Written by Nick Spencer
Illustrated by Cafu & ChriscrossT.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS doesn’t let up on the throttle for a second as the team’s assault on the Spider compound to rescue a captured teammate continues! Plus, special guest artist ChrisCross (FIRESTORM) illustrates a story spotlighting the backstory of doomed speedster Lightning!
Usually I try to leave all my overt opinions on a comic for behind the first cut, preferring to make my opening paragraph completely descriptive and objective. Well, this time I straight up cannot do that: this issue was phenomenal. My stock in Nick Spencer’s writing abilities grow with each new comic I read by him, and this issue continues that trend. Click below for even more subjectivity and bias!
You know, I liked the first issue of Thunder Agents, but that’s it. Just liked. Not loved. Not pooed my pants over. Just liked. Now, take into account how good that issue was when I say I ABSOLUTELY LOVED this one. After the inaugural issue set the stage and introduced some key players for us, issue two dives in right off the bat with some insanely detailed but nonetheless organic character development. Right at the top of the issue, we’re given a crash course on just what makes Kalenjin Kenyans such damn good runners before being introduced to Henry Cosgei, the man who would become the Thunder Agent known as Lightning. As it turns out, this entire issue ended up predominantly focused on Cosgei, leaving little time to advance the over arching plot of the agents heading into battle against SPIDER. Within the telling of Cosgei’s story, we learn the true extent that THUNDER goes to in order to get the agents they want, making them in a lot of ways villainous than heroic or just. In short, they pull a major dick move and frame Cosgei for the use of performance enhancers. Then, once he reaches complete bottom, they offer up agent status as a means to regain his life…even if running with the Lightning suit shortens his life.
This is where the issue truly gets interesting. In all the press and interviews for this book, it was revealed that being a Thunder Agent would eventually kill the agent themselves…and not in a “die in the line of duty” kinda way…a “their powers are deteriorating their bodies” kinda way. In a lot of ways that was the hook of the book. This issue though, Spencer ups the ante on us, revealing that in the case of Lightning, the use of his powers not only kills him, but reveals a new possible death to him as vividly as if he were experiencing it himself. When reading this scene, I often wondered how I can even consider him a government agent or a super hero and not an innocent man being literally tortured the death. And THAT my friends, is the actually hook of this series…not knowing who is good, who is evil, or even what good or evil even is anymore. THAT is how you write a compelling espionage comic.
On the art end, I found it a lot less consistent than last issue, mostly due to Chriscross drawing a few major scenes in place of regular series artist Cafu. That said, the inking work and coloring work did make the transition almost seamless. Overall, the book is definitely given the right tone to convey not only the high stakes espionage, but the intense humanity conveyed by the writing. Some of the expressions used for Cosgei, especially when he finds out he was framed, are spectacular, and the Gary Frank meets Frank Quietly composition and character design are just stunning to behold.
Overall, this book is proving to be one of the biggest unexpected success stories of the year. I think the greatest compliment I can give it though, is that it is written honestly and based very obviously in the real world. In a lot of ways, it reads a lot like how I would imagine government created super heroes to work on Earth in 2010 (I mean, making a Kenyan sprinter a speedster is just a stroke of obvious genius…makes a hell of a lot more sense than a white, nebbish scientist getting struck by lightning, that’s for sure.) I can’t wait to see where it goes next!
Final Verdict: 9.5 – Buy
