Moon Knight #3 – Review

by Warren Ellis (Writer), Declan Shalvey (Artist), Jordie Bellaire (Color art).

The story: The Fist of Khonshu gets into a street fight with punk ghosts.

The Review: Nobody writes done in one issues like Warren Ellis, I actually prefer his work like Planetary and Secret Avengers than I do his more structured arcs like his work on Iron Man or Astonishing X-men. The stories he weaves are not always the most complex but they’re always peppered with enough weirdness and atmosphere to compensate, Moon Knight is shaping up to be a particularly effective vehicle for this particular style of storytelling.

In this issue Moon Knight investigates a series of attacks that it is revealed were perpetrated by a spectral gang of punks, he gets his ass kicked, returns to base for a costume change that has to be seen to be believed and then heads back out for a rematch. That is the entire plot of this comic so it’s not surprising that it reads more like a tone poem than a complicated piece of narrative fiction. The violence is fast and brutal, the presence of Khonshu is unsettling and the climax of the issue is sombre, lacking the sense of victory that a reader would expect.

The partnership of Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire on this book is phenomenal, the pages are drenched in atmosphere and the design of Spector’s bird skull costume along with the extremely creepy look of Khonshu are fantastic. I had a brief but fascinating conversation with Shalvey on twitter a few days ago about the extra work that he has to put into the series as he is using an ink wash technique similar to Matteo Scalera on Black Science, the extra depth and sense of atmosphere that this creates is well worth the extra effort it takes on his part. Ably assisted by Jordie on colors who adds so much to the look of the work using a muted but dynamic colour pallette that is reminiscent of Francesco Francavilla’s restrained coloring style.

Moon Knight #1 – Review

by Warren Ellis (Writer), Declan Shalvey (Artist), Jordie Bellaire (Colorist)

The Story: It takes a special kind of crazy to assume that a completely white suit will always stay clean while going into a sewer to fight crime.

The Review: Moon Knight is a strange character with a special history. First created as an antagonist in a Werewolf by Night comic, Marc Spector then gained a bit of a following with his own title, with Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz putting quite a lot of mythos behind his stories. Many years later, after the cancellation of said title, the character has been in the hand of many other writers, with most of them trying to bring him back, yet with a twist. Charlie Huston, Gregg Hurtwitz, Brian Michael Bendis and many others then tried to bring him back to pre-eminence, each with their own twists. Still, despite the many volumes and attempts, it seems that Marvel truly has faith in the character as he receives yet another chance in the All-New Marvel Now initiative.

Cue Warren Ellis, a celebrated writer that has done quite a lot of decidedly appreciated work in the comic medium. With a certain style that can certainly adapt itself to the adventures of Marc Spector and with yet another take on the crazed vigilante, could Ellis be the one to finally make it work?

In many respects, Ellis does manage to breathe a whole new life in the character, but also in the way he operates. The major success of the writer, though, rest in the portrayal of the titular hero himself, giving him a sharp personality. With a certain penchant for sophistication, yet not devoid of a certain edge, the more cynic qualities of Ellis writing manage to make him shine throughout the entire issue. He is charismatic, seemingly in control of the situation, yet also dangerous, making him some kind of ambiguous menace. Pushing forth the approach to ambiguity that made the character appealing in the first place, the issue does not still forget that this is as much an introduction as it is a re-introduction to just who and what Marc Spector is.

It’s in that respect that the issue also work very well, with just enough information given to old time fans that they can feel that this is not merely a continuation of what they love as it is an evolution, an adaptation of the character in its essence. The Moench, Huston, Hurwitz and Bendis era are all referenced, implementing what happened as essential to the character, yet without putting an over-emphasis on them. This is a new chapter in the saga of the Moon Knight and Ellis takes full advantage of it without pushing the past back.

However, those who are not fans might be a bit lost, making the few first pages talking about the character a tad superfluous in the whole experience. They are handled with enough clarity as to ensure the essential experience of this opening is enjoyable and concise, yet some might be a tad annoyed that there is a certain slowing down in the first few opening and closing pages of the issue.

Deadpool #19 – Review

by Gerry Duggan, Brian Posehn (Writers), Declan Shalvey (Artist), Jordie Bellaire (Colorist)

The Story: Deadpool finally gets a chat with Butler as he wants to get answers about a great many things.

The Review: It’s always a nice thing to see a character get the respect he or she deserves. It’s never uncommon to see a certain creative team that doesn’t seem to ”get” a character, pushing for a divergent version that plays on some of the more popular themes while never really touching the others. While there are always many ways to interpret a character, there will always be some version that are more memorable and thus stay with the readers as a ”better” version.

Deadpool is perhaps one of those characters upon which many writers have pushed for one side more while never really focusing on the others, with some liking the humor and others being more in love with the mercenary aspect of the character. However, it seems that in this story and arguably in their whole run, both Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn have managed to bring back an ensemble look at this beloved character, with hints of Joe Kelly’s characterization for good measure.

With ”The good, the bad and the ugly”, they had actually done the hard job of selling to the readers a much more humane Wade Wilson and make him interesting beside the silly pop culture reference. In this story, we get to see him as a credible force, a human being, one capable of compassion, cruelty and many other emotions without resorting to cheap ploy or jokes, creating something much better in the process. This is not just a clown, but a person we are rooting for and this is not something every Deadpool comics can manage.

Deadpool #18 – Review

Brian Posehn, Gerry Duggan (Writers), Declan Shalvey (Artist), Jordie Bellaire (Colorist)

The Story: Cap, Wolverine and Deadpool infiltrates the main camp in order to save the family of the metahumans in custody of the North Korean government.

The Review: There is a lot to like when one looks at the current Deadpool ongoing. With a good balance between action, humor and some tiny bit of darkness, both Posehn and Duggan have captured a bit of the Joe Kelly era of the character, the most iconic of them all. However, with the current arc called The good, the bad and the ugly, both writers seemed to be able to surprise readers with a voluntary twist in how things are usually done with the characters, giving something different for the Merc with a Mouth.

While the previous issue wasn’t as great an example of where this arc succeeds at showing the many nuances of Deadpool as a character, this issue is a shining example of how the character can be efficiently handled. They do so by creating a crescendo of real horror, letting the super heroics fade away until the ending hits both the character and the readers like a gut punch. By letting the rather darker and much more miserable side of the character be on the page, they are able to put forward a more nuanced take on Wade Wilson that makes him more enjoyable to read. Duggan and Posehn treats the titular character like a three-dimensional being, which really do help this arc so far.

Both writers do also seem to make a better use of Captain America and Wolverine in this issue, showcasing their history and how it can be compared with Deadpool’s own. While Captain America is left on the side in terms of introspection, Wolverine is more present in this issue as Duggan and Posehn seems to understand how he works and how he sees himself. The interaction he has with Deadpool along with the mutated refugees are pretty well done, as they are able to show the compassion and the tragedy in a man that is quite intimate with violence and all that it entails.

Deadpool #17 – Review

Brian Posehn, Gerry Duggan (Writers), Declan Shalvey (Artist), Jordie Bellaire (Colorist)

The Story: With Captain America and Wolverine now rescued, it’s time for them to get out of there, but not without causing a whole lot of damage before they go.

The Review: It was too good to be true. A Deadpool arc which features a more serious take on the character, focusing on his psyche and just how dark the character truly is could not keep the excellence forever. The psychological take on the character and the way his legacy was twisted up, despite his best attempts at not making it so was just too much for its own good, as the arrival of Captain America and Wolverine detracts from all of that.

Now, before I go too far in the negative intro to this review, I wouldn’t say that this is a bad comic. There are several aspects of the issue that were handled with obvious care and an obvious desire for fun, like the action. The big battle that Captain America, Wolverine, Deadpool and the captive of the meta human camp is actually filled with all the violence, gore and bombastic hyperbole of super heroic action that one could very much expect from a book featuring the Merc with a Mouth. The pacing is also well kept as there is enough variety in the action to allow it to be properly exciting throughout the issue.

What’s much less exciting is how the story and the whole take on Deadpool seems to return to utter goofiness. While the crazed take on Wade Wilson can be easily explained through the fact that this is the way he acts around those he respects in some weird way, it still feels a bit too fast as Poshen and Duggan abandon the introspective take on the character almost completely in favour of the action. The plot progression is also affected by all this, as this issue mostly revolves around the action and not on the direct conflict with Butler and the mystery of what he said to Deadpool. It’s a bit strange to say, yet it feels like the inclusion of Captain America and Wolverine, two popular characters, didn’t do much good in this particular story except provide more material for super hero action.

Deadpool #16 – Review

by Brian Posehn, Gerry Duggan (Writers), Declan Shalvey (Artist), Jordie Bellaire (Colorist)

The Story: Deadpool and Agent Preston tries to go away from Butler’s hold as they discover the type of experiments he is doing in his camp.

The Review: It’s not always easy for writers and readers to accept a mood-change. Sometimes, a political book tries to incorporate a bit of action to pepper things up, to disastrous results. Other times, it can be the opposite, as a book change just a bit to let some new ideas flow into it, to freshen things up before it gets repetitive or simply stale.

The latter is what’s happening to Deadpool, who tells a story that is far more character-oriented, with a darker take on things than is usual for the Merc with a Mouth. Humor has always been a regular thing in the book featuring Wade Wilson, yet there is so much pop culture references and poop jokes that can be thrown at the readers before it gets rather tiring. Thankfully, both Posehn and Duggan understand this very well as they focus on some darker ideas, while providing just enough levity to satisfy some of the Deadpool fans.

The opening page actually sums this issue and the very recent take quite well, as Wade tries to cheer himself up, slicing a turkey as if it was a happy family reunion. However, as the page progress, it is revealed to be merely a figment that even his imagination doesn’t seem to accept. His humor is gone, revealed as his way of escape from all his pain and the uncertainty of his life. This take continues toward the issue, as Deadpool himself is unable to continue due to the reveals given to him by Butler himself. Not wishing to go on like this, Agent Preston takes over for him as their interaction and their reaction to what is happening cements the psychological Duggan and Posehn are trying to do.

Deadpool #15 – Review

by Gerry Duggan, Brian Posehn (Writers), Declan Shalvey (Artist), Jordie Bellaire (Colorist)

The Story: Deadpool, after realizing that some people kept picking some of his body parts, decide that he’s had enough of it and try to get help.

The Review: With the constant humorous shenanigans involved within the adventures of the Merc with a mouth, it’s always easy to miss out a very precise point about Deadpool: he’s probably one of the more depressing characters in superhero comics. There may be jokes and he may be goofy at times, yet it’s hard to realize that the character, because of his constantly regenerating cancer cells, is in constant pain. Combine this with the fact that he does a job he feels make him worthless, receive no respect from anyone and always seem to get the only friends he gets in trouble because of his low sanity, which is caused by his aforementioned pain. With these facts known, a lot of what Deadpool does do seem to have some kind of cold logic behind them that allow the character to be much more than a simple clown that utter popular references and jokes all the time.

This issue, it seems, is particularly aware of that aspect of the character as the humor is kept a very low minimum with the writers focusing on the character and the story instead of the silliness here. With such a wild change to a series that had been based on comedy most of the time, does the issue still manage to have a modicum of quality?

American Vampire: Anthology #1 – Review

By: Scott Snyder, Jason Aaron, Rafael Albuquerque, Jeff Lemire, Becky Cloonan, Francesco Francavilla, Gail Simone, Gabriel Ba, Fabio Moon, Declan Shalvey, Ivo Milazzo, Ray Fawkes, Tula Lotay, Greg Rucka, JP Leon, Dave McCaig, Jordie Bellaire, Jared K. Fletcher, Steve Wands, Travis Lanham, Dezi Sienty

The Story: A group of super-creators gathers to tell short stories set in the American Vampire universe.

Review (with very minor SPOILERS): Whoa! This was really incredible.  I knew I wanted to read this issue because I’ve read and loved every issue of American Vampire.  It wasn’t even a question for me, despite the $7.99 price tag.  I love AV and this was a MUST READ.  Even if it costs as much as two other comics, it was twice as long and probably ten times as good.

Even though I expected quality, I was still surprised by the excellence of the content.  I really didn’t know what to expect from the stories within.  I’m sure there have been interviews out there that detailed the content of assembled stories, but I quit reading such interviews a long time ago.  So, I went into this cold and couldn’t be more pleased.

The issue features a framing sequence by Snyder and Albuquerque (the regular creators on AV), set in 1967 New Mexico featuring everyone’s favorite American vampire: Skinner Sweet.  There isn’t a ton of content here.  Just a few little pages showing Skinner getting into a messy fracas that is surely a tease for when the ongoing series returns from hiatus.  I can’t wait to see more of this story.  Why did those bikers want to kill Skinner?  Skinner versus Hell’s Angels?  That sounds nifty.  I’ll read that.  Please hurry up and create those comics for me, sirs.  It also raised an interesting thought in my mind: Skinner sure hasn’t gone very far from home.  Except for his World War II excursion, he has never left the American Southwest and southern California.  I’m not really sure if that means anything except that Skinner was probably a lot like other Americans of that era: He mostly stayed around his home area except for war.  I mean, we haven’t seen Skinner in New York or South Beach.  Kinda interesting…

The Massive #11 – Review

By: Brian Wood (writer), Declan Shalvey (art), Jordie Bellaire (colors) & Jared K. Fletcher (letters)

The Story: Ninth Wave continues looking for the Massive off the coast of California.

Review: The Massive is a very odd series.  For one thing, it isn’t much of an ongoing story.  It’s more of a setting and an opportunity to watch some characters roam around and do stuff in this setting.  As such, it’s really not a series to review on a monthly basis.  When you review a series month-after-month, there is more tendency to focus on what happened in that issue rather than examining the series as a whole.  So, having not reviewed the series since the seventh issue, let’s take a look at what is going on….

Venom #22 – Review

By: Rick Remender (writer), Declan Shalvey (art), Lee Loughridge (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: What better way for series mastermind Rick Remender to say farewell than one final fight between Venom and Jack O’ Lantern and on Father’s Day, no less?

The Review:  This issue is a true swansong for Rick Remender’s fantastic run on Venom; it showcases so much of what Remender has managed to accomplish over the course of these 22 issues.

As such, it’s a character-driven issue and one that’s incredibly  heavy as a result.  It focuses on the humanity that Remender imbued Flash Thompson with and the lasting scars of his abuse as a child.  In this sense, the issue is as much a polemic against child abuse as it is an introverted character study of Flash.  It’s an extremely sincere issues, when that punches you in the gut, making it impossible not to empathize with Flash.  Again, that this issue has so much weight is a testament to and a reminder of how much Remender has accomplished in this series; we’ve grown so invested in Flash over the course of the series that all of these painful flashbacks feel truly, well, painful.  Despite this being the last issue of his run, Remender is still letting us enter deep into the mind of Flash Thompson, showing what makes the character tick, and it’s still excellent.

Dark Avengers #178 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (story), Kev Walker & Declan Shalvey (art), Frank Martin Jr. (colors)

The Story: Invasion of the Dark Avengers!  The Future of the Thunderbolts!

The Review: You have to wonder why, of all the titles Marvel puts out, Dark Avengers now gets a twice monthly release.  It may be a solid series, but it’s not as if there was a huge demographic of readers demanding a double dose of it.  More likely than not, this schedule will keep on so long as the team itself continues to be split in two, requiring two issues to give a month’s worth of sufficient coverage to their exploits.

And while I don’t have any problem with that as a rule, it does feel a bit irritating having to divide your attention between two completely separate plotlines that have seemingly nothing to do with each other.  You really come away from the issue feeling like you’re reading two different titles in one—namely, a respectable Thunderbolts adventure and a just-slightly-north-of-dull Dark Avengers mission.

Dark Avengers #177 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (story), Kev Walker & Declan Shalvey (art), Frank Martin Jr. & Antonia Fabela (colors)

The Story: Doctor Doom learns that when you want something done right…

The Review: If you hang out with me long enough, you’ll learn that I am a horrible creature of habit.  Once I get used to a certain routine, it takes a near miracle for me to break out of it, even when I really want to change.  On that note, I completely missed seeing this title on the stands last week because, I can only suppose, that the subconscious part of my brain that recognizes comics for pick up still had Thunderbolts inscribed on it.

(As further evidence of my habit-forming ways, I’ll add that this week I bought an issue of Supergirl even though I Dropped the series last month.  For what it’s worth: repetitive, doesn’t play into its potential, forced romantic overtones, and okay art.  Snap judgment grade: C.)

Dark Avengers #176 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (story), Declan Shalvey (art) Frank Martin Jr. (colors)

The Story: Remember to set your watches forward some million years, everyone!

The Review: No judgments, but I’m a pretty devoted fan of Cougar Town.  Terrible name, isn’t it?  As it so happens, most of the people working on that show agree, especially considering the premise has long evolved from being a show about Courtney Cox chasing after young bucks and turned into one about a bunch of suburbanites doing silly things.  Clearly, Cougar Town doesn’t do a thing to reflect the series anymore, so there’s merit to the idea of changing the name.

Not so here.  Sure, the title has added a few former Dark Avengers to the cast, but the premise of a team of rehabilitated/coerced villains remains the same, as does the tone and main protagonists.  In most everything but name, you have the same book you read two months ago.  The name change, therefore, seems less like an extension of the change in status quo, and more like a craven attempt to cash in on the “Avengers” brand to sell an otherwise cult favorite-type series.

Dark Avengers #175 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (story), Declan Shalvey (art), Frank Martin Jr. (colors)

The Story: I can’t believe it’s not the Avengers!

The Review: Title changes do absolutely nothing for me, good or bad, unless they come with creative changes—or unless the new title is just plain heinous.  Dark Avengers may strike you as no less silly than Justice League Dark, but it’s no more silly either (and actually, it’s quite a bit less).  And since we have the exact same creative team as when the series was still Thunderbolts, what do I care if they change their name to Dark Avengers or The Kinda Evil, Kinda Not Squad?

Yes, that last one is a joke, but it does get to the essence of the team, no?  Only originally, it referred to the general, moral character of the members.  With the exception of Luke Cage, Songbird, and Mach-V (the fully reformed), the rest of the T-bolts all come with a funky mix of criminal tendencies and heroic aspirations.  This issue introduces a new set of ‘Bolts—and they are still called as such, so you have to question the point of renaming the book at all—and it turns out most of them are just plain villains.

Thunderbolts #174 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (story), Declan Shalvey (art), Frank Martin Jr. (colors)

The Story: Centurius discovers the secrets of hair growth, to Fixer’s benefit.

The Review: Time-traveling is a messy business, not just within a story, but for storytelling purposes in general.  As much fun as all that period-hopping can be, they usually tend to implode upon themselves, meaning they rarely result in major changes in the status quo.  Frequently, the necessity of preserving continuity (and not ruin things for other writers) means whatever happens, once everyone gets back to their proper time, things are pretty much as they should be.

Last issue delivered a fairly significant twist, a breach of time-traveling protocol so severe that you felt there was no way anyone could escape the consequences.  How does one get away with flat-out killing a person of such influence before their time, particularly when that person is one’s very own self?  Yet despite this, the Thunderbolts do manage to patch things up in the end—which is a tad disappointing, admittedly, but they take some interesting steps to get there.

Thunderbolts #173 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (story), Declan Shalvey (art), Frank Martin Jr. (colors)

The Story: Fixer takes self-loathing to a whole new level.

The Review: There are two common paradoxes that nearly always pop up in these time-travel stories.  In one situation, the future folks seemingly alter the past, only to realize their alterations were necessary anyway.  The other mind-boggler is when the future folks meet their past selves, interact with them, and return to the future, realizing their actions in the past were meant to happen—and yet with no memory of ever having met themselves in the past.

The first paradox already popped up in #167, where the Thunderbolts realized by their actions that they were “Jack the Ripper.”  Here, with all this Thunderbolt-on-Thunderbolt action, the second paradox almost has to be in the making, as we have all kinds of interference happening, to the point that Centurius officially declares their history “destroyed.”  They observe, however, that none of them have yet disappeared or been transformed by their meddling, meaning the changes will most likely catch up to them if and when they return to the present.

Thunderbolts #172 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (writer), Declan Shalvey (artist), Chris Sotomayor & Jordie Bellaire (colorists)

The Story: The T-bolts get the opportunity to beat some sense into their younger selves.

The Review: Perhaps way, way back in the sixties, the premise of heroes fighting other heroes was a novel, engaging idea on its face, but now, it just feels like a lazy way to inject some instant tension to the story.  While both of the Big Two publishers do the hero-on-hero thing far more than either ought, Marvel probably edges out DC in this respect.  They do seem to base a significant number of their Big Events on splashy “civil wars” within the superhero community.

What’s frustrating about these conflicts is there’s little to say about them other than point out some of the more interesting match-ups and maybe, if you’re lucky, discuss the motivating spark that sets off all the infighting.  In this case, the “present” Thunderbolts (for lack of a better description) fight the “past” Thunderbolts (ditto) because of course the thing to do when you encounter your parallel self is to try to beat them down or blast them apart.

Not to say the issue is bad, per se.  There are a couple interesting moments, like present Boomerang raiding his old stash, thereby leaving past Boomerang in the lurch and vulnerable to arrest.  You have a rather grim pause where Fixer recognizes a spot where he’ll one day return again, “[w]ith a sword through me.”  You can also bet Moonstone drawing off her younger self for an intimate chat will probably lead to some paradoxical time-travel nuttiness.

Thunderbolts #167 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (writer), Declan Shalvey (artist), Frank Martin (colorist)

The Story: What a waste of a perfectly good prostitute.

The Review: Ever since both Herc and S.H.I.E.L.D. dropped off my radar, I’ve been scoping around for other Marvel titles to check out and cover.  A couple of you made suggestions, which I appreciate, but most of them turned out to be minis that were already part-way through their run, so those didn’t seem like the best long-term choices.  What I really wanted to find was that great Marvel middleweight—not one of the pop sellers, but an enjoyable title in its own way.

And since I’ve had a hankering for a quality antihero title since the end of Secret Six (which I miss more and more with each passing day, by the way), the Thunderbolts seemed like a natural fit.  Reading through this issue makes it clear this dubious band of individuals don’t have quite the edginess Gail Simone’s smart writing brought to the Six, but the T-bolts have a lively, engaging group dynamic all their own.

For one thing, you have far more than six people bouncing off each other.  All told, you have almost twice that number of members on the team, each with a very distinctive power set, design, and personality.  You’ve got the daughter of Satan, a slightly disturbed psychologist, a half-Asgardian, half-Troll, several geniuses with varying degrees of amorality, and Mr. Hyde.  And that’s before you get to the heroic alignments of the characters, some of whom really seem to be in this for the nobility, and others who can’t care less.

Obviously, with Luke Cage and Brunnhilde (I know she goes by Valkyrie, but her Asgardian name is a lot more fun to say, don’t you think?) around, you have your true-blue heroes, but the rest of the T-bolts are a little harder to pin down.  I’ll say this, though: none of them show as much of an inclination to kill as the most principled of the Secret Six.  Troll expresses remorse (“No…!  Not mean to…”) when she slays the Iceni curse-keeper in this issue, and even Boomerang holds off killing the woman trying to suck his soul until told he’s fated to do so.

As for the plot at hand, time-traveling hijinks are always fun when there are no universe or reality-threatening stakes to them.  Parker seems to be having fun picking and choosing the various periods to send the team, though he makes some fairly obvious choices (here, we go from Industrial Revolution England to Arthurian legend).  But so long as he keeps bringing the creative twists—as it turns out, it’s Jack the Ripper’s victims who are the murderers here—there’s no reason why we shouldn’t enjoy the ride.

Shalvey goes for a simple, sketchy style in the same tradition of Cliff Chiang, but his lines are even thinner and he seems more interested in dynamic movement than drama.  But that works; unlike the Greek tragedy going on over in Wonder Woman, this title is all about action from beginning to end, so Shalvey’s lean, kinetic art (along with some interesting paneling choices, like Satana’s “fiery” recounting of the Iceni legend) fits very well.

Conclusion: Entertaining throughout, Thunderbolts lacks much in the way of depth or complexity, but it delivers a satisfying read nonetheless.

Grade: B

– Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: – “A proper room instead o’ the alley?  Fancy!”  I shudder to think of the undoubtedly countless people forced to do the nasty in a pre-Industrial England alley.  Those people can’t be alive now.  As it happens, they aren’t.  So let that be a lesson to you: do it in a room!

– “Never thought my job would require arranging trysts as a pimp.”  None of us ever do.  And I’m a document controller by day, so…

A Second Opinion

Thunderbolts #163.1 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (writer), Declan Shalvey (art), Frank Martin, Jr. (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Rachel Pinnelas (assistant editor) & Tom Brennan (editor)

The Story: Luke Cage’s remaining Thunderbolts try to track down the escaped members of the team.

Review: Even though this is one of the dreaded Point One issues from Marvel, it quite well.  I don’t think Marvel Editorial really needs to make Jeff Parker do Point One issues because all of his issues are decent jumping on points in that he covers enough ground in each issue that a reader is “caught up” within an issue or two.  A better approach might be to just advertise every issue as “No jumping on point needed.”  Or examine why writing for the trade has created a perception that you cannot just jump into a story…

As always, our story is romping along.  The interactions among the remaining Thunderbolts are fun as Luke, Songbird, Ghost and Mach IV try to find the escapees, especially a page where they’re discussing how to take them down when they find them.  Luke’s plan consists of “hitting ’em all in the head until they cry” and when it is suggested that Ghost would “probably” be able to take out Centurius (the escapees’ science guy), Ghost counters, “QUITE probably.”  I love cocky Ghost.  And, speaking of Ghost, it’s interesting that he’s hanging around with the team given that all the other questionable members have escaped because it just shows how Ghost is kinda his own dude: not really a villain, but not devoted to the Thunderbolts cause either, you just know he’ll leave the second it suits his anarchist/anti-corporate code.

The ending of the issue is also pretty cool as it promises some development of the Troll character that Parker introduced ~20 issues ago.  Parker’s so good at that: Introduce a new character, make him/her cool, possibly get some fan feedback about whether they like the character, tease us with little appearances here and there and then finally offer some development.  Hating to compare to “normal” comics, but it illustrates why Thunderbolts is so special…. A “normal” comic would have introduced Troll and then immediately have a 6-issue arc where she is fleshed out and introduced to the team.

Thunderbolts #161 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (writer), Declan Shalvey (artist), Frank Martin, Jr. & Fabio D’Auria (colors), Albert Deschesne (letters), Rachel Pinnelas (assistant editor) & Tom Brennan (editor)

The Story: The Fear Itself version of Juggernaut seems to have gotten away from, but there is no rest for the wicked.

What’s Good: As with Hulk #38 (also out this week), Jeff Parker has really risen to the challenge of crafting a Fear Itself tie-in smack in the middle of his ongoing stories.  We comic fans should really give him a big round of applause for this because every other Marvel writer has just surrendered to Fear Itself and written a 2-3 part story that had almost nothing to do with their ongoing material.  All of these writers have clawed their way to the upper echelon of the profession and should be able to do the same thing.  But, Parker did it, they didn’t.  So, bravo to Parker for flinging his Thunderbolts into a new mission that grows very organically out of this Fear Itself story.

It’s also been really enjoyable watching this team of Thunderbolts grow closer together.  They’re actually starting to gel into a team and care about the well-being of each other and care about completing their missions.  This run of Thunderbolts really started with the characters doing the supervillain equivalent of putting on an orange reflective vest and picking up trash on the side of the road under the watchful eye of a sheriff’s deputy, but they are quickly evolving into anti-heroes.  There’s nothing really wrong with that either.  Gail Simone got almost 40 issues out of a similar concept on Secret Six and was running full steam ahead when DC pulled the plug on that incredible series.  I’d love to see Marvel let Parker continue this work with the Thunderbolts until the story collapses (just because these characters are villainous and will have to double cross the team eventually).

Declan Shalvey continues to throw fastballs and is just great in this issue.  There are really a lot of fussy characters to draw in this series.  Juggernaut is huge and hulking.  Fixer has a fussy uniform with all his tech pieces.  Ghost must be very time consuming to draw because of all his tech, and he is a completely non-standard body-type.  You’ve got Man-Thing.  And then there are characters like Moonstone who you would think is just a “standard” female character, but is actually drawn much more lithe than most female superhero characters (like Satana).

Thunderbolts #160 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (writer), Declan Shalvey (art), Frank Martin, Jr. (colors), Albert Deschesne (letters), Rachel Pinnelas (assistant editor) & Tom Brennan (editor)

The Story: Juggernaut has escaped the Raft and has one of those Fear Itself hammers.  You’d kinda expect his Thunderbolts teammates to try to bring him back, right?

What’s Good: I know that some comic fans hate events because of issues like this one: Jeff Parker and the two-headed monster of Declan Shalvey & Kev Walker were telling great Thunderbolts stories every issue for the last year.  Now their momentum is broken by Fear Itself, and the fans are furiously venting in the message boards.

I like events and you can’t have events that feel “important” unless you tie-in your ongoing series.  I read a goodly sized chunk of the Marvel Universe and right now, the series that aren’t tied into Fear Itself just feel weird and disconnected.  And….given that one of the important events of FI is the Raft getting destroyed and Juggernaut getting a hammer, Parker had to find a way to connect the Thunderbolts in this story arc.

Given those constraints, he does a really nice job.  It isn’t a great issue, but it accomplishes some key things.  For one thing, if you wondered how Juggernaut got from the Raft (which is near NYC) to San Francisco in Uncanny X-Men #540, this issue explains that.  If you wanted something connected between what is going on with Man-Thing in Fear Itself: Fearsome Four, well, this issue fills in those gaps too.  Granted, those are things that only pay off for readers who are reading the WHOLE Fear Itself series, but it is still nice to see that Marvel is capable of being organized at that level.  We also get an interesting view of “The Serpent” in this issue.

Thunderbolts #159 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (writer), Declan Shalvey (art), Frank Martin (colors) & Albert Deschesne (letters)

Moonstone story by: Joe Caramagna (writer), Valentine de Landro (art), Chris Sotomayor (colors) & Deschesne (letters)

Ghost/John Walker story by: Jen Van Meter (writer), Eric Canete (art), Fabio D’Auria (colors) & Dave Sharpe (letters)

Crossbones story by: Frank Tieri (writer), Matthew Southworth (art) & Sharpe (letters)

The Story: A medley of stories detailing events on the Raft after it is destroyed by Juggernaut’s Fear Itself Hammer.

What’s Good: For one thing, this is a pretty fat issue.  Checking in at 40 pages for its $4.99 price, you’re getting a double-sized comic for less than double-price.  And none of the 40 pages is junky crap like an old reprinted Thunderbolts story.  Nice one…

This is effectively a Thunderbolts anthology.  I love anthologies, but it isn’t uncommon to get some crummy stories that you just need to skip.  That’s not a problem in this issue as all of the stories are between “solid” and “quite good”.  And, because these four stories are both bulky and from widely different parts of the Raft, it really drives home the enormity of the crisis.  It also continues the general strength of the Fear Itself tie-ins.  This issue adds a lot of local flavor to Marvel’s summer event.

For regular T-bolts readers, the star of the issue will be the Parker/Shalvey Underbolts story.  When we last left these characters, they were contemplating just running for it instead of continuing to serve as “heroes”.  Here we see them helping out with rescue efforts but also building in their own little insurance policy for the future.  This is just classic T-bolts storytelling since these characters are villains and you never want them to feel “safe”.

The other stories all have their moments such as Marvel letterer Joe Caramagna showing us what happens when the female and male prisoners come into contact without any chaperones present or how effectively the anarchist Ghost and the former US Agent, John Walker team-up (and build a grudging respect).

Thunderbolts #157 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (writer), Kev Walker & Declan Shalvey (pencils), Jason Gorder & Shalvey (inks), Frank Martin, Fabio D’Auria & Simpson (colors), Albert Deschesne (letterer), Rachel Pinnelas (assistant editor) & Tom Brennan (editor)

The Story: The Thunderbolts battle mystical Nazis in Germany with their new (and questionably loyal) team member – Satana – while the “Underbolts” get started on their training.

What’s Good: This issue is typical, romping, 100 mph Jeff Parker story telling goodness.  If you’re read much of Parker’s writing, you know that he is going to keep the story moving along very rapidly and constantly renew his status quo.  This shows a lot of confidence as a writer because he doesn’t seem to let any one idea become so precious that he can’t move on.  It also has the benefit that if you don’t like something in a particular Parker issue…you know it’ll be long gone in a month or so.  It kinda reminds one of comics before the publishers learned about trade paperbacks in that the story is just a constantly running soap opera: even when a story begins or ends, you’re also in the midst of other stories.   He seem to really eschew the traditional 6-issue story arcs.

So what’s cool in this issue: Well, the Thunderbolts fight magical/mystical Nazi zombie-things.  That’s kinda cool.  Along the way they face an enemy who makes them face their worst fears.  That’s kinda cool.  We get to see a bunch of the Thunderbolts being very unsure of themselves and acting all vulnerable and that’s kinda cool too.  Meanwhile, back on the raft…the “Underbolts” B-team of villains is getting ramped up and we get some character development on Gunna, the Troll.  She’s really neat and I want to know more.  And….in typical comics fashion, the Underbolts are going to get sent on a mission before they’re remotely ready and that will be a lot of fun to read about next month.  Cool story stuff all around.

The art is a bit of a mixed bag this month as Walker and Shalvey team up on the issue with Walker handling the mystical Nazi battle and Shalvey doing the action back on the raft.  I really like both of them individually as artists, but think that Walker with Gorder inking really shine in this issue.  Love all the half-tones the duo uses and I’m not sure who is coloring what pages in this issue, but whoever is coloring Moonstone in the Nazi scenes does a wonderful job of making her look soft and lithe compared to characters like Cage, Juggernaut and Ghost.

Thunderbolts #154 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (writer), Declan Shalvey (art), Frank Martin (colors), Albert Deschesne (letters), Rachel Pinnelas (assistant editor) & Tom Brennan & Bill Rosemann (editors)

The Story: A done-in-one story focusing on Man Thing.

What’s Good: When the “new” Thunderbolts were announced last summer, none of the members was a huge surprise except for Man-Thing.  Huh, wha?  How was that going to work?  Man-Thing isn’t really a villain who needs to work off his crimes by being a member of the Thunderbolts.  But, Jeff Parker has really made it work.  In just about every issue so far, Man-Thing has gotten involved in the action.  He doesn’t talk and doesn’t take direction. He’s just kinda there in the background, pitching in here and there without being instructed to.

But, all along the question has been: Why?  Why would Man-Thing want to work with the Thunderbolts?

This issue digs into Man-Thing’s origins and possible motivations by way of a stand-alone story that sees him whisked back to the swampy Everglades that birthed him in the first place.  By focusing on his magical nature, former life as a scientist and his relationships with sorceresses much is (kinda) explained: If the scientist is still lurking in there behind those big red eyes, wouldn’t he want to travel and learn and hang out with pretty ladies with magic based powers like Moonstone?    We even learn a little bit about the “zoo” under the raft where Man-Thing lives.

We should all be keeping an eye on Declan Shalvey who draws this issue.  I became a big fan of his on the Boom! series 28 Day Later (and have a piece of original art from the series) and he’s carried that tight linework over to his work at Marvel.  His characters are all lifelike and vital and he draws a mean giant lizard (what is it with Jeff Parker and the oversized monsters the last few months?), but he also puts in all the other little touches that sell a scene taking place in the Everglades by drawing craggy old trees with Spanish moss, boats, outboard motors, etc.  He also looks like he works really well with Frank Martin on colors.  They seem to have a good sense of who is going to shade what aspects of the art and the end product is really nice.

Thunderbolts #148 – Review

By Jeff Parker (writer), Declan Shalvey (artist), Frank Martin & Fabio D’Auria (colorists)

The Story: Luke Cage’s involvement in Shadowland is explained this month, even though the mini-series is almost over. But whatever. Oh, and the Thunderbolts fight some ninjas…bet you didn’t see that one coming, did ya?

Bitter Random Thoughts: What. The Hell. Was this!? As long as I’ve been reviewing Parker’s run on Thunderbolts I have absolutely adored this book and been a huge admirer of what he and the art team have been achieving. And then I read this issue, and now I feel like I’ve been sucker-punched and slightly betrayed. Was this month’s issue a victim of poor editorial oversight? Of being shoehorned into a storyline it had no logical right participating in? Of being just plain ugly?

Well, yeah.

I have found that the times I’m hardest on this book are when it’s being dragged into stupid fucking crossovers. It happened with Avengers Academy and it’s happened again here with Shadowland. In both instances, this comic was far better than the storylines it was being forced to participate in, but the inclusion of the Thunderbolts in Daredevil’s fall from grace seems especially unnecessary. Cage’s crew haven’t been mentioned in Shadowland once before now, and now all of a sudden they’re lurking in the sewers fighting and being spanked by cannon fodder ninjas!? Sorry, but I’m not buying it. This team is more powerful than that, and the fact that they got their asses handed to them by the fucking Hand is sad and illogical and deeply Wrong. It also reeks of editorial mismanagement, of Parker being told how this story had to go down to fit with Marvel’s larger vision. Which they’re entitled to do, I suppose, seeing as how these are their toys, but God help me why does their vision suck so bad?