Usually, I like to stick to my own writing.  But occasionally,  something from the outside world rocks the bubble that is my writing life. Earlier this week, Marvel announced that Thor is now a woman in the comics.  And I found myself thinking about it and getting mad…

“Kate, this is your logical side. You don’t believe in gendered characters.”

Yes, but–

“Kate, you loved Battlestar Galatica! Starbuck was your favorite! And Joss! JOSS!”

I know, I know. I should be jumping up and down about this.

But Thor’s an establish–

“Are you going to pretend that you read comics?”

I love Marvel movies, and was a huge fan of the 90’s Xmen cartoons.

“Kate…”

I read the entirety of The Maxx.

“Because a friend of yours had it! You never got into comics because you suck at waiting and you have to have the WHOLE story.”

Okay, FINE, but I still believe that comics are beautiful, and relevant, and revolutionary.  I just hate waiting, and I hate hate hate having only little bits of the story.

“Kate, you love series. You WRITE a series.”

Yes, but comics are super short.

“So are your novellas.”

Look, I can read a 80k novel in like four hours.  I read like eight books a time. One in the car, one in my purse, one in the living room, and the other five are my friends books that I am constantly reading and critiquing.

And I’d probably wait for my own Omnibus Edition.

“You know that comic come in omni-“

Look, this isn’t about what I do and do not read.  This is about…

“Now Kate, look, I went to the Marvel Wiki, Thor’s power has been given to other people before. This fits in with the continuity.”

But logical side of me, she’s wearing boobplate.

“Oh shit, she is, huh… Well, it’s totally unsafe, but–“

And logical side, look at this. ‘This is not She-Thor,” Aaron said. “This is not Lady Thor. This is not Thorita. This is Thor. This is the Thor of the Marvel Universe. But it’s unlike any Thor we’ve ever seen before.’

Why the dig at She-Hulk? Weren’t we just defending her as a whole and complete awesome female character a little while ago?

“Okay… yeah, we were.”

And if this is going along with Thor continuity, that anyone who is deemed ‘worthy’ gets the Power of Thor, then why is it ‘unlike any Thor’? Just because it’s a woman? Thor was a FROG at one point. Now, that’s a unique concept. But a woman? It’s apparently transcendent.

“That sounded sarcastic.”

Well, I feel like they’re pandering, because Thor is more popular than ever right now. And what’s with talking it up that it’s this huge revolutionary thing, when it’s not, in anyway, something new in the Thor story. It’s a new character taking on a mantle, as several other people have before.  This one happens to be woman.

“Kate, this is one of Marvel’s big three getting to be a woman!”

*shrug* Why not create a new female character that is so awesome in her own right that she becomes one of the main three? Why not give Sif a good story?

Or what about Valkeryie.

Or give us a prequel about Freya.

Why change Thor? He wasn’t stale or boring. He had just been revitalized by the movies.

“Okay… you may have a point there… But all that aside, you don’t know that this is going to be terrible. And the artwork is beautiful.”

I know, I know.

“Oh, and then there’s this. If Disney owns Marvel, and Thor is a girl… then Thor is a Disney Princess.”

OMG I’M RIGHT!