Success Quote by J. Michael Straczynski

Straczynski is quietly describing a power move: narrative quarantine as brand strategy. Marvel is built on cross-pollination, the pleasure of doors swinging open and famous silhouettes dropping in. So when he insists on keeping Thor "out of the rest of the Marvel universe" for six issues, he's rejecting the companys default dopamine hit in favor of something harder to pull off: making the character feel singular again.

The specificity matters. "Very clear" isnt just emphasis; its preemptive defense against the gravitational pull of editorial synergy. Six issues is a boundary that reads like a contract clause, not an artistic mood. It signals an intent to control tone, stakes, and mythology long enough to establish a new status quo without Iron Man or whoever showing up to normalize it into superhero office politics.

The subtext is also about legitimacy. Thor is the most overtly mythic of Marvels icons, and myth collapses when it has to share oxygen with quippy cameos and continuity housekeeping. By delaying integration, Straczynski is buying room for awe: rebuilding Asgard, reframing Thor as a figure with theological weight rather than just another costumed colleague.

Then comes the flex: "the success of the book... speaks well to that decision". Its the polite version of I was right. Not gloating, but staking authorship over outcome in an ecosystem where success often gets credited to the shared universe machine. Hes arguing that restraint, not connectivity, can be the commercial hook - that sometimes the most Marvel thing you can do is temporarily stop being Marvel.