW-havWTEhvhSSscKXdU-ZZ8EAiLwh4a20P6oTpkBz7kDovKDwm6w/s320/thor433.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Does Thor need a ‘secret identity?’</span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Of the many questions I’ve pondered over the years about the Thunder God, this is the one that I tend to be the clearest about: no. No, Thor does not need a secret identity. Now, to clarify, I’m referring specifically to Thor Odinson, the Asgardian price and God of Thunder specifically, not other people who take up the hammer like Beta Ray Bill or Jane Foster. While sharing the powers of Thor and similar trappings, they’re different enough to stand apart. What I’m referring to is the idea that this Asgardian should share an existence with a mortal being as he did when first introduced. It’s an idea that’s never sat right with me.</span><div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;">I understand that, in the Marvel Universe, the point is that it’s like our world, after a fashion. Most of the heroes are some version of a regular person, either given powers through an accident, the luck of genetics, or their own ingenuity and skill. Thor is the exception. He’s the god amongst mortals. To counterbalance this, when he was first introduced, it was as a transformation that Dr. Donald Blake underwent when he struck a specific stick against the ground. Blake, suffering from a disability in addition to a general frailty, was the opposite of Thor’s impressive physical skills. The nerd becomes the jock. Originally, Thor was Blake, retaining his mind after the transformation while gaining some innate awareness of Thor’s life and world. Gradually, over the course of a dozen or so issues, Blake’s influence as Thor lessened and Thor morphed into the version of the character we’re familiar with. While a link between the two remained, they became more like two separate people rather than a single mind housed in two different bodies that change places. After a period, Blake was so unimportant that you’d be forgiven if thinking he had been written out permanently.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;">As Jack Kirby’s influence over Thor grew, so too did the unearthly side of the character. Asgard was developed further, Thor went out into space, and Blake wouldn’t appear for an entire year at one point. The idea of a god as man faded in favour of the stories of a warrior god superhero. Donald Blake wasn’t much of a character and the initial love triangle between him, his alter ego, and his nurse Jane Foster didn’t exactly rival the Clark/Superman/Lois one. Kirby and Stan Lee pushed it as far as they could until it became just a Thor/Jane relationship and even that ran its course fairly quickly after she refused elevation to an immortal and joining Thor in Asgard. After that, Blake never went away, but he was no longer relevant unless a story specifically called for his presence. Unlike Spider-Man’s adventures which were driven by Peter Parker’s personal life often with his superheroing acting as another complication, Thor was the central focus and Blake was the distraction.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;">That is, until Walt Simonson took over Thor in 1983 and, in his first four issues, wrote Blake out. Already revealed long before as a creation of Odin meant to teach Thor a lesson in humility, Simonson clearly saw that the character was unnecessary baggage and used the enchantment that transformed Thor into Blake and vice versa, and gave it to his creation, Beta Ray Bill, allowing him to transform between his original form and his warrior form. It was the best use of Donald Blake in years. Simonson introduced a human alter ego for Thor, Sigurd Jarlson, which was really just the Asgardian with a ponytail and glasses, a gag built on the Superman/Clark change in appearance. Jarlson worked construction when the story called for it and it gave Thor something to do while on Earth, while also lacking the substance of an existing life that allowed for him to abandon it when needed. Jarlson was just a name and a look to allow Thor to make believe as human when it suited him. It was an acknowledgment that he didn’t need a human identity so much as wanted one, sometimes.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;">When Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz followed Simonson on Thor, the first year to year and a half on the title had Thor maintain his Asgardian status quo. He fought Celestials and uncovered a scheme by the Egyptian God of Death, Seth, culminating in a huge confrontation that had both Odin and Surtur return. They also had Sigurd Jarlson return briefly and, in the process, introduced architect Eric Masterson. The architect of the building that Jarlson was working on, Masterson was a divorced single dad and didn’t jump out as anything more than a supporting character with a modern-for-the-1980s backstory. After the Seth story culminated, Masterson was kidnapped by the villainous Mongoose to draw out Thor, leading to a trip into space and, upon returning to Earth, a confrontation with Mongoose left Masterson close to death. Thor called upon Odin’s assistance and the All-Father tied to the life essence of both men together. Basically, Eric Masterson became the new Donald Blake.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;">That status quo of Thor and Eric sharing a life persisted until Thor seemingly killed Loki and was banished from existence by Heimdall (filling in for Odin). However, as the world still needed a Thor, he gave that power to Eric and, suddenly, Thor was actually a mortal human. Eric transformed into Thor ala Blake, but retained his mind in the godly body. He slowly learned how to be Thor, took the real Thor’s place in the Avengers, got mixed up in Asgardian schemes and, by the end of the DeFalco/Frenz run, brought the real Thor back. Originally given Mjolnir by the Asgardian to continue acting as him on Earth, that arrangement didn’t work and, instead, Masterson was given a less powerful mace dubbed Thunderstrike. While Thor continued on his comic, DeFalco and Frenz continued telling Eric’s story as Thunderstrike in his own title. Eric was the main character of the run despite not appearing in it for the first year.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;">This slow introduction and transition is one reason why my usual hesitancy about Thor having a human identity doesn’t come into play. DeFalco and Frenz take the transition in stages, telling regular Thor stories, adding Eric as a supporting character, then pairing him and Thor in what reads as an organic change for both and, then, when another story-driven change occurs, Eric takes over as Thor himself until, finally, transitioning to Thunderstrike. Each period is given a good amount of time and space so it doesn’t feel like a rush from one to next; and, at each change, it never feels arbitrary or forced. It’s all driven by story and character choices. Too often, the addition of a human identity, like Jake Olson or the returned Donald Blake, don’t work is because they’re dropped right into the story from the beginning with no build or reason save the desire of the writer. Eric, on the other hand, was able to linger in the background a little and feel like a small part of the comic before becoming the star. When he took over as Thor at the end of issue 432, it didn’t feel like he was pushing Thor out of his own story. Thor made a choice to kill Loki and faced the consequences of that action – the addition of Eric becoming the new Thor was the twist. There was no evil scheme in the plot to make a mortal the new Thor... it’s just what happened.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;">Eric as a character was more developed than ciphers like Blake and Olson. The former was literally revealed as an invention created by Odin, while the latter was given a sense of a larger life, but, as the reader was dropped into it with Thor, it had a harder time landing. It’s the difference between a brand new character taking over as opposed to an established character stepping up into a more prominent role. There’s a better sense of what you’re getting with an established character and the various new conflicts are logical ones, arising from already known factors. When Thor and Eric are merged, we know that Eric has a son and a will they/won’t they thing with both his assistant and his professional rival. Rather than those things complicating Thor’s life, Thor is the addition that complicates Eric’s already full life! And that last point is a subtle one that helps this status quo. Thor remains, largely, Thor and it’s Eric who suffers from suddenly having a godly alter ego. And we care about that!</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;">Eric, more than simply fitting into the Marvel tradition of the regular guy whose life is complicated by his newfound powers, is positioned as the inverse of Thor. Thor is the headstrong son who does as he pleases, sometimes ignoring his responsibilities at home. Eric is the responsible father who increasingly finds himself dragged away from the responsibilities at home that he wants to be his priority. Prior to the union with Eric, DeFalco and Frenz’s Thor was also a fairly stripped back, basic version of the character. As much as I love the character, he can, sometimes, default into generic warrior hero, which is a reason why writers keep trying to make the human alter ego thing work. Again, this is one reason why giving Eric that role after 18 or so months was a smart choice. DeFalco and Frenz got as much mileage out of Thor solo as they could and changed things up before it got stale.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;">Eric provided depth and conflict (both internal and external) to Thor. While Thor remained the same do-good hero, he had a little voice inside his head that nagged him about Kevin Masterson or a blown deadline at work. Giving Thor some personal stakes in what happened on Earth was a benefit, particularly when Kevin was placed in harm’s way – or that Thor and Eric sharing a body gave a reason for Hercules to suddenly become Eric’s roommate. All of which is the broad goal of giving a character like Thor a human identity. Part of the problem with other human identities is that they either were paper thin (Blake), retreads of previous identities (Olson), or nostalgia wanks (Blake again). Eric succeeds, in no small part, because he isn’t like any other Thor identity. While meeting Thor and having his life saved by merging with Thor dramatically changes the course of his life, he had a life. That’s the point. Eric could have stayed a sometimes supporting character like Sigurd Jarlson’s boss Jerry Sapristi and been a great addition to the Thor comic as just that. His function outside of Thor’s alter ego makes placing him in that role additive.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;">Prior to taking over Thor, DeFalco and Frenz worked on Spider-Man and Eric is definitely a hero in the mould of Peter Parker. At a time where Peter was newly married and the idea that he may be settling into a life of juggling Spider-Man and a family, Eric was the matured, divorced single dad trying to make a go at being a hero. He showed how relatable an adult Peter Parker with adult problems could be (despite what many at Marvel would have you believe). In fact, I would argue that Eric’s best moment comes from being a father in Thor #421 when, after continual threats to Thor have put his son at risk, he gives up custody in the middle of a heated legal fight with his ex-wife. It’s the best four pages of the entire DeFalco and Frenz run, full of emotion and phenomenal storytelling by both men. Frenz composes his pages perfectly for maximum impact, while DeFalco chooses the words incredibly carefully, often opting to let silence and the art carry things. Eric’s decision to give up his son is heroism at his finest – unconditional love and self-sacrifice put into action better than almost any other example I can think of. It’s a choice that puts his son’s wellbeing above all else and is one that affects Eric until the end of Thunderstrike. It recalls Thor’s decision to share his life with Eric; not an easy sacrifice that is over and done immediately like laying down one’s life. It’s a hard choice with lasting consequences that must be lived with.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;">That decision to give up Kevin is also the moment that cements Eric as devoted to being a superhero. At several times, he’s given the chance to walk away. From the time that Thor is exiled and Eric is given the cane to transform into Thor, he always has the option to put it down and walk away. At first, he thinks he owes something to Thor, to take his place and, hopefully, find a way to bring him back. So, he does that – and, then, when Thor is returned, Eric is ready to keep Mjolnir at the Thunder God’s request. And when that is no longer a possibility, he accepts the gift of the enchanted mace and assumes the identity of Thunderstrike. Eric’s heroism is a choice. It may have began as the only way for him to survive a deadly encounter with Mongoose, but, pretty soon into that time, he begins making choice after choice to give up his own desires and any chance at a regular life to do good. He sacrifices his personal desires – living with his son, having a steady job, having a relationship – to be like the hero that saved his life.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;">Eric’s desire to be like Thor is yet another element that makes him so compelling as Thor’s alter ego and replacement. He isn’t Thor – he isn’t controlled by Thor or driven to do what Thor wants out of obligation or guilt. He is genuinely inspired by Thor and wants to be like him. He’s that guy who is saved by a hero and actually gets to make right on that debt – and he never stops trying. Eric’s time as the new Thor is one of continual humiliations and setbacks. He’s called a fourth-rate fake by pretty much everyone he encounters – he fails as often as he succeeds – and he keeps going. And does it his way. One of the best running subplots throughout the run is the way he gives Crusher Creel the Absorbing Man chance after chance to make a life away from crime. Something about Creel’s desire to settle down with Titania and live a quiet life gives Eric a blind spot for the villain. It immediately separates Eric from most heroes as he is always willing to talk things out and find a peaceful solution – a bit of a change from a hero who finds that everything looks like a nail to hit with his hammer.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;">Eric’s journey as a hero is one that leads him to becoming more and more like himself. He starts as the other side of Thor, then gets all of Thor’s power, and, then, loses that identity and some of the power to be the sort of hero he wants to be. It’s a downward slope in that he goes from Thor to replacement Thor to Thor knockoff, but each step allows him to shape the sort of hero he wants to be. Sharing a body with Thor, he’s more of a passenger than a driver; as Thor, he has a certain reputation and obligations to live up to; as Thunderstrike, he gets to decide what that identity means. The comic itself struggles in its first year to come to a decision and, while it makes for some uneven reading, when you look at it as part of the whole, there’s charm in watching both the character and creators cast about a little, trying to figure out what Eric’s idea of a superhero is.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;">What they all settle on is “THE EVERYMAN AVENGER” as becomes the tagline above the logo beginning with Thunderstrike #19. His struggles as an Avenger were pretty much legendary by this point, but he had grown into a respectable role within the team, often bringing that ‘average person’ perspective to things. He was cast in opposition to the stuffy, arrogant beaurocracy that could make the Avengers seem out of touch at the time. He was the guy who would gawk when he finds himself in the Shi’ar throne room or think outside of the usual hero box. It a role that other Avengers occupied before him (Hawkeye was great for being that voice of dissonance) and, by the time his book (and life) ended, he seemed to finally be getting the hang of it.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;">Even Eric’s death was a choice. Faced with the returned threat of Seth (DeFalco and Frenz going back to the beginning of their run), he made a choice to take up Bloodaxe and give himself over to its power to ensure he would be able to stop the Egyptian god. He knew that it was a dangerous move that he may not come back from – and he didn’t. What it also showed was the trust he put in his hero, Thor, to step in and put him down if it needed to be done. Those final two issues of Thunderstrike show that, even though Eric grew into the role of a seasoned hero, he never lost those defining characteristics that he had from the beginning. He never stopped choosing to be a hero no matter the cost; and he never lost faith in the hero that saved his life and acted as a constant inspiration.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px; max-width: 600px;" /><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 16px;">If there’s one thing that Jason Aaron took from this run, it was making Jane Foster loving being Thor... just as Eric did. He was so easy to root for and see yourself in, because, like those of us reading Thor comics, he looked up to the Thunder God. He was the everyman Thor.</span></span></div></div></div></div>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-10368913857604979422023-05-02T22:45:00.001-04:002023-05-02T22:45:03.295-04:00Custom Kitchen Deliveries 12 – Sins of Sinister: Dominion #1<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Ex0E7huKs2LikOqH8OjvhKiFMh_tLdB0AJpdOKTUJYo-vH0otyePBVVwZoCw6QTZ-Lk--XgBLrO4OVW91HxoUGfNzrHlOR98taWkqvhQkfAOarbh6HeoAfG0xmXJnnLpNBU3hVQGurR3zOyW-50LXB6FZUEnfPV3iKTp9p92R3--DzS7CmA/s2800/sosd01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2800" data-original-width="1821" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Ex0E7huKs2LikOqH8OjvhKiFMh_tLdB0AJpdOKTUJYo-vH0otyePBVVwZoCw6QTZ-Lk--XgBLrO4OVW91HxoUGfNzrHlOR98taWkqvhQkfAOarbh6HeoAfG0xmXJnnLpNBU3hVQGurR3zOyW-50LXB6FZUEnfPV3iKTp9p92R3--DzS7CmA/s320/sosd01.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>I was wondering if that was going to
happen. Well, not specifically that, but that reveal. After all, a key part
about Dominions is that, once one exists, it has always existed. Sort of a chicken/egg
thing, right? Fate. A Dominion exists, therefore everything that happened to
create it will occur, therefore the Dominion exists. Ouroboros. So, if Sins of
Sinister were to feature one of the Essexes reaching the state of Dominion,
then that would mean... they’ve always been Dominion. The end goal was reached
before the quest to reach it began. Kind of makes the whole thing feel a little
futile, doesn’t it? I’m left wondering if it even matters which of them reached
Dominion because they’ve always been Dominion and that has not mattered thus
far (that we’re aware of).<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Like Age of Apocalypse before it, Sins of
Sinister is the story that never really happened, except that it did. It
doesn’t ‘matter,’ except that it does. Nothing has changed, except that things
have. It’s kind of funny the way stories like this work. They’re like the
regular sort of events, but stretched to extremes. The actual story doesn’t
matter in continuity because it didn’t actually happen; yet, what little
touches the ongoing continuity of the comics hits hard. It’s almost the
definition of the destination mattering more than the journey. In many ways,
you could actually skip Sins of Sinister. Jump from Immortal X-Men #10 page 1
panel 2 to Sins of Sinister: Dominion #1 page 28 panel 3 (not counting the two
credits pages – or, because the first two panels of those pages are repeats,
from the end of Immortal X-Men #9 to Sins of Sinister: Dominion #1 page 28) and
you’re with the characters. You haven’t lost anything except your ability to
read in a perpetual state of dramatic irony. All of the important
conclusions/results from the Sins of Sinister story get fed to you. Most events
are all about the end change to the status quo, but like to pretend that the
journey is essential to understanding that; in a story like this, the journey
is literally erased. This is the point where we steer away from endlessly
debating what the ‘purpose’ of stories are and what does ‘counting’ really
mean... Let’s just leave it at the obvious-but-kind-of-interesting-to-think-about
point that: Sins of Sinister can, for the most part, be ignored between the two
points that I indicated if all you care about is the strict continuity of the
specific X-Men comics universe that we’re reading.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">What I’m left with is yet another
reversal... Mother Righteous’s plan worked thanks to Moira. All of her
accumulated knowledge got sent back to the point where the universe reset. I
guess it wasn’t entirely small thinking like I said last week. And Moira’s role
is a difficult one to wrap one’s head around entirely, mostly for what it means
going forward. She eliminated the Moira Engine, inadvertently helped Mother
Righteous while executing her own plan, ensured that all Sinister learned was
the final insight about the Dominion, and sent Rasputin IV back. Except, one
detail that may be important: Rasputin IV came from a clone program called
“Moira.VII.1.RPIV.” That’s not just Rasputin IV in there... is Rasputin IV now,
somehow, a six-mutant Chimera? Or something different? Is it just a clone of
Moira or is the SoS +1000 Moira in there somewhere as well? I love that, like
Age of Apocalypse, Sins of Sinister is having some strays stick around.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">So, where does this event leave the X-Men
comics with its story that literally happened between panels? Sinister in the
pit; Xavier, Hope, Emma, and Exodus in the pit; Rasputin IV (with Moira?) in
the present; an Essex is Dominion; Orchis is not in shambles, meaning Stasis is
still active; Mother Righteous has knowledge of events and regrets, and, now,
the thanks of “every mutant on Krakoa.” She looks like the early favourite for
the Essex most likely to establish Dominion—</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">—I want to point out that I’m struggling a
little with that just occurred to me: where does the most recent storyarc of
Legion of X fit with all of this? It showed Nightcrawler further mutating
beyond the horns, which he has in Immortal X-Men #9 and Sins of Sinister:
Dominion #1, and, at the end of Legion of X #10, Mother Righteous comes to him
looking to make a deal. She and Nightcrawler interact briefly here and there
doesn’t seem to be an awareness there. Moreover, in Sins of Sinister, she spent
years trying to break the spell that mutated Nightcrawler and other mutants
while he became more and more of a beast. And, if this means that that story
didn’t actually happen, what about the Legion/Xavier interaction? That wasn’t
Sinister Xavier, was it? I’m sorry, this is a little difficult to line up,
maybe the Sons of X one-shot will clear this all up—</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">—but Orbis Stellaris still has the
Worldfarm and Stasis still has Orchis. That last point seems particularly
worthwhile in that the SoS timeline was the only one we’ve seen thus far where
the machines lose. My running joke about that is that it’s Moira who always
loses since she finally switches from mutants to machines and, immediately, the
mutants manage to overrun the universe. There’s a bit of a joke to the idea
that Moira is the one to end that timelime and does send back knowledge... we
just don’t know if it’s to herself. We don’t know if she’s mixed in with the
Rasputin IV that’s now in Krakoa. Is Moira now both mutant and machine? Hell,
did she somehow get mixed up with Mother Righteous in the process, too? If
that’s the case, then Orbis Stellaris seems on track to win... I guess we shall
see.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">But not here.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">This is the end of Custom Kitchen
Deliveries, an extension of Them Guys Ain’t Dumb... which is meant to be
something of an examination of Kieron Gillen’s event comics. It speaks to the
quality of these comics in how they continually sidetracked me from that goal.
A writer going back-to-back like this is rather unusual. Sins of Sinister felt
like an extension of Judgment Day in an odd way. Of the collaboration with Al
Ewing and Si Spurrier that we saw a little taste of there, now on a story where
things were split more evenly, but Gillen still took the lead. It was an event
without an event book to act as the spine. It was all tie-ins with the bookend
issues remaining (because the best issues of an event at the first and last
ones) with the dragging middle cut out. More than that, by taking place
exclusively within the realm of the X-books, it provided a stronger payoff at
the end, one that impacts things going forward. More than anything, that
comparison point shows the limitations of Marvel Universe-wide events at times.
Unless you’re a Brian Michael Bendis sort of writer who is willing to anchor
the MU moving forward, it’s hard to do one that actually leaves a lasting,
quantifiable impression. Post-Judgment Day, Gillen has only been writing
Immortal X-Men for Marvel, while the rest of the line has been doing its own
thing. That’s not a knock against Judgment Day’s quality; it means it’s more
Age of Ultron than Siege, you know? Even on Immortal X-Men, Judgment Day felt like
a minor detour after the fact... too big and about too many larger things to
leave a concrete impact at the end... Sins of Sinister, on the other hand,
already made a big impact in changing the course of things on Krakoa. Not that
‘impact’ and ‘mattering’ is all there is with a story... it is important for an
event, at least at this stage.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">But I digress...</span></p>
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">“This is not an
exit.”</span>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-29243193891076849742023-04-25T22:37:00.001-04:002023-04-25T22:37:06.514-04:00Custom Kitchen Deliveries 11 – Nightcrawlers #3<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivIY3ZrkGSJdlcpt2GDNUk8MRwVwhJYzWSZJxepsy_YrOPAonKKEgaqPkSruZ07u0wGvLGnuEpq6v11GyNg7k7ahouI0xTrQvRK02RtjqxIXxRok0Hbd5800a3iza-e3NvvKaDIjIuHg_JMQS27b7OCGOakPXDi66xIrqkxFqwpdcyVc-ED6Q/s2800/night03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2800" data-original-width="1821" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivIY3ZrkGSJdlcpt2GDNUk8MRwVwhJYzWSZJxepsy_YrOPAonKKEgaqPkSruZ07u0wGvLGnuEpq6v11GyNg7k7ahouI0xTrQvRK02RtjqxIXxRok0Hbd5800a3iza-e3NvvKaDIjIuHg_JMQS27b7OCGOakPXDi66xIrqkxFqwpdcyVc-ED6Q/s320/night03.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>Well, I was way off, wasn’t I? For those
who didn’t read last week’s edition, I dove head first into wild speculation
about the grand plans of Mother Righteous in relation to the narration of Storm
& The Brotherhood of Mutants #3. I knew I wouldn’t be right, but why not
have a bit of fun and swing for the fences in the art of exposing one’s ass
publicly? (To be clear, my speculation that Jon Ironfire killed Lodus Logos is
still a valid guess until proven otherwise...) That’s fine. I’m happy to look
the fool sometimes. I guess I didn’t expect to be proven wrong by Mother
Righteous’s true plan being so less ambitious. I definitely overestimated what
she was aiming for...<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">It’s actually pretty funny how, throughout
this event to this point, there’s been a sense that Mother Righteous was
lurking just beneath the surface, ready to steal away Dominion from Orbis
Stellaris and Mr. Sinister. Building up thank yous and regrets, sinking her
hooks in, and amassing magical objects, all to step in at this moment and become
Dominion while her ‘brothers’ watch, horrified. Instead, all of her work was
to... create a slightly more complicated version of Sinister’s plan...? Well,
consider me fooled. I thought that she was somehow a different breed from the
other Essexes... something smarter or more ambitious. Nah, just the same sort
of simplistic solipsism. Use people in the laziest way possible to get a slight
leg up in the next go ‘round and, maybe, after you try that a few hundred
times, you may actually get somewhere... You just have to laugh.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">What hit home in this issue – and I feel
like a bit of a fool for not picking up on it more before this – is how
misleading the part numbers given to each issue are in this event. I’ve been so
focused on the larger story of the Essexes and the playfulness with Powers of X
that the obvious-from-the-beginning connection that I’ve mentioned, but not
really discussed so far kept getting overlooked: Age of Apocalypse. If you’re
not familiar with AoA, it was a 1995-96 X-Men story that began when Legion went
back in time to kill Magneto before he and Charles Xavier had their falling
out. He assumed that, without Magneto to act against his father, Xavier’s dream
would happen easier. With only ‘good’ mutants in the public eye, the Dream
would be achievable. Of course, it all goes wrong and Legion accidentally kills
his father. This leads to a four-month period where the entire X-line of books
are replaced with the alternate present where the lack of Xavier allowed
Apocalypse to rise much sooner and conquer North America. Every book in the
line became a new title (Uncanny X-Men was now Astonishing X-Men, X-Men was now
Amazing X-Men, X-Force was now Gambit & The X-Ternals, Cable was now X-Man,
etc.). It was bookended by Alpha and Omega issues and was a lot of fun. As a
12/13-year old, I loved it. I loved seeing all of these changed, alternate
versions of characters that I knew, picking up on little details about their
pasts, maybe where each of them veered off from the story I already knew, and I
spent a shocking amount of time looking at the map of this new world.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The important part here is that it told one
big story through individual titles that each told their own stories that added
to the larger story. It wasn’t a linear story where you read the comics in a
specific order and needed to read every single one (while my dad read comics
and bought the entire line, I only got all of the first issues and, then,
focused in on X-Man specifically as the book that I wanted to follow). There
were details that crossed over (the Sentinel airlift launched in Weapon X #1
became a major plot point in Amazing X-Men) and there was a cumulative effect
so that, by the time you reached that Omega issue, all of the various books’
plots smashed into one another for the climax. Skip some of it and you were
fine. Even now, you can go back and read it all in pretty much whatever order
you want – read all four issues of each series in succession or the mixed up
order that the omnibus has or even figure out your own – because it wasn’t a
story told in a specific ‘correct’ order. The actual story of Age of Apocalypse
was one of those ‘more than the sum of its parts’ things where it existed
outside of the actual comics to a degree. Each reader created their own version
of the larger story.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Sins of Sinister is based off that idea...
kind of. Unlike Age of Apocalypse, we’re given a specific reading order from
the getgo with a much smaller ‘line’ of books participating. Sins of Sinister
takes the loose idea of Age of Apocalypse and turns it into a weekly series.
There are advantages to that as specific effects are created, like propelling
the story forward through specific successive issues (Sins of Sinister #1
ending with Sinister finding his lab stolen leading right into Storm & The
Brotherhood of Evil Mutants #1 showing the theft) and creating a sense that
every issue is essential to the larger story. But, thinking about it, it’s also
misleading in that it implies a much more coherent and structured story than it
delivers (or intends to deliver). There isn’t a linear story exactly, yet the
existence of story numbering on each issue implies a more coherent story that
each issue of the event advances. Some plot points begin in one part and pick
up in the next (the +1000 time period is the most cohesive chunk of the event
where each issue does lead to the next in a much more direct manner than the
previous time periods), but, now that all three mini-series have been released,
their specific structures are much clearer. Like Age of Apocalypse, each of
these ‘substitute series’ tell their own stories that contribute to the whole:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Immoral X-Men is of Sinister’s struggle to
stay alive long enough to regain his lab and reset the universe with a subplot
about the progression of the Sinister-infected Quiet Council over time.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Storm & The Brotherhood of Mutants is
about... well, the titular characters fighting against the prevailing Sinister
forces. As the Sinister-infected mutants become more and more powerful (more
the status quo), the Brotherhood (with Storm both a part of and apart from the
group simultaneously) are the ‘evil’ mutants rebelling and trying to overthrow
that new status quo.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Nightcrawlers is about Mother Righteous’s
schemes with a specific focus on her manipulation of the Nightkin.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Each of these series tell those stories in
shockingly straight forward, linear ways. None stand alone completely, of
course, but they come damn near it in a few cases. I don’t know how many titles
would have needed to be part of this story to escape the idea that it’s a
linear larger story much more akin to past X-line crossovers that has similar
part numbering schemes. Five? Six? Enough to break free from the one-a-week
release schedule, I suppose. But, with only three titles and each issue
numbered as a specific part of Sins of Sinister, the idea of the larger
implicit story of the event looms larger than it did in Age of Apocalypse. AoA
was so big that, as a reader, you knew you wouldn’t get it all, even if you
read every issue. It was a miniature version of trying to keep the ongoing
story of the Marvel Universe straight in your head in real time with every
week’s new releases. While there are some fools crazy enough to try, most of us
know that it won’t happen and accept that we’re only ever going to know a piece
of it and move on with our lives, hoping that we know enough for everything to
make sense in the end (it never ends).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Sins of Sinister’s structure and release
gives the impression of a specific story being told (and the cycling of the
order of the three titles in each time period (ABC, BCA, CAB) played into that
idea of a very specific order/structure)... and I’m not sure that’s the right
takeaway. While there is a story told by Kieron Gillen, Al Ewing, and Si
Spurrier, I’m convinced more and more that it’s much looser than we (I) may
have imagined. It took until Nightcrawlers #3 and seeing the end goal of Mother
Righteous to have that particular bubble popped. If you look at only
Nightcrawlers #1-3, then her plans don’t take on the same implied epic scope as
they do when you add in her other appearances. Her appearing as a vision to Jon
Ironfire or dropping off her book with Sinister... they helped create a larger
myth for the character than the self-important fake-it-til-you-make-it false god
of Nightcrawlers. Her pettiness is a key limitation of the character and was
lessened by her appearances outside of this series... All of which pointed
toward a larger plan – a larger payoff. Instead of a race to Dominion, we get a
race to remembrance... And, make no mistake, the release structure purposefully
downplayed Mother Righteous’s pettiness and made her seem more important with
that four-issue gap between Nightcrawlers #2 and 3.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">I guess what gets lost in the larger story
approach are the little stories that, while not necessarily as prominent in the
grand scheme of things (not as... fun and alluring as the schemes of the
Essexes). The stories of Wagnerine, Jon Ironfire, and Rasputin IV all play a
role in the (for lack of a better word at the point) metastory of Sins of
Sinister, but are all much more prominent in their specific series (and, as I
haven’t developed the idea but want to get it out there, let me just mention
how interesting it is that Orbis Stellaris doesn’t get the same prominence as
his siblings... Storm gets that role and that seems important in ways I haven’t
thought nearly enough about). Wagnerine (and the Spirit of Variance!) plays a
rather key role in thwarting Mother Righteous in this issue... but that seems
like a crucial moment delivered by a minor player when you look at the
metastory. Read exclusively through the lens of Nightcrawlers as a series, it’s
a major moment from a main character! The release structure of Sins of Sinister
de-emphasises those series-specific elements in favour of speculation on how
they play a role in the metastory... last week’s Custom Kitchen Deliveries is a
clear example of reading this event in that manner gone awry.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">And, of course, I hit this realisation
right before the final bookend issue that will firmly conclude the Sins of
Sinister metastory. Alas. Hindsight and all of that.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Next: Sins of Sinister: Dominion #1<o:p></o:p></span></p>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-69492610208526647592023-04-18T00:47:00.001-04:002023-04-18T00:47:21.116-04:00Custom Kitchen Deliveries 10 – Storm & The Brotherhood of Mutants #3<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm3Z7ORHENbye5hkF2RLVGdj7zbT9WU8NuqApryI15l9tcFfZJt9NmM8y-ALb1GBohoxJhzzQdPUugagoUyTKtQ2uPJEamKN3N4En6-RkbIompmXf0alZ5D9-sDzI9vg0bGAw_eZ44XG2zfKS_fAM5TOf6cssPmaFb1c-G-riRoi9uqEuGjAQ/s2800/storm03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2800" data-original-width="1821" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm3Z7ORHENbye5hkF2RLVGdj7zbT9WU8NuqApryI15l9tcFfZJt9NmM8y-ALb1GBohoxJhzzQdPUugagoUyTKtQ2uPJEamKN3N4En6-RkbIompmXf0alZ5D9-sDzI9vg0bGAw_eZ44XG2zfKS_fAM5TOf6cssPmaFb1c-G-riRoi9uqEuGjAQ/s320/storm03.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>Who is the poet narrator of Storm & The
Brotherhood of Mutants #3?<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">This is the question that vexes me. Done in
the font/word balloon and poetic style of Lodus Logos, it sent me hunting for
any reference to Arakko’s poet in Sins of Sinister thus far, coming up empty.
Perhaps I missed an offhand reference. As far as I can tell, he doesn’t appear
anywhere. Any art depicting the fall of Arakko doesn’t include him – rather a
mix of the Arakki we know and some of the returned Arakki that were still with
Genesis and Apocalypse when this story began. And, right there on the first
page, in the second balloon, it states “Sing as Great Lodus sang, in days of
old before the Diamond,” suggesting that he died somewhere between the
beginning of Sins of Sinister and the fall of Arakko. In Sins of Sinister #1,
very little attention is given to Arakko save the Eternals war and its eventual
fall to the forces of Sinister. No mention is made of the rejoining of the Arakki
tribe that stayed behind. In the previous issue of this series, Jon Ironfire is
visited by the image of Mother Righteous who assures him that she is nothing
more than a daydream he won’t remember. As he participates in the raid on Orbis
Stellaris’s Death Sphere, she asks if he has any regrets, and he responds,
“...The <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Genesis War</b>. I made a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mistake</i> – took a life that haunts me
still. My <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">faith</b>... it’s a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">penance</b>. Because I didn’t have faith <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">then</b>. I didn’t trust the Storm.” Maybe
you’re ahead of me here, but, as I sought desperately to answer my question and
indulge in a bit of diving too deep to make connections, I came to the
following conclusions:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Jon Ironfire killed Lodus Logos in the
Genesis War. Mother Righteous learns this fact, one that is tied up intimately
with his desperate need for faith in Storm to atone for his action. Mother
Righteous uses this knowledge to craft “The Song of the End” and engineer both
the destruction of the Red Diamond Queen and the downfall of Arakko by intertwining
Ironfire’s regret and faith. What we witness is not narration, it is causation.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The first clue that the song/poem narration
interacts with the story comes early on when it says “Sing me the Storm
System... and the king who ruled there, last of his line, Jon Ironfire his
name.” To which Ironfire responds “‘The Storm System.’ How many still know what
means?” suggesting that, on some level, he can hear the Logos-esque poetry. He
follows this up with a reference to telling Righteous of his one regret... why
think of that conversation at that moment? It folds into a discussion of trust
with Khora, yet, I wonder if the voice he can vaguely hear reminds him of
admitting his regret... before it turns to them discussing putting faith in
Sinister in order to bring Ororo back to life.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">So much of this issue centres around the
idea of Ororo as goddess, an object of faith and worship – in opposition to
Emma Frost who, Sinister now for 1000 years, has set herself up as a
self-proclaimed goddess of her own empire of subservient worshippers.
Ultimately, this issue is a battle of the gods, one secure in her solipsistic
belief in herself, while the other is strengthened by the faith of others. At
one point, Emma strikes out in rage after hearing Araki whisper “...Ororo
protect us,” proclaiming, “You’ve broken my first commandment. Praying to
another goddess?” The struggle between the two becomes a proxy battle between
Sinister and Righteous despite Sinister seemingly on the side of Arakko. All
that Emma draws upon is her self-assuredness and belief in her own supremacy...
and that takes her far. The resurrected Ororo, on the other hand, is given all
of Khora’s power and is the physical embodiment of Arakko’s last hope, borne
out of Ironfire’s memories, an embodiment of a single man’s faith. Ororo is the
purest form of the sort of power that Mother Righteous has sought to tap into
throughout the story. A pure vessel that faith is poured into... While Emma
cloaks herself in a giant robot, something that recalls a living statue, Ororo
flies free and without protection, secure in her power and the faith entrusted
in her. Emma is an empty goddess propped up by tyranny... something like a
pharaoh who declared himself a living god simply because he happened to rule.
Emma is a goddess because she says so; Ororo one because others say so. Ororo’s
triumph is a clear victory for the sort of power that Righteous covets and
seeks to cultivate, while Sinister’s genetic solipsism cannot stand... it’s a
lonely sort of power.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">All of this happens against a backdrop of a
universe divided into kingdoms of faith where Sinister’s genetic empires have
risen as singular religions by this point. Each member of the Quiet Council is
either powerful enough to stand as their own focal point, acting like a god, or
is subsumed into one of the other’s religions. Arakko stood apart and, now, has
its own goddess returned only to die (eliminating another rival goddess in the
process). After 1000 years of amassing objects of power and planting her seeds
of gratitude and faith (and regret), is a universe where the ruling class are
indistinguishable from deities what she wanted? In a universe primed for faith,
is she poised to take all of that religious energy and redirect it her way,
using it to ascend to a higher form of godhood – Dominion?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Her absence in this issue is the other thing
that troubled me. While she hasn’t appeared in every issue of this event, her
role has grown and her appearances important no matter how small. Despite Orbis
Stellaris seeming like the true rival to Sinister at first, she’s been the one
slowly and methodically spreading her own sort of influence. Stellaris has been
too insular and isolated – so focused on building up his World Farm as the
power base to launch his plan for Dominion that, when the Brotherhood stole it,
he’s seemingly dropped off the map entirely by the time we reach +1000.
Sinister, we know: he’s given up the hope of Dominion in this reality, focused
on reaching a Moira and killing it. That leaves Mother Righteous as the
seemingly only (obvious) chance for an Essex to reach Dominion.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">And that leaves her “Song of the End” as
she weaves her magic, drawing upon Ironfire’s regret over killing Lodus Logos
to mask her magic as his power... to shape events. Is her song narrating or is
it directing? The interplay of words and images in a comic aren’t always clear
in this regard. When Alessandro Vitti draws a panel of Ororo holding a
lightning bolt, while Al Ewing writes the words “And Ororo readied for the
end... and called the lightning home,” are these two occurring simultaneously?
Are the words describing the picture? Usually, we read comics that way where
overly narrated comics are treated as redundant to an extent – the words
telling what the art is showing. But, here, what if the words are telling a
story into being? What if this is an act of incredible power and magic as
Mother Righteous sings a song that helps shape the reality needed to achieve
Dominion? Ororo gives her life for Arakko. Jon Ironfire’s faith is justified,
realised in full glory as his goddess, the Storm, sacrifices herself again for
the sake of universe. When Sinister (seemingly) shoots and (apparently) kills
him... does that faith disappear? Does that form of mystical energy dissipate?
Or does it go somewhere else?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">All of these questions relate to the larger
structure of Sins of Sinister. Everything has been building towards a specific
point, much of it playing off Powers of X to some degree. In Powers of X, the X<sup>3</sup>
timeline of Moira VI was moving towards the assimilation and ascension of homo
novissima into part of the Phalanx, becoming a small part of a Dominion.
However, in Sins of Sinister +1000, there are no machines to fuse with humans –
to be Phalanx – to form Dominion. Or, at least, none that care to make their
appearance known (save a leftover non-mutant clone Moira and a broken down
Doombot). All that remains is a host of homo superior that exist in such
powerful form as to be akin to Phalanx, possibly even Titan. If Mother
Righteous can eliminate the figurehead mutant gods and assimilate the cloned
masses of followers... will that be the same as uniting 10 or more Titans?
Though, in Powers of X, the ascension never actually happened as Moira was
killed, secure in knowledge she hoped to use to avoid that fate for mutantkind.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Will Sinister kill his Moira in the nick of
time as well?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Next: Nightcrawlers #3.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-1947496628121436392023-04-12T10:46:00.004-04:002023-04-12T10:46:45.446-04:00Custom Kitchen Deliveries 09 – Immoral X-Men #3<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLnzRv44SoRwMqHg66sg42u0D9fcRl3SNo9Vbw512mBXUB_ywI7wmSncJ3Q68JfvMqNMWM9DmWWqNKJN-vwngurZRqaqzX1UeCCqe1C2wNtQcVGo2HlX5euPuBtuyAZcf_6jCoeraXSQnkNInJJFO_dg-cZDqd1_aPtpy1Ryy3d4TiD-D5oSY/s2800/immoral03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2800" data-original-width="1821" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLnzRv44SoRwMqHg66sg42u0D9fcRl3SNo9Vbw512mBXUB_ywI7wmSncJ3Q68JfvMqNMWM9DmWWqNKJN-vwngurZRqaqzX1UeCCqe1C2wNtQcVGo2HlX5euPuBtuyAZcf_6jCoeraXSQnkNInJJFO_dg-cZDqd1_aPtpy1Ryy3d4TiD-D5oSY/s320/immoral03.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>Genetics aren’t enough.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">We are now 1000 years from where Sins of
Sinister began and the universe is a monstrous wasteland of rival factions.
Things are so splintered that even Exodus and his religion has broken into
dozens (hundreds? thousands?) of sects. When Destiny’s recording for Sinister
tells him “I know your eventual goal is to transcend time and space to become a
Dominion. You do not succeed,” my first thought was “Yeah, no shit.” It’s
apparent, by this point, that the flaw in Sinister means that he is incapable
of achieving that goal. Perhaps, a flaw in all of the Essexes.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">As I said when discussing Immoral X-Men #1,
the key component that Sinister’s genes added to the Quiet Council was
narcissistic solipsism. Each and every one of them thinks themself the only
true person in the universe, the only person that matters, be they original or
clone or staring in the face of a thousand identical clones of themselves. It’s
been the ongoing joke of Sinister where every version of him thinks that it is
the real Sinister... only to have its head blown off by the next Sinister in
line who assures us that he is the real deal (until...). Faced with Doctor
Stasis and Mother Righteous, his first instinct is to shout that he’s the real
Nathaniel Essex; as does Orbis Stellaris. That overwhelming, unavoidable idea
that each of these Essex-derivatives have that they are the only one that
matters. The only real person. It comes to a head in the +1000 time period as
it’s a universe of single-minded empires, all convinced that they are right,
they matter, and all others must be conquered, subjugated, and subsumed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The supposed goal of the Essexes is to
defeat the machines. On Earth, we saw that happen fairly quickly, almost as a
throwaway footnote to this entire story. In the +1000 time period, there
doesn’t appear to be any threat from the machines. The universe is overrun by
mutantkind, endless combinations and variations, almost all carrying that
Sinister gene. While our perspective on things is fairly limited by the
narrative goals of the comic, the successful domination of the universe via
Sinister’s mutants seems complete – despite it being domination without
Dominion. Yet, is that any better? Nearly a dozen little fiefdoms that may have
sprung from the same genetic source, but wind up mimicking any other random
universe of competing interests. Dominion requires unity of consciousness and
purpose, and, in +1000, there is none. All Sinister has done is trade one
dominant lifeform (machines) for another (mutants) with the same dreary
dystopian existence. Except a bit gooier.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">In Immoral X-Men #2, when Sinister gave his
convincingly insincere speech to Rasputin IV about destroying the paradise of
Krakoa, I think what he was trying to get at what the shared purpose of Krakoa.
Genetics aren’t enough. This has been the endless cycle of X-Men comics where
mutants can never truly unify and thrive, because all that they’ve got in
common is an extra gene and a world that hates and fears them. When you take
away the hatred and fear and replace it with overwhelming dominance, that extra
gene isn’t enough. The centre cannot hold, as it were. By accentuating the
individuality of each of the Quiet Council, Sinister has both achieved
universal dominance and moved away from Dominion at the same time. Think of
those two goals as the X and Y axis on a graph. At the line towards universal
domination moves forward, the line towards Dominion rises and rises until it
peaks and begins falling until it flattens out. Perhaps, given enough time, one
or more of these fiefdoms of the Quiet Council could grow large or powerful
enough to approach Dominion on their own. More likely that we’ve reached a dead
end. The real path forward was Krakoa, at least for the Sinister branch of the
Essex family tree. A multitude brought together under a shared purpose and
cause that allows growth. But, alas, even if Sinister were to kill a Moira and
reset the universe back to before all of this, with “Fall of X” on the horizon,
that chance may be gone, too...</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The real problem is that the goal isn’t the
survival of a species or a people. The problem is that a single man, Nathaniel
Essex, came the conclusion that he will die. He can find ways to prolong his life,
but, eventually, something bigger and more powerful, like a Dominion (more
likely a Phalanx or something even smaller) would come along and be too much
for him. He wouldn’t just die – he would be absorbed, taken in, and made part
of a greater whole. Something bigger than him. The problem is that he only
cares that he survives forever. Everything flows from his solipsism. So: four
of him, each exploring a different path to ensure that Nathaniel Essex can
never be lost – each searching for a path to Dominion. Each convinced that they
are the only true Essex (or the only one that matters). Each doomed to failure
because their message is not one of inclusivity, it’s of singular focus and
determination, of absolute control and domination. But, that message of
solipsism and singularness, when spread, only breeds new versions of that same
solipsism. While the Empress of the Red Diamond may carry Sinister’s genes
(Essex’s genes), it is still Emma Frost and thinks of herself as Emma Frost,
not Sinister or Essex. The same goes for Xavier and Exodus and Colossus and the
rest. They are worshippers at the altar of Essex’s Church of Solipsism and, as
devout believers, they each think themself a god.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">(To indulge a brief return to my nonsense
metacommentary from earlier in this series, if Jonathan Hickman is Sinister and
Sins of Sinister is the X-line after HoX/PoX, growing and changing beyond his
original plans as each additive creator takes things in new, unexpected ways,
deviating further and further from the original singular plan... then Hickman
is a Sinister that was able to look at what their influence had wrought, smile,
and walk away. Is it what he wanted to do when he began? No. Does that mean
he’s unhappy with what has happened? No. You could make a compelling argument for
Sins of Sinister as a repudiation of anyone who wished for Hickman to force his
vision on the line going forward…)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">However, speaking of gods and churches,
it’s more and more apparent that one Essex has the potential to succeed: Mother
Righteous. She’s the constant figure throughout Sins of Sinister, popping up
here and there, planting her little seeds of gratitude, getting her hooks in as
many different people as possible. While we don’t yet know the exact state of
her religion playing off the Spark with the Legion of the Night, she makes an
appearance at the end of this issue, offering Rasputin IV a deal. That her
power base is one of belief, calling in her markers at once could, conceivably,
unite enough beings to begin the road to Dominion. While the other Essexes
spread themselves among the masses – she has focused on spreading herself via a
focus on her. She is the singular focus of her interactions with everyone. Not
her genes, not her technology, or even her despot orders. Just her, a separate
being, ready to possibly enslave all she’s lured in, body and soul... even her
two remaining brothers...</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Next: Storm & the Brotherhood of
Mutants #3.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-9951408571118060742023-04-04T20:52:00.002-04:002023-04-04T20:52:22.620-04:00Custom Kitchen Deliveries 08 – Storm & the Brotherhood of Mutants #2<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl8R6jU_o4K3gxfPNbD2S5am5qLOU5bds7bZWFSoojy9Chk4iAIrdNSXlUL1SHemeNUXYs8hkYcAivYfb1nQnONflamkrSGcBzVZrwlZZTv-3Cnx72SRB97-33XiVM_Nj5rXIAoo33nIj5YRJDpESwf9Oss_IK75BmQBibyhsnXauibBre7XY/s2800/storm02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2800" data-original-width="1821" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl8R6jU_o4K3gxfPNbD2S5am5qLOU5bds7bZWFSoojy9Chk4iAIrdNSXlUL1SHemeNUXYs8hkYcAivYfb1nQnONflamkrSGcBzVZrwlZZTv-3Cnx72SRB97-33XiVM_Nj5rXIAoo33nIj5YRJDpESwf9Oss_IK75BmQBibyhsnXauibBre7XY/s320/storm02.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>“My Progenitors. My World Farm. All that
computational power... data that would take millennia to recalculate and
recompile...”<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">I find myself torn, unsure of how exactly
to approach Sins of Sinister at this point. I keep leaning towards the high
level view, focusing on the remaining Essexes and their machinations in the
race towards Dominion... and, yet... those elements are but small pieces of
each issue. Pivotal pieces, granted... pieces still. It’s overlooking something
of the human/mutant-level drama. Each of the three issues of the +100 timeframe
are steeped in that sort of personal drama. Actions are dictated by it.
Wagnerine, Exodus, Storm... all driven by their personal beliefs balancing
against the sheer solipsism of Mother Righteous, Mister Sinister, Orbis
Stellaris... and, beyond them, more and more people each with their own
motives... it’s what these issues are rooted in. Yet...</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">My mind wanders to thoughts of Star Trek:
Deep Space Nine and this episode about genetically modified people. See, they
decided to add genetic modification to Dr. Julian Bashir’s character, somewhat
out of nowhere. He was always skilled as a doctor, but his skill never stood
out as somehow beyond human capabilities, at least no more so than any other
member of the main cast of a show like this. In the Federation, genetic
modification was illegal due to some rather poor experiences with it; still, it
happened sometimes. Once that element of his character was introduced, it was
used an excuse to bring in other genetically modified characters, at least for
an episode or two. The group that’s brought to the station for Bashir to work
with are brilliant, but have other social and emotional issues. After several
attempts to engage and failing, Bashir finds an ‘in’ via the ongoing war with
the Dominion. Details of the war spark their collective interest and they begin
providing reports for Starfleet using various models to predict future events.
Eventually, their models show that the best course of action is surrender,
using a method that becomes more accurate the further it projects into the
future, mostly by ignoring the little things, focusing on the larger movements
of history. The actions of individuals get lost in the sea of actions by other
individuals until you have something akin to fate, I suppose. That’s where I
keep feeling myself drawn. The largescale sweep of fate, following Sinister,
Righteous, and Orbis Stellaris with the actions of the Quiet Council and
Brotherhood and Nightkin largely cancelling one another out.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">This issue makes a strong argument against
that idea, mostly by repeating the first issue’s plot. It’s actually alarming
how effectively Al Ewing writes a variation/sequel to the first issue centred
around the same(ish) group of people trying to steal the same thing. In the
first issue, the ultimate reveal was that the entire theft of Sinister’s lab
was engineered by Orbis Stellaris; here, there is no grand reveal. Yes, Mother Righteous
makes an appearance as an observer, perhaps sinking her claws into a character
or two; otherwise, it’s the Brotherhood with Destiny creating and executing a
plan to steal the lab again (actually, Orbis Stellaris’s entire World Farm) and
inserting themselves directly into these larger forces of history.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">My mind wanders to thoughts of Babylon 5
and the final episode of season four, “The Deconstruction of Falling Stars.”
Ostensibly the finale of the show before it was renewed for a fifth season, it jumps
through time in the form of video recordings. From the ‘present’ to 100 years
later to 500 years later to 1000 years later to a million years later, it shows
the distortion of time and history on the events of the show that we’ve been
watching. The +100 period is of particular interest. It’s an educational
broadcast with some historians to mark the 100th anniversary of the formation
of the Interstellar Alliance and there’s some debate between the historians
that’s meant to seem laughable given that we know what actually occurred as
viewers of Babylon 5 the fictional TV show that is the history they are
discussing. There’s one spot where one of the historians dismissing the various
stories and legends of the core cast as mythmaking, that they couldn’t have
done the various things attributed to them. That history rarely turns on the
actions of a few people, rather it is largescale movements by hundreds of
people that produce true change. We, the viewers, know differently.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Here, Storm is that central figure that
changes history. From the beginning of Sins of Sinister, she’s been the
outlier, the one person able to withstand the forces of Sinister’s Quiet
Council and, despite Mystique’s betrayal, the one able to steal his lab. In a
way, she steps into the place vacated by Stasis as that fourth force acting
against the interests of the other Essexes. She and the Brotherhood stand in
for the lost humanity of this future – lost to the corruptive touch of Sinister
and Righteous and Orbis Stellaris. The Brotherhood under Storm is the one group
that’s truly free of their influence and control, a fourth possibility for
evolution and growth outside of any Essex experiment. Move back far enough and
Storm is almost a synthesis of all four: mutant with a deep humanity, believed
in as a goddess, and acting as a cosmic-level power. She contains elements of
all four and uses them not to further her own ambitions, but to protect and
save whoever she can from the machinations of Sinister and Orbis Stellaris (she
seems largely ignorant of Mother Righteous). The inclusion of Righteous briefly
in this issue serves to highlight how much true faith that Storm inspires –
something that Righteous struggles with, if only because she is insincere.
Storm’s absolute dedication and sincerity is her true power, it’s what drives
those around her to trust in her and give their all on her word. Ewing’s SWORD
and X-Men Red have both largely been about this idea. To further set her apart,
her final act is one of self-sacrifice, something none of the Essexes could
accomplish.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Heading into this issue, the Brotherhood
(and Freedom Force) was already a power unto itself, albeit a very minor one in
a universe containing two rather major ones. Storm potions herself as an
alternative to all four of the Essexes – effectively a synthesis of all of the
best parts of their respective ideologies/approaches.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Next: Immoral X-Men #3 and the +1000 time
period.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-84597424811117679892023-03-21T22:28:00.001-04:002023-03-21T22:28:30.279-04:00Custom Kitchen Deliveries 07 – Immoral X-Men #2<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkOS4Tb5NyobtE20lCXDI5zJYpPtn_ZEftlFH5SEBNgrGjlPowELJC2DN9NGdJ6-M0LAlCx4ATqyTTLO_wHysgWEQXkMveJ3zs7yh_sSxpoLdGLkk9fKR-sag6uMJY2wgSTjXWZ0p2F-Ch8XPTJLepVIIBuSKWuEuyEQWiaWY7f9K8Ehh5kDQ/s2800/immoral02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2800" data-original-width="1821" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkOS4Tb5NyobtE20lCXDI5zJYpPtn_ZEftlFH5SEBNgrGjlPowELJC2DN9NGdJ6-M0LAlCx4ATqyTTLO_wHysgWEQXkMveJ3zs7yh_sSxpoLdGLkk9fKR-sag6uMJY2wgSTjXWZ0p2F-Ch8XPTJLepVIIBuSKWuEuyEQWiaWY7f9K8Ehh5kDQ/s320/immoral02.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>This issue is the dead centre of the event
and provides the twist of explicitly laying out what’s going on here: the <s>four</s>
three Essex clones are racing against one another to reach Dominion. Kieron
Gillen is even kind enough to give us a one-page synopsis of that plot,
complete with a breakdown of what each clone is working with to reach this
goal. It makes plain that the goal was to defeat the machines and, now, the
goal is to defeat one another. We knew this already and, now, we know this for
certain; so, where does that leave us heading into the back half of Sins of
Sinister?<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Hope narrating this issue is a convenient
way to provide context for the +100 timeframe and where mutantkind has gotten
in the 90 years since Emma Frost put Sinister under her boot, while also giving
a secondary ‘race’ between the Quiet Council members to be the last one
standing. Hope, the war-mongering messiah is the first to fall, mostly because
she’s more useful dead than alive. If this timelime follows the pattern that
we’ve seen previously in Immortal X-Men, then Exodus is the likely last member
standing as the focal point of the mutant religion. While not all mutants
appear to rally around the faith, it’s interesting to see that there is a
distinct portion of mutantkind that’s entered well into the realm that Mother
Righteous seeks to exploit. However, as we saw in Nightcrawlers #2, her efforts
to exploit belief do struggle with genuine faith. I guess what that means is
that Exodus and his followers could be a liability for Righteous to prey upon
or a key to overcoming her. If they play a role in that regard at all, to be
honest...</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The three scenes involving Sinister
intrigue me the most about this issue. By having Hope narrate, Sinister is put
at a distance to an extent. The only indication of what he’s been up to during
the 90 years since Immoral X-Men #1 is the brief bit of hearsay in
Nightcrawlers #1 about him being almost a godlike figure within the mutant
empire, actually showing up to witness his latest weapon in person. While that
description from Wagnerine seemed plausible in the gleeful callousness of
Sinister, it also read as heavily filtered through the Nightkin’s relationship
with Righteous. The Nightkin would naturally think that Sinister occupies a
similar place for the expanding mutant empire as Righteous does for them, when
it’s very much the opposite. In the scenes that he appears in here, Sinister is
much more the remorseful scientist who has seen his experiment escape his
control and run amok, and, now, is looking for any way to put things right.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Or, that’s how he appears in scenes one and
three with Rasputin. To Gillen and Andrea di Vito’s credit, you want to believe
that Sinister’s confession of guilt to Rasputin at the end of the issue is
genuine. Both writer and artist sell the hell out of it. In the two bookend
scenes, Sinister is contrite and kind and... tired. He seems worn down by the
past century of watching mutants expand and slaughter their way across the
galaxy. But, he’s just selling his own self-serving story, creating his own
religion of sorts for Rasputin and the crew of the Marauder to believe in as he
seeks to regain his lab and the Moira clones inside, so he can undo all of this
– and do it again, only properly. The middle scene with Mother Righteous makes
it plain that Sinister has not changed in any way except learning to be a
better actor.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">His tone in that scene is
Sinister-as-we-know-him with sardonic wit and a solipsistic streak a universe
long. His insistence that he’s the real Nathaniel Essex, for one thing. His
chiding Righteous for aping his style. Or, his final words to himself after she
leaves: “This does change everything. I can use this... but I need my Moiras to
really use it. And I need them before the council crushes me. Oh, Nathaniel.
What did you do to deserve this?” Aside from our knowledge of Sinister, these
words both undercut and set up that final scene with Rasputin. Sinister is
self-aware enough to know what it is he did that resulted in the current status
quo. That’s what makes his unburdening to his Chimera captain work to well:
he’s not lying about most of it. He did destroy Krakoa. He corrupted it with
his strain of solipsism and that created a chain of events that destroyed
Krakoa, Earth, and a good chunk of the universe so far. He genuinely wants to
undo that damage and restore Krakoa to the paradise-in-the-making that it was
when he managed to kill Hope, Xavier, Frost, and Exodus to finally get his
genes to stick. He tells Rasputin everything he did to deserve this and does it
in a way that makes her believe in his cause. It’s interesting how little he
has to lie in the process. The only lie is the guilt.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Another element that stood out was that
Sinister’s approach to Rasputin follows that of Righteous and the Nightkin. He
frees her from the Sinister gene and, then, gives her something to believe in,
which is his self-serving cause. Is this a signal to the similarities between
the Essexes that they can’t help but follow the same paths, or did he take this
idea from the book she left him? As he thanked her (her method of gaining
influence), will this put her in a position of power over not just him but
Rasputin and the crew as well? And I’m reminded of something that I mostly
overlooked in Nightcrawlers #1: Orbis Stellaris thanked Righteous as well... I
admire the way that repetitions and reoccurring behaviours are central to this
event. Much like I mentioned above with Exodus, it’s hard to tell if the
overlapping of methods is an advantage or disadvantage. Is it being co-opted or
is that, after a certain amount of progress, it’s not a matter of the distinct
paths, it’s a merging of methods towards Dominion? Or, perhaps, it’s not so
easy to separate out the different approaches when it’s the same person trying
them all out. Is it truly a race to the top when the participants are all the
same person?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Next: Storm & The Brotherhood of
Mutants #2.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-74814894640969190942023-03-14T21:54:00.001-04:002023-03-14T21:54:04.865-04:00Custom Kitchen Deliveries 06 – Nightcrawlers #2<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXiFZOrgNyesZ6GTYjSHPnN0obQbiM1jjNx6IJBvWvJg59IDjp8DqQ_LOQzULQ7JY1sUuaTRlVbTNiYLW0jSw_f12rHhdnAzmWWTgC4fS5feBZyxEDH9DDvljWrM-_J3iLORnc1spJblrC7iMSBKK-R57radrbo1QPdsa_Bm4KRfwiUg8zXiI/s2800/nc02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2800" data-original-width="1821" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXiFZOrgNyesZ6GTYjSHPnN0obQbiM1jjNx6IJBvWvJg59IDjp8DqQ_LOQzULQ7JY1sUuaTRlVbTNiYLW0jSw_f12rHhdnAzmWWTgC4fS5feBZyxEDH9DDvljWrM-_J3iLORnc1spJblrC7iMSBKK-R57radrbo1QPdsa_Bm4KRfwiUg8zXiI/s320/nc02.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>We jump ahead 90 years to the +100 time
period. If you’ll recall, in Powers of X, this was the period of Moira’s ninth
life – it was a world where the Earth was ruled by machines, humans clung to
scraps and lived in servitude, and mutants were exiles, living under the
hospitality of the Shi’ar or the small group on Asteroid K. Immediately, I
noticed how much of this status quo played with those ideas.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Mutants no longer live on Earth, but not
because they were driven away. No, they live off-world because the Earth was
too small and limited for their collective vision. (Sinister)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The Earth is ruled by aliens that attempted
an invasion, but found themselves a little late to the party. (Orbis Stellaris)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The true exiles are the Nightking and
devotees of the Spark, freed from Sinister’s control, and roaming space on a
single ship, the Narthex. (Mother Righteous)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">With Doctor Stasis and the possible homo
novissima eliminated, things shift and reform, but the basic shape is the same.
Mutants head for the stars, mutants find exile in the stars, and mutants are denied
Earth. The reformation around the other three Essexes is interesting as,
despite not appearing here, Orbis Stellaris remains the most likely opposition
to Sinister. Even if Sinister as we know him isn’t at the forefront of
mutantkind’s movements and decisions, it’s still Sinister. Mutantkind heads to
the stars to crush all that exists in their way, absorbing what they can,
killing what’s left. Nightcrawlers #2 suggests a big clash between the two
powerful forces of Sinister and Orbis Stellaris without even mentioning the
latter, while Mother Righteous remains off to the side, hoping to be the
spoiler.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">But, perhaps, I am getting ahead of myself.
What is it about X-Men comics that encourages speculation and seeing little
webs and developing theories?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Despite all of those details sprinkled in
throughout the issue, creating a lovely backdrop, Nightcrawlers #2 isn’t really
about all of that necessarily. It’s actually a pretty small and personal story
for Wagnerine. One of loss. Loss of her faith, of her lover, of her child...
and her loss may be a loss for Mother Righteous as well. Sorry, it led right
back there almost immediately, didn’t it? That’s the way this event is
structured. The small pieces point to the big ones. They suck you in with those
personal stories that exist against this large backdrop and that’s what
matters. The journey of Wagnerine throughout this issue provides an emotional
grounding for the grandscale movement of the Essexes. All of this is the three
of them operating on a massive scale as I already indicated. So large that
someone like Orbis Stellaris exists through mere allusion and assumption.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The Wagnerine story is one of repetition,
in a sense. And revelation. When discussing Immoral X-Men #1, I argued that the
addition of Sinister to the Quiet Council added solipsism to each of them. This
selfish view that only they are real. That only they matter. In this issue, we
see that the same mindset afflicts Mother Righteous and how what separates her
from Sinister (and almost certainly the other two) is methodology, nothing
more. Instead of genetics, she uses concepts like gratitude and faith to spread
herself, all in service of herself. But, like Sinister pushed too far by
putting himself in mutants, losing control of the experiment, Mother
Righteous’s use of the Spark ultimately puts the Nightkin beyond her control.
While she may have put parts of herself – or, rather, her influence, in them
all through their gratitude and faith, she also accomplished this task by
piggybacking off a concept outside of herself and her control. The rescue of
Nightcrawler, his attempt to stop Righteous, and her subsequent killing of him
is such a central moment, revealing for all of her followers what she truly is
– an Essex by any other name...</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">This issue is about emphasising that
connection. Beyond her simmering self-serving actions to date, that side of her
is laid bare at the end of the issue. Wagnerine lays it plain after she escape
death: “They know she bears a rod as well as a lamp. That her Spark is a cold
fire, not a warming glow. As of today? <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">They
doubt</b>.” Righteous losing control of their faith is like Sinister losing
control of mutantkind after his genetic manipulation. The addition of the pink
tethers and glowing balls to Righteous’s outfit recall’s Sinister’s cape and
its high strands. Even the way that the Nightkin all wear headbands showcasing
Righteous’s heart symbol over their natural diamonds acts a visual play upon
the Sinisters of mutantdom. Her efforts to gather various mystical and magical
items is like Sinister’s obsessive collection of genetic material. While we’ve
only ever had a suggestion of what a mystically-focused ‘Sinister’ means, this
issue is almost a practical walkthrough, pointing to as many elements of
Sinister familiar to readers.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">(I will discuss his art in the larger
context of the entire +100 comics, but I want to call out how overjoyed I was
to see Andrea Di Vito drawing another Ragnarok for Asgard. In a comic all about
various X-Men elements, that callback to the “Ragnarok” Thor arc that he drew
is, by far, my favourite reference.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">While Sinister spread solipsism, Righteous
mistakenly spread the Spark. She may be positioning herself as the spoiler
between Sinister and Orbis Stellaris, but the Spark so far has been the only
effective weapon against Sinister’s spread. The Nightking seem freed from
Sinister’s influence by that residue of the Spark within Nightcrawler’s genetic
code somehow – like, somehow, the soul transcends pure genetic material.
Sinister’s obsession with genetics and mutation isn’t genuine. He’s not really
interested in new life or new ways of being. He’s obsessed with bending those
things to his will for the propagation of himself. Righteous views the Spark
similarly and I’m really wondering if, by the +1000 period, she will find
himself playing second fiddle to the Spark and its devotees like Sinister finds
himself under the thumb of the Quiet Council. Oh, he holds an important
position and role as their chief genetic weaponeer... but that makes him a servant.
Will Righteous become a mystical servant for the faithful? Something that they
pour their faith and gratitude into and, then, use for their purposes? If this
is an inevitable point in the schemes of an Essex... what of Orbis Stellaris
and the Progenitors?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Next: Immoral X-Men #2.</p>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-79320976703554867912023-03-07T23:18:00.003-05:002023-03-07T23:18:25.701-05:00Custom Kitchen Deliveries 05 – Sins of Sinister +10<p><u><span lang="EN-CA"></span></u></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><u><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLPqYNUnPLeQRZVvKEfYSEBdcVL8ZL-PUyxgvBrOTjbT9Oe_48XdKXA1d5Dm-A2J31e316e0pODSawcJQMoXNNfmk0R8BwSKlAw6m-2ZdfueRufDwqPn7h8keRgUk28wGhfhZp2xed_tyiPKTr6dVWRKVELzCbCLRZZjl3K68V4GPNn2z8p7c/s2800/pox5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2800" data-original-width="1821" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLPqYNUnPLeQRZVvKEfYSEBdcVL8ZL-PUyxgvBrOTjbT9Oe_48XdKXA1d5Dm-A2J31e316e0pODSawcJQMoXNNfmk0R8BwSKlAw6m-2ZdfueRufDwqPn7h8keRgUk28wGhfhZp2xed_tyiPKTr6dVWRKVELzCbCLRZZjl3K68V4GPNn2z8p7c/s320/pox5.jpg" width="208" /></a></u></div><u>Powers of S</u><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Okay, so the thing about Sins of Sinister
is that it’s Age of Apocalypse for Powers of X. Not House of X/Powers of X, I
would argue – specifically Powers of X. It’s more straight forward in its
linear storytelling and, unless there’s a rug pull late in the game, it doesn’t
play with parallel timelines the same way. What we can assume currently is that
Sins of Sinister operates on a single timeline (one that will presumably be reset/wiped
out at the end to return us to X<sup>0</sup>). That loose framework is...
simplistic when compared to Powers of X, a series that juggled four different
time periods across three different timelines.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">(At this point, I’m going to presume that
you’ve either read Powers of X or don’t care if I explain certain elements in
depth. If neither of those things are true, I would advise closing the tab, and
doing something else with your time.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">When Powers of X begins, the first issue
shows us four different time periods:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">X<sup>0</sup> – ‘year zero’ where Moira
approaches Charles.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">X<sup>1</sup> – +10 years, the founding of
Krakoa. Over the course of the series, that ranges from months before the
official founding to a short period after.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">X<sup>2</sup> – +100 years, as the last
remnants of Krakoa fight against Nimrod and the machines’ rule of Earth.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">X<sup>3</sup> – +1000 years, as the
eventual result of human/machine evolution (homo novissima) seeks to ascend to
be part of a Phalanx</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">We assume that these are all the same
timelines. By the end of the series, we know that X<sup>0</sup> and X<sup>1</sup>
seem to be part of Moira’s tenth life, while X<sup>1</sup> is her ninth life
and X<sup>3</sup> is her sixth. In her sixth life, she learned the true purpose
of the machine enemies of mutantkind and subsequent lives attempted to both
stop the rise of the machines, while ensuring the survival of mutantkind. Her
ninth life, she finally gained knowledge of the specific moment when Nimrod
came online and her tenth life (the Marvel universe as we know it) shows the
(failed) efforts to prevent Nimrod from becoming active. Stop Nimrod, save the
mutants. But, they failed and Moira was eventually exposed and she was stripped
of her mutant abilities and she went from basic human to machine pretty
quickly. Meanwhile, Mr. Sinister cloned Moira and began using her mutant ability
to optimise the timeline for his goals.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Take that big chart from Powers of X #3
outlining all (but one) of Moira’s lives and you can slot Sins of Sinister
right at the very bottom, except this is life... 27? 28? Something like that.
It doesn’t appear that Kieron Gillen, Al Ewing, and Si Spurrier are pulling the
same trick as Hickman with different timelines. When the +100 time period
begins in Nightcrawlers #2, it will be a jump from these +10 issues within the
same timeline. So, as I said, simpler.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Yet, Sins of Sinister isn’t simple. Where
exactly this story is going is anyone’s guess. There have been two key moments
that made for rather extensive changes from the timelines we saw in Powers of
X: the destruction of Orchis (specifically Nimrod) in Sins of Sinister #1 and
the death of Dr. Stasis in Nightcrawlers #1. These two events together mark a
huge departure from the timelines of Powers of X where the main goal was
setting up the threat of machine life as the true competing interest on Earth.
It was never about homo sapiens – it was always homo novissima. In a world
where Sinister had ‘corrupted’ the mutants of Krakoa, they were able to
completely neutralise the main threat of Moira’s various lives. The big threat
that Hickman set up is shunted aside here. In its place, lie two other
potential threats to Sinister/mutants: Orbis Stellaris and his interest in
alien evolution; and Mother Righteous and her interest in mystic evolution. (I
use the word evolution incorrectly and loosely. I haven’t settled upon a better
term for the interest of the four Essexes.) By the beginning of Immoral X-Men
#1, mutants have conquered Earth, essentially. The idea that humanity – sapiens
or novissima – is a threat has passed. Instead, they begin looking outward.
Interestingly, despite closing off the central plot of Powers of X, the three
writers do play off several elements outlined in the series, specifically Mr.
Sinister’s progression of experimenting with Chimera mutants. That they didn’t
go heavy-handed into deviating 100% from elements of Powers of X demonstrates
the playful aspects of this story.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The time periods is another way that Sins
of Sinister plays off Powers of X. In Hickman’s series, the “+10” time period
was the present day X-Men comics, while the “year zero” was the past. Here,
“year zero” is the present day, while +10 is the future. This story is dealing
entirely in hypotheticals. We know – we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">know</i>
– that it will eventually reset to the present day and be undone somehow. I
think it was X-line editor Jordan White who said that this wasn’t an alternate
reality story and, while that’s technically true, it’s an alternate future. A
future timeline that will be wiped away and knowledge gained as a result... but
for what purpose? The main thing that we see here is the template for mutant
domination and the defeat of the machines. It is mostly through means that the
current Quiet Council would not sanction, but is something that could be
useful. It honestly wouldn’t surprise me if Sins of Sinister: Dominion #1 features
a play off the famous scene from Powers of X that was used in the promos of
Xavier reading Moira’s mind and being surprised at what he finds, except with
Xavier (helmet on) and Sinister. He gets another vision of a now-aborted
timeline, a picture of what could be to come, and that sets up the next stage
of Krakoa.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">We shall see.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u><span lang="EN-CA">The Rejection(?) of Hickman</span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Oh, it began as something of a joke. The
idea that Mr. Sinister is a metafictional stand-in for Jonathan Hickman, forced
to see his dramatic change escape his direct control and be helpless as his
influence spreads in ways unanticipated. But, as Sins of Sinister progressed, I
realised that it wasn’t quite that simple, though that reading doesn’t seem
wrong, exactly. It also relates to what I wrote above about the defeat of
Nimrod/Orchis and the death of Dr. Stasis – the progression beyond both
Sinister and Stasis is a purposeful rejection of Hickman’s plans, albeit one
that’s not necessarily permanent. This is a possible timeline, one almost
certainly doomed to be erased and, with it, so is the destruction of the
machines. The defeat of homo novissima will be undone. But, for the moment,
this is a story that plays with the idea of Hickman’s influence over the X-line
and seeks to move past it, while also embracing it. When you go back and read
Powers of X, a lot of space is dedicated to the types of society on a universal
level. A <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lot</i> of space. That’s the
area that this story looks like it will be exploring, though from a different
perspective. Again, Nightcrawlers #1 is the essential comic in this regard with
a text page that gives a brief explanation of the highest form of society,
Dominion (big neon flashing sign pointing at the final part of Sins of
Sinister) – and Orbis Stellaris’s Worldfarm. There are two key parts that I
wish to highlight, out of order:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">“Typically, Dominions comprise 10 or more
unified artificial intelligences at the TITAN level (each being a Type 0
civilization on the Kardashev scale). Other routes to Dominion status are
theoretically possible – albeit highly eccentric – hinging in most cases upon
the utilisation of incomparably advanced circuits of power, probability and
processing.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">As the domination of artificial
intelligence (evolution) on Earth has been seemingly cut off, what remains are
the other routes. The word ‘circuit’ jumps out as that is the term used to
describe mutant powers used in concert with one another. Though, the final
three Ps in that short paragraph seem to describe the specific means of
Sinister, Mother Righteous, and Orbis Stellaris. While they seem to be in
competition, this could allude to collusion.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">But, more than hinting at the possible way
we may see Dominion at the end of this story, there is this sentence that
possibly points beyond Sins of Sinister and the longterm ramifications (bold
and italics taken from the comic):</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-CA"></span></b></p><blockquote><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Irrespective
of how or when a Dominion formed, having done so <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">it has always existed, and will always exist</i>.</b></blockquote><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">If Dominion is reached, will it transcend
the resetting of the timeline? Does it already exist?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">I find it really interesting that, while
Sins of Sinister seems to be a rejection of Hickman, it merely closes off the
storytelling path that he already explored and showed us in Powers of X. If
you’ve read that, you’ve seen the machines win, basically, and homo novissima
on the cusp of ascension into a Phalanx. Sins of Sinister looks like it may
offer an alternative path to Dominion. Possibly a circuit of Sinisters...</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u><span lang="EN-CA"><br /></span></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u><span lang="EN-CA"></span></u></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><u><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjMToM0vQBXU9HPwWnwEhcJ8q3YkpT5u-VrnJibkWfdqfXer3kzBIO63hGnKU95Yb5h7D21pZ5AjzuV1tLWv0rmoUNzL2ZtnGB7RS4bYyaRxQugLYQiH9V5UFGbhsrq4YQrLfAXXPbfvPXqyjvx7sE3UdejwBwv54pLQLljX3Ei-CGXdAvCrg/s2800/nc01var.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2800" data-original-width="1821" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjMToM0vQBXU9HPwWnwEhcJ8q3YkpT5u-VrnJibkWfdqfXer3kzBIO63hGnKU95Yb5h7D21pZ5AjzuV1tLWv0rmoUNzL2ZtnGB7RS4bYyaRxQugLYQiH9V5UFGbhsrq4YQrLfAXXPbfvPXqyjvx7sE3UdejwBwv54pLQLljX3Ei-CGXdAvCrg/s320/nc01var.jpg" width="208" /></a></u></div><u>The Visual Cohesion of Paco Medina and
Jay David Ramos</u><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The goal, I believe, with having a single
artist draw each time period is visual unity. To both the credit and detriment
of artist Paco Medina (and colourist Jay David Ramos), I don’t think that goal
was achieved. In an obvious way, it doesn’t work because, after the first two
issues of this time period were done exclusively by Medina and Ramos (per the
credits), the third (Immoral X-Men #1) featured Walden Wong and Victory Olazba
on inks, while Chris Sotomayor did some colouring as well. The unified front of
Medina as line artist and Ramos as colour artist was not maintained across all
three books, immediately giving that third book a different look from the first
two in some ways.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Except, my completely amateurish eye can’t
necessarily spot those various differences. In part because I don’t have the
ability. In part, because the previous two issues didn’t actually look much
like one another either. I actually think that’s to Medina and Ramos’s credit,
because they adapt fantastically to the different scripting styles of Ewing and
Spurrier. Storm & the Brotherhood of Mutants #1 is written in a brisk
action adventure style, roughly adhering to a three-tier page structure.
Nightcrawlers #1 is denser, based off a four-tier page structure with more
dialogue and, despite covering a larger timeframe, it a bit slower and more
methodical. Immoral X-Men is the hybrid issue, alternating between three- and
four-tier layouts depending on the scene and need to speed up/slow down.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">An interesting effect is that, you would
think that the three-tier layouts would lend themselves to more detailed
renderings. With more space, it would give Medina a chance to get really
intricate and detailed; while the more cramped four-tier layouts would
necessitate simpler line work to communicate information in limited space.
That’s what makes sense in my logical brain... yet, I find the opposite true in
these issues. The more space Medina has, the simpler his line work seems to be.
If he’s meant to convey speed and action, part of that comes down to less
ornate line work so readers don’t stop to linger over all of the small details.
And, on the slower, more cramped pages, the detail increases to slow the reader
down a little.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">I think the visual cohesion of each
timeline will stand out more as we get each trio of issues, as well. Right now,
the only point of comparison in this story is to Lucas Werneck on the first
issue of the story. I’m curious to see how the visual evolve over the next two
months.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u><span lang="EN-CA"><br /></span></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u><span lang="EN-CA">The Event Without the Event</span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">A point of comparison that came up several
times over the first four issues of Sins of Sinister is Judgment Day. I saw a
few purposeful callbacks/comparisons (or what I read as purposeful, to be
frank). But, Sins of Sinister is a different sort of event. Part Age of
Apocalypse, part linewide crossover that tells a single story through different
monthly titles with no central standalone event title, it doesn’t work in the
same was as an event like Judgment Day. What I keep coming back to, though, is
that it doesn’t work like linewide crossovers either. This doesn’t read like
X-Cutioner’s Song or Maximum Carnage or even, I don’t know, The Black Vortex.
While the story progresses through these three issues, there isn’t really a
linear progression. They are very much trying to both advance the larger story
and tell their own specific stories unique to their respective titles.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">In essence, they read more like tie-ins to
a traditional event and we’re missing the standalone series to tell the true
throughline story. The beginning Sins of Sinister one-shot kind of functioned
as the first issue of the event in that respect. We just don’t get Sins of
Sinister #2-4, though Sins of Sinister Dominion #1 may turn out to be like Sins
of Sinister #5. Though it feels like there is that event series-sized gap here,
it’s hard to know what would fill it exactly.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Much like the visual cohesion of each time
period, the next period will provide insight into the specific structure of
this story as an event/crossover.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Next: Nightcrawlers #2.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-30470361784046497292023-02-28T23:00:00.002-05:002023-02-28T23:00:12.738-05:00Custom Kitchen Deliveries 04 – Immoral X-Men #1<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIzvQg5zpjODQiVbUqQGxXIE521XRkgHKRUrdCD4hzJMaGVxnIMPtmA2RNeTUw_GSbNe1sPNycUxRXtATrJmcXWws7wU8mlA6x35xdIHpB27lAJGXycLpQ8IzOfw3JfkpTPxJ7zio8MYwRlbC9UHVgpUrlvZIp_kSmwTbG6Yxhc_9sF18bJnY/s2800/immoral01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2800" data-original-width="1821" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIzvQg5zpjODQiVbUqQGxXIE521XRkgHKRUrdCD4hzJMaGVxnIMPtmA2RNeTUw_GSbNe1sPNycUxRXtATrJmcXWws7wU8mlA6x35xdIHpB27lAJGXycLpQ8IzOfw3JfkpTPxJ7zio8MYwRlbC9UHVgpUrlvZIp_kSmwTbG6Yxhc_9sF18bJnY/s320/immoral01.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>As Storm & The Brotherhood of Mutants
#1 recalled X-Men Red #5, Immoral X-Men #1 recalls Immortal X-Men #4. In the
most obvious way, the repetition of Emma Frost as narrator, the first time a
member of the Quiet Council repeats as narrator. Surprisingly, Kieron Gillen
didn’t take this issue an opportunity to have one of the post-Sinister members
of the Council (Magik, Namor, and Beast, replacing Sinister, Mystique, and
Destiny) act as narrator, taking advantage of their novelty and sign o’ the
times as it were. After all, this may be the only time any of them sit on the
Council. Of course, had he gone with one of them as narrator, this issue would
have been quite different as the fixation on Emma and Sinister recalls issue
four of Immortal in structure in addition to the narrator.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">For those that didn’t read Immortal X-Men
#4 (for shame, for shame, etc.), it was the Hellfire Gala tie-in for 2022, and
focused on Emma’s trepidation in a post-Moira Krakoa, added in the exposure of
the Resurrection Protocols, had her reveal the true face of Dr. Stasis to the
Quiet Council, Sinister ran/fought with the Council until he decided the best
course of action was to return, at which point he was kidnapped by some unknown
party (Eternals), and Emma was left with her anxiety and self-doubts. This
issue both follows the general structure of that issue, but inverts many of the
ideas, specifically those relating to Emma and Sinister. For instance, Emma
sleeping in her diamond form is in the middle of this issue rather than at the
beginning and the end, while Sinister doesn’t choose to return/not reset the
timeline, he’s unable to and finds himself trapped. Throughout, there are
various echoes of Immortal four, and I will save you from a listicle version of
this piece where I count them down in some manner.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The main purpose of this callback/inversion
is to demonstrate the change in the world in these ten years since Sinister
wormed his way into Krakoa’s genes, while also emphasising that it’s not
necessarily the drastic change that it appears. At this point, Krakoa rules the
world whether or not everyone knows it. Mutant genes proliferate throughout the
world, meaning Sinister proliferates. Emma’s narration makes this obvious along
with her total confident and ambition to be the sole ruler of the world. The
immortal White Queen of Earth. Gone are the moments of self-doubt apparent in
Immortal four; but, before you think that this is the corrupted or evil Emma, I
would argue that this is the same Emma from that issue. The only difference is
the self-confidence and lack of doubts. As we see with Xavier, Hope, and
Exodus, the influence of Sinister on each them is to give them the freedom to
be themselves without doubts and worries about ‘fitting in.’ All that they
needed was a healthy injection of solipsism. Each of them thinks, at their
core, that they are the only real person in existence.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Immortal four makes that clear when
Sinister reboots his personality. His blank, automatic body states “Add. Core.
Motiv. Ations,” before he makes it clear what is at the heart of Sinister:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-CA">I AM THE ONLY REAL PERSON IN EXISTENCE. I AM ALL THAT MATTERS.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">That is what we see on display in Immoral
X-Men #1. For Xavier, all there is is the dream. For Hope, battle. For Exodus,
Hope. For Emma, the White Queen. For Sinister, it is himself, of course. With
him, though, we see the opposing forces that his solipsism has at its core: he
surrounds himself with versions of himself and, yet, he constantly seeks to
prove that he’s the ‘real’ one, the important one, the best Sinister. Yet,
because he surrounds himself with Sinisters, all of whom share the same
solipsism, he constantly chaffs at their efforts to overtake him and ensure
their dominion. That’s all we’ve seen from the other Nathaniel Essexes to date
with their methods differing. Each seeks to place themself atop the mountain in
some way or other, often different mountains. And, as Sinister spreads further
and further, what looked like it could be a hivemind situation is looking more
like it may turn into one giant battle royal as every Sinister vies for
supremacy.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">It’s interesting as this is a departure
from Sinister as Gillen last wrote him, during his Uncanny X-Men run a decade
ago. Not a drastic departure, mind you. That Sinister was also a solipsist and
insisted that there was a core, true Sinister that continually, somehow,
survived all of the deaths and failures that we saw befall various Sinisters.
However, that Sinister seemed interested in developing something akin to a
hivemind society. It may not have worked in the sense of a central mind
thinking a single thought and making its will known through various bodies; it
was more like a designed society with a single guiding mind that set things in
motion with the goal of seeing what would happen. In many ways, it was like our
society, but where the answer to the question of free will was answered:
everything is pre-ordained and planned, but you think it was all your idea.
Recall the rebel that looked to kill the despot Sinister... only to learn that
the society would be incomplete without the ‘freethinking rebel’ and that his
existence only reinforced the ideals of that society that he sought to liberate
and destroy... This isn’t that.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The solipsism and selfishness is on full
display when Emma catches Sinister and has him at her mercy. He makes the case
for not killing him as he can build better, more complex Chimera, and, while
that argument seems to convince Emma enough to bring it to the Council, it
isn’t quite enough: “...but first, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I</b>
want something.” The emphasis on the ‘I’ is key to her demand: “Beg.” She
requires domination over Sinister, to have him admit, on some level, that she
is the superior Sinister. While she thinks of herself still as ‘Emma Frost,’
her core motivation is Sinister. She sees him as useful, she puts him under
foot, and only when she is satisfied that she is properly in charge does she go
to the others on the Council where, of course, the vote goes the way she wants.
She thinks it because she is in charge; it’s more likely because the others
wish to assert their own dominance and see Sinister as a tool for that. The
issue ends with Emma assured of her place and planning for the future rule of
the White Queen, but there is a question left unanswered in truth despite the
issue beginning with the supposed answer:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Who rules a world of solipsists?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">I guess we’ll find out in 90 years.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Next: a summation of the +10 time period.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-48699668686002109832023-02-21T23:13:00.000-05:002023-02-21T23:13:01.470-05:00Custom Kitchen Deliveries 03 – Nightcrawlers #1<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8zq7OIB_8BRjcLpPHG30z4LboTxKElquZYlAyBMqC4fuwtp6txsdOZ53bu6-g_fIKbAUrpWlBGnXsCp4TR04UoEfepzSYDUSJBE0kT0ydV3A3o6NWk5CpRtEZNqsN18IotcPSIytomH6aQDYPfBuP6qRlFb2crEZnahib44dRMRs4iq6WpCM/s2800/sosnc01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2800" data-original-width="1821" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8zq7OIB_8BRjcLpPHG30z4LboTxKElquZYlAyBMqC4fuwtp6txsdOZ53bu6-g_fIKbAUrpWlBGnXsCp4TR04UoEfepzSYDUSJBE0kT0ydV3A3o6NWk5CpRtEZNqsN18IotcPSIytomH6aQDYPfBuP6qRlFb2crEZnahib44dRMRs4iq6WpCM/s320/sosnc01.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>I don’t know why entirely, but I can’t get
over the one non-mutant Nightcrawler Chimera. We see nine of these
‘Nightcrawlers’ (or, more properly, Legion of the Night) and they’re all
crosses between Nightcrawler and a mutant (Wolverine, Toad, Sabretooth, Domino,
Pyro, Empath, Colossus, and Pixie), except for one: the Spider-Man Chimera,
eventually named Wallcrawler. Why is he there? We first saw him in Sins of
Sinister #1 and, here, he reappears as one of the Nightcrawlers affected by Vox
Ignis’s Scream of Change, freed from the influence of Mister Sinister alongside
the Wolverine and Domino Chimera. While Sinister doesn’t necessarily feel
confined to mutants in his experimenting, that has definitely been the
direction he’s gone, particularly as the schism/differences between the four
Nathaniel Essex variations have solidified. The Sinisters have slowly taken
over the world via assimilation of mutants and non-mutants alike, yet that’s
come across as expediency in a way that Sinister’s obsession with mutant
genetics has felt more ideological somehow. After all, part of the plan was
eliminating Orchis, the Fantastic Four, and the Avengers alongside the Scarlet
Witch and other non-mutant threats. The Chimera are specifically stated in Sins
of Sinister #1 as having two X-Genes spliced together, something originally
stated in Powers of X #1 where the variation generations of Chimera in Moira’s
ninth life’s timeline are laid out:<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The first generation of Sinister’s
experimentation was simple replication of a single mutant. The second
generation was the first group of Chimera, combining two X-Genes. The third
generation mixed more than two up to five. And the fourth generation involved
Omega-level sources and was sabotaged by Sinister in an effort to switch his
allegiance to the ruling class of machines. In every case, it was using mutant
DNA for his experiments.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Yet, here is a Spider-Man Chimera amongst
all of this X-Gene DNA. Is it as simple as a joke going back to the early days
of both Spider-Man and the X-Men when the hero thought he may be a mutant? I
wouldn’t put it past the trio of Kieron Gillen, Al Ewing, and, this comic’s
writer, Si Spurrier, to include this specific Chimera solely as a bit of a
joke. </span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 10.0pt;">It could be that simple</span><span lang="EN-CA">. But, where’s the fun in that? No, if we’re going to read into
these comics for the purpose of commentary and criticism, we’re going to
overread into these comics for the purpose of commentary and criticism.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Part of the project that the Sinisters roll
out is the addition of the X-Gene into homo sapiens. While an effective way to
subsume the world, it’s also a direct attack on Doctor Stasis, the Essex
variant focused on evolution through augmenting humanity outside of genetic
tampering. It’s not just that mutants conquer and dominate the world, they also
assimilate humanity into their ranks. By this point, the Sinisters have, for
the most part, defeated the true threat of Stasis and his plans: Orchis and,
specifically, Nimrod. The subtle, unstated victory achieved in this Sinister
World Order is the “mutants always lose” curse of Moira. Homo novissima is cut
off. Up until Moira’s sixth life (</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 10.0pt;">the +1000 years timeline in Powers of X</span><span lang="EN-CA">), she
wasn’t aware of the true threat to mutants and the fight for the dominance of
Earth. It was both humanity and their machines, interwoven into a “manufactured
branch of humanity not restricted by normal evolutionary constraints.” After
living long enough to see this branch of humanity – this alternative next stage
past homo sapiens – nearly reach ascension into a Phalanx, she reset the
timeline with the specific goal of ensuring mutantkind’s victory by stopping
the machines, culminating in her ninth life when she learns of the moment that
Nimrod came online and entered her tenth life with the express goal of stopping
that from happening while building up mutants to a place where they can, maybe,
finally win. Of course, she failed. Nimrod came online, her plans were exposed,
and she was stripped of her mutant genetic status, prompting her to immediately
through her lot in with the likes of Orchis, embracing a homo novissima
post-humanity.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">And she lost again. </span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Maybe it’s not mutants always lose, it’s
Moira always loses</span><span lang="EN-CA">.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The man-machine future dominance of Earth
has been averted and mutants have won. All that’s left is either assimilation
or subjugation or extermination (</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 10.0pt;">or
experimentation</span><span lang="EN-CA">). The assimilation would naturally
involve expansion into genetic experimentation involving non-X-Genes. Given
their similarities in acrobatic abilities, Spider-Man crossed with Nightcrawler
would be a ‘safe’ test. It would be fairly predictable in the results, less
likely to produce an unexpected circuit; instead, they would overlap to a large
degree with additions like teleportation and Spider-Sense. And, while
Spider-Man is not a mutant, his DNA has undergone a mutation of sorts. One
wonders if Stasis would view him as one of his own or not. I imagine he would
fancy himself more of a Dr. Octopus man as this issue evidences. How inhuman
would the likes of Doctor Stasis view someone like Spider-Man? </span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 10.0pt;">I guess we won’t find out in this event</span><span lang="EN-CA">... </span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 10.0pt;">and what about
the Inhumans</span><span lang="EN-CA">? He may view this less as a corruption of
humanity by Sinister’s genetic manipulations and more an existing part of that
threat being aligned closer with reality.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">More than that, I think it relates to
Mother Righteous, the heart-imprinted Essex variant that has embraced change as
deviating further from the Nathaniel Essex template more than any of her
brothers and has sought advancement through mystical means. With the Legion of
X arc prior to this involving the transformation of mutants into ‘monsters’ and
the larger influence of magic along with this issue’s focus on Mother
Righteous, I recall the Spider-Man/X-Men story involving Kulan Gath from the
Chris Claremont/John Romita, Jr. run where the Conan villain transformed New
York into his version of reality, giving us some weird and wonderful classic
versions of the X-Men, Avengers, and Spider-Man. In that story, Peter Parker
definitely took on qualities of the ‘everyman’ in representing the change to
the city. At his core, he’s the character that represents the average person (</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 10.0pt;">and Marvel in general</span><span lang="EN-CA">) and including him resonates with past stories while also
highlighting the importance or largesse of a story. No character is used more
effectively in juxtaposition in stories like this than Spider-Man. It heightens
the strangeness of things – and, in this case, the complete bonkers nature of
the Chimera. We expect combinations of two mutants; but, a combination of the
‘everyman’ and a mutant? Well, shit just got real...</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">It’s interesting that Wallcrawler is the
most devout of the bunch. Connecting Peter Parker’s very Catholic existence and
unhealthy relationship with guilt and Nightcrawler’s very Catholic existence
and unhealthy relationship with guilt is both obvious and inspired. He is the
Nightcrawler to die, because he is the non-mutant. As much as everything I said
above is true, this is a mutant story and a mutant dominance of the world, so,
sorry, folks, the Chimera with a human stripe has to go. </span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Plus, he likes the stripes</span><span lang="EN-CA">. And, in so doing, he both reveals the callousness of Mother
Righteous (which isn’t a surprise) and works to further cement her burgeoning
faith.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Introduced in Legion of X #1, Mother
Righteous doesn’t extend as far back as Orbis Stellaris, and she’s a much more
consistent presence over the ten issues of Legion of X than Orbis Stellaris is
in X-Men Red. While the space-faring Essex prefers to hide in plain sight, the
mystical Essex is flamboyant and obvious, looking to shore up her powerbase by
siphoning off from Sinister’s focus, mutants. Her primary focus is Legion,
although she does have interests in the likes of Banshee (who she combines with
the Spirit of Variance to make Vox Ignis) and Nightcrawler (and even Arakko).
She offers power and her only price is gratitude – recognition for her role in
the success of her business partner. Her big power play here is to kill off
Stasis at the request of Orbis Stellaris for the price of knowledge and thanks
– plus, as a bonus, free travel through the Dominion that Stellaris is
convinced he can achieve. What exactly she has planned is a bit more obtuse. By
the end of the issue, she seems to be positioning herself at the centre of a
new religion, one grown out of the Spark concept of Nightcrawler, building it
upon the foundation of the freed Chimera who, due to the Nightcrawler elements
of their nature, are susceptible to this sort of thing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">What Mother Righteous does in this issue
with Vox Ignis’s assistance is akin to Sinister’s efforts to assimilate
humanity via his genetic tampering and the implementation of the X-Gene. When
he alters their DNA to bring them to his side, Mother Righteous alters their
souls. She’s far more dangerous than she appears at first as her hold over
people is something beyond physical. The other three Essex variants all focus
on a more physical or genetic level of change and evolution, while she doesn’t
care about any of that. Human, mutant, alien, machine... any and all are
welcome to worship at her feet and give thanks to her gifts. She shows here how
easy it is, in a way, to grow her power base at the expense of Sinister’s
(regardless of whatever his view of his X-Men is, they are <i>his</i> X-Men). That makes her tough to pin down entirely. A geneticist
who alters DNA in an effort to dominate the world is pretty easy to see and
understand; as is a technologist that aspires for a human-machine hybrid. But,
a Gaiman-esque pseudo religious figure that trades in favours? She may just be
the wild card of this whole event.</span></p>
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Next: Immoral X-Men
#1.</span>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-39652452611013971752023-02-14T22:10:00.004-05:002023-02-14T22:10:47.769-05:00Custom Kitchen Deliveries 02 – Storm & the Brotherhood of Mutants #1<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixDQXAZ0OTkjTTti0oee6o4A2WsUR3VlnXupql4FZPUzVZpjpqR9EQvNab30mPmzR6tWTOQ1dRYhdVg8vEW73NYS6IbEFr6hLRYHxyHH-lh1NM5h9Pl16go52zjjyj6UUSyp1Z6B3845QctHRSHhBnTFsGqheHymX89tT0iNmipDlSlYbM0O4/s2800/sbm01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2800" data-original-width="1821" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixDQXAZ0OTkjTTti0oee6o4A2WsUR3VlnXupql4FZPUzVZpjpqR9EQvNab30mPmzR6tWTOQ1dRYhdVg8vEW73NYS6IbEFr6hLRYHxyHH-lh1NM5h9Pl16go52zjjyj6UUSyp1Z6B3845QctHRSHhBnTFsGqheHymX89tT0iNmipDlSlYbM0O4/s320/sbm01.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>My first thought was of X-Men Red #5. The
way that it took a moment in Judgment Day #1 and expanded upon it, filling in
the untold gaps, is repeated here with Al Ewing telling the story of an untold
moment in Sins of Sinister #1. At the end of that issue, Sinister returned to
his Muir Island base to kill one of his Moira clones and reset the timeline to
a prior moment, undoing all of the work of his resurrected tainted mutants and
humans. Only, he found his lab gone and, along with it, his chance to pull the
plug on his experiment that has grown beyond his control. That reveal is a bit
of a one-two punch with the shock of the lab gone, acting as the primary
cliffhanger (of sorts) for the issue with the secondary detail of who took the
lab coming right after. Well, thanks to Storm & the Brotherhood of Mutants
#1, we now know what happened to Sinister’s lab and who has possession of it.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Taking place between pages of Sins of
Sinister #1 (specifically after Sinister says “How can I not think I’m better
than everyone?”), this issue echoes the first Judgment Day tie-in Ewing wrote
as well. However, in rereading X-Men Red #5, the differences are obvious. Where
that issue was a poetic death tome that doubled as an exercise in precise,
controlled storytelling, slowly unfolding the horror of the inevitability of
Uranos’s slaughter on Arakko, this one is a quick burst of action adventure. It
propels you forward with a group of plucky rebels on a mission to save the
universe from a world gone wrong as former enemies work together and overcome
adversity to succeed... and, then, comes the doublecross. Not an unheard of
twist, it nonetheless comes as a bit of a surprise here as Ewing and artist
Paco Medina (who will be drawing all three of the +10 issues) play off the
expectations of the first half of the issue, right from Storm and her
Brotherhood seemingly showing up Mystique (disguised as Destiny) to the Star
Wars crawl. This seems like a comic where the good guys are going to win by
taking the lab and... then, we’ll see. Instead, it’s more like the good guys
wi—oh, no they didn’t, whoops. And it works.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The Star Wars text crawl and the cast list
pages are somewhat redundant, if you break down the contents of the book. The
two pages prior to the text crawl are literally a recap and cast of characters
plus credits. But, those two pages are key for the tone of the issue: scrappy
sci-fi underdogs taking on a seemingly unstoppable foe, with the text crawl
heavily alluding to (as I’ve said a few times) the Star Wars franchise, while
the cast page is more like a TV series, both done with 3D text to play into
that retro feel. Oddly, for a comic that takes place ten years into the future,
it’s rooted in retro vibes and influences, right down to Storm’s ‘Queen of
Mars’ outfit that looks like something out of Flash Gordon. Of course, as the
comic leans into those influences and gets you rooting for the Brotherhood to
succeed, it counts on you to forget that things in those stories always got
much, much worse before they got better.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Part of that trick is that, much as X-Men
Red #5 used the knowledge from Judgment Day #1 that Uranos decimated Arakko to
lead to the surprise hope at the end where everyone expected nothing but death
and destruction, this issue plays off the reader knowing that Sinister’s lab is
stolen by the end of Sins of Sinister #1. When the Brotherhood and Mystique
embark upon the mission to steal it, Ewing is counting on us to know that the
plan is a success and, then, assume that that means it goes to plan. Hence the
light and breezy pacing and tone during the mission – why wouldn’t it be a
nice, fun action issue? We know that they will steal the lab! It’s the same
trick as his previous tie-in issue, except done in reverse. X-Men Red was slow,
deliberate, almost plodding in its poetic destruction, allowing us to languish
in the inescapable onslaught of Uranos; this issue is fast, fun, and
entertaining... it’s a popcorn flick right up through the betrayal. And Ewing
keeps on playing the same trick, right up to the final page reveal that mirrors
Magneto not being dead: Orbis Stellaris working with Destiny and Mystique to
steal the lab and keep the timeline from resetting. What’s even funnier, to me,
is that the final page of this issue is pretty much the last page of last
month’s X-Men Red #10 where it was revealed that Orbis Stellaris is an elderly
human with long white hair and a long beard, sporting a blade spades symbol on
his forehead. Ewing ripped himself off twice in a single page.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">(<i>In
another world, I would be a bigger Al Ewing guy. I’ve dipped my toes into his
work here and there, but SWORD/X-Men Red is the first sustained work by him
that I’ve stuck with. SWORD was marked by continual ‘interruptions’ by events
and X-Men Red hasn’t been too different. He seems to love events and
crossovers, and he would make for a great study of how a writer doesn’t just
navigate them, but dives in head first. He has a way of making events and
crossovers seem like they function solely to advance his various ongoing plots.
In some cases, because he was the main writer of the event; in others, because
he’s just damn talented. It reminds me a lot of Kieron Gillen’s history with
events and crossovers at Marvel. I’m not sure if Ewing has pulled off anything
as impressive as Gillen’s first Journey into Mystery arc where it rewrote Fear
Itself in the background of that event as it was happening, but still... This
project easily could have been about Ewing in a different world.</i>)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">So, let’s talk Orbis Stellaris...</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">One of the four Nathaniel Essexes, the one
that went to space. He first appeared in SWORD #6 as a representative of the
Galactic Rim and drops this telling-in-retrospect line: “Humanity is obviously
capable of far more than I had previously considered.” He mostly stays a
background galactic figure until the final arc of SWORD when he’s responsible
for unleashing a group of cloned cyborg terrorists against SWORD and the
Shi’ar, seemingly at the behest of Henry Gyrich and ORCHIS, but we learn more
due to his own interest and desires. From there, he works with Agent Brand to
try to destabilise Arakko and, until the final arc of X-Men Red, most notably
appears in issue 4 where he makes an impassioned case against the resurrection
of Shi’ar Empress Xandra. Much as the line from his first appearance reads
different in retrospect where the surprise that the humanity he abandoned to
seek the next stage of life in space could progress this far. Do I detect a
note of jealousy that his sibling Sinister succeeded so? If not, it comes
through in *ahem* spades when he says “Why can only Earth’s mutants deny the
reaper? Where is the fairness? Where is the justice?” At the time, it read like
a moral argument; now, it reads like a man jealous of his brother. “Why can
Sinister’s bunch escape death and I’ve never managed to figure it out?” And,
then, in the most recent arc, many of his plans are thwarted by Cable and
company as they take back the techno-organic virus sample that was stolen and
leave Orbis Stellaris humiliated in defeat: “The mutants of Earth have
requested my undying enmity—my vengeance in full measure—and Nathan Essex is
happy to deliver.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">So, that’s the broad view of Orbis
Stellaris to this point... not quite the obtuse, inscrutable possibility to be
one of the ‘four Sinisters’ once Dr. Stasis was revealed with his forehead
clubs symbol (and being the Essex who put his faith in humanity rather than
genetic mutations or aliens or...). With his clone armies and slowly emerging
status of a possible main villain within SWORD/X-Men Red, many people guessed
his true identity long ago. Looking back, Ewing wasn’t always subtle in his
hints (SWORD #11 having him admit in his private “after-action report” that
he’s originally from Earth) and, well, I guess, now that he’s revealed at the
end of Storm & the Brotherhood of Mutants #1 as not wanting to reset the
timeline despite Sinister’s ever-spreading influence/self, we’re left wondering
exactly what his goals are...</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The line that the issue ends on (“There can
only be one... who has dominion.”) suggests that this is very much a
competition between the four to see whose methods can produce a dominion-level
society first and Orbis Stellaris looks to use Sinister’s project as something
to possibly usurp for his own ends. If we continue on last time’s little
metafictional thought exercise that Sinister is a stand-in for Jonathan
Hickman, then who could Orbis Stellaris truly be other than Ewing’s stand-in?
In the X-titles (and Marvel in general), he’s been the space guy, the one
interested in exploring and expanding upon the space side of Marvel. While his
most critically acclaimed work at Marvel is the now-marred Immortal Hulk, he’s
mostly favoured space-tinged stories and specifically tried to evoke the cosmic
feel of Kirby, Starlin, Englehart, and Gerber’s works... and has spent the last
two years making in-roads in that respect in the X-line, to the point where he
writes the comic about the new capital of the Sol System. If the future for the
X-line (and Marvel) is in space, who better to be at the forefront of that?
Why, in fact, lean into events and crossovers so readily other than to become
as central as possible to the Marvel Universe?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Okay, that sounds a lot more calculated
and, well, sinister than reality almost definitely is. But, I want to plant
that little extra meta detail now – and you can see where I may look to be
heading as we get deeper into this event, though that will depend on the actual
comics. We’ll see if this holds up at all or it’s just me going way over the
top into wanting to ready an obviously collaborative story as a secret
confession of creative in-fighting and power struggles to be the one guiding
voice for the X-line (and Marvel in general).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Beyond that, there are two other elements
that I want to be mindful of as we move through this event: the use of single
artists for each time period and the relationship to Age of Apocalypse. I don’t
think we’ve got enough information yet to speak intelligently to either (they
may even need to wait for a post-event piece, for all I know). For the latter,
something that really needs to be emphasised is that, as much as Sins of
Sinister has not been framed as an alternate reality story necessarily, it
actually is. Except, while Age of Apocalypse deviated and ran parallel to the
regular Marvel Universe, Sins of Sinister deviates from and runs parallel to
Powers of X. The influence of Hickman is inescapable...</span></p>
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Next: Nightcrawlers
#1.</span>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10517748.post-38735541416744901742023-02-05T22:23:00.002-05:002023-02-05T22:23:56.045-05:00Custom Kitchen Deliveries 01 – Sins of Sinister #1<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNLCKrS6B9ljPLUmKj78A7qmgjKGvIWH9rIEv791w3buiV2RMcBsHyeUeTn25pPQJzynDKrCNvUEfVi8sxVaEg6Cq1fq5g5KuAHHYWn6zs_me80eWeDke5cBNmWm-nhj1wXNemx6fhcefZfhVHO6iCo9CCv9JA-QJ5tnnz8eED5XQfCBylUXY/s2800/sos01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2800" data-original-width="1821" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNLCKrS6B9ljPLUmKj78A7qmgjKGvIWH9rIEv791w3buiV2RMcBsHyeUeTn25pPQJzynDKrCNvUEfVi8sxVaEg6Cq1fq5g5KuAHHYWn6zs_me80eWeDke5cBNmWm-nhj1wXNemx6fhcefZfhVHO6iCo9CCv9JA-QJ5tnnz8eED5XQfCBylUXY/s320/sos01.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>It’s rare that something does exactly what
you think it will and still surprises you. As usual, I have eschewed as many
details about Sins of Sinister that I could so as to maintain the element of surprise.
I like surprise. As everyone is oh so fond of pointing out, comics are not
cheap and, as such, I refuse to sacrifice my money’s worth. Of course, there is
also the enjoyment factor of experiencing a complete work unsullied by previews
and spoilers and writers talking too much in promo interviews (something that
Kieron Gillen is actually quite adept at doing in a manner that gives little
away). All I had were some of the broad details of this X-Men event and the
comics that led us here. I even gave out some theories previously and wasn’t
far off. In many ways, Sins of Sinister #1 is exactly what I thought it would
be. In a shocking number of ways. Sinister needed to take Hope out of the
resurrection equation to ensure a little piece of him was in anyone resurrected
and slowly begin turning the world into a world of Sinisters. This issue is
devoted to that plan playing out and, under many circumstances, that would be
dull beyond belief. If I wanted to read a story that I already knew, I’ve got
plenty of comics to reread. If I’m buying something new, I want to encounter
something new.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">Yet, I was surprised throughout Sins of
Sinister #1, much to Gillen and company’s credit.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">I think what surprised me was the straight
ahead boldness of the issue. There was no pussyfooting or dancing around the
topic: it was pure, straight ahead Sinisters take over the world in an
unrelenting, methodical way. And, eventually, Sinister grows weary of how
things are progressing and looks to pull the plug and something gets in his
way. When boiled down, it was everything that I expected, executed in a manner
that left me somewhat speechless. It was about halfway through, right at the
end of the first series of splash pages by the guest artists that I also
realised that the trick here wasn’t just that it was Sinister turning the world
into what he wants, it was him doing so by making Krakoa succeed. This issue is
the overlapping area of a Venn diagram of Krakoa’s plan for success and
Sinister’s plan to turn everyone into him. The only thing that’s missing in the
issue is Hope walking around in a “SINISTER WAS RIGHT” t-shirt.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">That element of showing the Krakoa
experiment actually succeed on the global stage through manipulation and
betrayal and pure, logical ruthlessness is what makes this issue so surprising.
It’s a surprise to see that Sinister’s plan not only works for his purposes,
but is also the key to the elimination of Orchis, uniting humankind and
mutantkind, and setting up Krakoa as a respected world power with the X-Men as
the world’s premier superhero team. Sinister makes the dream come true – albeit
in ways that Xavier, Emma, Hope, and the rest would never sanction under normal
circumstances. It’s utterly surprising to see how easy it would be for this to
happen if everyone put their personal morals aside and just focused on
accomplishing the goal. It’s shocking in how quickly it all happens. A few
scenes, a montage of splash pages and, bam, Krakoa is everyone’s favourite
country and almost all opposition has been neutralised.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">It’s what we’ve all wanted since House of
X/Powers of X, isn’t it? The X-Men eliminate Thanos, Doom, the Eternals, the
Fantastic Four, the Avengers, Orchis, the Scarlet Witch... anything and
everything that could prevent the unchallenged rule of Krakoa is done away with
(save Storm). Moira was wrong; mutants do win. All they needed was to stop
acting nice and get a little Sinister. Oh ho ho... Like Hickman’s reinvention
of the X-Men franchise, this issue does a lot of things very quickly, making broad,
sweeping changes to the status quo in an effort to set up what comes next: the
+10, +100, +1000 timelines of the next three months of comics. Yet, I’m struck
that we’re +1 from Jonathan Hickman’s departure at the end of Inferno and
Gillen gets to write the success of Krakoa in a single issue.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">In his essay “Football” in <i>Eating the Dinosaur</i>, Chuck Klosterman
discusses the way that football seems like a conservative, never-changing
sport, when it’s really a constantly evolving, ever-changing spot. He discusses
the way that offensive and defensive schemes change over time and the way that
radical thinking has a tremendous effect on the spot. There’s one quote, in
particular, that came to mind when reading Sins of Sinister #1: “But this is
how football always evolves: Progressive ideas are introduced by weirdos and
mocked by the world, and then everybody else adopts and refines those ideas ten
years later.” It’s not quite that extreme in comics. It’s more like
“Progressive ideas are introduced by weirdos and praised by the world, and then
everybody else adopts and ruins those ideas ten years later.” Basically, I kept
thinking about Sinister’s influence on the world, the way things go from the
point where his influence takes effect, and, how at the end of the issue, he
hates what it has become and wants to wipe his influence from the world
entirely and cannot. I kept thinking about Alan Moore, honestly. Not the most
flattering comparisons (though, with Moore, not the worst comparison anyone has
ever made either) and it only works if you tilt your head and squint a little.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">But, let’s confine ourselves to the X-books
for our meta reading too much into the event comic discussion. You could look
at Sinister and see Hickman if you wanted. His influence and direction reshaped
the X-Men franchise, turned it into not just an exciting and popular line of
books again, but a critically praised one at that. And, down the road we go,
and he wants to keep doing his plan, while the rest of the room who had been
operating under his plan go “Well, actually...” and make their pitch to do
something different. He, of course, was much more gracious than Sinister in
accepting their desires and taking a step back. But, the point remains that,
like Sinister, he provided the framework for success and, when he was ready to
move on to the next stage of the plan, he was outvoted. It’s a gentle echo –
particularly the use of similar language to when Hickman left (I think he
called it the second act of his plans) and this is Sinister’s second stage of
the plan...</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">I also can’t help but see the coincidence
that we’re +10 in the comic from Sinister putting his plan for Krakoa into
motion successfully and we’re also +10 from the dissolution of Sinister’s plans
and Gillen’s departure from Uncanny X-Men in the real world. The building on
his Mr. Sinister stories from his time on Uncanny X-Men, especially the
Sinister Society that he created is a key touchpoint/foundational work for
what’s going on here. We’ve seen one attempt by Sinister to make a society that
is all him fail, mostly due to the intervention of the X-Men and Phoenix Five.
Here, he’s trying again – both ten years on, and finding the same people
responsible for screwing up his desired plans. When Gillen left Uncanny ten
years ago, it was due to Brian Michael Bendis coming aboard as the new writer
of the franchise, leaving the Avengers books are turning them into Marvel’s
premier franchise. I don’t know how much more Gillen had planned or desired to
do with those characters – his final issue of Uncanny X-Men featured a
discussion between and imprisoned Scott Summers and a
Sinister-posing-as-a-trusted-ally where the issue ends with Sinister throwing
down the gauntlet for Scott to stop them from whatever they cook up in the
future. The issue, Gillen’s last, literally ends with Scott saying to himself,
“This isn’t over.” (Gillen, of course, then wrote the five-issue Consequences
mini-series that bridged the gap between Uncanny X-Men #20 and All-New X-Men #1
written by Bendis, so...) And, here we are, +10 and it’s not over...</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">But, what does it mean to put something out
into the world and have no control over what’s done with it? That seems, to me,
to be the fundamental question at play here. It’s why I thought about Moore and
Hickman and Gillen. They write stories and that leads to other people writing
stories and even more people writing stories and, very quickly, it’s beyond
them. They can’t control their influence or steer the direction of characters
that they don’t own when someone else says no or even force their hand-picked
group to do what they want (if they actually wanted to try). What’s it like to
put something out into the world that changes a part of it and leads to
unexpected consequences and be able to do nothing about it? I genuinely don’t
know what will happen in the remaining ten issues of this event. Even if I
thought I did, Sins of Sinister proved that knowing what will happen isn’t the
same as knowing how it will happen.</span></p>
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Next: Storm & the
Brotherhood of Mutants #1.</span>Chad Nevetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.com