THOR #3Written by J.M. Straczynski
Art by Oliver Coipel
This issue brings us the much hyped and anticipated Thor vs Iron Man confrontation that many people have been waiting for since Marvel released the preview images for this many moons ago. The art throughout this issue, specifically the fight scenes, is simply breath taking and Coipel is definitely one of the best artists in the business in my eyes. If all you care about is seeing Tony get the beat down many believe he deserves, this issue is the one for you. However, if you care about quality storytelling instead of stilted dialogue and forced cliche superhero fights, thankfully, there are many other quality books out there for you to spend your money on this week.
JMS starts this issue off with yet another one of his horribly written and hamfisted diatribes concerning real life events, in this case the Katrina Hurricane in New Orleans. I have not seen anything as cheap and in poor taste as this since JMS's Amazing Spider-Man black issue, in which he rushed a memorial issue out for the 9/11 attacks. At least he does not waste an entire issue harping on this event and he does not have Dr Doom, Magneto or other known terrorists crying over what happened. JMS needs to realize that superheroes only work as metaphors for real life problems and situations. You cannot have these fictional super powered individuals confronting or dealing with the effects of these real world events. He needs to learn from other political orientated comic books, like Millar's Ultimates or Civil War or Ellis' Thunderbolts, and use fictional events to mirror real life happenings. Have Thor lamenting in Stamford or some other random Marvel tragedy, not Katrina from a year ago. Trying to imply that a superhero could have solved all of New Orleans' problems belittles the struggles and loss many of these people endure and has no place in a comic book, much like the events in his ASM black issue. The only thing that really worked from his use of Katrina was the return of Heimdall at the end of this issue and the writing for that was well done, simply because JMS was not trying to tie the loss and suffering and other political motivations into his writing during this scene.
Shortly after his arrival and monologue on Katrina, Thor is confronted by Iron Man. I will say this, I loved the fight and it was exceptionally well done. The scenes were powerful and the dialogue during the fight was natural and emotionally charged on Thor's side of things. However, I cannot agree with JMS's usage of Tony Stark. JMS has been the worst offender in the vilifying of Tony stable of Marvel writers. Even in Civil War, JMS glorified Cap and showed his side of things as completely and morally justified and did everything he could to make Tony seem worse than he actually was. Tony has never acted like this in all his proper appearances promoting the Registration Act or the enforcing of it. I honestly do not believe he would be there solely to make Thor register either. JMS writes Tony's asking where Thor had been and other questions as simple formalities to his government lapdog dialogue that comes off as, "Argh, you must register or we will beat you up!". JMS could have come up with a dozen different reasons for the two heroes to fight, but simply chooses to depict Tony as the government strawman and that is all the reason they need to fight. He even proceeds to place all blame on Tony for everything with Clor, when Pym and Reed are the two most responsible for his cloning and were even in control of him during Civil War. The entire confrontation came off as a Mary Sue moment where a fanfic writer takes his favourite character and has him just beat the hell out of the character they dislike with no effort whatsoever. This is not even the same Tony Stark JMS wrote in last weeks Amazing Spider-Man where he helps out his former friend, Spider-Man, that betrayed him and switched sides in Civil War.
I am sure most people are only interested in the fight or Tony getting beat up, and for them, they can rest easy, as it is everything they hoped and dreamed for. As I said, Coipel is simply a phenom and I cannot wait to see the rest of his Norse gods once Thor finds them, especially when Loki inevitably returns. I do not agree with his use of Katrina or bastardization of Tony's character, even beyond the often interpreted 'evil' version in Civil War, and once you look past the actual fight and see the story underneath, or lack thereof, the book falls really short of the previous two issues. The entire issue goes without a single appearance of the human half of the god, Donald Blake, and his supposed supporting cast. That makes two issues in a row where the most we have seen of Blake is his quick transformation into Thor and it is becoming apparent that the reintroduction of Blake is simply for the dramatic transformation scenes. Great fight, terrible story and characterizations this month. Hopefully JMS will get back on track next issue now that he has all that hate for Tony and current US politics laundry aired in this issue.
Despite all my protests and complaints, I do believe most people will enjoy this issue and I, myself, enjoyed it, but it is not a book that should praised to the heavens simply because a character you may dislike gets a beat down nor should it be held in high regard simply for mentioning a natural disaster that was handled poorly by the US government. Enjoy it for the action packed slugfest between two heroes and try not to let the dreadful political commentary and forced confrontation hold you back.
Verdict - Check It
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