Friday, August 27, 2010

Tana Nile Free-style!

Steve Rude posted a marker drawing he's doing of Tana Nile dancing for an appreciative Thor. The God of Thunder has always been a connoisseur of the performing arts, dance in particular. He was an early supporter of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and in The Mighty Thor issue #146 (November, 1967)-- after defeating the Circus of Crime-- Thor declares to both Odin and Balder:

Verily, dance is for everybody! I do heartily believe that the dance hath come from the people-- and that it should always be delivered back unto the people!

While I'm an expert on Thor, obviously, my knowledge of Tana Nile is regrettably limited. For example, I'm not sure how to pronounce her surname. Nile. Is it pronounced like the river in Egypt, or more like "Nigh-lay?" Or even "Nee-lay?" In Japan, it would probably sound a lot like "Nee-day."

Curious about our tiny dancer, I did some Google stalking. Tana Nile is a Rigellian and, as such, has an enormous head. You'd think such a massive cabeza would give her a high center of gravity and make dancing difficult. Apparently not; Tana must be pretty used to it by now, possessed of powerful neck muscles and an ability to compensate and maintain her balance. I also have an oversized head and I'm a pretty smooth dancer myself, so it's at least possible.

I learned Tana Nile originally came to earth to colonize our planet for her people, and she disguised herself as Jane Foster's roommate. Since Jane Foster and Dr. Donald Blake were such good buddies, this caused some sort of conflict with Thor. Tana took control of Jane's will, which created friction between the roomies. Also, Tana ate the last of Jane's Fruity Pebbles cereal and left the unwashed bowl in the sink all day. Goaded on by an enraged and hungry Jane Foster, Thor punched Tana Nile into last week, where she mended her ways by buying an extra box of Fruity Pebbles so when the time came around again, the roommates had plenty of their favorite comfort food, thus avoiding the conflict in the first place.

Marvel storytelling in the 1960s was pretty trippy, dude!

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