The Unworthy

Of all the events to come out of Marvel’s Original Sin series, one of the most impactful took place in Original Sin #7 when Nick Fury leaned into the ear of Thor and whispered. With that small act, the power of Thor changed hands from Odinson into the hands of Jane Foster. While this can be seen as another of Marvel’s overt acts of political correctness and pandering to the current rages of social media by turning the Thunder God into a woman; and not just any woman but one who is dying of a terminal disease. It has, perhaps by accident, because I cannot in all good faith give Marvel’s current creative regime this much credit, given rise to one of the better comic books on the market. No, I am not talking about the new Thor with Jane Foster wielding Mjolnir, but of the displaced Thunder God, Odinson and the comic called The Unworthy Thor.

 

Odinson, the original Thor, Prince of Asgard and son of Odin, is having a tough time of it. When he is sober, because depression and mead are his best friends, is struggling with coming to grips with his loss. His loss of his identity, his loss of his hammer, and after joining a battle he was not equipped for, the loss of his arm. After he decides that the current Thor is indeed worthy of wielding the hammer, he must now come to terms with the truth that he is not and the words whispered by Fury are true.

Thus, begins the quest, but is it one? It doesn’t begin that way. It begins much more like Odinson is just running away. On his trusty flying goat, his axe that does not fly back when he throws it and a prosthetic arm that will outlive him, Odinson journeys. But you cannot have been the great Thunder God and not have pissed off some people along the way. People who now see Odinson as weakened and this as their opportunity to enact their revenge. But in all this there is the word of an all seeing creature that speaks of another hammer. Another Mjolnir, belonging to a dead Thor on a dead world. A hammer calling out for a new master.

 

With fan favorite, Beta Ray Bill, Odinson goes in search for this abandoned hammer. But first he must battle  the Collector and all manner of dimensional creatures, even those sent by Thanos himself. But even more so, he must come to grips with the battle that rages within himself.

There is so much to this book that it is surprising that this is a Marvel comic. It is being written like an independent comic book that puts plot and story over flash and artwork. But don’t get that wrong, the artwork is awesome and ties so well with the journey of Odinson. This is a throwback to the old Thor comics before he got so involved with only Earth and the Avengers and buffing Tony Stark’s iron suit. This is the Thor that waged war with the galaxies worst villains and took part in bloody battles between the Gods. Battles that which, were not always a foregone conclusion that he would win.

 

It is also the mental and emotional story of a fallen God. A God who lived so far above the rest of the world that his mere presence should have nations bow. A God that has learned a dark and painful truth.

There are those who will see this book as another in Marvel’s attacks on the Christian Right and religion in general. Perhaps they are right. Which is why I don’t give Marvel too much credit here. In fact, I think they may have simply stumbled over creating a truly fine book and perhaps one of the few Thor storylines worth remembering. It is certainly much better than the Jane Foster Thor right now and that is no knock on a female Thor. It is just that much better. What they have done, something they have failed to do in the past, is bring about Thor’s humanity. In doing so, they have elevated this character in ways I’m sure they did not intend but am eager to see them explore.

Also it has Beta Ray Bill and the Marvel universe has been lacking in his absence. Kick in a harsh and tyrannical Collector, Thanos and some very dark and evil characters and you have what may be the best Marvel comic this year that no one is reading.

Da Dummin’ Down of Drax Da Destroyer!

In 1973, with the cosmic minded Jim Starlin at the helm, Marvel comic superheroes were doing far more than fighting crime on the streets. They were trying to save the Universe from ancient Gods and beings whose threats to humanity were kept secret from the average man and woman on the street. When the average man or woman came into contact with these beings, it often resulted in tragic and catastrophic results for the humans.

Such was the case for Arthur Douglas and his wife and young child, as they drove through the Nevada desert, they are attacked by an alien spacecraft. Arthur and his wife are killed and their daughter Heather survives. The alien who attacked the Douglas family is none other than the mighty Titan Thanos who believes that the family had spied upon him and his spacecraft and had to die. Why the great mad Titan Thanos needs to be in a spacecraft at this time is not explained. Kronos, grandfather of Thanos realizes his grandson is mad and decides that he must create a super being able to do battle with the Titan. Believing this superhero must also bare Thanos a great hatred, he takes the spirit of Arthur Douglas and transplants it into the body of this powerful being. This new creature is nearly invulnerable to all forms of physical injury, with superhuman strength and durability, and the ability to survive in the vacuum of deep space. He can also survive indefinitely without air, food or water. The creature can fly using cosmic energy and project energy blasts from his hands. Thus, Arthur Douglas was turned into Drax the Destroyer. A super being created for the sole purpose of killing the mad Titan Thanos.

Heather, Arthur’s young daughter, was taken by the being called Mentor who is the father of Thanos. Mentor takes Heather to Titan and raises her as his own. She will later become the Moondragon and her path and that of the Destroyer are intractably linked.

    

Drax the Destroyer is intelligent, able to fly through the cosmos with great power and speed and a singular, obsessive purpose. To kill the Titan Thanos. He battles Thanos many times and comes into contact with Captain Marvel (Mar-vell) and Adam Warlock and even becomes a member of the Infinity Watch in his epic journeys throughout the cosmos. His memories are restored to him and he watches as Captain Marvel defeats Thanos. Drax, robbed of his purpose, attacks Marvel nearly destroying him. Adrift, Drax the Destroyer wanders space, fighting battles against those that would oppressed the innocent but more often, simply lost, waiting for the moment when the Titan Thanos would be resurrected. When this happens Drax stands alongside Marvel, the Avengers, and Adam Warlock to defeat the mad Titan. It is also along this time that Drax finds his long lost daughter, who has now grown into the cosmic being Moondragon. Together they search the Universe for knowledge but Moondragon turns evil and Drax the Destroyer must battle his own child to save innocent lives. To stop her father, Moondragon drains him of his life essence, leaving him in a spiritual coma. When he recovers, his physical abilities are greatly enhanced, but his mental abilities are horribly damaged. He becomes what he appears to be today. A smaller version of the Incredible Hulk. He can no longer fly and all of his prior cosmic powers are gone. Instead he is a super strong and powerful fighter.

Most people know Drax from the live action film Guardians of the Galaxy, played by the WWE wrestler Dave Bautista. It is fitting because that what this character has been turned into. A caricature of a WWE wrestler and that is really too bad because as you can see, Drax started out as so much more and in doing this, Marvel has removed all of the humanity from the character. They lost Arthur Douglas. Tossed aside and forgotten. It was the spirit of Arthur Douglas that gave Drax the Destroyer life, his purpose and his soul.

      

But I guess that wasn’t marketable enough for Marvel.

Drax the Destroyer first appears in Iron Man #55, in February of 1973. Marvel performed their lobotomy on him in 2004, just in time to become the feeble minded muscle behind the Guardians of the Galaxy. A comic, until the film came about, was sub par at best. Now Drax the Destroyer simply plays behind the bastard pretty boy Starlord and a genetically enhanced rodent.

Drax the Destroyer started off as so much more. He could have ruled over worlds….he could have been a contender!

The Infinity Gauntlet by Jim Starlin (aka What Will a Mad Titan Do for Love?)

As the Marvel storyline moves forward on the screen toward Civil War, there is another storyline that is creeping along. A storyline that is as much Greek mythology as it is modern era superheroes. A story of unrequited love. A son struggling to gain his father’s approval and murder him and all his family at the same time. There is some serious abuse of his own granddaughter Nebula and the callous murder of entire worlds. All in an effort to gain the love and affection of the woman he admires. This is of course the Shakespearean tragedy that is the Titan Thanos and his obsession with the Goddess Death.

      

Casual fans of Marvel know Thanos for his cameo appearances on screen as the big and bad purple dude that appears at the end of the credits. But in Marvel lore, Thanos is so much more and the brilliantly written tale by Jim Starlin known as the Infinity Gauntlet is Thanos’ coming out party.

Having collected the six Infinity Gems, Thanos mounts them on a glove to create the Infinity Gauntlet. The glove gives him power over every aspect of the multiverse. Thanos, with this new power, decides to use it to win the love of the Goddess called Death by doing what she had tasked him to do before. To erase half of all life in the Universe. Instantly, living creatures across the Universe vanish in the blink of an eye. This includes most of the X-men and the Fantastic Four not to discount your neighbor or the guy next to driving on the highway. The Silver Surfer races to Earth to enlist the aid of its superheroes only to find many of them gone. The remains of the Avengers, Stephen Strange, good ol’ Spidey and even Doctor Doom step up to take on Thanos. The mad Titan easily defeats Earth’s heroes but while they kept him occupied another has gathered the Universe’s greatest powers to destroy Thanos. Galactus, the Stranger, Kronos and Eternity. To defeat them Thanos must leave his body and become the very Universe itself, these leaves his tortured granddaughter Nebula to take the Gauntlet from his hand and don it herself. She quickly undoes everything Thanos had done and brings everyone back to life, but that was only to restore herself. Another battle ensues and to keep the glove away from Nebula and Thanos both, the being known as Adam Warlock takes the Gauntlet and Thanos appears to kill himself. Later Warlock and his companions find Thanos working on a farm, contemplating his loss. Warlock decides that Thanos no longer poses a threat to the Universe and leaves him to his exile.

       

Epic? Impressive? Cosmic? This is when such great writers like Jim Starlin roamed the halls of Marvel Comics and their vision is sorely missed. The Infinity Gauntlet took Thanos from the rafters of an all powerful being that slapped the likes of the Fantastic Four around and didn’t destroy them because, well because they weren’t enough to be bothered with; to a tragic character who would kill and kill with madness and brutality in his pursuit of love. Perverse, yes. Warped, yes. But it was for love none the less. It also brought forward, from a cult following, the ressurected character, Adam Warlock. Years ago in the early stages of this blog, I wrote about Warlock. He was for a time, one of the standards of the Marvel Universe and his stories were tragic and epic in scope. It was a time when Marvel did not dumb down their stories and actually respected the comic book reader. The stories were Shakespeare and Greek mythology and were about the epic battle of good and evil and the moral repercussions of both. They were, in a word, awesome.

As part of the Avengers movie line, Marvel is going to do the Infinity War I and II. In the comic book world this takes place after the Infinity Gauntlet. Here’s hoping they don’t screw it up.