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Thor Becomes a Lady, the World Loses Its Mind
I love it when comic book storylines somehow become mainstream news. I love watching reporters or celebrities or whoever try to interpret something that probably doesn’t make any sense to them, but they’re being paid to promote it nonetheless. Like when Fox News freaked out about the death of Ultimate Spider-Man. Or when Fox News freaked out about the introduction of a half black, half Latino Spider-Man.
Today’s comic book news is that Marvel is going to tell a story about a female Thor. This was announced on The View, of all places, and it’s all over the Internet. Lady Thor is even trending on Facebook!
Still blonde
First of all, why the heck is Marvel using The View to announce anything? Is there really a big crossover audience? I think they’ve done it before, and while it may be a female-centric show, is that the only place they could think of to announce news about a female character? Why not package the announcement during Sex and the City reruns? There has to be a better way to reach women.
Second of all, who cares?! It’s a comic book storyline! It may be getting a new #1 issue, but it’s still just a single storyline that Marvel feels like doing. Why does this warrant mainstream news coverage?
Why the metal face mask?
I’ve felt pretty cynical about the world for a few years now. This sort of thing falls squarely in the whole ‘the mainstream news is distraction’ sort of conspiracy theory. Why bother reporting on important things when the news can talk about a comic book storyline? Or the search for a crashed airplane? Does any of this coverage talk about how awesome Jason Aaron’s Thor: God of Thunder has been? Did Whoopi Goldberg on The View tell people where, how and why they should start reading this Lady Thor comic? Or is this just an announcement for announcement’s sake?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely going to read the comic, because Jason Aaron’s Thor has been pretty amazing. But how weird is it that it’s getting this much attention? I wish the universe cared this much about comic books for real. But why not have reporters who actually understand comics talk about real comic book news instead of paying Whoopi Goldberg to read a press release?
Maybe then they could make jokes about Frog Thor or Horse Thor.
Or Valkyrie, who already is a blonde, female Thor.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 7/5/14
Happy Day after Independence Day! Did everybody watch the movie, Independence Day, like I do every year? Or should do every year…I need some Fourth of July traditions. I need to be more patriotic. And there’s nothing more patriotic than reading comics! Especially Captain America comics…which I didn’t do this week. Man, I’m bad at this.
Anyway, I mostly read Marvel comics this week, because DC didn’t have much of anything to tickle my fancy. We’ve still got new Batman Eternal, because I’m still subjecting myself to that series. But we’ve also got new issues of X-Factor, Magneto, Moon Knight, Original Sin and the first issue of Legendary Star-Lord. If you’re wondering why they added the word ‘Legendary’, well, it’s kind of obvious once you read the comic, but not for the reason Marvel probably wants.
Thor: God of Thunder #24 wins Comic Book of the Week for another one of those quieter, talking heads issues that Jason Aaron does so well with this series. I tell ya, Thor has never felt so grand and yet so personable.
Needs more Beta Ray Bill.
Comic Reviews: All-New X-Factor #10, Batman Eternal #13, Legendary Star-Lord #1, Magneto #6, Moon Knight #5, Original Sin #5 and Thor: God of Thunder #24.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 6/21/14
Now this was a good week. I love comics. I’m pretty sure that’s kind of obvious, what with this blog. And it’s weeks like this that remind me why I love them so much. So many good issues, so many fun characters, such good writing and art. Comics are so brilliant these days. And I’m sure I’m barely scratching the surface as I stick to mostly Marvel and DC. There’s probably a world of indie titles that are even better.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the week where I dive headfirst into indie comics. Instead, this is the week where Marvel and DC put out some great books! Not only to we get a couple of big finales in Uncanny X-Men and Thor: God of Thunder, but Wonder Woman has a pretty amazing pre-battle sequence. Quality comics, the lot of them. Over at DC, I was delighted with the new issue of Harley Quinn. And even Batman Eternal managed a few surprises. Can you believe it? Of course, the issue was still pretty crummy, but who doesn’t like surprises? The latest issue of Original Sin was also pretty crummy, but it had a neat surprise too.
Comic Book of the Week would have to be Silver Surfer #3 by Dan Slott and the Family Allred. It’s the most Doctor Whoish issue yet, and that’s just wonderful.
Comic Reviews: Batman Eternal #11, Batwoman #32, Harley Quinn #7, Original Sin #4, Silver Surfer #3, Thor: God of Thunder #23, Uncanny X-Men #22, and Wonder Woman #32.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 3/22/14
What a great week for comics! Seriously, this is one of the best week’s I’ve seen in months! Nearly every comic I read this week was a real gem…except for that one comic. The one that pains me to even mention. The comic that burns a hole into my heart like a red hot poker dipped in demon blood! Why have you forsaken me, Christos Gage?! WHY?!
I talk, of course, about Superior Spider-Man Annual #2, which takes a slight break from Goblin Nation to show what Phil Urich the Goblin Knight is up to on the side. As regular readers know, Phil Urich is one of my all-time favorite comic book characters, having collected his Green Goblin series when I was just getting into comics as a wee lad in the 90s. And for the briefest of possible moments, when I heard about this comic only a few days ago, I allowed myself to believe that writer Christos Gage, who’d been doing such a great job with the Mimic recently, was finally going to tell the story where the good guy Phil shines through in light of his most recent heel turn.
But no. There was no such thing. Instead, the comic reinforced the evil bastard that Phil has become, declaring him all but lost to madness and villainy. Oh the pain to my little comic loving heart…
Fortunately, the rest of the comics this week were great! Especially the second issue of the new Ms. Marvel, which was just as adorable and awesome as the first issue.
This new series is off to a great start. Just like Phil Urich was back in the day, before…before…I’m gonna need a moment here.
Comic Reviews: Batwoman #29, Harley Quinn #4, Ms. Marvel #2, Superior Foes of Spider-Man #10, Thor: God of Thunder #20, Uncanny X-Men #19 and Wonder Woman #29.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 2/1/14
Happy Groundhog’s Day Eve, everybody! Are you all ready for the groundhog to pop his head out of the hole to look for his shadow? Do you international readers celebrate Groundhog’s Day? It sounds terribly American. Nonetheless, it’s happening, and I’m excited. I might even break out my Groundhog’s Day pennant that I don’t actually own.
It also feels like there’s something else important going down this weekend, but I can’t put my finger on it…
At any rate, let’s talk comics! This week, I picked up new issues of Aquaman, Spider-Man and Thor, and decided to take another peek at Red Lanterns. Feels like I haven’t checked in with them in awhile. But all of those titles were blown away by the latest Annual issue of Batman and Robin. Peep your eyes on this one, Robin fans, it might be the greatest Robin love letter we’re ever going to get from DC Comics. It easily wins Comic Book of the Week.
Especially if they kill off Dick Grayson, those meanies!
Comic Reviews: Aquaman #27, Batman and Robin Annual #2, Red Lanterns #27, Superior Spider-Man #26, and Thor: God of Thunder #18.
Henchman-4-Hire 