Post by Van Plexico on May 10, 2006 21:58:44 GMT -5
Another great issue of THUNDERBOLTS, although it's starting to get a liiiiiiitle bit Fabiany... or Niciezayyy...
Hmm. What I mean is, I love Fabe's work on TBOLTS, but I think he's at his best on this book when he keeps it relatively simple-- focusing on just a handful of main characters, such as Zemo, Songbird, Techno, Mach whatever, etc.
He starts to lose me a little bit when he brings in lots of new characters while keeping all the old ones in the mix, too.
And now, with the Squadron Sinister ("We prefer to be called Supreme Power." Excuse me? Yo, JMS, you hearing this?) ... well, I'm starting to feel my attention spread a little thin.
That being said, TBOLTS continues, in my view, to be one of the two or three best Marvel comics. It has a great cast, fantastic tension (that can't be matched by books about teams that, y'know, aren't potentially about to stab one another in the back at any moment...), and beautiful, classic Marvel art (Grummet and Erskine continue to rock).
I'd like to see the return of Moonstone to her right mind (or what passes for it with Karla!), more Abe (he's barely been present in what used to be his own book, essentially), more Techno/Fixer (what a fun character-- love him, hate him... okay, mostly hate him, but he's never dull)... and less of Joystick (yawn) and Speed Demon and the rest of this new crowd. The only exception, I think, is the Radioactive Man. How Fabian took this lame old villain and made him deep and fascinating is a real tribute to his writing skills.
So, in sum, this wasn't my favorite TBOLTS issue, by far. But the book's still head and shoulders above most Marvel books, these days.
And shout out to Ralph Angelo, late of MV-1, for his letter of protest about Genis's fate, printed in this issue. Go, Ralph! Fight the power, baby! Genis deserved better!
(Of course, I admit I am anxiously awaiting what becomes of the whole "new" Captain Marvel thread, over in YOUNG AVENGERS...)
I'll give this issue *** out of five stars, with hope that next month it's not entirely the Joystick show.