I think we can all agree that Wednesday is one of the happiest days of the week. But when you walk into the comic shop at the end of a very long day at work and see that your favorite ongoing title is back on the shelves a mere two weeks after the last issue, that, my friends, is a very happy moment.

Northlanders #31 is the sort of comic that justifies my love for comics as a storytelling medium. I stopped watching TV years ago because most shows are watered down by necessity — you can’t attract a huge audience and the attendant huge advertising revenue unless you appeal to the broadest possible swath of America. That means anything controversial or risqué is removed by several levels of middle management, corporate oversight and network censors. There are notable exceptions (South Park, I’m looking at you fondly), but most of TV is safe, boring and highly profitable because of it. So the fact that a comic book — a medium still considered childish by that meaty mainstream — would feature a character who is high all the time, vengeful with a magnificent bloodlust and waging a one-man war on Christianity as our nominal hero, well, that’s proof that comic creators have a freedom to express their vision that is unrivaled in any other format. I make no bones about being an absolute sucker for Brian Woods’ viking adventures, and there is definitely a personal element to that affection; your religious beliefs are yours, and mine are mine, and because this is America we’re both OK. But because nobody in America can talk about the opposing viewpoint right now without someone shouting them down, I’m amazed that the opposing viewpoint — my viewpoint — is being presented at all, anywhere, let alone in a comic book. We live in fascinating times, and comics have never been more liberated. That’s worth celebrating. If I’m being honest, I can no longer be rational about Northlanders. I love this book with a passion that has no name, and I’m going to bury my copies in the earth and raise a mound over the hoard to honor it.

But if it weren’t for Northlanders, what would I talk about? Well, despite my aversion to the multi-title, cash-grab crossover series, I bought Daredevil #509: SHADOWLAND because I loved the book 20-something years ago, and because Power Man and Iron Fist were on this month’s cover. (It is one of my fervent wishes that Marvel revive Power Man and Iron Fist, the Defiant Ones of the 80s.) Look, if you’re not trying out new titles regularly, you’ll never know what you’re missing.
I was … not missing much in the world of Daredevil. I’m willing to accept Matt Murdock as some sort of ninja warlord, but just barely. I’m not gonna go along with the illogical choice of someone “holding a bridge” by standing dead center and cutting the bridge down and thereby falling to their death when they could just as easily have stood ten feet closer to the end and cut it down and lived.

The ultra-hardboiled attitude of the book, coupled with Murdock’s recent murder of Bullseye, just doesn’t jibe with the Daredevil I know. Years ago, Frank Miller drew a cover that showed DD doing his best Dirty Harry with the tagline, “No More Mister Nice Guy.”

In the actual story, DD just winged Punisher to stop him, but the thought engendered by that cover — that Matt Murdock was fed up and going to cross a line — was thrilling in its suggestiveness. Frank Miller created this hardboiled ninja theater version of the character, and even he knew that being a hero means that you don’t just gun down the bad guys — well, Punisher does, hence DD’s extreme measure to stop him — but Daredevil believes in justice and the law (hence the whole lawyer career choice), and the idea of redemption. This Shadowland stuff is a far cry from that and yes, I know that nobody is really dead in the Marvel Universe — they’re merely waiting in the wings for someone to redesign their costume and Rastafy their origin story by ten percent — so Murdock didn’t really “kill” Bullseye. Heck, Elektra’s appearance in the book is proof of that, she’s been dead before. But still — Daredevil doesn’t kill. That hipster Iron Fist is also a bitter pill to swallow; I may be a little reluctant to change.

Or am I? At about the same time in the distant past that I last enjoyed Daredevil, Hank Pym was revealing himself as a wifebeating, insecure loser. I’ve lived with that characterization ever since. Roger Langridge undoes it in one issue of Thor the Mighty Avenger, and I couldn’t be happier. Hank is shown in flashback as a struggling young scientist and in his modern role as Ant-Man, teamed up once again with the winsome Wasp. Pym is a little unsure of his role as a superhero, more brainy scientist than brawny skullcracker, but he’s also gloriously in love with Janet Van Dyne and, more importantly, respects her as a person. She’s clearly the common-sense brains of the pair, and they’re FUN. In Landgridge’s hands, these two are the Nick and Nora of superheroes. I demand a spin-off title with Langridge writing and Chris Samnee penciling the crime-fighting adventures of Pym and Van Dyne, Superhero P.I.s. Samnee’s rendition of one of Wasp’s early, goofy costumes is a delight, by the way; she looks like she escaped from the Moon. Oh, yeah, Thor’s in the book, too, engaged in a classic “I’m not your friend, buddy” fight with Ant-Man in his Giant Man form, and we also get the first appearances of Loki, Odin and the Warriors Three, with a teaser for next issue strongly implying some sweaty Volstagg loving coming Thor’s way.

We’re three issues deep into this title’s run and it’s quickly becoming a favorite, updated origins and non-official continuity be damned. And it’s all ages, to boot; I love an all-ages book because I can give them to my nephews when the trade comes out. Cue up Curtis Mayfield’s “Pusherman,” because I’m hooking a new generation on comics.
All right, so Northlanders is a totally awesome book you should all be reading so that Brian Wood recognizes my adulation and creates a character based on me in gratitude — that’s a given. I’m clearly around the bend. But this week, Thor the Mighty Avenger was the best thing I read, because it’s modern, clever, fun and suitable for everyone you know. Now buy a copy and give it to the neighbor kid.

-Paul

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