The Question

This is something I've had on my mind for a minute and figured I'd gain your guys opinion. Two major concepts in comics are science and magic. In terms of characters their powers are usually derived from either the concepts of science or magic. In the real world the concepts of science and magic are very different and very defined. Although magic was the controlling factor of the world for many hundreds of years science has taken over and science has replaced magic but in the world of comics science and magic exist side by side. Magic and religion where used to describe the features of existence that couldn't be proven or explained at the time, but as time moved on scientific examinations began to prove that the universe was not originally how it was once viewed.

However where as in the real world magic and science are total opposites and contradictions in comics magic and science can be seen more as different view points able to come to a compromise and often times merge. For instance Doctor Strange is considered the leading magician of earth even still without the title of Sorcerer Supreme able to move objects with his mind, alter perceptions, change one object into another via spells and magic. Then you have the Silver Surfer who is capable of many of the same feats, but draws his power from a cosmic source with no perceived connections to any mystical forces.

Does It Really Matter?

At times however from the human stand point you won't be able to tell the difference. It could be possible that the only difference between the two seems to be the pure perception and faith of the person. For example Mr. Terrific and Ragman once had a discussion about how Mr. Terrific sees the mystical and spiritual events and characters of his world. Ragman being Jewish saw characters from a religious stand point but Mr. Terrific being atheist saw them from a fully scientific perspective.

A battle between Odin and Thanos also made me question the differences between magic and science as well or more precisely is one stronger than the other? During their fight Thanos and Odin seemed to be fairly equal but with all fights of grand beings they boasted the own powers. During the fight Odin claimed he would win basically because his power was mystical where Thanos's was mostly scientific, but Thanos replied that might is might whether it be science or not. Basically saying it doesn't matter where it comes from it's all the same. Another theme was present in Mighty Avengers when Hank Pym became Wasp and built a new Avengers team he began to view magic in terms he understood and saw magic as just another form of science. Eternity even rewarded Pym for his idea by granting him title as Scientist Supreme viewing him as a "mage" a term used to describe a powerful and wise wizard.

Are They One and The Same?

However that brought up the idea of the difference between real world science and comic science. The real world has a number of finite rules and laws that govern what happens real world science can't do as much as comic science because real world science is limited by THE REAL WORLD where comic science is limited by ones imagination. Still though are the terms magic and science simply perspectives? If I brought my cell phone back to feudal era Japan would they consider it magic or would they view it as some form of science from the future?

DC's Doing It!

As many Marvel fans now recently a lot of running titles as well as upcoming titles have been cancelled. The growing number of cancellations has caused many of Marvel's fans to wonder about the future of the company in terms of why are the comics being cancelled , what will happen to their favorite characters now and more important why is this happening. As of right now I consider myself among the fans that blames the failing sales of Marvel on the renewed success of DC's new 52. I myself however as a fan of comics as a whole over just one industry was very excited when they revealed the company wide reboot of the universe. I saw it as a move with great potential that I hoped would not be allowed to fail as so many attempts at saving the industry do. I was glad to see that my hopes where realized. As any visitor to comicvine can see many of the titles are reviewed with the highest remarks.

As with many fans I found myself particularly pleased with the new Aquaman book which has as many reviewers have stated made many of us appreciate and understand Aquaman far better than we ever have before I find this especially amazing as I was never much of an Aquaman fan to begin with but so far have read all 4 of his 5 issues and loved each one. Also despite the fact that not all the titles lived up to the expectations of the company I was glad to hear that although they indeed cancelled titles they counter this by at the same times revealing new titles that they would use to replaced them. I applaud them for paying attention to the failings of the storylines and although not perfectly do their best to please their audience.

However as a Marvel fan I am pained to notice that they have not lived up to what I normally expect from them and they to me are not keeping up with DC in terms of quality in both writing and are attempting to sway the audience with half hearted gimmicks and empty promises of success. Yet these are things that many fans have said over the months and I admit I'm not really saying anything new. Still as a fan I pose the question what could Marvel be doing behind the wall to catch up with their rival company DC? It makes me wonder about what moves may satisfy the audiences cries for repair in a failing medium but also what are they doing now to maybe fix their problems?

Why Can't Marvel?

First lets take a look at some of the titles and storylines recently. A prime example of a fairly well succeeding comic would have to the Spider-Man books. Dan Slott has been doing very well on many of his storylines in the flagship title the Amazing Spider-Man where fans are finally seeing a Peter Parker not burdened by failure but by success and happiness. An almost biblical change from one of Marvel's most abused characters. As well as the return of the Scarlet Spider one of the most loved Spider-people. Next we saw the renumbering of the Incredible Hulk as well as his split from his alter ego Bruce Banner. Yet the revelation that Bruce has become insane without the Hulk is an amazing spin on an all too common plot device of separating Bruce and Hulk more importantly we are also still in the dark as to how it happened but beside the point the inner thoughts of the now freed Hulk show a side to the character rarely ever seen.

Next we go to another beyond abused character Wolverine. Wolverine has recently made the change from bezerker killing machine to nurturing father figure. Now although he has often been the role model to many young X-Men he has always been the crazed killer we love and hasn't changed much but now he has gone from maybe guiding a few lost children to running an entire school of them. Not only that but each issue so far has been filled with great concepts that have been hiding in the history of Marvel begging to be released (i.e a school for mutants built on land that is itself a living mutant come on you have got to love it).

Then you are dragged to the other franchises who's success seems to either go up or down depending on whats going on, the Avengers and the X-Men. Many fans are growing more and more disappointed with the growing number of titles that the characters are in. Some of the titles seem fairly pointless and readers are left wondering why is this here. Personally I don't understand the need for New Avengers, X-Men, New Mutants or X-Men: Legacy anymore. But even still those franchises are being reworked to change certain problems. For instance the Secret Avengers has had storylines and a roster that doesn't fully seem to reflect to purpose of the team as a black Ops team, but with this new roster featuring some characters that seem slightly more suited to that ideal (Hawkeye and Venom) we may get to see the team we have always hoped for. Also I was more pleased with Uncanny X-Men than I ever expected to be considering that I dislike Cyclops as well as his methods and prefer Wolverine over him.

When you look at these points the company really aren't doing so bad at all in truth and although many titles where being cancelled many of them where not doing very well in sells and some many fans wished gone to begin with but their are those that seem confusing such as X-23 and Moon Knight but hopefully that just means we will see these characters in other places. X-23 will be joining Avengers Academy and who knows what future may hold for Moon Knight. In truth however there is one side of Marvel that I am very disappointed in and that would be the Ultimate books. I am a long time fan of many of the Ultimate books namely the first 2 volumes of Ultimates, Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men. I like many fans was saddened during Ultimatum but I looked forward to the future of the books but since then have for the most part been fond wanting. Even the recent relaunch has not made me feel much better as I sadly dislike Miles Morales primarily because I actually miss Peter Parker greatly and wish to see his return. I personally feel that Miles however would be perfect as a Spider-Man spinoff under some other name. I wanted to see more Hawkeye and didn't want it to be a mini-series and I didn't like how the Ultimates new enemy seemed to kill the Asgardians so easily. Ultimate comics X-Men so far is the only thing I'm actually enjoying and can't wait for their roster to grow.

The Point

But enough with the complaining lets get back to the important part of this. Despite a few problems Marvel is actually doing fairly well as it is to me. Many fans are not looking forward to Avengers vs X-Men and I agree I can't say I feel anyway about because I have been let down by many event's lately but I'm going to simply reserve judgement till it arrives and just ignore it knowing that more than likely no lasting event will happen in the story. However I honestly can't hold in my hope that Marvel will do a reboot of their own merging the current universe with the ultimate one creating new unique spins on old characters and flooding the stories with brand new amazing characters.

This is only a fantasy and I know more than likely it won't happen but what can I say a guy can dream. Still I feel that at some point soon Marvel will do something that will make us no longer question the sanity of the writer for years to come. We can read about a world where there are fewer X-Men teams and Avengers teams and Wolverine and Spider-Man don't have to appear in every single comic out there. :) lol

This has always been a changing and flowing industry and the point of both companies being rivals is that they fuel each other and make each other try to out do the other going back and forth and the result is just great stories for the readers to enjoy.

Let There Be Lighting

The Mighty Thor #5Now as you can tell from the title this is about religion which is always and will always be a touchy subject for many individuals but this is mostly just my personal opinion and I intend to be as respectful to peoples faiths as possible so here goes. I simply wanted to express a long standing curiosity at how religious figures are expressed in comics and other forms of fiction as well. One of the main subjects I will talk about will be Thor a personal favorite of mine. As many of us know Thor is the Norse Pagan god of Thunder, Lighting and Storms worshipped by ancient Germanic and Scandinavian peoples. In the comics the character of Thor is often classed as one of the most powerful beings in the universe and defiantly one of the most powerful super heroes of earth. However despite his title and the strength of his fandom which has more than likely not dwindled in many years in my opinion Thor is not represented in such a manner. I draw attention to many of Thor's battles over the years since his creation and the present. The god of Thunder has battled many of marvel's powerhouses such as Hulk, Gladiator, Hyperion, Wonder Man, Sentry(briefly) and even DC's Superman ( although this is often treated out of canon). 

However despite these character's levels of power only one of them is truly classified as a god that being Thor. However despite being a god Thor has on many occasions either been beaten or gravely wounded by these individuals and other beings of the marvel universe. The main point I'm trying to reach at is if Thor is a god shouldn't he be able to easily best save those from his realm of equal or greater divinity? As mortal beings when people think of the word god the definition of powerful being worshipped by people comes into mind. Thor's battle record often makes me wonder do his writers truly respect him as a former god of man?

 In modern times much of the world only uses the term to described one all powerful divine being. I asked myself the question that because Thor is no longer deemed a god by people do writers simply ignore his status and the great level of power he should possess as such. For instance despite being the god of thunder, lighting and storms Thor is also worshipped as the god of strength, healing and oak trees. Of course Thor has been known to have immense strength but little to often does Thor seem to attempt to heal anything let alone manipulate any form of plant life. Usually in comics when a being is referred to as a god if not a truly historically one or one worshipped by an alien species that individual usually has numerous powers, or simply the ability to bend reality to there whim. Still in stories these characters are often able to easily beat groups of superheroes even some of the strongest heroes known.

It begs the question of should Thor be depicted with greater numbers of powers and abilities tied to his godhood than he is often shown using. I remember seeing early scans of Thor using Mjolnir for tasks such as manipulating magnetic fields, transmuting elements, create anti-matter, paralyze individuals, etc. Yet as time moved on many of these feats where never repeated by writers and often times I see Thor only using his hammer as a striking weapon or summoner of lighting. Which in my personal opinion seems quite odd to me. In my opinion if one can be descried as a god of anything then said individual should possess almost total control and mastery of that action or object. They should be able to manipulate whatever force they control to the absolute minimum action said force can be used form. In my opinion this is not the case with Thor. When you take into account all the elements that make up a storm you have, wind, lighting, thunder, rain, cold and if Thor can summon storms than he should be able to win fights without having to use simple brute strength. 

This whole idea came about after I was talking to my older cousin about Thor him being a Thor fan was displeased when I told him about certain fights Thor had in recent years such as his famous battle with Red Hulk, his inability to break Bastion's force field surrounding Utopia, his loss at the hands of Norman Osborn and his Initiative and even his far more recent defeat at the hands of the Deviant Tutinax. He told me that this doesn't sound like the Thor he knew. He remembers Thor  battling Celestials and even though he lost these where still great accomplishments and he fought foes with the power to end reality as we know it and at least wound them yet he gain be beaten by a crazed fool in a suit of armor? 

It makes me wonder why he loses any fights at all with some of the feats he has displayed or even feats that similairy powered individuals have used. Thor beat Hyperion once by shrinking him and trapping him in a glass ball. Superman once fought a group of crazed super heroes and beat one of them by creating a hurricane sucking out his air it made me wonder why hasn't Thor ever done anything like that to the Hulk? (I know there's a Hulk fan out there saying it wouldn't matter he'd just get so angry he wouldn't need to breath but as a Hulk fan myself please shut up lol). Why in his fight with Red Hulk didn't he simply create a mini lighting storm in Ross's brain lobotomizing him, why in his fight with the Silver Surfer didn't he simply drain the power cosmic out his body with Mjolnir?   

All these events and potential feats make me wonder why Thor seems so weak in recent times. I remember seeing a scan that says Thor was bested by some super villains because he holds back his strength, but even if he holds back his strength shouldn't he still be able to knock enemies unconscious with a flick of his fingers? It easy to say that it's simply the lack of imagination of the writers, but that seems so very odd to me even to this day. Even if one writer can describe a being a possibly weaker that they should be it seems odd that they can lack so much imagination and still be allowed to write comics. 

I now go to a different religious character more relevant to modern times Lucifer Morningstar another favorite of mine although. Lucifer being the Devil in modern Christian mythology is a much feared being. The character often displayed a level of power where he so rightfully should. Often outsmarting the Angels of Heaven, Beating his brother Michael and even his greatest feat creating his own Creation separate from our own. Such feats only increased my belief that if Thor was a being worshipped by people today he would also be able to perform feats of equal measure. But sadly he is not. He is a character who in my opinion continues to be greatly disrespecting by writers in resent years and will only continue to be so simply because he is of a different faith than the majority of his readers. Although writers can show an amount of respect for characters of different religions these are usually just the followers and not the divine beings worshipped themselves. I fear this is so simply because writers are afraid to display feats that may beg the question who's religion is right or wrong. 

Touchy Subject I know Bare With Me

As I feel I'm getting to the touchy part of the subject I will explain that that is not the question I am asking. What I have been getting at is that despite not being the modern god of society I wish for Thor to be shown with a level of respect of a god once worshipped by mankind. It is not the writers duty to tell someone which god maybe be real and which is not but when you use a character and intend to use them to the best of your ability do not weaken them for the sake of the story express them in all their glory and might. When I picture Thor feats I hope to hear of things such as crushing mountains with his hammer, lifting whales and submarines with his bares hand like they where paper, resisting the force of a nuclear bomb not even getting so much as a sunburn, deflecting bullets with his hair, punching opponents with the speed of lighting, shouting loud enough to shatter a man's bones, hearing the prayers of one of his followers anywhere in the world, commanding entire forrest to grow out of a desert, get punched by a fully grown Hank Pym resulting in the bones in his arm shattering, healing an entire hospital of people by simply waving his hand, stopping the Hulk by turning him back into Bruce Banner by simply touching him, etc. When a fan asks who should win Thor or Hulk or Thor or Superman there should be no question it is Thor because Thor is a divine being and Hulk or Superman aren't not. Stan Lee himself even created Thor with the intention of having a being stronger than the Hulk.

In my mind every religious character to have the utter most respect that can be given to said character and that they instantly display knowledge and power far beyond anything that can be achieved by mortal means. This does not mean said character need be flawless. Even the original Pagans did not believe their God's to be 100% flawless. Thor was deceived by his brother Loki resulting in him lifting part of the Midgard Serpent, Odin needed to hang himself to gain the secrets of the universe. Zeus's lighting didn't come from him but Hephaestus blacksmith of the gods. Even God chose not simply stop Lucifer from rebelling when he simply could have made it so. The point is don't allow the fears of the masses to hinder creativity and show respect for all religions not just your own.

The Thought

The Problem

The Conclusion

What I think

What I mean

Conclusion