Welcome to Make Ours Marvel, the weekly show where Michael Kaiser and Jon M. Wilson read chronologically through Marvel Comics’ spandex adventures and discuss their thoughts with little to no authority.
In this episode…
- Thor #136
- Tales to Astonish #88
- Daredevil #24
- The X-Men #28
- Sgt. Fury #38
Images from Discussion:
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Last I read modern comics, Baldur was revealed as Thor’s secret older brother; so Odin manipulating Thor and Sif into getting together is even weirder.
Thor #136: Odin makes Jane an immortal. In a way, I really liked exploring the idea of “giving someone powers doesn’t always go well.” But I don’t like it at the expense of the leading lady of the series, and as an excuse to immediately write her out of the book. Sif’s intro is pretty kick-butt, and problematic by being a rebound romance for Thor. Jane hasn’t even changed her Facebook profile yet, and Thor already has a new girlfriend? Yikes.
You guys discussed “Why is Jane viewed as Thor’s Lois Lane?” I get it from the Marvel Super-Heroes cartoon. Since those encapsulate a very specific part of Thor’s storyline, it makes it seem more permanent than it is.
And it’s probably just me, but I find this story fascinating in light of Jane’s time as Thor herself. She’s come a long way from the overwhelmed wilting flower to a warrior that would go toe-to-toe with Odin.
Tales to Astonish #88: Attuma gets a robot-tuma. So Attuma was able to program an alien robot to respond to his voice commands. An *alien* robot. As in from a society that shouldn’t speak earth languages, let alone English/Atlantean/whatever it is Attuma speaks!
Oh no. I just thought about Namor’s behavior and attitude as a one percenter, and I hate/love it. He’s so powerful physically and politically, he’s totally used to doing whatever he wants whenever he wants. Please tell me I’m wrong.
Hulk versus Boomerang. It cracks me up to no end that Boomerang seriously thought he could take the Hulk. I mean, he REALLY believed it! “I have discs and boot jets! And I’m so much smarter than the Hulk!” Yeah, you’re easily twice as smart, Boomerang. Twice. Considering where the Hulk is, that’s not saying much.
Daredevil #24: DD and Ka-Zar. Ok, I’m convinced now that DD is the most powerful hero in Marvel. He doesn’t know what foreign country he’s in, and he can fly a plane (learned how from reading braille books on flying), and can figure out which direction and distance England is by using the compass and altimeter and speedometer, and has memorized the geography of the world perfectly, and has refined his radar sense to simulate GPS (which didn’t exist in 1966), and can land a plane which is definitely the hardest part of flying without crashing (I learned this working on a flight simulator game), all without sight! WOW! (I’m being a smidge tongue-in-cheek. Just a smidge.)
Amazing how one panel in the story, one panel, can be the only thing I remember. Oh wait, opening the sub’s hatch underwater. UUGGGHH!!!
Oh wait again! DD calls the prison warden to find out if Plunderer is still there. Is that how calling information works in England? “Hello, I’d like to speak to the warden of the prison where the Plunderer is being held. No, I don’t know the warden’s name or which prison it is. Yes, I’ll hold. *Moooon Riveeeeeer* Connecting me now? Thank you very much!”
The X-Men #28: Banshee! This is not how I pictured his first appearance at all, and while it had problems, it was pretty awesome. He’s so powerful, but has a reasonable set of abilities, and not falling into the trap of “can do anything because SOUND.” (Looking at Johnny Storm because FLAMES.) But it is a shame that nullifying his power consists of putting cotton in your ears. Neener neener, I can’t hear you!
I’m glad the visual effect doesn’t stick around forever. I get the visual of resembling mythical banshees, but it’s almost too unsettling. Ok, I’ll revise that. For a hero, it’s unsettling. If he’d stayed a villain, it’d be very appropriate to keep that look.
Mimic is the Hawkeye of the team, if he’d been allowed to take over from Cap. But I suddenly realized, he’s more like Guy Gardner of JLI! Sadly, he’s not as funny. If he was, I think I’d love to hate him! Instead, I’m mostly annoyed by him.
Fun episode, guys! Until next time, or until Jane Foster returns to Asgard as the delegate of Midgard*, make mine Make Ours Marvel.
* She served on the Council of Nine Worlds before and during her tenure as Thor.