Written by Jeff Parker, Joe Caramanga, Jen Van Meter, and Frank Tieri
Illustrated by Declan Shalvey, Valentine De Landro, Eric Canete, and Matthew SouthworthFEAR ITSELF TIE-IN! When the Fear Itself hammer falls, The Raft is raised by one of its most powerful prisoners with a newfound weapon of the gods! Now the Thunderbolts will begin to learn the true meaning of FEAR ITSELF! Frank Tieri, Jen Van Meter & Joe Caramanga join series writer Jeff Parker to give us all side of the story as the Thunderbolts try to hold themselves and their world together against tide of anarchy!
Last issue, which I reviewed some nine thousand years ago, the Thunderbolts entered the Fear Itself crossover when team member Juggernaut was given a magic hammer from space, which he used to destroy half of the Thunderbolts’ base. Now, okay, you’re thinking: so what. Well, for one, work on that attitude. For two, you may not be aware, but the Thunderbolts are based out of a super-prison for super-people. Which Juggernaut just sank half of into the ocean. Whoops!
Click after the cut for some thoughts on the issue.
In my review of the last issue, I griped that Thunderbolts was risking becoming a ‘plot’ book over a ‘character’ book, in that there were so many characters buzzing around the various main plots that finding room for meaningful subplots seemed improbable at best. This issue’s solution is the blunt-force-trauma way of fixing things: an expanded issue with three backup stories, each covering a different member of the cast in their reaction to the prison’s destruction. It’s not the perfect solution, but it at least is a refreshing reminder that yes, so-and-so hasn’t been forgotten. (Well, maybe Cage has.)
Jeff Parker and Declan Shalvey handle the main story, which focuses on the Underbolts, rather than the main cast — though relatively untested, the backup team is needed to help cope with the crisis, and thus they’re left to roam unattended. This is, as it turns out, not exactly the best move, since they’re barely four paces away from their handlers before they start executing prisoners and plotting their escape. We’re left set up with a rather nice little plotline to be followed up on later, meaning that even though the Raft is halfway to the bottom of the ocean, things can always get worse — which is superhero-comic-book paydirt.
Focusing on the Underbolts (and Moonstone, and Crossbones, and so on) brings to mind one of the reasons it’s tricky to write a book like Thunderbolts. Its concept is simple: these are criminals being recruited by the government to serve as indentured superheroes in the hopes that they can be reformed into useful tools; if they don’t reform and remain a bunch of tools in the other sense, then hell, might as well keep them useful. This means that of the protagonists, a substantial section are going to be characters who are… well, let’s just come out and say it: assholes. It’s easier to write snippy bon mots for assholes, but it’s a lot harder to make the readership truly care, because come on, they’re assholes. Thunderbolts thus has a hefty mission brief, charged with making us care if an asshole like Moonstone gets beaten up, but not tamping down the assholedom too much (and leaving us with a bunch of generic not-good and yet not-bad people).
The easiest solution to that problem is to take your protagonist asshole and make everyone you want them to seem better than an even bigger asshole. That’s the going strategy with the backup stories, where Moonstone, Crossbones, and the unlikely pair of Johnny “USAgent” Walker and the Ghost (drawn wonderfully by the exceptional Eric Canete) all find themselves having to put aside their prickly dickish qualities and work with groups of people who are ostensibly even bigger pricks. The Moonstone and Walker/Ghost stories slot right into that mold and don’t really try to break out of it, offering only subtle character shadings at best (Moonstone’s thrill at being a leader of women, Ghost realizing that Walker is actually committed to the idea of rehabilitation). Crossbones, meanwhile, reveals himself to be asshole supreme, which is exactly what we’d want out of the racist thug who assassinated Captain America (or at least took the fall for it).
Still, though, while Songbird, MACH-V, and the Fixer are rushing around trying to save lives and get things under control, this issue of Thunderbolts is given over to the creeps, the bastards, and the psychopaths. If you’re into that sort of thing, dig in. (I’m into it.) If nothing else, Shalvey’s art on the main story is great, moody and grim and wholly suiting the crisis at hand. Best of all, despite the cover, it pretty much has nothing to do with the main Fear Itself story. My only reservation is that when the book isn’t highlighting the trickiness of its balancing act on one side, it’s highlighting it on another — but it’s yet to fall.
Final Verdict: 8.0 / Buy It(self)
