I'm wondering if anyone has anything to say about the issues by Kieron Gillen ( # 604-614), or Matt Fraction's first issue ( #615)? I've heard a few positive things but it's been minimal.
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I still read Thor. I am so far behind in my comic reading that I am still at the Thor: Siege issues. I think Gillen did a great job and Fraction will be great, as well. No slight to JMS, who did a great job in getting me interested in Thor to begin with but Gillen and Fraction will have no problem keeping me.
I've read almost all of Gillen's run; it's mostly cleanup (moving the pieces from JMS's run to set up Siege, then the Siege tie-ins, and then wrapping up a few other loose ends here and there), but it's good stuff. Gillen has a great voice for the mythological stuff.
Haven't had the opportunity to read Fraction's first issue, though.
I liked the concept of the Gillen issues, which did do a lot of set-up for Fraction, but also told a tale of cursed Aesir cannibal wraiths who were summoned by saying their names. Writing it out like that it sounds wacky, but having read the Elder Eddas a couple of times, it felt right. These wraiths aren't mentioned in the genuine Norse myths as far as I know, but given the overall picture the Eddas paint, this seems like the very sort of night terror the old Vikings would have come up with. They were very concerned that their souls go to Valhalla and not Hel or Nifleheim, and ghosts that would eat their souls en route would scare them out of their bearskins. I was less impressed with the execution, in that I felt like it went on an issue or two too long -- there seemed like a lot of time-killing "you go there and I'll go there ... now reverse!" like in the old Tarzan books -- but the length was very likely mandated to accommodate Fraction. The art was OK, but nothing to write home about.
P.S. -- Hela and Thor form an unlikely (but plausible) alliance in Gillen's brief run. I haven't read Avengers: Prime yet, but the third issue's cover indicates a similar plot development. Anybody know?
The first Fraction issue was very, very, very exposition-heavy. Fraction dressed it up in a "comic" scenario of a professor explaining to an unknown Asgardian his cosmology theory (which is the plot for the upcoming arc), with a payoff that I'd already guessed. So points for effort, but it was hard slogging for me. YMMV.
Anyway, the cosmology bit is this: The Norse mythology has nine realms, of which Asgard and Midgard are two. With Asgard and Midgard now combined, that leaves a "hole" in the world tree. And, says the cosmologist, since nature abhors a vacuum, something very old and awful is coming to fill it. We see a bit of that, and I hope you weren't too attached to Swartalfheim.
That sounds pretty cool, but isn't that the third threat-to-the-universe-as-we-know-it this year? In the cosmic books, the battle against the "cancer" universe is requiring all heroes and the kitchen sink. In "Chaos War," Hercules is gathering all heroes and the kitchen sink to battle Mitsubishi, or whatever that Japanese trickster god is. And now we've got a race of ancient deadly gods on the way, which I'm guessing is going to require all the heroes and the kitchen sink. I like "gathering of eagles" stories, but three in a year is a bit much.
It reminds me of the year that Earth was conquered by Kang in Avengers, and some other guy in the X-Books, and neither story acknowledged the other.
I've not seen any of the relevant comics, but you seem to be describing storylines taking place in separate parts of the Marvel U (one in its cosmicverse, one in its superheroverse, and one in its Thorverse, which might not involve the rest of the Marvel U as it plays out). I'd think there are many readers e.g. who follow the superheroverse and not the cosmicverse.
I've been enjoying Thor for the most part. I agree the whole Aesir cannibal wraith thing went on for too long.
This brings up a question: has Tyr been prominent in the title before, or is this a brand new character that's being brought to light?
Oh, and I do think the whole 'the universe is gonna end' thing is being far too overdone of late. Really, it's turning into a lot of 'ho-hum, which group of super heroes is going to save the day so we can later turn on them' and it's getting dull.
You can only take things up to that level so many times and for so long, then it becomes boring and repetitive.
Tyr was used as a villain during Doug Moench's run on the title in the early 80s. That's way back when, though. According to the GCD he's also cropped up in other issues from time to time, but I wouldn't assume necessarily prominently.
Tyr is the Asgardian god of war, of which there were several. His villainous turn was not part of his mythological profile but was probably an echo of Ares' role and to give Thor another Asgardian foe.
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Haven't had the opportunity to read Fraction's first issue, though.
P.S. -- Hela and Thor form an unlikely (but plausible) alliance in Gillen's brief run. I haven't read Avengers: Prime yet, but the third issue's cover indicates a similar plot development. Anybody know?
The first Fraction issue was very, very, very exposition-heavy. Fraction dressed it up in a "comic" scenario of a professor explaining to an unknown Asgardian his cosmology theory (which is the plot for the upcoming arc), with a payoff that I'd already guessed. So points for effort, but it was hard slogging for me. YMMV.
Anyway, the cosmology bit is this: The Norse mythology has nine realms, of which Asgard and Midgard are two. With Asgard and Midgard now combined, that leaves a "hole" in the world tree. And, says the cosmologist, since nature abhors a vacuum, something very old and awful is coming to fill it. We see a bit of that, and I hope you weren't too attached to Swartalfheim.
That sounds pretty cool, but isn't that the third threat-to-the-universe-as-we-know-it this year? In the cosmic books, the battle against the "cancer" universe is requiring all heroes and the kitchen sink. In "Chaos War," Hercules is gathering all heroes and the kitchen sink to battle Mitsubishi, or whatever that Japanese trickster god is. And now we've got a race of ancient deadly gods on the way, which I'm guessing is going to require all the heroes and the kitchen sink. I like "gathering of eagles" stories, but three in a year is a bit much.
It reminds me of the year that Earth was conquered by Kang in Avengers, and some other guy in the X-Books, and neither story acknowledged the other.
This brings up a question: has Tyr been prominent in the title before, or is this a brand new character that's being brought to light?
Oh, and I do think the whole 'the universe is gonna end' thing is being far too overdone of late. Really, it's turning into a lot of 'ho-hum, which group of super heroes is going to save the day so we can later turn on them' and it's getting dull.
You can only take things up to that level so many times and for so long, then it becomes boring and repetitive.