Of Gods and Man

It is not for the Gods to decide whether or not Man exists - it is for Man to decide whether or not the Gods exist. - Donald Blake

I woke up this morning with Marvel Comics running through my head. It's been happening more and more over the past few months, and it's a nice distraction from my normal political work. I've always enjoyed reading Thor and Captain America, but the current story line in Cap's books has really been bothering me. I've also appreciated the character of Iron Man, but his current trends remind me too much of what I am actively fighting against in the real world.

I've read several blog posts about what the Death of Captain America means symbolically. [1], [2] I've read that his death meant the end of Eisenhower Conservatism. [3] But there is a larger story waiting to be told.

I'm reading the early years of Thor, written by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the 1960's. Thor fought communist dictators in South America, the Soviet Union, crazy fools from a peaceful future who wanted to exert domination over their world, Chinese characters wanting to expand the power of red China. So from the beginning he was fighting on behalf not only of Marvel Comics America, but for Real American ideals. Over the past 40 years of comics, we have seen the Gods from many cultures show up in books, like Hercules and Shiva. Watching what the comic writers and artists do with the Gods has always been interesting.

But now we have an opportunity. In the real world, Gaea is under attack. Not from super-villians, but from human ignorance. Climate Change is affecting Marvel's Earth already. Thor walked through the ruins of New Orleans, and wondered why the great heroes didn't do more to save the city. He blames himself for not being there to help, believing that he could have turned back the storm. I wonder.

If it is for mortals to say whether the Gods exist, then I say that they live on, in the hearts and souls and minds of mortals. They only need to be found, and awakened. - Donald Blake

Political activists like me want to awaken the American spirit. It's the spirit that says we can do something, like earn our independence from Britain, like building a railroad all the way across the continent, like winning two wars overseas at the same time. It's a spirit that looks to the best of what people can do.

Here's a storyline for Straczynski to consider. In Thor's quest to restore Asgard, Gaea appears to him, and explains the threat. She is a manifestation of the Earth's biosphere. And she is sick. [4] This is not an enemy that can be fought with a hammer, it is the ultimate struggle of humanity to define itself. It will take the reawakening of all of the pantheons, and the return of those pantheons to the peoples of Earth to teach and help instead of to destroy and harm. That is the quest that we are on, here in the real world.

In Africa, anyone with the power of life and death is a God. - Village Elder

- Chadlupkes 19:05, 15 December 2007 (UTC)