Post by Doctor Doom on Apr 13, 2007 9:43:25 GMT -5
Doom's Deconstruction: We begin in Phoenix, Arizona, looking in on Ollie Osnick, the Steel Spider. All is not well for him- he's your typical 20 year old college guy- still got zits! Messy house, money troubles, girlfriend has left him, charging things to his parents, etc.
We then cut back to Robbie Emo Stabby Boy- I'm sorry, Penance, in his quarters. Osborn has a conversation with him- basically, Robbie is refusing to use furniture, he wishes he could wear the suit all the time, he is VERY emo. Osborn shouts at him that he's sick and needs to get out of the suit, Robbie refuses. Osborn leaves and plots to have a doctor diagnose Robbie as unfit for combat so that when he dies in the field, Osborn won't be blamed.
Swordsman then has a conversation with Osborn. Osborn is pretty unhinged and Swordsman is arrogant- it turns out, Osborn has promised Swordsman he will create a clone of his dead sister, which will be finished by the end of Swordsman's one year term. He then shouts at Swordsman a lot and threatens the clone. As Andreas leaves, he runs into Moonstone and complains at length. Moonstone tells Andreas that Osborn is on medication- and she has been tampering with it to make him unhinged. She then outlines her scheme to him- she wants him gone from the director's chair, and wants Swordsman to kill Songbird in the field so that no one friendly to Songbird will be the new director, and in return she will let him have the clone anyway. She then tells him she doesn't care if he stays or goes... but she wants to be the director of the Thunderbolts.
Back on the Reservation, American Eagle is convinced by a friend to find Steel Spider and convince him to step down for a while because a group of angry gangsters have determined to kill him. Meanwhile, Sepulchre is recruited by a shadowy group to act as a bodyguard. In Colorado, Osborn briefs the team on their new target- Peter Parker. He overrules Songbird and says they'll go in in daylight rather than night. He then begins to call Steel Spider "Spider-Man", trying to correct himself when it's pointed out but he's more than a little unhinged.
Meanwhile, we see Steel Spider swearing that he's "still out here", like Spider-Man, who he's doing this for... and we see him attaching a pistol to one of the mechanical arms of his suit...
The View of Doom: Another great issue, if a little on the wordy side. My biggest criticism is the FIVE PAGES we spend on Steel Spider at the start, on only one of which is there any real dialogue. It did go a bit overboard, especially when that time could have let us see more of Songbird, Radioactive Man, Bullseye or Venom, all four of whom we see very little of this issue- indeed, no Bullseye at all despite his place on the cover.
I love that we're seeing factions forming within the Thunderbolts already, it had to happen of course. Let's see, we have Osborn, who can probably count of Venom given their shared history. Then there's Moonstone who very much has Andreas with her. Songbird represents the old faction of the team, and she has Radioactive Man to back her up, which leaves Robbie Emo Stabby Boy and Bullseye as the wild cards- both VERY wild indeed. I have absolutely no idea how this roster can last longer than ten issues but that uncertainty is a very fun part of the book so I'm not complaining.
The one criticism that cannot be levelled at this series is that it just uses throwaway characters as cannon fodder. Ellis takes huge care in fleshing out and delving into the Thunderbolts' targets, and we can already see the Steel Spider and American Eagle moving to team up, possibly to be joined by Sepulchre. In just two issues Ellis made Jack Flag not only a deep character, but also a threat to be reckoned with. If there are Jack FLag fans out there, the irony is that the issue in which their favourite character kicks the most ass is also the issue where he is brutally crippled.
Also, the Strucker stuff is very good as well- it makes sense in that twisted Strucker way, and goes some way to justifying the one characterization odd spot I've had in these 4 issues- his beatdown on Jack Flag in 111. The plot with Moonstone is devious- I have fallen in love with her character. She is SO diabolically evil. Meanwhile Osborn is completely off his rocker- learning that that was Moonstone as well is a very nice touch, but who can't love the exchange where he starts to talk about Spider-Man and when corrected, tries to retroactively insert a comma into his sentence and claim he said "Steel Spider, Man". Can't wait to see where this is going.
Verily, Doom doth decree this issue shalt be given... nine gold Dooms out of ten
The best reboot of a series I have seen in a very, very, very long time.
We then cut back to Robbie Emo Stabby Boy- I'm sorry, Penance, in his quarters. Osborn has a conversation with him- basically, Robbie is refusing to use furniture, he wishes he could wear the suit all the time, he is VERY emo. Osborn shouts at him that he's sick and needs to get out of the suit, Robbie refuses. Osborn leaves and plots to have a doctor diagnose Robbie as unfit for combat so that when he dies in the field, Osborn won't be blamed.
Swordsman then has a conversation with Osborn. Osborn is pretty unhinged and Swordsman is arrogant- it turns out, Osborn has promised Swordsman he will create a clone of his dead sister, which will be finished by the end of Swordsman's one year term. He then shouts at Swordsman a lot and threatens the clone. As Andreas leaves, he runs into Moonstone and complains at length. Moonstone tells Andreas that Osborn is on medication- and she has been tampering with it to make him unhinged. She then outlines her scheme to him- she wants him gone from the director's chair, and wants Swordsman to kill Songbird in the field so that no one friendly to Songbird will be the new director, and in return she will let him have the clone anyway. She then tells him she doesn't care if he stays or goes... but she wants to be the director of the Thunderbolts.
Back on the Reservation, American Eagle is convinced by a friend to find Steel Spider and convince him to step down for a while because a group of angry gangsters have determined to kill him. Meanwhile, Sepulchre is recruited by a shadowy group to act as a bodyguard. In Colorado, Osborn briefs the team on their new target- Peter Parker. He overrules Songbird and says they'll go in in daylight rather than night. He then begins to call Steel Spider "Spider-Man", trying to correct himself when it's pointed out but he's more than a little unhinged.
Meanwhile, we see Steel Spider swearing that he's "still out here", like Spider-Man, who he's doing this for... and we see him attaching a pistol to one of the mechanical arms of his suit...
The View of Doom: Another great issue, if a little on the wordy side. My biggest criticism is the FIVE PAGES we spend on Steel Spider at the start, on only one of which is there any real dialogue. It did go a bit overboard, especially when that time could have let us see more of Songbird, Radioactive Man, Bullseye or Venom, all four of whom we see very little of this issue- indeed, no Bullseye at all despite his place on the cover.
I love that we're seeing factions forming within the Thunderbolts already, it had to happen of course. Let's see, we have Osborn, who can probably count of Venom given their shared history. Then there's Moonstone who very much has Andreas with her. Songbird represents the old faction of the team, and she has Radioactive Man to back her up, which leaves Robbie Emo Stabby Boy and Bullseye as the wild cards- both VERY wild indeed. I have absolutely no idea how this roster can last longer than ten issues but that uncertainty is a very fun part of the book so I'm not complaining.
The one criticism that cannot be levelled at this series is that it just uses throwaway characters as cannon fodder. Ellis takes huge care in fleshing out and delving into the Thunderbolts' targets, and we can already see the Steel Spider and American Eagle moving to team up, possibly to be joined by Sepulchre. In just two issues Ellis made Jack Flag not only a deep character, but also a threat to be reckoned with. If there are Jack FLag fans out there, the irony is that the issue in which their favourite character kicks the most ass is also the issue where he is brutally crippled.
Also, the Strucker stuff is very good as well- it makes sense in that twisted Strucker way, and goes some way to justifying the one characterization odd spot I've had in these 4 issues- his beatdown on Jack Flag in 111. The plot with Moonstone is devious- I have fallen in love with her character. She is SO diabolically evil. Meanwhile Osborn is completely off his rocker- learning that that was Moonstone as well is a very nice touch, but who can't love the exchange where he starts to talk about Spider-Man and when corrected, tries to retroactively insert a comma into his sentence and claim he said "Steel Spider, Man". Can't wait to see where this is going.
Verily, Doom doth decree this issue shalt be given... nine gold Dooms out of ten
The best reboot of a series I have seen in a very, very, very long time.
