I wrote an essay last year for National Review about the absurdly liberal nature of the modern comic book industry. And, as if to prove my point—comic books have a pretty long lead time; eight months from idea to your grubby little hands isn't an unreasonable amount of time—this week saw two of the most idiotically PC announcements in recent memory.
First came news that Archie, of Riverdale fame, would die. While saving his gay friend. Who is married. And a senator. Who was pushing for gun control. And who was being shot at by a pro-gun nut when Archie went down.
It's as if the manatees who write for Family Guy picked every PC idea ball at once to create the most laughably politically correct storyline that they could. I'm not even mad—it's hard to get particularly mad about something no one reads. I'm impressed!
The second bit of stunt PC storytelling involved Thor, the Norse God of Thunder. Of course, a mythical god being male is horribly sexist, so Marvel is apparently going to create a Lady Thor. (She-Thor? Thorina? Big Thorda?) Here's Marvel editor Wil* Moss:
"The inscription on Thor’s hammer reads ‘Whosoever holds this hammer, if HE be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.’ Well it’s time to update that inscription," says Marvel editor Wil Moss.
You go girl!
It's telling that Marvel decided to make this announcement on The View—the audience of which probably has about seven readers of Marvel comics—rather than at the industry's largest trade show later this month. There's nothing comic book fans love more than pointlessly dicking** around with iconic characters to make an idiotic point.
And it is idiotic. Because Thor's not a woman. What I mean is, there are plenty of female norse gods that they could've chosen from. I myself would've loved to see Marvel put a real push behind the warrior goddess Sif, played by Jaimie Alexander in the film series:
She's got all the assets needed to launch a major comic book series and a major comic book movie. And you wouldn't even have to crap all over a beloved character to get her out there!
*Proving yet again that people who spell the name "Will" with one "l" are not to be trusted. I'm looking at you, Wesley Crusher.
**Phrasing.