Shell games are frustrating for me any time I go to the carnival. As much as I try to keep my eye on the dice and no matter how sure I am that I’ve picked the right shell, whenever the dealer pulls it back… WHAMMY! I’ve actually picked the wrong one.
Fans have gotten their own little Thor movie shell game recently, though it seems the result of miscommunication (and thanks to IO9 for the heads up)...
The drawing above is by Dan Panosian, who’s drawn Spawn, Captain America and Green Lantern among others. It’s a great redesign, balancing the memorable theatricality of Thor’s outfit while bringing it back to credible Viking roots and still keeping it plausible. It looks like it’d work well for the live action Thor movie, but it seems like it won’t be used.
I think Dan puts it best on his DA account, describing the shell game that he, himself, went through…
Want to a funny story that will bring a tear to your eye?
Of course you do. You're still reading this. So I get a call from an Art Director friend of mine on Saturday as I was preparing to get my place ready for the Fedor/Arlovski fight. He asked me if I could submit a last minute design for the Thor movie that Marvel is doing.
Over course I was thrilled. They needed it Monday morning. Fine, whatever! They could of needed it in a few hours and I would of complied. It's Thor! Hell, I did design work for [link] Superhero, the Movie - I was waiting for a REAL superhero movie to come along!
Anyway, I factored in a few things. Like creating a suit that could successfully pad an actor and give him some heroic bulk, etc. I also knew that the colors had to be a bit more subdued than the Kirby comic book. And sadly, I had to come up with something that wouldn't look ridiculous on. A tall order.
So, I did what I could and enjoyed every minute of it. I managed about 65% of what I envisioned. Generally that's a decent success when it comes to applying your vision to paper.
I even incorporated the marks on Thor's plates into his logo...
Here's the sad part. I turned it in and that's when the AD mentioned it was a design for the ANIMATED movie. I just assumed it was for the Live Action film I've heard buzz about... Clearly I need to learn to ask more questions...! Assumption is the mother of all... what's the word I'm looking for? ;)
Hell, at least I got to design a Thor costume, right?
Yes, you did, Dan. And it's a rad redesign.
Hmmm… this is for an animated movie, huh? Might this be a vision of how adult Thor will look in the teen Thor-starring Son of Asgard? Either way, like I said about the Thor statue, I think it’s clear that Marvel’s going to try to make the more Viking-specific Olivier Coipel-designed Thor the standard across brands. They’re going to try to make comic Thor look the same as movie Thor and cartoon Thor, and so on...
What do you think, oh berserker-rage-driven Comic Vine community? Do you like the design? Do you hope it will be what movie Thor resembles?
-- Tom Pinchuk is the writer of UNIMAGINABLE for Arcana Comics and HYBRID BASTARDS! for Archaia Comics. Watch out for the HYBRID BASTARDS! hardcover collection this March - - available for pre-order now on Amazon.com.