Thunderbolts #15 – Review

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

The Story: The Thunderbolts reach New York and do their best to help Frank Castle with his mission. As they do so, Thanos and his army invade Earth.

The Review: Charles Soule is not a lucky writer. Not only does he take on a book that the core idea was not one of his own, but he does so right when a huge event comic is on the verge of releasing. As a writer, he has to play with dynamics previously established by someone else, but he needs to tie-in some plot elements from a story that is not his own. Decidedly, it’s not a recipe for contentment or success.

Such is why seeing him succeed in most parts is actually quite surprising as not only Soule play with the dynamics and the characters quite well, but he also seems not to rush in with the Infinity plot points. There is a certain balance with a lot of the characters on this team that not every book is able to maintain, which is commendable of Charles Soule skills as a writer.

What he seems to be really getting is most of these characters and their psychology, with Red Hulk being restless when he’s out of the action, Punisher being solely driven by his mission, Elektra with her subtle manners and so forth. Soule gets bonus points for Deadpool though, as he is a character that a lot of writers simply write in a comedic tone and nothing else. He has a certain balance with his personality, his humor and just the way the character is that he doesn’t become the buffoon he can be written as. The scene in the subway is a true testament to this vision of his, which forebodes good things with Soule at the helm for this character.