Jms On Thor: Nooo!!

[Still A ThorFan]

It has been confirmed that JMS is the writer on the new Thor series and Oliver Coipel is the artist. JMS will initiate the following changes (this is for people who haven't read the interview at Newsarama)

1) No more Asgardian medieval talk. The problems with this are soon the Asgardians will start speaking slang and it will turn into the Blue Collar Comedy Tour and having the Asgardians all of a suddenly speak normally makes no sense continuity wise.

2) Asgard will be floating over Oklahoma for some reason.

3) Donald Blake is the new Thor which might explain why he is against Captain America. Thor always agreed with Captain America but Donald Blake seems to be a completely separate entity.

4) Donald Blake will hang out as a doctor in Oklahoma.

Will I buy this series? I love Thor but despise most of JMS' writing apart from his recent Civil War issues and while Oliver Coipel's art on House of M was very nice, his art in New Avengers Annual #1 was quite ugly in my opinion. I might give this series a chance but it ticks me off that so many people are happy about JMS being the writer for the new Thor series because it could mean he will stop writing Amazing Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four.

I found this info else where, ^ that is not my opinion.

 

[KingOfDreams]

I'm not a fan of the stories JMS has written but his writing style itself is pretty good. But I would prefer someone else.

 

[i'm Spider-Man]

Coipel's an interesting artist... some of his panels in HoM, and in the Spider-Woman-centric issue of New Avengers, were laid out in a VERY different style. a lot of the art in NA looked like a noir thriller, which looked pretty cool. A lot of the problem with the NA Annual was the inking - it was quite heavy in that issue, which detracted from the cool style he uses.

I like coipel though, he makes interesting artistic choices. And his style is very punchy, while still being 'cartoony'.

As for dropping the Asgradian talk... I'm all for it man. Bring it on!

 

[thor87]

wow, when thor died i was angry but atleast he had a good run, and ended in a decent way, now they are making a mockery of his memory and taking away almost everything that made the character unique and important

 

[The Question]

1) No more Asgardian medieval talk. The problems with this are soon the Asgardians will start speaking slang and it will turn into the Blue Collar Comedy Tour and having the Asgardians all of a suddenly speak normally makes no sense continuity wise.

How is it like the Blue Collar Comedy Tour at all? And really, it makes sense depending on how they do it. If the reason that the gods are back is because they were reborn in human bodies, then they could simply be used to speaking in a more modern dialect.

2) Asgard will be floating over Oklahoma for some reason.

Asgard was flaoting above New York for a while about a year or two ago.

3) Donald Blake is the new Thor which might explain why he is against Captain America. Thor always agreed with Captain America but Donald Blake seems to be a completely separate entity.

It was recently revealed that

Spoiler

the Thor in Civil War is a clone.

Donald Blake probably comes in with my "reborn in human bodies" theory.

4) Donald Blake will hang out as a doctor in Oklahoma.

See theory as stated above.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Where the hell was that spoiler revealed?

Anyway, regarding the original poster's concerns:

1) The Shakespearean-speak has been taken out many, many times before, and it never really hurt anything. I doubt this time will be any different. Hell, Stan Lee and Walt Simonson, the two most highly regarded Thor writers, didn't use the "thees" and "thous" that have somehow come to be associated with Thor. There are lots of ways to show regality in speech without resorting to them; all you really need is for Thor to have the right speech patterns and maybe an archaic, runic-looking font. I doubt JMS will have the Asgardians speaking like hillbillies, either. Even he couldn't **** that up, I don't think.

2) Asgard over Oklahoma strikes me as pretty stupid, too. But, as Question pointed out, Thor moved Asgard over New York during the King Thor saga and it worked very well. Whether JMS will have as strong a reason and scenario for Asgard to be floating over Oklahoma as Jurgens did for it to be floating over Manhattan, I don't know. We'll have to wait and see what his reasons are.

3) Donald Blake has always been a separate entity. It was revealed in Thor vol. 1 #400-something that Odin basically hijacked the mortal Don Blake's body and placed Thor's essence within it. Basically, it was Blake's body and Blake's mind with Thor's consciousness buried inside until he struck the Mjolnir-cane against that rock the first time. After that, Odin whisked the mortal Blake away to another cave near Mount Wundagore and placed him in some kind of magical suspended animation, where he stayed until Thor found him about 350 issues later. From the moment of Blake's first 'transformation' into Thor, Blake was out of the equation and it was all Thor with a mixture of his own mind and the imprints left by Blake's. Whenever he transformed back into 'Don Blake,' he was actually creating a new Blake shell for himself. In the issue, Odin mentions that that's the reason Blake went from being lame and infirm early in JiM and Thor to pretty damn buff and even a bit taller over time--Thor was subconsciously warping the shell to resemble his true shape more. So, really, if Don Blake is the new Thor, he'd be just that: an entirely new Thor rather than the god we've read about. He'd be a mortal with Thor's powers, just as Eric Masterson was for a while. I wouldn't really like that, though. I'd probably just ditch the comic altogether if that were the case, since I'm interested in reading about Thor, not Blake-as-Thor.

4) Well, Blake's a doctor, and doctors have to practice somewhere.

Basically, I'm ambivalent on the new series so far. JMS is a competent writer, at least, and I've enjoyed most of his work on ASM. I'm disappointed that he seems to be following the Lee/Kirby formula more than anything else, though. The Lee/Kirby were the formative years for Thor as a superhero, but I much prefer the more fantasy/cosmic-oriented stuff of Simonson's run. As for Coipel, he's a hit-or-miss artist with me. I have a feeling one of four things will happen with him: 1) he'll put out quality work but tardiness will become a major problem for Thor, 2) he'll half-ass it and put out decent work on time, 3) Thor will resume its previous status quo during most of the King Thor saga, with the "regular penciler" actually penciling every third arc or so while fill-ins cover the rest, or 4) he'll be canned after his name brings in the fanboys and replaced with a less recognizable but much faster artist.

 

[The Question]

I'm still hoping for the "reborn in human bodies" thing. It would explain the Donald Blake, the altered manner of speach, and the return of Asgard in general.

 

[GNR]

I love Thor,but for me to pick up a solo ongoing would take alot.The fact that JMS is writing it doesn't excite me.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm still hoping for the "reborn in human bodies" thing. It would explain the Donald Blake, the altered manner of speach, and the return of Asgard in general.

I've never been a fan of that idea. It diminishes the gods too much for my liking.

 

[The Question]

I've never been a fan of that idea. It diminishes the gods too much for my liking.

Why? It's not like they're not who they were. They just took human form after being destroyed to survive. Even if they didn't remember they were gods once they became human, they'd probably regain their memories eventually. And it does explain Asgard's return.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

They'd still be humans, and humans aren't godly, they're human. It basically reduces them to the level of other superhumans. There's no divine mystique to them anymore. Besides, every time the Asgardians have been reduced to humans in the past, it has absolutely, 100% sucked. Asgard's return can be explained without having to resort to a formula that's proven itself a ****ty one at least twice in the past again.

 

[The Question]

Well, I wasn't expecting them to stay human. They wouldn't even have to be completely human. They could be the same as they were and simply think they're human for a short time. As soon as they regain their memories, I'd expect them to regain full use of their powers.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Oh, that's not the impression I got from what you said earlier. I wouldn't mind that. It already happened after the first volume of Thor's comic ended, though.

 

[hippie_hunter]

JMS has done some good work with Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-Man (though the book has gotten rather stale with stories such as Sins Past and the Other). I'll be picking up Thor.

 

[The Question]

Oh, that's not the impression I got from what you said earlier. I wouldn't mind that. It already happened after the first volume of Thor's comic ended, though.

Sorry for not being clearer. I actually got the idea as a possible excuse for Asgard coming back to use in a Loki based series I had an idea for.

Anyway, they could give a very simple reason for it happening again: Even though the cycle of rebirth is broken, for some reason, the Asgardians won't stay dead. Maybe the higher powers have something bigger planned for them, or maybe it's just their nature as a warrior race of gods that won't let them call it quits.

 

[Kraven]

When and how did Thor die? I've known that he's been dead for a couple of months, but I've never thought to ask until now.

 

[wobbly]

When and how did Thor die? I've known that he's been dead for a couple of months, but I've never thought to ask until now.

It's a bit complicated but he didn't really die, but has been 'sleeping' somewhere since asgard and every other asgardian was destroyed (the idea was that the Norse gods were killed and reborn in a never ending cycle controlled by even more powerful god-like beings called 'those that sit above in shadow' and Thor deliberately broke that cycle, freeing his fellow gods supposedly forever).

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Thor never technically died, or if he did it was left really ambiguous. Basically, Thor had ascended to the throne of Asgard after Odin died and inherited the Odinpower. Loki, meanwhile, found the forge used to create Mjolnir and duplicated it, producing less powerful but more numerous copies of it. He armed himself, Ulik, a giant, and Fenris Wolf with them and they attacked Asgard. Thor's forces were overwhelmed by the Mjolnir-like weapons and Thor himself found that the Odinpower had left him. Outnumbered and outgunned, he retreated to Earth to get help from Cap and Iron Man. Upon returning to Asgard and seeing how Loki had ravaged it, however, he realized that he was probably facing Ragnarok, so he sent Cap and IM away, claiming the potential death of the gods is no affair for mortals.

Thor found Volstagg, Sif, and a handful of other survivors, and they banded together to raid Asgard and hopefully drive Loki out. Thor, however, was pulled aside by a glowing young godling, who turned out to be the Odinpower given sentience. He said that Thor must prove himself worthy by testing himself beyond even what Odin did to earn the magic of the runes.

Thor completed the tests, regained the Odinpower, and gained mastery over the runes to boot. Unfortunately, he'd also gained the wisdom to realize that the gods had gone through Ragnarok before--countless times, in fact. He found that Those Who Sit Above in Shadow, a group of even older and more powerful beings than the gods themselves, had been manipulating the gods, playing some cosmic game that involved destroying and rebuilding them time and again. Thor was appalled because he and the other Asgardians are warriors who hold honor paramount to all else, and there's no honor in fighting and dying if your resurrection afterward is assured.

Thor's mission changed from saving Asgard to destroying it one final, glorious time. He enlisted the aid of Surtur and then joined the battle himself, destroying Mangog and Loki's body but keeping Loki's head alive to see the final end of Asgard. Beta Ray Bill showed up to help the Asgardians, but Thor sent him away, saying he is a brother to Thor but not of the gods, and he must serve as witness to the death of Asgard rather than be a part of it. Surtur showed up and destroyed Asgard while Thor himself went to the Loom of Fates and destroyed it, either cutting Those Who Sit Above in Shadow off from interacting with Asgard or destroying them (it's not clear in the comic). With Asgard destroyed and the Loom, which held the lifelines of all the Asgardians, destroyed, Asgard, the gods, and everything else in the Asgardian realm was gone. Thor said that he had given the gods their noble end and that it's time for him to rest.

So, by the wording of the comic, he was resting after Asgard was destroyed. But out here in the real world, Joe Q and everyone else referred to him as being dead. So the official word seems to be that he died. Somehow. My best guess is that after he'd regained the Odinpower and followed in Odin's footsteps, he became bound to the realm of Asgard in the same way Odin was. In one of the origins the comics give for the Odinpower, it's literally the essence of the entire Asgardian dimension funnelled into one being--Odin at the time. As such, if the realm died, it stands to reason that the being who's bonded to its essence would, too. At least, that's the theory I've been sticking with in my head.

 

[The Question]

And, my current theory for their return is that the essence of Asgard is too versitile to simply go up into the ether, and thus the Asgardians were reborn on Earth. It's not them going in a cycle as before, but more like an instinctual way as the Aesir as a race to preserve itself.

 

[Still A ThorFan]

I'm thinking the new Thor that was introduced to us in Civil War 4 is going to be the new Thor we'll be reading soon. I would prefer the old dialect though. It fit Thor really well. I got so used to reading it, I just loved it.

Whether JMS does a good job with him or not I'm f'n glad he is back. He was the first Marvel hero I became a fan of, and the first comic book I ever bought.

 

[The Question]

I doubt it. Hell, I'd guess that the big climax of Civil War is the real Thor showing up and beating the holy hell out of Bizarro Thor.

 

[MyPokerShirt]

No, no, no, It's confirmed on Newsarama here that Millar wanted to use Thor proper but couldn't BECAUSE HE HAS A NEW SERIES SOON and so he came up with the whole clone army thing.
Here's the link. Use it. Obey me.
http://www.newsarama.com/marvelnew/CivilWar/WarRoom/04/CWroom04.html

And you should really read Amazing Spider-Man "Coming Home" by JMS and JRjr. It's incredible.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, the series looks like it'll follow the real Thor. Frankly, I'm glad Millar couldn't get his grubby mitts on the real Thor for CW. Everything he said about Thor when he was attached to write the aborted earlier revival makes me glad he'll probably never get to touch the real Thor.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I doubt it. Hell, I'd guess that the big climax of Civil War is the real Thor showing up and beating the holy hell out of Bizarro Thor.

I agree. I think that the "Donald Blake" that we've seen in Fantastic Four is the real Thor and will eventually beateth the living ****eth out of Bizarro Thor and Iron Man and join Captain America's New Avengers.

 

[The Question]

Actually, way I see it, he royally smites Bizarro Thor, and tells both sides that they're ****ing crazy, and then basically says "Screw you guys, I'm going back to Asgard."