DC ZOMBIE EAT MARVEL: Thor: The Mighty Avenger Vol. 1

Join me, a lifelong DC Zombie, as I attempt to remedy my woefully limited exposure to the Marvel Universe. Be prepared for opinions forged in the depths of a mind that is completely dedicated to the DCU. I promise to be as objective and honest as I can be--even if that leads to contradictory opinions. Updates will be rare, considering I have limited money for buying new comics (and the fact that I would rather spend my limited funds on DC Comics).

Like everyone, I am not immune to the pull of comic book hype. Thanks to curiosity (and sales at various Local Comic Book Shops) I have picked up a several stories over the years based solely on word of mouth and reviews. This has lead to some great purchases like I Kill Giants and Y: The Last Man, but it has also lead to disappointments like Runaways Volume 1 and Identity Crisis. (I realize that my choices for disappointments are potentially controversial, but that is a topic for another time.) More recently, hype has lead me to the roller-coaster ride that is Jonathan Hickman's Fantastic Four and Matt Fraction's stellar Invincible Iron Man run. While I would like to write about those comics at some point in the future, today I want to explore a different, entirely hype-based comic book purchase— Thor: The Mighty Avenger Volume 1.

Strangely, I was not aware of Thor: The Mighty Avenger's existence until it was on the eve of cancellation. Perhaps this is not surprising considering how much time I spend in my Justice League-themed trolls' cave—but I digress. The word on the street was that Thor was exactly the kind of book that thinking, well-read comic book readers were always asking for—a smart, heartfelt take on the characters we love. The other word on the street was that no one was buying it. Oh, sure, people were buying it, but not people...you know, the word people with the prefix “lots of” attached to the front and “money, money, money” in parenthesis behind it.

Of course, this leads to a terribly interesting topic with absolutely no discernible answers: What the hell do comic readers actually want anyways? Hell if I know. For every step forward a book like All Star Superman takes the genre, there is an All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder mouth-breathing behind it drinking Big Flats and making fart jokes. And these books get published because the Big Two know that they sell!  Look at DC's New 52: There are books that make me proud to be a comic nerd like Animal Man and Wonder Woman...and then there's Suicide Squad and Dark Knight. One of which took the only character to have successfully translated from the acclaimed Batman: The Animated Series cartoon show and turn her into a depressing, hammer wielding, ultra-violent, scantly clad war crime. Sadly, none of this should come as a surprise. It's not exactly a revelation that the mainstream comic book audience is attracted to sex, violence, and then somewhere way down the list, story and, even further down, quality.

Which brings us to Thor: The Mighty Avenger, a book which has no sex, little in the way of visceral violence but TONS of story and quality. Set in it's own continuity, separated from the Secret Wars, Secret Dark Avengers Wars, and Double Secret Probation Wars of the regular MARVEL Universe, Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee's book drips with feeling. Somewhere between Darwyn Cooke's New Frontier and Grant Morrison's All Star Superman—Thor: The Mighty Avenger takes place in a Universe where heroes act like heroes and good, of course, always wins. Perhaps it is telling that the first guest-stars to appear in Thor are very cheerful versions of Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne—a couple that is, perhaps, most famous in the Bronze Age of Comics for having a married life filled with domestic violence. Yet, in Langridge's world, there is no hint of any marital strife. In fact, the couple seems idyllic—something that Thor and love interest Jane Foster might aspire to. It makes me think back to the brutal scene in The Ultimates where Pym and Van Dyne are revealed to be in an abusive relationship and wonder why anyone would even want to write that, much less read it. I am not outright condemning this kind of faux realism nor am I complaining about Millar, all I am saying is that the optimism of Thor: The Mighty Avenger is one of those rare remindersthat good, sophisticated, or mature does not have to be grim and gritty. In this age of comics so heavily influenced by Alan Moore and Frank Miller it is a uncommon treat to read such an unabashedly positive comic book.

Having said that, I believe (or, perhaps more accurately, hope) that Thor heralds a coming sea change in comic books. A movement has been building for a while in the works of writers like Morrison, Hickman and Mark Waid. The gray and violent works influenced by the late 1980s persist, but comic books starring optimistic heroes are returning. From Morrison's Flex Mentallo and All Star Superman to Thor: The Mighty Avenger and Waid's current Daredevil run, a brighter future seems to be forming for the comic book world. As I read Thor: The Mighty Avenger I find myself intentionally slowing down and extending the experience. I have already begun the second volume and the eighth and final issue looms large in the near future. There are very few books—from DC or MARVEL—that have had that kind of impact on me. Thor: The Mighty Avenger was one of the most refreshing reading experiences I have had in a long time. The writing is pitch-perfect, and, though I have barely touched on it, Chris Samnee's art is absolutely amazing. I love it when a comic book's hype is deserved.