Donny Cates is capable of writing stories without altering the characters in any way, but like any writer, just writing the story itself should change and influence the character... You know, or else what's the point in reading it? Do you want stagnant stories where nothing happens? Do you not want characters to evolve?What Cates does is not anymore childish and tryhard than anyone else in comics. I mean, literally look at Thor for the bulk of the issue. This is a bad take made in bad faith.

If it was in bad faith I'd probably opt for a 1. It is constructive criticism. Obviously I don't want stagnant stories, but you can create exciting stories that don't visually or radically change a character, or alter their power-set. Sometimes a strong gasp of what makes a base character compelling or popular is what really works. Donny is kind of going with a symbiote-esque arc several times with many of his characters. As in it changes the character visually, emotionally, and power-wise.

None of your examples change the base of the characters, though.

Venom is and always has been about a guy in an alien symbiote suit. Giving the symbol on his chest a meaning that's not just a copy of the spider symbol doesn't change that. And neither does giving him wings on occasion. He's always been able to morph his body. Cosmic Ghost Rider fits Frank's character, unless you ignore many stories. Punisher can and has been silly. And the core of Frank's character is still present in CGR. Just look at the recent back up in Revenge of the Cosmic Ghost Rider.

The Inhumans getting Vox is just a repeat of what the Kree did to early humans to create the Inhumans. Vox works well within the Inhumans world. Silver Surfer has a reason for being black, you need to finish his mini for that, but it's a great parallel to one of the quintessential Surfer stories, Parable. He literally embodies his choices. Rocket has a mech suit. You mean, the raccoon engineer built a suit, what a huge change. One that he loses at the end of the run. Now he's back to 007 Rocket.

The point is that none of these changes are made in defiance of the character, but rather in service to them. If you want the former, look at characters like Apex Lex or Infamous Iron Man. You're questioning someone's ability as a writer because they made choices that aren't just gimmicks, but work within the base character. That's why it's a bad take.

If it works and his books are selling, how could you blame him? I understand why he does it, every writer wants to leave their mark on their favorite characters and Donny does what everyone else does BUT BETTER. Many creators try to "gimmick" existing characters with simple and uninteresting story telling but Cates does it right time and time again. Don't focus on things don't matter, focus on the fact that he is doing a good job and until he stops doing a good job, he can gimmick all he wants.

I like 20-issue Ceiling's criticism. Thor just transitioned to being the Allfather, which is already a big new thing for him, and now he's also suddenly imbued with more cosmic powers over the course of half an issue. I'm interested to explore this direction but I also think Cates missed a cool opportunity to build a story or character arc for Thor leading up to this moment rather than hitting us with it in a flash of circumstance.

He's had the Odin-Force before, so that's not new. If you mean his ruling of Asgard, that's not being thrown away or ignored.

The Odin-Force? No, I was trying to allude to Thor becoming a Herald of Galactus without dropping spoilers... Oops.

I was saying that Cates didn't miss an opportunity as his all-father stuff will continue to be explored. All this herald of thunder stuff is intentionally a bombastic first arc to draw people in, and the power change and physical change was to differentiate himself from Aaron immediately.

The missed opportunity I'm talking about is a build up to becoming the Herald of Thunder (I'm trying to remain open to how much or how little the Allfather stuff remains in the equation). Bringing herald status in the first issue isn't 'wrong' or anything, I'm sure Cates has something interesting planned, but it made me think that it would be cool if Thor had to give himself over to becoming a herald in order to overcome some dark, hopeless moment later in the story. I'd find that compelling.

Oh, okay, I see what you're saying. My bad. I guess that would be compelling, but that's not really a criticism, just an idea for what you'd rather be reading, yeah?

There's an obvious gimmick to get the speculators buying extras and readers hooked with something shiny. But Cates actually has purpose and satisfying story beats that follow, unlike many of his peers that endlessly kill, maim, and swap heroes to try and drum up internet headlines.

The dialogue between Thor and Loki was perfect.

Read Aaron's "God of Thunder" for the basic premise and best story of the run, and you basically know most of what happened to Thor in the last 7 years. It took a lot of detours after that, but basically he lost an eye and an arm and became King Thor as foretold in the early part of Aaron's run.