Posted: Jul 16, 2014 3:22 am
I think you're making a slightly different claim than the one IT responded to there. You initially said: "Marvel will find that the kind of person who is going to be impressed by this change wouldn't buy comics no matter what", and since IT is both impressed by the change AND is willing to buy the comic, then it does refute that claim (as written at least).
If we're talking about an untapped market then I don't see why not. I don't think there is an implication that there were people out there specifically not buying Thor comics because he was a guy but rather that it was a character that just didn't appeal to them. Pushing something as radical as replacing him with a female character seems like something that could get people interested, especially as it seems like she's going to be a badass and not just a chick with big boobs in spandex.
It also comes off the back of recent changes, like DC's "New 52" and Marvel "NOW!" which have reset storylines so that more people can get into it, and the adoption of new technologies to access comics (e.g. Comixology), which means that if there's ever a time where any changes and diversification is going to stick then it's now.
I don't think there will be a problem of "confusion" with people getting into it due to the movies any more so than there was confusion when Otto replaced Spider-man in Superior Spider-man.
Nicko wrote:Marvel already has some interesting female characters who could be pushed more aggressively.
I think they're doing both but at the end of the day it's what the writer thinks will make the best storyline and it seems like he's been working his way towards this for a while, so it seems silly to question him now simply because of the announcement.
Nicko wrote:It also has existing male heroes who could be credibly revamped as female: characters whose identity is inherently a kind of "title" that can be passed to another person.
Female Captain America? Bring it on. Female Thor? WTF?
Why is Thor specifically a problem? When Thor falls from grace and his hammer rejects him, why would it have to be a man to take his place? We don't even know the specifics of the situation - they might use the same name because the new Thor is a clone of the original so has the same name.
I think it's more of a "wait and see" thing rather than a "WTF" thing.
I like this kind of design: