Is He Worthy...in Pictures

Blogger was being a total dink yesterday and I could not get all of the images I assembled into the post without completely mangling the text, so here they are in all their glory!

If He Be Worthy

I'm fairly certain anyone reading this blog is familiar with the stipulations attached to wielding Mjolnir, but just to cover the bases here is how it works.

Fans love to debate exactly what constitutes "worthiness" of the hammer, and who can lift it.  The following is a post I made at the Thor Message Board on the subject, though I've had to adjust it a little after the events of Fear Itself. 

In general, I think we can all agree that to be worthy of Mjolnir you have to have a heroic nature. Self-sacrifice, honour, desire to help others, that is all a part of the package. Describes a lot of heroes though, doesn't it?

Spider-Man is certainly self-sacrificing, arguably even moreso than Thor. He lives by the adage "with great power comes great responsibility", and Mjolnir is obviously a great power. However, Spider-Man is more motivated by guilt than a purely altruistic nature, and I think that is what takes him out of the running to lift the hammer.

If there is one character around who I personally think would be worthy, it's Ben Grimm. Ben is a hero's hero, sacrificing his own happiness to turn back into the Thing when others need him. He has dedicated his life to helping others as a member of the Fantastic Four. His never-say-die attitude is legendary (eg. his battle with the Champion). So why isn't Ben worthy? Quite recently we saw him try to lift the hammer and fail. I think the reason is Ben's own self-loathing and insecurity about his appearance. He doesn't have the self-confidence/esteem needed to wield Mjolnir.

This brings me to Captain America. Cap certainly embodies everything discussed thus far, without the guilt or self-loathing to weigh him down. Confidence is certainly something he doesn't lack. Cap has lifted the hammer on two occassions now, and it is worth noting that both times he has not undergone a transformation into a Thor-like being.  My feeling here is that while Cap had need of the power, he has never intended to take it from Thor, rather he has borrowed it. 

This leads me to the conclusion that to lift Mjolnir, you must have need of it. Beta Ray Bill certainly had a need, as his world's champion against Surtur and his hordes. Superman managed to use it once, and that was when the entire DC and Marvel universes were at stake. When there was no longer a need, even though he was just trying to return it to Thor (in far less perilous circumstances than when Steve did the same), Superman could not lift it.

Which ultimately leads us to why isn't Superman worthy. Again, this comes down to need. Superman doesn't need the power of Thor, he is just as powerful on his own. He exemplifies many of the same characteristics as Thor, but since he has no need of the power of Thor, he cannot lift the hammer either.

And before anyone asks about Wonder Woman, as far as I know the only Marvel/DC crossover that is actually in continuity is JLA/Avengers. That being said, you could argue that Wonder Woman was fighting for her entire universe, and since she lost to Storm (due to fan voting) she obviously could have used the power boost.

Aunt May vs Ma Kent

I saw this yesterday and had to share it, it's hilarious!  Ty Templeton does some hilarious stuff, and this is no exception.  Thanks to Battle Wizard over at the Comic Battle Board for sharing!

Youtube Friday - Five for Fighting

There are a lot of Five for Fighting Superman clips on Youtube, and this is just one of them, but man are they good.

How Superheroes Are Supposed to Act

This is one of my favourite fake comic covers ever!  For more awesome comic mash-ups like this one, check out http://amalgamage.blogspot.com/.

Young Justice

I recently discovered that the new Young Justice cartoon can be viewed on Youtube; when it first came out I'm assuming the copyright gestapo where out in force because I couldn't find it.  I am about 5 episodes in right now and hope to finish the rest in the next few days.
Minor spoilers ahead.


Kid Flash got into
the Atom's stuff again.


The show is based on the Young Justice comic book by Peter David, created by Peter David and Todd Nauck, and merged with the Teen Titans as well.  The show features Robin, Kid Flash, Superboy, Aqualad,  Ms. Martian, and Artemis (apparently the show chose not to use the name Arrowette for the archer as was the case in the Young Justice book).  Green Arrow's former partner, who started out as Speedy but redubs himself Red Arrow after severing ties with his mentor, is also in the mix but not as a member of the team.  Red Tornado and Batman round out the cast as the team's supervisors and to assign missions.  Various Justice League members are in the mix as the plot demands; in one episode, Black Canary drops by to do hand-to-hand combat training with the team, for example.

While I have yet to see evidence of it on the show, a little research on the internet reveals that Robin is Dick Grayson.  I find that a little disappointing because the trio of Tim Drake, Connor Kent, and Bart Allan was always the heart of Young Justice, and then later the Teen Titans.  To me Dick & Wally belong to the Titans, with Starfire, Donna Troy, Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy.  The revelation that this is Dick doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the show, but it would be enhanced if this were Tim.  Anyway, Robin is one of the younger members of the team, if not the youngest, but also the most experienced.  He has a real flair for technology, and a habit of butchering the English language for his own amusement.

Kid Flash was quickly revealed to be Wally West, which I wasn't terribly happy about.  In my mind Wally West is the Flash, but since we've seen an adult Flash it has to be Barry Allan in the Justice League.  As I said before, the big draw of Young Justice, and then later in Teen Titans, was the relationship between Bart Allan, Tim Drake, and Connor Kent.  Considering their identities I do like the relationship between Robin and Kid Flash, as they are the two original (comics) Titans members on the team.  Wally is impulsive, as many speedsters are, and his speed isn't over the top like in the comics; while he can vibrate through objects, it is very draining on him, and I'd estimate that the speed of sound is probably his top range.

On the other hand though, I really like what they've done with Superboy.  He has a lot of anger at the world, and considering he grew up in a test tube a lot of it is justified.  He doesn't like letting people get close, and he feels lost.  Young Justice gives him a place to belong, but he is definitely not a team player yet.  What I also really like is his relationship with Superman; basically, he weirds Superman out.  The man of steel basically wants nothing to do with him because he makes him feel uncomfortable (a perfectly natural reaction), which future fuels Superboys feeling of rejection.  There is a scene I really liked with Batman giving Superman parenting advice, which makes total sense since Batman has raised Robin.

Aqualad is a new character with an old name; he's been reimagined as a black character, presumably to bring diversity to the cast rather than using another Teen Titan character like Cyborg or Bumblebee.  It doesn't really bother me though because the new Aqualad is pretty cool, and I'm a lot less harsh on these kind of changes in a cartoon than in the comics themselves (more on that topic in another post).  He is the leader of the team, but only until Robin feels he is ready, which is a great compromise I think to take some of the focus off of Robin (as he was the star of the Teen Titans cartoon).

Ms. Martian is said to be the Martian Manhunters niece, which is a change from the comics (where she is actually a white martian, not a green one) but a nice and easy way to include her.  She is less powerful than her uncle but she provides a fresh, innocent perspective on things, such as Starfire did on the Teen Titans cartoon.  Also interesting is that she and J'onn are not the sole survivors of Mars, as she mentions she has twelve sisters on Mars.


Finally, Artemis.  I've only seen one episode with her so far so I'm not sure how similar she is to Arrowette of the comics; at a glance I think the only similarity is blonde hair and archery, to be honest.  She is the team mystery, as she and Green Arrow claim she is his niece but Red Arrow dispels that pretty quickly (privately, not to the rest of the team).
What really surprised me about this show was the inclusion of the Justice League.  Unlike the Teen Titans cartoon (which is highly underrated in my opinion), where the Justice Leage was kept completely separate (Batman's name was never mentioned once in the entire 5 seasons the show aired), here the League is represented in full force.  These kids are the sidekicks, much to Speedy's disapproval.  One fun aspect of the original Young Justice comic, as well as the early issues of the relaunched Teen Titans, was the kids trying to find their own way and gain trust from their mentors.  These kids are privy to the secrets of the world's greatest heroes, and also want to prove themselves.  Having the Justice League around for the kids to look up to and rebel against should make for some fun television.

If you can park your DC continuity at the door and enjoy the show as a new take on the DC Universe, you're in for a treat.

Make Way For The Champ

Blogger decided to eat my entire post about "Comics That Are Fun", so I'll have to recreate that for another day.  Instead, since time is short, I thought I'd post a couple of my favourite scans from the original Siegel and Shuster Superman comic strip from back in the good ol' 30's.  Superman really is a jerk.

Eat your heart out Aquaman.

Can you imagine if he caught you out after curfew?

Movie Costumes & Weird Textures

I'm not sure what the reasoning is, but Hollywood is tending to add weird textures to superhero costumes.  I don't know why and I certainly don't know how, but it just strikes me as unnecessary.  Case in point, check out the new Superman costume from the upcoming reboot.


Aquaman's tailor is branching out.


 The first thing I noticed when I first saw this costume was the scaly texture to it.  Give it a click and look at full size, it looks like Superman is doing his best fish impression.

I actually like other elements of the costume, such as the prominence of the S-Shield, but the texture really bugs me.  Plus the S curl in the hair is missing; negative cool points for that.



Spider-Cleats activate!

 Here is a promotional image that just came out recently (the website that published it first put that stamp on it) of the costume for the Amazing Spider-Man reboot. 

I hate this costume.  The only reason they changed the classic look, in my speculation, is to differentiate this film from the Sam Raimi trilogy.  This is why studios should have to wait awhile before rebooting a franchise, but Sony can't wait that long or they lose the movie rights so I guess we're stuck.  This costume just screams "I'm different just to be different!"

Two things jumped out at me about this image when I first laid eyes upon it.  The first was that it looks like Bounty paper towels (the Quicker Picker UpperTM) is sponsoring this outfit, since the suit has a kind of quilted texture to it.  I also noticed that Spidey must not have made it onto his high school soccer team since his cleats don't extend to his heel (Aunt May must not have been able to afford a whole shoe).  The sad things is I actually hope that really is the case and those aren't suction cups on the bottom of his feet...

So far Marvel Studios has done the best job adapting their characters costumes to the big screen.  Thor looked spot on, Captain America was pretty good, and Iron Man was absolutely perfect.  And I guess the Hulk's pants were alright too, kind of hard to screw that up.  While I normally hate when characters are put in full leather suits (hello X-Men), that is pretty much the standard operating procedure for the Black Widow and she looked picture perfect in her debut in Iron Man 2.  I want the characters to have more than a passing resemblance to their four colour inspirations, so I hope other studios get on the Marvel costuming train.



It's a fake but it's awesome.