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Post by Doctor Doom on Jul 2, 2007 12:43:36 GMT -5
Well with advance reviews up figured I may as well start the thread for the big issue now. www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com reviewed it- with 5 different reviewers in their Sunday slugfest and the consensus seems to be it's the definition of average, while Newsarama gave it a more positive review. The consensus in general is that the art rocks and the story is good but very decompressed- apparantly all that happens in this issue is that Thor returns. That's it. While I was HOPING for a return with a big bang and am still annoyed that marvel squandered one of the best last pages of all time back in CW 3, the one thing that can be said is that I'm very glad we're getting a whole issue dedicated to explaining the return from Ragnarok. I've seen- especially in FF- JMS totally ignore past stories just to throw in a character so I was worried we'd just get "Hey, I'm Thor and I'm back cos I woke up again" or something, but all reviews indicate the return makes sense and follows on directly from Ragnarok. Other than that, while I'm a little disappointed... I shall wait and see. But the God of Thunder is back
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Post by uberwolf on Jul 3, 2007 9:32:06 GMT -5
Have to drag myself to our sole remaining comic shop that's an hour away and pick this up!
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Post by Doctor Doom on Jul 6, 2007 6:14:02 GMT -5
Doom's Deconstruction:
"I have dreamed such dreams..." A face is visible amidst a starfield.
I was a man dreaming I was a God... Thor fights side by side with the Warriors Three
I was a God dreaming I was a man... Donald Blake busy in surgery on a man.
I have known passion... Thor kisses Sif.
I have known loss... Donald Blake (I assume) sits, head in hands in the background as Jane Foster grieves in the foreground.
I have known the stars... Thor flies through a spacefield.
I have known failure... Donald Blake has clearly failed in his surgery, he has a hand on his head.
I have known pain... Thor with both his eyes ripped out.
I have known war... and the end of all things... Ragnarok shown.
And then I... and then I... and then we.... went to sleep. And went away. And were no more. Thor, then a shining light, then Thor and Donald Blake, then blackness.
Thor's hammer crashes to Earth in Oklahoma in a crater. People queue up around it. Someone goes, puts their hand around it- and then there's a giant column of light and they vanish.
In a strange, mist shrouded emptiness, Thor emerges in a white tunic and asks who summons him. He converses with the voice that has been going on and we discover it is Doctor Donald Blake- he says Blake never existed due to the Odinspell. Blake contends that what power remains in the Odinspell when Odin is gone. He then says that when the last God ceased to be at Ragnarok- he was.
Blake tells Thor that there's a reason he is here- it is not for the Gods to decide whether or not Man exists- but for man to decide whether or not the Gods exist. And Thor's time is not over. Thor asks- what if he does not wish to return? Blake says Thor can stay in the void, make his life and legacy a lie- he then shows a blazing city strewn with corpses and says this is the future without Thor, if he is not here at the right time. Thor says yes he love dthe mortal world- but his own too, and he doesn't want to subject them to the pointless death and life cycle of Ragnarok. Blake contends that he doesn't have to- the cycle of Ragnarok WAS Broken (The Mighty Thor v2 #85) and now the future is theirs to write- they are free again.
Thor says yes, he's free- but the other Gods are all dead. Blake says that they live on in the hearts and sols of minds of mortals- they only need to be found and awakened. He also tells Thor that where there is Thor, there is Asgard. Shadowy monsters appear on all sides- he says they are forces who want him to stay sleeping, and he knows all this because he spent much longer in the void than Thor- and now they are both children of Mjolnir.
THe monsters close in on Thor from all sides and overwhelm him as Blake asks if it matters to Thor to serve humanity etc. Thor fights, andf fights, and then sees Mjolnir beside him. He reaches out to grab it- the monsters explode in a hailstorm of lightning... "I am Thor." says the revealed Thor, complete in new garb. "Son of Odin! God of Thunder- who commands the lightning and the storm! I am THOR... and I... wish.... to Live!"
In the American west, a certain Doctor finds a walking stick lying by the roadside, and picks it up, taking it with him. He rents a room in a motel in a small town, saying he plans to be there for a while. He's asked for his ID and says he recently lost it... and it took a long time, but he finally got it back. The woman warns him as he goes up that they're expecting a thunderstorm. "I wouldn't be at all surprised," he says with a smile. He goes onto his room. Sits down. Raises the walking stick. Smashes it down on the floor- there's a flash of white light....
...And a colossal Thunderbolt streaks down from the heavens to strike the motel room.
He's back.
The View of Doom:
This is a hard issue to rate. On the surface of it, so little happens but.... well, I'll start with the art. It's great, and very clear. I tend to have mixed feelings about Coipel, whose art can be very confusing, but in general it's good stuff. I only have two real criticisms- he can make Thor look bulky, almost fat, which shouldn't be- and he draws tiny eyes scrunched up way too high in a slightly lesser version of David Finch "Eyes which are half a centimeter high and three inches wide" syndrome. Other than that, it's very good- with some standout pages like the first one.
Taking the issue in chronological order, the opening page is perfect. It mirrors the final page of "Thor #85" which is as it should be. What follows is a recap of Thor's life. JMS has chosen the unusual idea of giving us a small caption and letting the art tell the story of Thor's life. This makes it feel like it's light and quick to skim over, but on retrospect it tells as much as a thousand captions could, and it's for new readers and it helps introduce the plot more, so it suffices.
I'm very glad to see JMS hasn't forgotten "Ragnarok". When he resurrected Doom in FF, it stunk because he clearly hadn't read the last Doom story or taken home it's meanings. With this, I'd be VERY surprised if he hadn't analysed "Ragnarok". I re-read that story in preperation for this one and was impressed. JMS explains a way for Thor to return, a quasi-mystical one which makes sense: It is Man who wills Gods to exist, not vice versa. After all, if God existed, and nobody knew, would he be God? It's the old "Tree in the forest" quandry. I mean, as resurrection explanations go, it's closer to Bucky brilliance than Jason Todd godawfulness.
Also, I had been VERY worried about bringing back the Asgardians for this reason: Thor broke the Ragnarok cycle. He let them all have honourable deaths. If they return now, it ruins the impact of Ragnarok becuse it ignroes it's POINT. But typical of JMS to prove me wrong. He specifically addresses that by pointing out that yes, the cycle IS broken- so they can write their own destinies now. They are FREE. And that';s true from a story perspective as well- Odin doesn't HAVE to die fighting Surtur, there doesn't have to be another Ragnarok, Hell- or rather, Hel- even Loki doesn't have to follow his usual evil path" They're free!
Not much happened. But did we need an issue for this? Yes, we did. Instead of a crammed explanation, we get a full one. And even Donald Blake is back, which makes a certain amount of sense even if personally I liked Jake Olsen more. Who doesn't love that retro moment at the end, as Blake smashes down his walking stick and lightning strikes? Thor is BAAAAAACK! Now we need next issue to set up Asgard in Oklahoma, I'll close my eyes through the third as JMS writes his hideous version of Tony, and then... who knows what lies ahead! The future is bright for the thunder god!
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Post by Black Knight on Jul 9, 2007 8:28:07 GMT -5
This was an amazing issue, it made me almost fell postive about the direction marvel is going in. Hopefully JMS can keep it up.
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Post by Tana Nile on Jul 9, 2007 21:38:37 GMT -5
I would agree with most of the comments I have seen here and elsewhere - a very slow issue! But I am more than willing to give it time to develop. I'm just glad we are getting him back!
Oddly, I actually thought the Turner cover was better than the Coipel cover. This goes against my feeling on pretty much all Turner vs. whomever covers.
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Post by Doctor Doom on Jul 10, 2007 5:22:57 GMT -5
Oddly, I actually thought the Turner cover was better than the Coipel cover. This goes against my feeling on pretty much all Turner vs. whomever covers. Took the words right out of my mouth, normally I hate Turner covers. I think having only one person helps matters, I'm still not happy with his eyes but then I don't like Coipel's either. Finch Eye Syndrome is spreading!
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Post by balok on Jul 10, 2007 19:36:57 GMT -5
JMS does not tell much story in each issue. I don't know if that's his style or Marvel's new style, but it's very much like Liefeld in terms of total content (but the storytelling is usually much better).
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Post by Doctor Doom on Jul 11, 2007 4:03:56 GMT -5
Preview of issue two. Now personally I don't mind the LotR-ising of Thor, because I think it's very appropriate, I'm a colossal Tolkien fan anyway and I've never been a fan of the sci-fi cosmic funkiness aspect of Thor. forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=120221That Asgard is VEEEEERY Minas Tirith!
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Post by Shiryu on Jul 11, 2007 4:39:38 GMT -5
I enjoyed the first issue as well, and felt it was quite enough to seem belieavable. A battle with the Absorbing Man straight after being back from the dead would have been somewhat strange.
Still, hope more happens soon and that he goes back to classic costume, don't really like this one (my only complaint about the art, the rest was great). And I'm especially curious to see how he interacts with the events of WWH and the aftermath of Civil War. Hope they don't miss out on that.
As for the new Asgard, it's not perfect but looks nice.
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Tone-Loc
Reservist Avenger
R.I.P. (... for now)
Posts: 200
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Post by Tone-Loc on Jul 11, 2007 7:44:36 GMT -5
I thought the first issue was perfect! To each his own....
As for the #2 preview... I understand this country is slowly whittling away at anything deemed "individual ownership," and that especially includes personal property rights (sorry my little political commentary for the month) but last time I checked there wasn't a piece of land in any state that isn't owned privately or publically. So unless Donald Blake went down to the county property assessors office after purchasing a vast tract of land, Thor's got some 'splaining to do.
I had envisioned Asgard being in the sky over Oklahoma, tethered to the ground via the Rainbow Bridge. So, at this point I am curious to see how they explain it all.
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Post by Doctor Doom on Jul 11, 2007 8:38:54 GMT -5
Actually we already know how it happens, JMS has said so.
Someone does indeed complain to Thor that Asgard is on his land. Thor apologizes and raises Asgard so that it's floating instead.
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Tone-Loc
Reservist Avenger
R.I.P. (... for now)
Posts: 200
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Post by Tone-Loc on Jul 11, 2007 16:01:53 GMT -5
That's awesome, I love it! Oh, and thanks for ruining it for me, Doomy!
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Post by Doctor Doom on Jul 11, 2007 16:12:26 GMT -5
Oh like you had to read it Tone-Loc
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Post by The Night Phantom on Jul 11, 2007 22:42:11 GMT -5
I would agree with most of the comments I have seen here and elsewhere - a very slow issue! JMS does not tell much story in each issue. I don't know if that's his style or Marvel's new style, but it's very much like Liefeld in terms of total content (but the storytelling is usually much better). I passed on Thor #1 because of its languid pacing. I’m interested in the storyline, but maybe, instead of waiting for the trade, I’ll wait for the Reader’s Digest Condensed version—you know, six issues compressed into a single 22-page story paced to engage the reader.
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Post by balok on Jul 12, 2007 19:34:59 GMT -5
I'll probably buy issue #1 (by FLCS got short shipped and because I hadn't subscribed, I'll have to take one from next week's hoped for second half of the shipment). We'll see how it goes after that. If JMS wants me as a reader, he can start by having Thor beat Tony, Reed, and Hank Pym black and blue for their role in the creation of Clor!
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Post by Van Plexico on Jul 13, 2007 9:51:18 GMT -5
The first part of it reads like THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN MARVEL, but in reverse.
The second part of it reminds me of the old HULK TV show.
But aside from those things (and those are not necessarily bad things), I really liked it. JMS is his usual self, with a combination of high-falutin' writing and clever dialogue bits... Coipel's art is as good as I've ever seen it, or better.
I like the new Thor costume well enough, though it looks like he's wearing a t-shirt instead of a godly outfit of some kind. And the Odinson has clearly heard Kurt's words and taken steps to protect himself from bullets, by going with Asgardian chain mail. It'll take a head-shot to kill the big guy, now.
And the new, younger, less serious Donald Blake seems appealing.
I'm in, at least for now.
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Post by Doctor Bong on Jul 13, 2007 12:21:13 GMT -5
Maybe he's not exactly the same old Blake...? 'Cause you're right, he was kinda a serious fellow, for the most part... I bought it, and on the whole I liked it as well... and by buying it I acquired my 1st new Marvel material since approximately CW #3... ;D
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Post by Nutcase65 on Jul 13, 2007 20:50:42 GMT -5
I really enjoyed this. It explained a lot without taking 3 or 4 issues to do so. This really was worth reading and I look forward to reading the issues to come. Metal Long-Johns and all
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Post by uberwolf on Jul 19, 2007 16:53:29 GMT -5
I really enjoyed this. It explained a lot without taking 3 or 4 issues to do so. This really was worth reading and I look forward to reading the issues to come. Metal Long-Johns and all Really?? Is it just me or has storytelling become a joke in comics. Used to be I could sit down with the latest stack and every time I flipped that last page it felt like I'd read something. This whole issue, aside from "Thor's back!" felt like a waste of panel space. This comic could have been 1 page with no art and big words saying "Thor's Back!" and achieve the same effect. Almost BENDIS!??ish in the amount of time to tell a really short story. However the dialog was far superior to anything that pinhead would come up with. Are todays writers just bad or lazy, letting the artist do all the work? Joe Q's mandate that you stretch out a story as much as possible over as many issues as possible to sell more units? I don't get it. Back in my day, Thor would have come back, raised Asgard found all his comrades and kicked some bad guy hiney to boot in the Double Sized Blockbuster 1st Issue! While I'm glad Thor's back!, looks maybe the first year is going to be the search for lost Asgardians? I'll stick through some more issues, but if it stays this lackluster I think it's time to give up comics for good. P.S. Thor's Back! even if he is kinda chunky....
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Post by Sentry on Jul 23, 2007 15:58:38 GMT -5
If JMS wants me as a reader, he can start by having Thor beat Tony, Reed, and Hank Pym black and blue for their role in the creation of Clor! Or at last give us a realistic response to the event of Civil War!
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