Thunderbolts #138 – Review

By Jeff Parker (writer), Miguel Sepulveda (artist), Frank Martin(colorist)

The Story: The Thunderbolts, having more than a few lunatics on the team, have a problem. The satisfaction of victory over Power Man and Iron Fist was snatched from them last issue. They’ve had nothing to do since then. So somebody prods at Mr. X, which causes him to escape from their HQ. The Thunderbolts follow him to the Colombia-Venezuela border.

What’s Good: Sepulveda provides some very fine artwork for this issue. In terms of setting, there are lots of moody, cloudy effects, dreamscapes, and a whole lot of Venezuelan jungle. The art communicated most of what it needed to for keeping the story moving too (although I wondered from time to time if Ant-Man was flying under the influence). There’s a lot of dynamic action here that’s fun to watch. Sepulveda also has a multiple image effect to show Mr. X’s speed, which was effective. And the FARC guerrillas and their equipment were authentic, down to the rubber boots that they wear instead of combats. He’s obviously done his research.

The story was serviceable. It was actually a variation on a classic Marvel theme: good guys fighting each other until something bigger forces them to unite. In this case, it’s villain on villain action. This series has been pointing at the fractures in the team for quite some time and it’s fun to watch the effects the petty betrayals have. The dialogue was excellent.

What’s Not So Good: While the Thunderbolts creative team has been good in showing the little splits between team members, nothing definitive is happening, so I’m starting to wonder if this low-level bubbling of personalities will ever actually lead to anything. It seems that every issue, somebody talks about killing someone else and then the following issue, they’re back to their base level of animosity. And on that score, in six months time, some readers may wonder why this issue was important. It’s not character study. It’s not driving a new arc. It’s just shooting and blowing stuff up, which works for some. The danger with an issue like this is that it doesn’t continue any momentum from the previous issue, nor does it launch the next issue with any momentum either. Making that slightly worse is the fact that I didn’t feel much was at stake. If none of the T-bolts are going to do anything serious to one another, and the FARC is a pretty unmenacing antagonist, there’s not much left to worry about. (Unless you think that a platoon of spottily trained guys with hand weapons is going to pose a genuine threat to the Thunderbolts – FARC aren’t the Hulk-Busters, Cape killers or even a properly equipped modern army.)  That makes it easy to say that this is not a critical issue for collectors.

For the purposes of nit-picking (can’t nerd out without nit-picking, right?), odds are long that FARC guerrillas would be skirmishing with Venezuelan forces, but that’s just nit-picking.

Conclusion: If you like to watch your favorite villains pretending to be heroes and shooting and beating each other, this issue is for you. Otherwise, nothing much changes in the Thunderbolts universe, so if you need to skip an issue, it shouldn’t affect how you read next one.

Grade: C

-DS Arsenault

 

Thunderbolts #137 – Review

by Rick Remender (Writer), Mahmud A. Asrar (Pencils), Rebecca Buchman (Inks), and Bruno Hang (Colorist)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: With Jeff Parker due to take over the Thunderbolts series soon, I’m not entirely surprised to see a one-and-done story filling the space in between creative teams. It’s not such a bad thing as long as the filler stuff is entertaining.

The Story: Norman Osborn has unfinished business with Luke Cage. So what’s Osborn do? He abducts Cage’s best friend, Danny Rand (A.K.A. Iron Fist), in order to use him to take out Cage.

What’s Good: Before diving into Thunderbolts #137, you should be aware that the comic is as much about Norman Osborn’s team as it is about the friendship that exists between Luke Cage and Danny Rand. That’s not a bad thing at all though because Rick Remender’s script definitely delivers the goods. Not only does it do justice to what Andy Diggle has built up over the last few months as far as the overall Thunderbolts dynamic is concerned, but it’s got satisfying action beats and a number of nice character moments as well.

I’ve got to say that I’m extremely impressed by how smoothly Remender slides into his role as a Thunderbolts writer (I’d be pretty happy if he took over the series after Jeff Parker to be honest). By wisely choosing Ghost (the wild card) and Ant-Man (the outsider) as his focal points, Remender is able to effortlessly capture what makes the team such a ticking time-bomb. From Osborn’s plan to Mister X’s taste for violence, Remender’s story reads as though the writer has been on the series for quite some time.

Luke Cage and Danny Rand are, thankfully, handled with just as much care as the Thunderbolts are. While the “brain-washed best friend” plot isn’t anything new, Remender throws in a lot of effective character work to make up for any complaints one might have regarding originality. There’s a lot of history between Cage and Rand and writer uses that to full effect throughout the latest issue of Thunderbolts. Most of the dialogue between the two characters (when Rand isn’t being controlled by Osborn) is a mix of fun banter and personal exchanges that really drives home the point that Cage and Rand are tight.

The artwork in Thunderbolts #137 is solid, though mostly unspectacular. The action is easily the highlight thanks to the way Mahmud A. Asrar stresses the impact of every punch and kick. The action looks painful and that goes a long way towards driving home just how deadly Iron Fist and Luke Cage can be.

What’s Not So Good: I already mentioned how generic the plot of Thunderbolts #137 is, so the only other thing left to talk about is how disappointed I am by the artwork. I’m a big fan of Mahmud A. Asrar’s art for the Dynamo 5 series, so I had pretty high expectations when I saw his name on the cover of an issue of one of my favorite series. Unfortunately, it turns out that Asrar’s style is better suited for colorful, more traditional superheroes than it is for the gritty, brutal characters featured in Thunderbolts. While Asrar’s work is in no way bad, it is underwhelming considering what some of his other comic art looks like.

Conclusion: Art issues aside, Thunderbolts #137 is a great one-and-done story about some of the more underappreciated characters of the Marvel Universe.

Grade: B

-Kyle Posluszny

Thunderbolts #136 – Review

by Andy Diggle (writer), Pop Mahn & Carlos Rodriguez (art), Frank Martin & Rain Beredo (colors), and Albert Deschesne (letters)

The Story: Black Widow and Songbird find themselves in a bad spot, as a divide begins to form between the Thunderbolts.

What’s Good: It’s really quite tragic that in Diggle’s final issue,  the team finally feels fully established, with its members feeling legitimate and competent.  Each character is fully defined, and I found myself caring about each and every one of them.  The bad guys on the team felt like nasty, powerful adversaries, while I was firmly cheering for the good guys on the team.   While Ghost has been awesome for some time, Headsman is now very lovable in his own right, Paladin gives off a twisted Scott Summers feel, Ant-Man is in intriguing character that’ll be trouble later on, and Mr. X is the evil, all-powerful badass that he should be.

All of this comes courtesy of the team breaking apart early on in the issue, which allows each character to shine in his own right.  It fully manifests the sort of bizarre team dynamic that should define the Thunderbolts;  Diggle spends much of the issue with half of the team acting like heroes, or at least anti-heroes, while the other half are flat-out villains.  This is the sort of moral impasse that can make Thunderbolts such a fascinating comic, as while none of the characters are good guys, each represent a different sort of villainy.

Beyond that, the action has the fast, slick, and frenetic feel that you’d expect from Thunderbolts, with fancy explosions aplenty and a fun chase sequence.  This is really dynamic, yet shadowy stuff with the great shading that has come to be a requirement in a Thunderbolts book.

What’s Not So Good: It’s hard not to feel a little frustrated as you realize that Diggle has left his book in a state where nothing has really changed.  Through some rather convenient techno-wizardy, Ghost ensures that the team will have no memory of their infighting – meaning that the roster stays the same and the internal strife that made this issue so interesting is put back into the closet.  Meanwhile, a “new” member introduced at issue’s end essentially  undoes the biggest twist of Diggle’s entire run.

Diggle just feels overly concerned with making the series as accessible as possible for incoming writer Jeff Parker.  It’s as though we’re back to issue 3 of Diggle’s run, with Parker merely inheriting Diggle’s original team, but almost none of the events that came after that roster selection.

The unmasking of Scourge was also underwhelming.  It really is a C-list character, one I can imagine many people being totally unfamiliar with.  Worse still, those who are familiar with the character probably saw this coming a mile away.

Also, perhaps due to having a larger art team, things can feel a bit scattered and a little too frantic, with a few too many angular panels, some faces looking off, and some panels being clearly done by a different hand.

Conclusion: A great issue that makes me feel that Diggle’s leaving too soon.  It’s too bad that so much is undone.

Grade: B

-Alex Evans

Thunderbolts #135 – Review

by Andy Diggle (writer), Miguel Sepulveda (art), Frank Martin (colors), and Albert Deschesne (letters)

The Story: Black Widow and Songbird make a run for it.

What’s Good: Diggle writes an interesting script for this issue, one that’s self-referential in many ways.  Whenever a character says a line that sounds ridiculous, cliche, or out of character, another character immediately picks up on it. It’s actually fairly clever.  They pick up on the failings in each other’s dialogue or the more ridiculous aspects of certain characters. There’s an especially funny line regarding the cliche nature of Nick Fury’s voice that isn’t to be missed.

This is overall a fairly solid issue, and one of the reasons for that is perhaps the first time since the beginning of his run, Diggle actually makes his team feel not only competent, but nuanced and outright intimidating. All too often, Diggle’s Tbolts have felt woefully ineffective. It was great to hear them finally speak of with fear. By placing them in the role of pursuers as opposed to main characters actually does wonders for the team and has given them a shot of legitimacy. Too bad this comes at the end of Diggle’s run.

Character-wise, I’m glad that Mr. X was finally was put to good use in this issue, and unlike most martial arts monsters, he actually is as invincible as he should be. Mr. X is a scary, scary dude and his action scene was fantastic, lightning quick stuff that looked and read great. Norman was also oddly competent this month. Dark Reign has often made him seem a bit bumbling, but this month, he puts out the brainpower that one would expect out of someone running the show, in a twist on a twist that’s really rather cool.

On art, Sepulveda brings his awesome shading techniques that make the book look unlike any other, giving it a neat “painted” feel.

What’s Not So Good: But that’s all I can say that’s good about the art this month, which is quite inconsistent. Close-ups of faces often look completely strange, even muddy and distorted. Nick Fury in particular looks horrible, and it’s clear that Sepulveda can’t draw beaten and battered faces. He also struggles with people shouting.

Unfortunately, many of  the other panels aren’t much better. When the shot is zoomed out a bit, a lot of detail seems to be lost, to the point of looking flat-out weird. Inexplicably, Sepulveda’s action scenes look great and don’t suffer from any problems. It’s only in zoomed out panels without action that it all becomes a bit blank and blurry.

Frank Martin’s colors certainly don’t do Sepulveda’s art any favours. It’s clear that Sepulveda’s art looks best with dark colors, but with much of the book taking place outdoors, Martin makes the book look damned bright; and it just feels very off, inappropriate even. Worse still, I feel that the strong bright colors ended up battling Sepulveda’s equally strong shading, resulting in a very weird looking comic book.

Despite the cool action scenes, there’s some sloppy work here, and the overbearing colors don’t work with Sepulveda’s drawings.

Conclusion: A fairly decent issue held back by off-putting artwork.

Grade: B

-Alex Evans

Thunderbolts #132 (Dark Reign) – Review

By Andy Diggle (Writer), Robert De La Torre (Artist), and Frank Martin (Colorist)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: It’s about time that the Thunderbolts got back to business after being treated as fodder for Deadpool for a few months.  The whole “Magnum Opus” thing definitely hurt the credibility of the new Tbolts team.  Andy Diggle and Robert De La Torre have some work to do in order to re-establish their team as deadly and efficient.

The Story: The latest issue of Thunderbolts is sort of divided into two parts.  The first deals with the mysterious and paranoid Ghost.  He’s a wild card on a team of wild cards and his teammates are a bit uncomfortable with both his personality and his abilities.  The second part deals with the Thunderbolts going after their latest target, the dangerous Mister X.

What’s Good: Thunderbolts #132 is gritty, dark, sarcastic, mean, and surprisingly clever.  In other words, it’s exactly the way the series is supposed to be.  Andy Diggle and Robert De La Torre get the series back on track in a big way and I for one, couldn’t be much more pleased.  The visuals capture the action and the tone of the book extremely well (the assassination plan plays out in a very entertaining way). The character work does a solid job of bringing out the personalities that make up the covert-ops team (it’s been a long time coming), and last but not least, the story develops in a way that creates some intriguing possibilities.  Also, the Ghost segments are almost worth the cover price alone.  There’s some great stuff there.

What’s Not So Good: A few panels look unclear or rushed in Thunderbolts #132, though it’s tough to place blame.  Sometimes De La Torre’s gritty style, while a very good fit for the series,  is occasionally a bit too rough.  Other times, it’s Frank Martin’s moody, dark coloring that’s the cause of the clarity issues. Another thing I must mention is that the twist ending is a bit predictable and, as a result somewhat disappointing.

Conclusion: It’s great to see Thunderbolts return to form. Now it just has to remain in that form and all will be well.

Grade:  B+

-Kyle Posluszny

Thunderbolts #131 (Magnum Opus Chapter 4) – Review

By Andy Diggle (Writer), Bong Dazo (Pencils), Joe Pimentel (Inks), and Frank Martin & Giovanni Kosoki (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: For as much fun as I’ve had with the “Magnum Opus” crossover, I’m disappointed by how heavily the story has leaned in favor of Deadpool. While there’s nothing wrong with that in particular, it’s done no favors for a new Thunderbolts team that has yet to escape the (massive) shadow of the Warren Ellis team. Let’s face it; Ghost, Paladin, Ant-Man, Headsman, and Black Widow II have looked rather incompetent for about 2 1/2 chapters out of 3. I wonder if they can turn things around in the final chapter of “Magnum Opus.”

The Story: The conclusion of the Deadpool and Thunderbolts crossover largely brings more of the same to the table. With Deadpool finally captured by the Thunderbolts last issue, Thunderbolts #131 is mostly about how Wade deals with the situation. As it turns out, dealing with it involves lots of action, violence, and various types of humor.

What’s Good: The latest issue of Thunderbolts succeeds almost entirely because of the energy that drives it forward. The pace is frantic, the action is pretty wild, and as a cool bonus, you get two Deadpools for the price of one. In addition, the humor hits more often than not and Bong Dazo’s kinetic visuals prove to be a great compliment to the style of story being told.

What’s Not So Good: As a conclusion to what’s come before, I don’t have a whole lot of complaints about the fourth chapter of “Magnum Opus.” That’s mostly because I had an idea as to what to expect out of it. Some of the visuals look either confusing or far too cluttered and a few attempts at humor are just lame, but that’s pretty much been par for the course no matter what creative team was in charge of things.

However, I do have complaints about the crossover as a whole. In short, it is just one big lost opportunity. It should have played up the distinct difference between the wacky, yet capable Deadpool and the cold, efficient team that the Thunderbolts is supposed to be. The darker aspects of all the characters involved weren’t highlighted enough and far too often the whole crossover felt like little more than a violent cartoon. Entertaining, yes, but not all that it could be.

Conclusion: A capable conclusion to a fairly disappointing (but still entertaining) crossover, Thunderbolts #131 works about as well as I expected it to. No more, no less.  I’m looking forward to seeing Thunderbolts get back to its regular business.

Grade: C

-Kyle Posluszny

Thunderbolts #130 (Magnum Opus Pt. 2) – Review

By Andy Diggle (Writer), Bong Dazo (Pencils), Joe Pimentel (Inks), and Frank Martin (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: So far, I’ve had a fair share of conflicting emotions regarding Andy Diggle’s Thunderbolts run. On one hand, the author carries on the mean streak and dark tone that made the Warren Ellis run such a critical success. On the other, I have yet to find Diggle’s new Thunderbolts team all that appealing. The characters have their moments, but the team as a whole lacks the turmoil and dysfunction that made the Ellis bunch so appealing. Thankfully, I have a feeling most of my conflicting emotion will be quickly forgotten as Deadpool brings his unique brand of humor and chaos to a series that currently needs just a little extra jolt of electricity.

The Story: “Magnum Opus” continues as Deadpool, in an effort to reach Norman Osborn for payment (and a bit of revenge), squares off against the Thunderbolts inside Avengers Tower. But all is not as it seems since Osborn has the Thunderbolts pulling punches in order to keep their target alive. Action, violence, and humor are the name of the game in Thunderbolts #130.

What’s Good: It figures that it’d take Deadpool to finally bring out the personality in the Thunderbolts team and make (almost) everything click. Long story short, Andy Diggle does quite a good job handling both his team and the guest of honor. Regarding the T-bolts, for the first time I actually find myself really looking forward to the next issue so that I can learn more about the cast of characters that I am fairly unfamiliar with thanks to the interesting team dynamics on display. As for Deadpool, Diggle effectively picks up where Daniel Way left off and doesn’t really miss a beat in handling the more unique aspects of the crazy mercenary.

Also worth mentioning about the latest issue of Thunderbolts is how damn nice it looks. The creative team does a fantastic job of handling the non-stop, explosive action without ever really letting it get too out of hand. From Bong Dazo’s kinetic scenes and stylish character work to the complimentary inks and vibrant colors that help the work jump off the page, the second chapter of “Magnum Opus” is a lot of fun to look at.

What’s Not So Good: Two key things hold Thunderbolts #130 from earning a higher grade. The first thing is that, while Diggle makes solid strides in bringing out the personality of his team, it still consists of characters that I have little, to no attachment to. While I understand that time is needed for them to grow on me, I had hoped for at least a character or two to really stand out by this point. I highly doubt I’m the only one feeling this way.

The second thing that needs to be mentioned is that from time to time the action gets a little bit too crazy. Either too much is going on, or character positioning leads to a bit of confusion. It doesn’t really detract from the strong visuals a whole lot, but it proves distracting at times.

Conclusion: The latest issue of Thunderbolts restores my faith in the series. I had thought about dropping it following the Deadpool crossover, but now I feel that the new team definitely has the potential to be quite memorable. You’ve got the ball back Diggle, now is the time to run with it.

Grade:  B

-Kyle Posluszny

Second Opinion

Fanboys take note: when somebody asks whether or not you dig the Bong, I promise you it’s okay to say “YES!”  This was my first introduction to artist Bong Dazo’s work, and I was incredibly impressed.  Although I believe his style is a bit to cartoonish and illustrative to be the regular artist for a dark and gritty title like Thunderbolts, it nicely complements Deadpool’s appearance here.  Dazo’s art is loose and flowing, yet incredibly detailed when the moment calls for it, and I hope the industry takes note and sends more work his way!  As for the story itself, I was surprised by how easily Deadpool took down the Thunderbolts, and disappointed by how utterly inept they came off looking.  I enjoyed this issue, don’t get me wrong, but when I finished it the first thing  I said to myself was “wow, why is it I’m reading this title?”  The ease with which Deadpool laid the smackdown on Osborn’s team of covert cutthroats is embarassing, and it makes them look like far less of a threat than Diggle was building them up to be in previous issues.  I hate to say it, but Diggle actually succeeded in making me want to drop this title and resume collecting Deadpool, and that was the last thing I expected to get from this issue.

Grade: C+

-Tony Rakittke