Jan-Ken-Pon – Thunderbolts#132 review

    
Well done. I’m not going to go over the pitfalls I thought this title needed to avoid post-Magnum Opus, as I went through them in my review of the previous issue (which concluded the crossover). Instead, I’m just going to say that they put this baby back on track, did it from page one, recognized that it’s simply a matter of tone, and executed it. It was a clean, necessary break, and done with ease – out of sight, out of mind. The return of Del La Torre’s pencils quickly ushered the reader back to business, and out of the reality warping influence of the merc with the mouth.

The issue is essentially split into two parts. One, the first, is reserved for inter-team dynamic and the second is their next mission. It’s very much a practice in what some would say is two schools of current – mainstream comics – as the first is dialogue heavy talking heads, and the other is the action packed job. For myself, beyond some rather extreme examples, I don’t think comics have changed too much excluding that writers (and artists) have become much better at the former. I’d optimistically call this development balanced storytelling, though I think the compartmentalized feel is still something that’s hard to escape from without being too absurd with transitions (I think Morrison caught flack on this with Final Crisis – though I rather enjoyed it). Diggle once again reminds us that the Thunderbolts are at best non-amicable mercenaries, and at worse full blown criminals and psychopaths. They do and say odd things – aloud – like having a fetish for watching a girl eat. This menagerie of crazy makes Black Widow rather interesting, as she is in some sense a buffer between madness. It’s clear that she remains the only character that doesn’t seem expendable, to both Osborn and the reader. One would normally assume that this would mean she is the safest, but any writer of quality would realize that as well, and play off that comfort for tension later. Part of the draw of a series like this that really isn’t using anyone of true historic relevance is the very fact that any issue could represent either a culling or an introduction. The possibilities of creating and testing the viability of new characters or implementing vintage characters we haven’t seen in awhile makes the title an interesting vehicle in the Marvel garage. In this issue we start seeing the realization and the following paranoia of being dispensable set in among some members of the team, which one would think would create an aura of apprehensive disquiet. This run on the title started hit the ground running with Dark Reign implications and followed by Magnum Opus, and now we are starting to see development in terms of what it means to be a Thunderbolt – the conditions and the level of awareness associated with the job by its members.

I think if you’re a comic reader whose relationship with comics or the Thunderbolts is one of simply a monthly trip to the shop, pick up, and reading experience, this is issue isn’t quite as telegraphed. Without reading solicitation and merely being (somewhat) a part of some comic communities, you still kind of knew that this issue represented not a Thunderbolts wetwork op, but indeed an introduction of a new member of the team. In short, Mister X is a badass that aids in the aforementioned return of a dangerous edge to the team that I felt was dulled in Magnum Opus – they have somebody now that perhaps won’t let them be clowned by a Deadpool (assuming such beings even exist). His purpose, tied to being so hardcore that he joins simply for the opportunity for challenges is somewhat typical and boring, but not an at all uncommon motivation, just one taken to the extreme. No one has more enemies than whoever is on top, and X wants a shot at them by eliminating them for Osborn. The performance of a fake assassination masked by a ballet performance is intriguing, and not only because of a pretty solid action scene and extraction, but because of the precedent set. It’s one thing calling the Thunderbolts an Osborn black ops group, but actually applying what comes with it is different. In recent appearance we’ve seen instances that could hardly be considered optimal clandestine conditions. Here we see Diggle go through the effort of faking the death of Mr. X- it will be interesting to see if this type of care will be echoed in issues and missions in the future.

Diggle and Del la Torre have put Thunderbolts back as a very safe monthly choice and though (correctly so) not on the center stage, they are again the stars of their own book.

    
- 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