Jan-Ken-Pon – Thunderbolts #131 review

    
Short and sweet as I’ve covered the prior three installments of Magnum Opus, the crossover between Deadpool and the Thunderbolts, and realistically there is only so much refinement to cover in an arc like this (by no means intended as a negative statement). I did want to offer some sort of closing summation and brief thoughts on this issue We get a classic switcheroo with Deadpool and Taskmaster effectively handling the ‘bolts, which allowed us an especially crazy scene with Deadpool carrying an arsenal (on his person) that just reminded me of a Rob Liefeld moment, though Deadpool has the virtue and self-awareness to laugh at himself. Many people now cringe at those moments, but it’s all good with Deadpool, and we end up with what amounts to an issue-long fight scene that concludes with taking Deadpool off of Osborn’s radar (but not out of his wallet), and gives us a patent Deadpool ending that I know creators must love having their turns at.

I want to take a moment to share a stray thought (basically what Jan-Ken-Pon is a collection of to begin with) that came to me when reading this issue. There is a scene where Black Widow leaps off of a building that caps an action sequence that made me – for some reason – at that moment think that I’d love to see a David Mazzucchelli Deadpool book. I realize that this is hardly a revolutionary or odd thought, as all people of proper taste would like to see Mazzucchelli do anything, but it came to me, and rather strongly. This passing fancy, however, perhaps leads us to a problem. My prediction of an introduction* of a new member being introduced in this issue is revealed to be one issue off, as the end here promises Mr. X for the next issue, but what I wasn’t off on pertained to my doubts about the Thunderbolts being able to come away from the crossover in what I thought was its fine form prior to.

Ant-Man?

Are you Kidding Me? – Taskmaster

I think if the action of Headsman living up to his name was counted on – in one swing – to prevent the loss of luster to the Thunderbolts, it was probably a miscalculation. For this reason I’m pleased to see that Roberto Del La Torre is coming back to handle the penciling chores for Thunderbolts next issue, as I think he’ll bring that dose of reality; that Deadpool anti-venom* that will aid transitioning the Thunderbolts back into the direction they were going a few issues ago, when I thought it was shaping up to be and had the look of a must-have Marvel title. Bong Dazo was certainly serviceable in this arc by giving the Thunderbolts portion of the crossover a more homogeneous quality conforming to the atmosphere we equate more with Deadpool (the last page in this issue is fantastic and a nice exit for Dazo). It is the Deadpool character’s unique quality to be able walk out of almost any situation undiminished – even if beheaded – but I want to now go back to reading a Thunderbolts book that is more akin too a Marvel Checkmate or Ostrander Suicide Squad, and it seemed like we were going to get something along those lines before this crossover. In some sense this was a Deadpool showcase at the expense of the Thunderbolts.

What I do come away with from this crossover is something else that really makes me feel better about my comparing the reading experience of Deadpool with reading Spidey when I was younger. Remember when Spidey was the Marvel crossover character? Hell, Marvel Team-Up was really Spidey-Team-up in all but name, and as I finished the issue I found myself loving the possibility of a future Taskmaster or even Black Widow team-up with Deadpool. I know this statement seems to be at direct odds with how I feel his presence effected the Thunderbolts, but if Magnum Opus is in any way a storytelling failure, it is so because of how successful (I thought) the individual titles were going in to it. For myself, I’m equally pleased to have read the crossover as I am to have the Thunderbolts move on from it, and my only worry is that this bump may rub-off too much on the title’s future. I just want the Thunderbolts to have a tone you’d think a comic that has it’s covers would reveal, and I thought the crossover would have been more interesting if each title retained its own sense of style and tone and had fun with those differences. That potential anxiety and what if aside, Magnum Opus – especially the first two installments – was great, fun, enjoyable, and in some sense going back to a classic comic book reading experience. I just think that the Deadpool fans have much more to enjoy here as it was their character’s sensibility that assimilated the crossover.

With Deadpool, resistance is futile.

_{* I am aware that I could easily tell or at least get a clue by reading advanced solicits, but I don’t read them.}

_{**not the trite Spider-Man villain}

    
- Jay Tomio

_{Jan-ken-pon is the time traveling, force-walking, multiverse crossing column of Jay Tomio, owner of 1/3 of everything you see currently on screen, and the editor of Heliotrope. Some call him the Bodhisattva.}

About Jay Tomio

...Jay Tomio is the co-owner of BSCreview and BSCkids--check out Jan-ken-pon, his time traveling, force-walking, multiverse crossing column. More fun awaits at the Vogue Immunity