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
Filed under: Marvel Comics | Tagged: Ant Man, Comic Book Reviews, comic books, comic reviews, Dark Reign, DS Arsenault, Frank Martin, ghost, Headsman, Iron Fist, Jeff Parker, Marvel Comics, Miguel Sepulveda, Mr. X, Norman Osborn, Paladin, Power Man, Scourge, Thunderbolts, Thunderbolts #138, Thunderbolts #138 review, Weekly Comic Book Review | Leave a comment »
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