Maybe Change is Good

In my effort to get back on schedule this is today's third post.

I was reading the other day and learned some disturbing news. Marvel Comics had decided to take Thor the Norse god of thunder and lightning and change him from a male character to a female character. Why is this disturbing? I born in the 1950's and learned to read in the 1960's. It was back in the days when a farm boy could get on his bike and ride three miles to Wataga or three miles to Henderson. Along the way he could find enough discarded pop bottles at 2 cents deposit each to have a bottle of pop at the store, or a candy bar. If things went really well and maybe even buy a comic book. One of my personal favorites was Thor. He was the SON of Odin and Gaea. He carried one of the most awesome weapons ever created, the enchanted hammer Mjolnir. He was muscular, smart, compassionate, self assured and would always fight to the end for a worthwhile cause. He was everything this gangly farm boy wasn't.

 Look at the comic book and movie configurations of Thor. Who wouldn't want to grow up to be this guy? Giant hammer, ability to control thunder and lightning. What could be wrong with being able to do that. Now they want to take the SON of Odin and Gaea and turn him into a girl. How do you rewrite mythology? Is Thor going to go under the knife and become some sort of transsexual god of thunder and lightning? It tore at my traditional upbringing and view of the comics of my youth. Why not invent a new character? Didn't the Norse have some cool female god. They must have had some since Thor was the SON of Odin and Gaea. Why not dedicate a new comic to Eir the Norse goddess of healing. Perhaps Eostre the goddess of spring. Maybe Freyja the goddess of love fertility and battle would be a good choice. If you want to make something more adult oriented perhaps Lofn goddess of forbidden loves. There are plenty of choices rather than a sex change for Thor. In my haste to judge I failed to look at what Marvel had in mind for the female Thor.

I must admit this picture did little to convince me that this change was a good idea. When you google and look for images sometimes you find things that change your mind.

The teenage boy that liked comic books thinks maybe this Thor has some comic book possibilities. Maybe change is good.