Art & Creativity Quote by J. Michael Straczynski

There is a particular kind of pride that only makes sense if you’ve lived inside the machinery of fandom and sales charts: not the pride of “we made a masterpiece,” but the pride of “the market finally noticed.” Straczynski’s line isn’t really about Thor’s quality so much as Thor’s status. “Mid-selling” is the quiet insult in comics culture, the purgatory title: respected enough to survive, not loved enough to lead. By naming that baseline, he frames the reboot’s performance as a reversal of fate, a narrative arc that mirrors superhero storytelling itself.

The intent is gracious on the surface - gratitude, a “compliment” - but the subtext is professional vindication. Reboots are high-risk bets dressed up as fresh starts; they can read as desperation, cynical brand maintenance, or editorial panic. Straczynski positions the outcome as organic, audience-driven validation: “amazing to watch” suggests even the creators are spectators to the momentum, which flatters readers by making them the deciding force.

Context matters: he’s a producer who understands franchises across media, not just a writer admiring his own script. The metric he reaches for is not reviews or awards, but “top ten for every single issue.” That repetition is the point. One strong launch can be marketing; sustained top-ten placement implies a rebuilt habit, a reattachment of audience to a character who’d drifted.

Underneath the compliment is an industry reality: in serialized pop culture, success is measured in consistency, and nothing is more romantic than a comeback that can be graphed.