Tag Archives: thor

contributors, from the Internet, reviews

Jane Foster: Valkyrie – Glimpsing Transcendence in Death

[This column by Michael J. Miller originally appeared on his site My Comic Relief. It is copied here with the permission of the author.]

The centerpiece of Jason Aaron’s epic seven year run writing Thor: God of Thunder/The Mighty Thor/Thor was Jane Foster lifting Mjölnir when the Odinson found himself unworthy to do so.  She became Thor, the Goddess of Thunder, and the stories that followed were the best Thor comics I’ve ever read.  It may be the best executed single story arc I’ve ever ready in any comic ever.  When the Odinson eventually reclaimed his title as the God of Thunder, Jane returned her focus to her civilian life, medical career, and – most importantly – fighting the cancer raging inside her.  However, her superhero career was far from over and the stories Jane Foster now finds herself in (written first by Jason Aaron and Al Ewing and now by Jason Aaron and Torunn Grønbekk) dance along the mysterious, wonderous, frightening, sacred threshold that is the dividing line between life and death.

When the Dark Elf Maliketh’s War of the Realms invaded Earth, Jane – mortal and powerless but with her cancer now in remission – once more stood alongside gods and heroes to fight his evil army.  Maliketh’s forces were ultimately vanquished, but not without great sacrifice.  Among those fallen in battle were all the Valkyrie.  In Norse mythology (and similarly in the Marvel Universe) the Valkyrie are a race of warrior women who decide who lives and who dies in battle.  The Valkyrie then had the sacred duty of transporting the souls of those who died to the realm they’d reside in for their afterlife.  At the end of the War of the Realms, Jane Foster was given the responsibility and the gift of being the last Valkyrie.

Valkyrie 4

Jane bonds with Undrjarn at the end of the War of the Realms. / Photo Credit – Marvel Comics

Continue reading Jane Foster: Valkyrie – Glimpsing Transcendence in Death →

academic

CFP: Religion and the Marvel Universe (9/15/18)

Editor: Gregory Stevenson (gstevenson@rc.edu)

Theology and Pop Culture is currently seeking contributions for a potential edited volume from Rowman and Littlefield on the intersection of theology and the Marvel Universe. Essays may focus on comic books/graphic novels, film, and television/streaming series. Essays should be written for academics, but avoid “jargon” to be accessible for the layperson.

MARVEL logo

Potential ideas include but are not limited to:

Greek mythology and the Marvel superhero; Catholicism and the character of Daredevil; Ms. Marvel and the rise of the Muslim superhero; Ghost Rider and the deal with the devil; Spider-Man and moral theology; Luke Cage and liberation theology; Black Panther and African theology; Iron Fist and the conflict between capitalism and spiritualism; violence and redemption in The Punisher; religious tolerance and intolerance in The X-Men; the depiction of cults in Marvel’s Runaways; Dr. Strange and the conflict between faith and science; christology in Marvel; Iron Man and Tony Stark’s quest for redemption; Marvel’s cosmic beings; Thor and Norse theology; Captain America and the role of faith; apocalyptic themes in Marvel stories; Cloak and Dagger and the metaphor of light and darkness (this list could go on indefinitely so feel free to propose any relevant topic)

Submission Guidelines:

  1. Please submit an abstract between 300-700 words with CV or resumé, including a list of any previous publications, to Gregory Stevenson at gstevenson@rc.edu by September 15, 2018
  2. Submission deadline for drafts of accepted papers is April 30, 2019 (if a particular essay needs to incorporate the fourth Avengers film, a later submission date can be negotiated)
controversy, cultural, from the Internet, online

‘Antisemitism Problem’ In Marvel Movies? No, but…

Over at ComicMix, writer Mindy Newell takes The Jewish Daily Forward to task for its piece, “Do Marvel Movies Have An Anti-Semitic Problem?” Newell minces no words, calling it “the dumbest article I’ve ever read on their site.”

magnetoThe Forward article by Susan Mohall seems to hinge on Magneto, identified in the movies and (most) comics as a Jewish Holocaust survivor, being a villain as well as the nefarious  HYDRA organization having its Nazi roots effaced. Newell quickly dismantles their Magneto argument and, in terms of HYDRA, goes on to say:

Oh, Susan. I guess you never saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier and you never have watched Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. HYDRA evolved, my dear. It’s gotten smarter, its adapted, it’s gotten smoother – just as our own rat-fuckers learned from Watergate – but it is certainly is still fascist, and it’s certainly not “shy[ing] away from its Nazi roots.”

For what it’s worth, Hal Jordan’s partial Jewish heritage was never featured in the Green Lantern movie, and Ben Grimm’s Jewish background has never been noted in any Fantastic Four movie. Then again, neither has Bruce Wayne’s potential tie to the Christian Sir Gawain of Grail Legend or, say, Colossus of the X-Men’s atheistic Communist roots.

Perhaps the issue that Mohell misconstrued was less some form of antisemitism in these superhero films but, instead, a compulsion towards secularizing their characters? (Even Thor, a “god,” isn’t worshiped…)

Is television’s Matt Murdock (aka Daredevil) the first of these cinematic characters we’ve seen seek spiritual help from a real-world religious institution?

DD-Church

academic, articles and essays, contributors, reviews

What Makes A Scholar’s Pull-List? Part 1

Those who study comics are often avid consumers of the medium. How do I select comics for myself? I cannot read or afford everything. Nor is every comic equal in my eyes as an object of study. What does my list say about me? Or about comics today?

This post and my next outline my pull-list as an extension of my scholarly interests. These items suit my eclectic tastes, but they also identify several trends in recent publishing themes (especially from Image). I could say that the Gods Have Returned, but that seems overly simple. As A. David Lewis’ recently released American Comics, Literary Theory and Religion makes the case for the centrality of the superhero afterlife, I think there’s a broader case to be made for the emergence of religious themes as the narrative choice of the day. The gods have returned, yes, but we’re also going to hell (Hellboy in Hell), heaven/hell (The Life After), and bringing all of the spirits along for the ride (Wytches, Wayward, and Hexed). It’s a veritable Great Awakening out there, readers.

Here’s what my physical list looks like. It is surely missing at least another half-dozen titles I’m currently vetting for their pull-worthiness. This is from my local comic shop in Irvine, California:

DMcConeghy's Pull List as of 3/25
DMcConeghy’s Pull List as of 3/25

As you can tell, my love for Image’s title selection is literally overflowing. I shun the conventional superhero titles from DC and Marvel. (I read the latest Thor but I have recently dropped Ms. Marvel when it became apparent that her religious identity was becoming more gimmick than substance and when Marvel decided her character would be crossing over into multiple other titles.) For clarity this makes my list:

  1. Low
  2. East of West
  3. The Wicked + The Divine
  4. Manifest Destiny
  5. Supreme Blue Rose
  6. They’re Not Like Us
  7. Rasputin
  8. Wayward
  9. Chrononauts
  10. Nameless
  11. Hellboy: 1952
  12. Outcast
  13. Wytches
  14. Ody-C
  15. Hexed
  16. The Devilers
  17. The Life After

See if you can imagine what drives this diverse collection. Continue reading What Makes A Scholar’s Pull-List? Part 1 →

cultural, from the Internet

From God to Goddess: Thor Genderswaps

Mashable is just one of many sites reporting Marvel Comics’ plans to have Thor, God of Thunder, be portrayed as a woman in coming months. While they rightly note both that this will leave the Thor and Avengers movies unaffected and that the male Thor is likely to eventually return, they do overlook not only Storm (of the X-Men) and Wonder Woman having wielded the uru hammer before but also the Earth X series where Thor was transferred into a female body so that he might further learn humility. Read here.