Thunderbolts #164 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (writer), Kev Walker (pencils), Terry Pallot (inks), Fabio D’Auria & Frank Martin (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters) & Tom Brennan (editor)

The Story: A team of Thunderbolts, trapped in WWII, fights Nazis alongside the Invaders.

Review: It’s all good with this comic right now.  I’ve never had a huge affinity for most Golden Age stories, but this is different because we’re seeing our modern Thunderbolts trying to blend in with the “natives” in terms of their speech and attire.  And, they’re not just any Thunderbolts, it’s pretty much the more villainous part of the roster.  Luke Cage and Songbird would’ve had no problem interacting with Captain America and Namor, but these guys are a really nasty bunch, who are just trying to play it cool until they get their bearings in WWII.

The central premise is pretty neat too.  As you can imagine, Baron Zemo plays a role in the story.  So the Thunderbolts are going to face some challenges: Do they play along with the Invaders and maintain their cover?  Or, do they worry that helping Cap curtail Zemo’s activities might screw up the timeline which would be kinda a bummer given all the influence that Zemo has had on the villains’ lives?  Fun stuff….

This issue is also loaded with fun little moments.  You’ve got Cap making an awkward comment towards Centurius (who is African American) about how great “negro soldiers” are doing in the war effort.  Makes you wonder what kinda of awkward comments he made when he got unfrozen…  There’s Satana coming onto Namor, Boomerang getting a patriotic themed costume, Hyde and Troll being too unpresentable to be around the Invaders most of the time, Hyde catching Nazis to feed to Man Thing’s swamp….and about 4-5 other fun times.  And the abundance of these little moments is what makes the issue so great.  That’s really Parker’s formula on Thunderbolts: come up with a basic scenario that puts the characters in a weird position, don’t dwell on anything too long and then focus on how the characters would behave and the funny things they’d say.

It’s almost impossible not to have fun reading Thunderbolts.

WCBR’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Captain America & Bucky #622 – This was a really hard choice because the runners-up were equally high quality, but Cap & Bucky edges them out because it managed to do this in a self-contained issue.  It isn’t the beginning of something exciting (like American Vampire #19) or the middle story of a fun arc (like Amazing Spider-Man #670)…..the whole thing is here: set-up, conflict and resolution.  If you had moved away from Cap & Bucky when the present day adventures of Steve Rogers moved over to Captain America, you’re really missing out because Cap & Bucky is wonderful as it tells stories from WWII.  This particular story highlights Bucky feeling a little left out and intimidated by the other Invaders (especially a really dickish Namor), but he manages to redeem himself, save the day and earn the respect of everyone.  This issue also shows the power of art in comics.  You could have a lot of other competent comic artists draw this series and no one would care about the series.  When you put Chris Samnee and Bettie Breitweiser on the art duties, you suddenly have something very special that can win “issue of the week”.  The combo of Samnee’s intelligent use of negative space and Breitweiser’s lovely and tasteful colors is really something.

Most Anticipated This Week: The Walking Dead #89 – TWD has really spoiled us by coming out like clock-work for a LONG time, so it kinds smarts that we haven’t had an issue since mid-August.  I guess Robert Kirkman is kinda busy???  I had to reskim my review of TWD #88 to remind myself of what’s going on.  Kirkman did a very uncharacteristic job of leaving some of messy storylines hanging in the air last time, so I really want to see how he clears them up.  There’s some romance stuff going on, a plot against Rick, Carl’s recovery……and you just know it mostly won’t end well.  Bring it!

Other picks: Animal Man #2, Swamp Thing #2, Sweet Tooth #26, Severed #3, Hulk #42, Thunderbolts #164, X-Men Schism #5