Thunderbolts #19 – Review

by Charles Soule (Writer), Gabriel Hernandez Walta (Artist), Guru eFX (Colorist)

The Story: Road trips are apparently perfect opportunities if you plan to kill your teammates. At least, Red Leader seem to think so.

The Review: In team books, it’s usually expected that sooner or later an issue will focus on a specific member of the cast. Either a member of the team, one of the antagonists or even an important secondary character may end up getting a chance to be in the spotlight. Usually done before in the first issue of an arc or between two, those kind of issues always present the chance to see how a specific character perceive certain events and how his personality may be in comparison to others. In such a book like Thunderbolts, with a cast full of unsavory characters, the chance to put a shine on these troubled mind could very well end up being a pretty neat thing.

In a way, Charles Soule manage to surprise readers as well as take a big chance as he focus this one on Red Leader, pushing forth Samuel Sterns forth in order to clarify his thinking process and just how he sees this present team. With this character usually seen as a huge presence in many iterations of Hulk, does Soule actually delivers a nice rendition of the character as well as a pleasant issue with this one?

Thunderbolts #14 – Review

Charles Soule (Writer), Jefte Palo, Terry Pallot (Artists), Guru eFX (Colorist)

The Plot: It’s Frank Castle’s turn at choosing the mission the team has to do as he explain just what he has in mind for this team to do. Lucky him, the Avengers are in space…

The Review: Following characters isn’t something that is logically sound when one thinks about it. While a reader might want to know everything that happens with a certain character he or she grew to like, it does not mean that person will get quality stories featuring the beloved fictional being as not every writer know how to handle things the way those people like it. The more a character is popular, the worse it can get as you can get characters that get poor or uneven characterization, resulting in frustrating experiences for the aforementioned reader.

While I do rather like characters like Frank Castle, Deadpool, Venom and Elektra, the main reason I gave this title a shot to begin with was to see Red Hulk, a.k.a General Ross in action, a character that Jeff Parker made me like immensely in the solo title he once possessed. However, I only did so recently as Charles Soule, the current writer of Swamp Thing, went in with another artist to give a new direction and a shot in the arm to this title that needed it. Does he succeed in keeping the characterization and giving some quality to this team now that he is actually writing them all in action for the first time?

He is quite competent actually, as not only Soule understand the dynamic between each characters and how their personalities might clash, but he does so in a way that is entertaining. This result in a team that is barely functional (as exposed by Deadpool nicknaming the team ”The Selfish Avengers”), yet it is one that is professional enough to get their task done. The military tone and their awkward morality comes in play here, as it creates a vibe that is different from a lot of the team out there, one that is not unlike Remender’s Uncanny X-Force. It’s not quite there in terms of quality when it comes to comparison, yet the characters are well-written, especially Frank Castle and Red Hulk. The only one I could have any disappointment about would be Flash Thompson, who comes as rather gullible and without any real personality, going with the flow without doing anything much.

Thunderbolts #13 – Review

Charles Soule (Writer), Phil Noto (Artist), Guru eFX (Colorist)

The Story: General Ross explains to Venom just how he got Mercy to be on his team.

The Review: While he had a less than stellar introduction to the Marvel universe, the Red Hulk soon became, under the pen of some talented writers, a character that has evolved to a point where he could be called a fan-favourite. As we followed his adventures, we soon saw that this man was one who had to pay for his past mistakes as he went on to make new ones, being part of a cycle that was almost unending, much to the satisfaction of the readers. With his solo title being given away to his daughter, it made sense to put him in a title consisted of other fan favourites with similar mindsets and even similar backgrounds to continue his adventures, thus a new and very different volume of Thunderbolts was born.

However, I have to admit that this title really did not sink me when it started, as it never went really far beyond the concept and the general tone of putting such characters on the same team. While it had the potential to be somewhat akin to Uncanny X-Force, it never reached that level. It could, however, see a boost in its quality as we now have a new writer, Charles Soule, who you may have heard of from the Distinguished Competition. Does he have the capability to make this title reach the level it could very well have?

As we have seen in the last issue, which had also been written by Soule, he is not only able to play with the characters and plot points that Daniel Way had set before, but he can also use them as his to propel for further conflict and stories in his own tenure on the title. Here, we get a tale that is about two characters: Red Hulk, also known as General ”Thunderbolt” Ross and Mercy, a character created by Peter David in the end of the 80’s. What he does here not only explain to us how Ross got such a powerhouse on his team, but what it could also mean to have her around them in the long run.

Incredible Hulk #600 Review

By Jeph Loeb (writer), Ed McGuinness (artist), Mark Farmer (inker), Dan Brown & Chris Sotomayor (colorists)

“WHO IS THE RED HULK?! THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN IS GOING TO TRY AND FIND OUT! GREEN HULK! RED HULK! SPIDEY! SECRETS REVEALED! A STORY SO BIG IT CAN BARELY BE CONTAINED IN THE INCREDIBLE 600TH ISSUE OF HULK! ALL THIS AND A STARTLING SURPRISE ENDING TO TOP ALL THE OTHER SHOCKING SURPRISES THIS HULK BOOK IS KNOWN FOR!”

I wanted to include Marvel’s original solicitation for this issue to illustrate how marketing gimmicks like this are more evil and alluring than the Dark Side of the Force and never to be trusted under any circumstance.  I also wanted to show you exactly what it was that sold me on the issue in the first place, a measly fifty-eight words that I will gladly kick my own ass for buying into when we’re done, here.  The point I’m trying to make is that it’s all too easy to believe the hype surrounding special event comics like this, but when companies are raising cover prices to all time highs it’s these kinds of comics that need to be scrutinized most carefully; especially if you’re going to show how something like this fails to deliver the goods.

The heart of this massive tome is the story by Loeb and McGuiness, told from the perspective of Ben Urich, the only reporter alive in the 21st Century who refuses to use a typewriter. In a scene that would make Woodward and Bernstein fall to their knees and cry, Urich is called to a meeting by a thoroughly paranoid She-Hulk and charged with the task of discovering Who Is The Red Hulk? Remember this point, because it’ll be important later on. Urich and Peter Parker (did I mention that She-Hulk specifically asked Urich to bring along a photographer? Wow, how convenient.) join She-Hulk and Doc Samson to infiltrate a government facility called Gamma Base. There, the group discovers that Marvel’s favorite angry head M.O.D.O.K. has reactivated the terrorist cell A.I.M., and that he may be receiving help from General Ross.  The revelation is interrupted though when Samson suddenly reverts to a Hyde-like version of himself and attacks She-Hulk. From there, things get complicated as Red Hulk suddenly appears from nowhere to beat on Spider-Man, while Banner suddenly awakens from his induced coma to turn into Hulk and throw down with his evil counterpart.

Sensing a trend here? Practically everything happens out of the blue for no apparent reason, other than Loeb wanting it to at that particular moment. He constantly fails to set up these moments in ways that justify their existence, and as a result they come off feeling shallow and self-serving. Remember how I said Urich’s goal was to find out who the Red Hulk was? Yeah, well, he suddenly decided not to. “If all you do is focus on the Red Hulk you’re going to miss the big picture”, Urich observes. Really? Looking at the solicitation, I thought the Red Hulk was the whole point! This discrepancy suggests that either Loeb deliberately misled his readers into shelling out five bucks for a cocktease, or he is losing the ability to tell cohesive stories that don’t rely on shameful misdirections and obnoxious slights of hand. Either way, your buying dollars would be better spent elsewhere.

Grade: D

-Tony Rakittke