“Thunderbolts” No. 111
By Warren Ellis and Mike Deodato
marvel comics
“Thunderbolts” has always been a comic book about good intentions. Beginning as the story of former supervillains masquerading as heroes ““ and then choosing to embrace their new roles ““ the series has always tackled morality and ethics with intelligence and humanity. But now, 111 issues in, it seems to have lost its way.
Issue 110 brought in a new creative team (Warren Ellis, the acerbic scribe behind “Transmetropolitan,” and artist Mike Deodato manning the photo-realistic pencilling) and a new cast of characters, so it’s no shock things are different. The series used to be about criminals striving for redemption; now it’s about criminals with a secretive government-backing blackmailed, threatened and coerced into pursuing ethically negligible ends.
Replacing Baron Zemo, the Thunderbolts are now run by a pill-popping Norman Osborn, the alter-ego of the Green Goblin ““ one of Marvel’s most despicable villains. The supporting cast isn’t any more likeable: In addition to holdovers such as Songbird and Moonstone, murderous heavyweights Venom and Bullseye now round out the team.
What made “Thunderbolts” an engrossing read over the last few years was the ambiguity of Zemo and his relationship to the team and humanity as a whole. Zemo, who was trying to take over the world as recently as “Thunderbolts” No. 25, had taken to doing acts of good and helping save the world from typically outlandish comic book situations. But at the same time, he’d gained immense power and seemed to be working toward his own ends even while fighting for the cause of good. Which way would he turn? The suspense was palpable. Then the editorial powers-that-be at Marvel had Zemo knocked off at the height of the “Civil” war storyline to pave the way for the current darker, grittier lineup.
With Zemo gone, the series’ shades of gray are now black and bloody. In No. 111, the new team goes after Captain America protege Jack Flag, a hero who the Thunderbolts take down with a paralyzing knife to the back. Meanwhile, in a painfully obvious foreshadowing of issues to come, Osborn shows hints of Goblin-esque insanity as he thinks he hears his assistant mention Spider-Man.
Ellis is a talented writer and Deodato’s art is top-shelf, but “Thunderbolts” has, ironically enough, become a supervillain comic book masquerading as a superhero story. There aren’t a lot of ideas worth exploring here and, unless the plot breaks from what looks to be a predictable, action-driven formula, not a lot worth reading, either.
E-mail Greenwald at dgreenwald@media.ucla.edu.