GEEKSPEAK
I'm a little worried about the future of Thor right now. There have been a few delays in getting out JMS's issues....nothing near the scale of Planetary 27, mind you, but it's enough to raise your eyebrow and make you wonder.
That, and I've noticed Matt Fraction cranking out a number of oversized Thor specials; he's done three to date and has another one coming out next week. In addition to that, he did a three or four part Secret Invasion crossover for Thor, all of which makes me wonder if Marvel are grooming him to take over the title so they can boot JMS, who has scaled down his work for the company substantially following the Brand New Day nightmare.
I really hope this isn't the case. I LOVE JMS's work on Thor, and feel he's the ONE person in the history of thed character and the company who's gotten Thor dialogue right from the get go (I have always HATED how writers wrote Thor/Asgardian as some kind of bastardized Shakespeare, with their "thees" and "thys" and "thous". JMS was the first person I can recal though who deliberately steered clear of that and opted for dialogue that sounded regal and contemporary...I even remember an interview he did for CBR where he said he was greatly influenced by Viggo Mortenson's dialogue in the Lord of the Rings movies, which is a perfect way to think about the character!
I know Fraction is currently Marvel's rising star wunderkind, and I love the hell out of his work, but I also believe he is not a good choice for Thor. Which isn't to say he can't write good Thor stories, because I've flipped through some of these specials he wrote (which I'm pretty sure Marvel will collect as a GN) and they seem big on ideas and epic action, which is good. But something isn't clicking with me; maybe it's the artists Fraction has worked with on the Thor specials, maybe it's his liberal use of the faux Shakespeare, or the verbose narration he uses in what sounds like a pale imitation of the Volsung Saga.
Either way, it feels like Marvel are trying to capitalize on Fraction's success by throwing him at every franchise they own to see if he can stick, but I'm afraid he may actually do Thor more harm than good.
That, and I've noticed Matt Fraction cranking out a number of oversized Thor specials; he's done three to date and has another one coming out next week. In addition to that, he did a three or four part Secret Invasion crossover for Thor, all of which makes me wonder if Marvel are grooming him to take over the title so they can boot JMS, who has scaled down his work for the company substantially following the Brand New Day nightmare.
I really hope this isn't the case. I LOVE JMS's work on Thor, and feel he's the ONE person in the history of thed character and the company who's gotten Thor dialogue right from the get go (I have always HATED how writers wrote Thor/Asgardian as some kind of bastardized Shakespeare, with their "thees" and "thys" and "thous". JMS was the first person I can recal though who deliberately steered clear of that and opted for dialogue that sounded regal and contemporary...I even remember an interview he did for CBR where he said he was greatly influenced by Viggo Mortenson's dialogue in the Lord of the Rings movies, which is a perfect way to think about the character!
I know Fraction is currently Marvel's rising star wunderkind, and I love the hell out of his work, but I also believe he is not a good choice for Thor. Which isn't to say he can't write good Thor stories, because I've flipped through some of these specials he wrote (which I'm pretty sure Marvel will collect as a GN) and they seem big on ideas and epic action, which is good. But something isn't clicking with me; maybe it's the artists Fraction has worked with on the Thor specials, maybe it's his liberal use of the faux Shakespeare, or the verbose narration he uses in what sounds like a pale imitation of the Volsung Saga.
Either way, it feels like Marvel are trying to capitalize on Fraction's success by throwing him at every franchise they own to see if he can stick, but I'm afraid he may actually do Thor more harm than good.