NorsePlay.

Watching Taika Waititi's Thor: Love and Thunder is about 65% like watching Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin . What they share are the deep flaws of when a director runs the material into a self-indulgent lampooning direction, and loses sight of what originally makes it Mighty . Understandably no film is ever going to translate a comic directly. The medium is different, so adjustments & liberties necessarily must be taken. Yet anyone who has read the very dramatic terminally-ill Jane Foster as Thor comic book run, and the seriously pathos-laden & doom-filled Gorr the God Butcher storylines should realize that these two things are absolutely not foils for comedy. They're stories that deal with peace-making one's own mortality juxtaposed with carrying on an immortal legacy, while the other addresses faith in the divine being justified or not and what the expectations of that belief are. Those are amazing and weighty things that move and push boundaries for com...

While the Taika Waititi Ragnarok installment was our least favourite for its divergence in overt comic tonality from the franchise 's tenor, it appears Marvel has retained Waititi for the next one and just announced that someone new will be cast as Thor in this fourth film: [Natalie Portman as Jane Foster as Thor.] The concept of Lady Thor successfully hit the comics in 2014, and with MCU's Thor gone a'viking with the Guardians of the Galaxy crew, it seems Natalie Portman's going to heft the hammer . We just hope Kat Dennings will come along as her divine intern and that the director will funnel the humour just to Darcy Lewis where it belongs. #    #    # Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in  the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires'  Norse Gods and Giants  at age seven. Since t hen he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced ...

Norwegian Thunder Goddess (2017), an oil on canvas by Chie Yoshii , clues into the gender-switching internet Rule 63 and the Marvel Thor mantle being recently worn by character Jane Foster. On top of that, the goddess springing from the foamy waters is a classical trope borrowed from many depictions of Venus' birth, but given a Norse referential twist with the figure's dominance over the aqueous sea serpents upon which she easily treads. The deity's hammer is often thought to be a symbol of male virility, and is instead replaced by a crack of lightning, almost an O'Keeffe-ish feminine slit in reality that's the source of light in the composition. #    #    # Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in  the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires'  Norse Gods and Giants  at age seven. Since t hen he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, l...

Aside from Marvel Thor being the longest-running NorsePlay around, the idea of Thor being a mantle instead of a being is an interesting one, and to compound that with a female worthy enough is very compelling, especially with the beautifully illustrated results by visual development artist John Staub. Of course Thor having to dress in drag as Freyja to win his hammer back from Jötunheimr is the precedent in Norse Lore, but Marvel's taking it one step further in both their comics & in  Thor: Love & Thunder , the fourth film of the series . #    #    # Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in  the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires'  Norse Gods and Giants  at age seven. Since t hen he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the  Map of Midgard  project, and spearheaded the neologism/brand NorsePlay. ...