Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago
Date: Thursday, 16 Apr 1992 09:35:22 CDT
From: <U16244@uicvm.uic.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics
Subject: Re: Thor vs. Spidey

Note:  The following is a clean language, intelligent note.  Only one
juvenile line is following.  This is it.  If ya don't like it, piss off.
Juvenile mode off.  Flame mode off.  Detail mode on.

I am in support of the Simonson era Thor, and wish to hell (okay, so
it's PG rated) that this was the way it should have started.  To tell me
that Jane Foster was not a cliche is a laugh.
"Oh, that poor frail Don Blake.  If only he had more confidence in himself
like Thor."
"Alas, I do love Jane Foster, yet, she is but a mortal, and such things are
not allowed between gods and men (or women for that matter)."
Granted, this is the way that Daredevil started off between Matt and Karen
Foster, but at least that relationship went somewhere.  So it wen't to
Hell's kitchen and back again, but you can't have everything, and I for one
felt that was a far better relationship than Thor and Jane Foster/Sif.

Most of the Thors that I own, unfortunately, were written by a guy named
Tom Z (I forget his last name), and hell if it wasn't full of the worst
posturing I've seen this side of the X-Force/Brotherhood battle.  Shooter
may have done a decent job, but the thing is, Thor's relationship with Jane
Foster went no where.  About the only personal life developments that did
occur were up in Asgard, as to my knowledge, they provided the bulk of that
comic's supporting cast.

Simonson's Thor and De Falco's Thor are two completely different animals.
Simonson had the courage to get rid of a deadweight character in the form
of Donald Blake and replace it with something a bit more appropriate like
having Sigurd Jarenson become a construction worker. (Thor always struck me
as the type of guy who'd go around bare chested without the hammer if he
could, if only for the fact that he's built like a mountain range.)  Eric,
even though he's down and out right now, doesn't strike me as thoroughly
cliched yet.  Even halfway cliched.  Not once has his ex-wife or his son
been dragged in as a hostage, necessitating the actions of Thor (which
you would expect in at least the first five episodes of some cop drama
on the networks).  The only purpose of the ex-wife and son are to be used as
dramatic and emotional pieces, and if they've gone this far without reverting
to that hackneyed plan, then I think it's a good idea.  Even now, you've that
you've got Eric hanging out around the Avengers mansion (after a couple of
issues of being down on his luck really bad) he's acting exactly like he
should.  A rookie and a newcomer to an extremely closed family of characters.
(However, once Tony kicks the bucket, which I hope will be at issue 300,
he may have some moral support from Jim Rhodes, who was in the same boat
himself, and actually proved himself to be a formidable character.)  Also,
it is interesting seeing a starting hero once again being less than competent.

Remember the early Spider Man issues where he was just learning what he could
do and trying to adjust his lifestyle to a dual identity?  Or when either
of the X-Men teams were starting out, and being beaten out by more experienced
foes because they went for brute force rather than strategy?  Case in point,
the second team, sans Cyclops, tackling Magneto and having their heads handed
to them.  Right now, Thor's in the same boat, and that's interesting to watch.
He's doing things the real Thor (the one with the birth certificate that
reads Thor, God of Thunder), wouldn't do- like using another member of his
team in a new variation of the Speedball special (Living Lightning versus
Gladiator) or just hauling off and bludgeoning someone with that mallet
(again, against Gladiator).  The old Thor would have been confident enough
to tuck his hammer in his pants and arm wrestle that mohawked geek,
preferring the honor of combat over expedience in getting the battle over and
moving on to their mission.  I have an old Lee issue where Thor was fighting
the Wrecker and had to finish his fight fast, or some guy he left on an
operating table would die.  No lightning blasts (until the very end), not
even a decent swat with the hammer upside the Wrecker's head.  The patient
had only fifteen minutes, and Thor was wrestling and punching this guy when
he should have been more straightforward.  Granted, such tactics would have
crippled the Wrecker, but then, as Don Blake, he could have at least
eased his suffering.  Eric, on the other hand, realized his time limit, got
fed up with the whole macho thunder-god shtick, and whacked away with
Mjolnir until he was down for the count, and then tossed him through a warp
hole just to make sure he wouldn't come back.  It was expedient and brutal,
but you had a whole planet at stake, and Gladiator proved he was tough
enough to take the beating and survive warpspace.

Doug.