T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #6 – Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: All storms must end sometime, and with them go the thunder.

The Review: After my review of last issue, reader Don asked me what titles I could recommend to satisfy his craving for Nick Spencer material, once this series wrapped up.  I had to admit I knew nothing that blended superheroics and political thriller so seamlessly and with such sophistication, wit, and craft.  It reminded me of how much I’ve enjoyed Spencer’s work here since it debuted, and how sorry I am to see it go.

If you like T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents as much as I do, then you’ll also be particularly dismayed to see how quietly this issue pulls the curtain on the series.  Spencer obviously has a lot of affection for all these characters, however brief their working lives are, and he attempts to give each of them as neat a resolution as possible under the circumstances.  Even so, you can clearly tell he had a much longer endgame in mind, and things were never intended to end this way.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #5 – Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: Apparently, even a simple question of “dead or alive” has no straight answers.

The Review: Of course, the thing about having a huge relaunch of your entire line of titles is you’re not only thinning out all the weaker series, but the strong ones as well.  While DC made certain to preserve its anchors (e.g. Batman, Green Lantern) more or less intact, its young critical darlings did not receive such protection, sending perfectly strong titles to an early end.  I would definitely list T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents (as well as the underappreciated Xombi) as example.

This miniseries is thus something of a weird beast.  You’d think DC going through the trouble of releasing it in the first place would be an indication of their faith in the property, especially since they have no shortage of more popular ones to invest in.  Yet from the first issue, it’s clear the series doesn’t make itself out to be accessible or attractive to new readers.  Rather, this mini feels mostly like a continuation of the spare plotlines Nick Spencer left behind on his ongoing.

At the same time, Spencer’s plotlines aren’t of the kind that resolve neatly or quickly; if you’ve ever read Morning Glories or any of his other works, you’ll know his strength lies in letting his stories ferment, giving you the occasional potent taste, but otherwise reserving the rest.  For that reason, I find it hard to believe he ever intended for us to discover Colleen’s true loyalties this soon, or what her (and Emil Jennings’) ultimate goals are.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #2 – Review

By: Nick Spencer (writer), Wes Craig & Jerry Ordway (artist), Hi-Fi & Chris Beckett (colorists)

The Story: All I’m saying is if Demo grows a tiny mustache on his upper lip, I’m outta here.

The Review: Spencer is an interesting beast of a writer.  From his work on Morning Glories and Supergirl, you know he can weave some of the more engrossing, layered plots this side of modern comics.  He can also go wholeheartedly for the silly and heartfelt, as we’ve seen in his tremendous Jimmy Olsen.  Both of those sides of his writing character seem to come together in T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, which can be totally sophisticated with the most outlandish material.

And you don’t get much more outlandish than “underground green-skinned nomads, who hid from the surface population for the better part of a millennium.”  It’s these kinds of concepts that made the Silver Age such a wonderfully bizarre period, a perfect feeding ground for comics.  But Spencer not only works such concepts into his story as an homage to earlier times; he gives them fresh spins to make them feel not only up-to-date, but relevant.

Consider his portrayal of the Subterraneans, who retain most of their goony appearance, yet now have a very overt political bent to them.  It’s no coincidence that at a time when the stability of Middle Eastern nations is in flux due to uprisings both nobly and criminally motivated, Spencer chooses to write the Subterraneans as a downtrodden, fragmented people (whose attraction to the more “civilized” people is their natural resources) searching for a leader, any leader, to speak out and take charge of their many grievances.

You can’t really say Demo is the best man for the job, however.  With his talent for rhetoric (“I have heard your mothers’ wailing as their children are forced to work in the mines, filling up the coffers of our oppressors!”) and his clear derangement, he brings back echoes of the Third Reich and the French Revolution, an egomaniac who feeds upon the unhappiness of the people he claims to represents to feed his own ambitions.  So, yeah, not exactly the ideal man of the people.

Demo does, however, make an intriguing villain, possessing the necessary intellect to know exactly how to take advantage of the two Agents he already has at his disposal—and I do mean that in the most basic meaning of the word.  He also has one other thing to his advantage, one which may connect directly to the last big twist from the former T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents ongoing: Iron Maiden’s claim to Colleen that, “I know he’s still alive.”  “He” being the original Dynamo.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1 – Review

By: Nick Spencer (writer), Wes Craig (artist), Hi-Fi (colorist)

The Story: Here’s a tip—don’t talk about dead mothers and brothers on the first date.

The Review: In this new DCU, there are more superhero teams than ever, one of them even having backing from the United Nations which presumably also sponsor our heroes here.  Spencer sets them apart, however, by giving them a much more overt political agenda and making them more attached to the governmental body which employs them.  Even against their best judgment, their movements in the field are determined by white-collar men sitting on swivel chairs in a control room.

For that reason, a certain shadiness infects every aspect of this team, from their very mission statement to the choice of members to the technology that makes their work possible.  Yet that technology began, like many things, with pure objectives.  We learn more about Emil Jennings, the man responsible for producing the scientific breakthroughs which gave birth to the Agents, all to promote “peacekeeping, humanitarianism, fostering better international relations…”

To that end, he creates an actual mathematical method (well, about as mathematical as you can get in a comic anyway) to “calculate the likelihood that any action undertaken ill improve the human condition.”  See, it’s this kind of thing that makes Spencer a conceptual wizard in the tradition of Grant Morrison; these fantastic ideas seem to roll off the top of his head, and not only does he convince you of their fictional logic, they bear implications for real life as well.

The fact Jennings’ algorithm is intended to help the world’s survival doesn’t disguise the fact that its role in the Menthor helmet defeats free will.  Besides, “survival” is a rather vague objective, one that doesn’t necessarily go toward “the greater good.”  So perhaps we should worry about this formula running the show, especially since it also powers Daniel, the hive-mind at the heart of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents’ activities.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #10 – Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: You ever get the feeling your mother’s holding something back from you?

The Review: Back in the olden days, whenever that was, heroes were the good guys and villains the bad, and hardly ever, if not never, did the twain meet.  Nowadays, members from both classes come in degrees, which makes getting a handle on them a little harder, but definitely a lot more interesting.  As Gail Simone’s superb Secret Six shows, we get no end of intrigue trying to figure out just where in the scale of humanity a character falls.

So it makes perfect sense that the Agents, who each want to use their powers for personal redemption, have no greater enemy than Iron Maiden, a woman who has absolutely no interest in redeeming herself.  Nick Spencer portrays her as a woman seemingly incapable of remorse, with an almost monstrously finite level of affection.  Whatever connection she had to husband Dynamo, it clearly does not extend to his values or loved ones, as we see in grisly detail.

Her callous actions force you to wonder if she feels pain at all.  When she charges Bill Henry that, “My husband is dead.  You killed him,” her tone has no chill to indicate an emotional stake in the statement, but the barren bluntness of fact.  Upon disposing of him, I. Maiden actually smiles as she says, “Give my love to Len.”  This is not the curse of a vengeful widow; this is the ironic remark of a villain, an idle curse for her enemy to join his comrade.

So by all appearances, Colleen’s conclusions about her mother seem correct.  A woman with such little regard for human attachment could never find satisfaction in domestic felicity alone.  That said, we have an interesting implication that murder doesn’t necessarily satisfy the Maiden either.  Rather, the act and challenge of killing occupies her soul in a way homemaking can’t.  In Colleen’s words, Maiden does what she does because “You were bored, weren’t you?”

In spite of these insights and the tough exterior with which Colleen delivers them, we can plainly see in her increasingly pained interrogation (“Go on, then.  Tell me I’m wrong…  Tell me you were forced to…  Tell me something.  Tell me anything.”) a desperation to grasp at any pearl of genuine love her mother might have for her.  Like the final nail in the coffin, Maiden denies her with the kind of mockery we’ve come to expect: “You always did cry too much, girl.”

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #9 – Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: You know what they say: beware a redheaded woman with assassin’s credentials.

The Review: You can always count on Nick Spencer to deliver an engaging, enjoyable read, even if the actual substance of the writing isn’t always what it should be.  That’s not to imply this Iron Maiden story arc has been superfluous or anything, but with this arc decompressed to the max, it gets a little harder to remember why you’re invested in this story with every passing issue.  The events in themselves work and rarely fail to garner your interest, but the sluggish pacing often defeats whatever excitement the story generates.

The culprits can only be the flashback sequences, which serve strictly as expositional vehicles.  And by far it’s the 60s “back-up” feature that takes up the most time and space for the least value.  While Spencer is to be congratulated for channeling that Silver Age style and continuity with accuracy, the material has for a while become less cute and more tiresome, especially here, where it reveals almost nothing new or useful to the story.

Even the 80s sequence, which usually plays a pretty big role in the issue, seems unusually slow and redundant.  Since we already knew the original Dynamo would break a deal to free his wife and daughter, and any such deal requires a hefty price, we also already knew Len would be the one to pay it.  His final epistle to Iron Maiden is predictably touching, but gives us a poor gauge of their love, as the letter mostly reveals her ball-busting (“…there’s no use yelling at me, Red.”  “I know you never thought I was the brightest man to walk the earth…”) attitude.

While we have every indication that I. Maiden was truly in love with Dynamo, we can also safely conclude he may have been the only individual for whom she had any real feeling.  Just look at her taking her sweet time painting her lips while the girls she collected on her payroll get mowed down.  Keep in mind she also abandoned Colleen at some point, possibly implying any affection for her daughter was tangentially derived from that for her husband.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #8 – Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: I think in this case, we can say she’s a lady-killer.

The Review: Last time, I complained Spencer’s use of two period “features” in the issue, though enjoyable, didn’t really do much to expand on the story and in fact, dragged on the story’s pace, especially given the lower page count.  In that case, the features reduced the present story to a handful of action-less panels, but didn’t offer much substance to make up for it.

Spencer makes better use of them this time around, especially the 80s sequence depicting the uncertain fate of Colleen’s parents after they get captured by her dad’s former employers (mind you, she’s just a little babe when all this goes down).  For one thing, we get a new appreciation for Iron Maiden’s deadliness when we find out she has singlehandedly killed 4,819 individuals.  We saw her dirty work firsthand last issue, when she dispatched 4 spec-ops men with only a bloody nose on her part, but the specificity of the grim statistic can’t fail to take you aback.

So you may not be entirely convinced by her husband, formerly Dynamo, when he claims “She’s changed.”  Considering her callous indifference when faced with a casualty of one of her hits, a four-year-old girl who was in the building when Iron Maiden blew it up, she may not be entirely as sympathetic as he insists.  But it’s worth noting no one argues when he says she helped him save the world at one point, so some benefit of the doubt may be in order here.

Which leads us to yet another Silver Age inspired, 50s back-up feature.  It’s hard to tell if the prevention of Uru, the Subterranean Warlord, and his armies from attacking the surface world is the war Dynamo refers to earlier in the issue, but I. Maiden plays a helpful role, regardless.  Anyway, you’ve got to love the over-the-top bluntness with which everyone delivers their lines: “You can’t do this, I love him!”  “Foolish woman!  I only told you that to get you on our side!”

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #7 – Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: Most of the time, you say, “I’m gonna kill my mother” rhetorically.

The Review: When DC chose to “hold the line” at $2.99 and cut the page count of its issues in exchange, the results were varied: some creators adapted right away, others went through some growing pains, and a few still haven’t adjusted to the change.  None have managed to confront how to squeeze multiple storylines into a significantly shrunken medium without some pain.

Even a skilled writer like Spencer isn’t immune, although he deals with the problem as best as you can hope for.  It might have been wiser for him to scale back or eliminate altogether one of the “features” he includes in this issue, but as he said in a CBR interview, the talent had already hopped aboard and he was unwilling to let it go to waste.  Given that, you wind up with pieces that are strong in themselves, but don’t really further the issue’s goals overall.
It’s hardly worth mentioning the current story, where Colleen gets precisely two pages (underutilizing the always terrific Cafu, Bit, and Santiago Arcas on art) to take an airplane to Morocco and deliver a teaser line.  The moment packs a punch, and promises good things for next issue, but otherwise does nothing to advance the story.

This is problematic since the bulk of the issue involves a drawn out flashback.  In fact, the pacing of it is such that it seems Spencer forgets he’s only got so many pages to indulge in this kind of luxurious storytelling.  But the sequence needs this slow push to work; the prolonged scenes of domesticity tighten the wire of calm before snapping it in an all-out rush of chaos.  It’s the jump in gears from cutting cucumbers to tossing the knife into a man’s neck that gives the flashback some worthwhile tension.  And Mike Grell draws it all so beautifully, showing how an old-school, retro style can still bring intensity to both drama and action, though it’s Val Staples’ warm colors with a yellowish cast that gives the art its period look.

The flashback also gives you some essential bits of info that’ll make Colleen’s upcoming conflict that much stickier: her parental union between one of the greatest T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and one of the Agents’ most notorious enemies.  An interesting twist to be sure, it also brings new meaning to her sympathy for Toby’s two-faced loyalties last issue.  But Spencer brings layers to most everything he writes.  Why else would he choose Dion’s “The Wanderer” to soundtrack the early parts of the flashback?  An oldies tune sung in doo-wop fashion, the rollicking rock rhythm of the song masks the rather dark undertone of its lyrics: the line “I with my two fists of iron and I’m going nowhere” certainly rings true for Colleen’s parents, given their backgrounds.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #6 – Review

By: Nick Spencer (writer), Cafu (penciller), Bit (inker), Santiago Arcas (colorist)

The Story: The Iron Maiden…she’s a cautionary tale for all the S&M lovers out there.

The Review: It’s tough to transition from one story arc to the next in a superhero comic.  After the noise dies down, you’ve got this obligatory timeout for the characters to lick their wounds and reflect on their latest adventure, and after that comes the gradual setup for the next storyline.  In a way, these interludes lose the momentum the writer spent the entire story arc developing.

Spencer does two smart things to address this point.  First, he neatly dovetails the conclusion to the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents’ first mission and the intro to their next in one issue—good.  That means events can just get rolling when we come back.  Second, he keeps up the tension by playing out the dramatic plot threads he set down throughout his introductory arc.

This strategy is particularly clever because it does double-duty: it allows the characters some growth, and it keeps you invested in their individual plotlines.  Dynamo’s finally experiencing the side-effects of his new powers (“…like I’m ‘bout to break apart.”  Doctor: “That’s normal.  Take your shirt off for me, please.”).  Lightning still can’t bring himself to connect with his estranged family despite knowing he may soon lose his chance.  And NoMan remains as forebodingly inscrutable as ever in the midst of his dwindling humanity.

Spencer doesn’t use a lot of dialogue or narration, and the characters don’t really do anything lively, but he writes the subtext so well you never have a problem sensing the conflict at stake.  One of many good examples: when his young daughter picks up, Lightning never says a word, but you know exactly why he calls and why he can’t or won’t speak up.  It’s a scene that breaks your heart without much fanfare or drama.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #5 – Review

By: Nick Spencer (writer), Cafu (penciller), Bit (inker), Santiago Arcas (colorist), Ryan Sook (guest artist)

The Story: She doesn’t know that he knows that they don’t know what he knows about that other guy knows about them—no, I’m not describing a Friends episode.

The Review: The first story arc of any new ongoing can be the most critical for the title’s livelihood.  Besides setting the tone and mission statement for the series, it also determines the loyalty of its first-generation readers.  A strong leading storyline can establish a fanbase that forgives possibly weaker arcs down the line; a poor or even mediocre lead wards readers away, so even with dramatic improvements, there’s no audience to help it survive.

This issue detonates a ticking time bomb that’s been lurking in the team’s midst, and the fallout is tremendous.  The revelation of Toby’s specific connection to Spider is definitely unexpected (using some complicated, but ingenious identity-transfer logistics).  But the twist at the end—the way his use of the Menthor helmet ultimately turns on him—really plays brilliantly.  It pays tribute to the original Menthor and elevates Toby from your typical smart-alec to mentally fractured dark horse—a big promotion for an already entertaining character.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #4 – Review

By: Nick Spencer (writer), Cafu (main penciller), Bit (main inker), Santiago Arcas (main colorist), George Perez (penciller), Scott Koblish (inker), Blond (colorist)

The Story: Dynamo learns firsthand being a T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agent isn’t all it’s cracked up to be—not that it was much to begin with.

The Review: “Less is more.”  This old bromide has been tossed around for Lord knows how long, but its practical implications are as relevant as ever—especially so for comics.  It is, after all, a medium that places equal weight on text and art.  When writers go even a little overboard with the words, the comic gets dragged down in a hurry.  In those cases, it’s frequently best to cut back on the narration and let the art and reader’s imagination do some of the storytelling.

Spencer could have gotten a lot more done by applying that lesson to this issue.  By now, we’ve all had it hammered to us over three issues that there’s a price to being a T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agent and that price is death.  This point hasn’t only been told to us, it’s been illustrated with very effective, chilling detail.  It’s easy to understand the importance of emphasizing this major distinction between the Agents and the rest of the superhero teams out there.

But now it just feels like Spencer is preaching to the choir, and that’s a waste.  Consider this issue’s opening sequence—it’s executed well and offers a few useful pieces of info about the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. program and Dynamo’s powers.  But if you take a step back, you realize that’s five pages devoted to exposing information you mostly know already, which means five pages avoiding the action at large.  And there really hasn’t been much action to spare since this series began.  Even by issue’s end, you’re still left in the first—what?—fifteen minutes of the mission.

Even more problematic is a whole page devoted to Toby’s sales pitch.  Again, there’s nothing wrong with the way it’s written.  It just feels like we’ve heard this speech before, three issues ago, and the only real payoff from having it redone is Dynamo’s deadpan, “So what’s the money like?”  Like I said, the scene itself plays well and there’s a lot of humor and character work that follows it.  Still, that makes you foam even more at the mouth to get newer material instead of this old news.  You just really want to see Spencer give you more of the unexpected.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1 – Review

by Nick Spencer (writer), CAFU (pencils), BIT (inks), Santiago Arcas (colors), and Swands (letters)

The Story: We’re introduced to the world of the THUNDER Agents and their modus operandi.

What’s Good: I really wasn’t sure what to expect out of this book, but what I got was decidedly unique from anything offered by DC.  It’s very much a Nick Spencer book and feels sleek and modern much like a Marvel comic might, but still has that grain of DC kookiness.  It has the atmosphere of a spy-book and actually felt quite a bit like an answer from DC to Marvel’s Secret Warriors and, of course, the fact that I’m even making that comparison is a very good thing.  Honestly, as far as tone goes, I can’t remember reading a DC title quite like this.

There’s no mistaking that this issue is a high quality product on both the writing and art fronts.  As far as the writing goes, Spencer’s dialogue and plotting just feels smart.  It occasionally gets flowery in its dialogue, which is welcome, but it also carries the cold effiency and the crazy twists, turns, and back-and-forth conspiracies of a good spy yarn.  At times, the twists and the dialogue might strike some as a little too flashy or larger-than-life, but I loved every second of it.  It makes the book feel bold, exciting, and constantly intelligent, making for something far, far from your average, run-of-the-mill superhero comic.

CAFU also helps make the title stand out.  Despite this being a smaller property, CAFU gives the book a big comic feel.  His work is incredibly polished and slick and has a high-budget feel that looks distinct.  Combined with Arcas’ colors, the book also somewhat steers away from grittiness, opting instead for an inviting look with just the hint of a wacky, Doom Patrol feel.