New Thunderbolts, v. 3: Right of Power

Collects: New Thunderbolts #13-18, Thunderbolts (v. 2) #100 (2005-6)

Released: May 2006 (Marvel)

There was a time, long ago, when Thunderbolts had a plotline you could follow without a set of Cliff Notes and a vodka tonic. I’m not sure when that time was, or when it passed, but I know it existed and doesn’t any more.

Certainly it passed before the title was relaunched as New Thunderbolts. There’s nothing wrong with the new name — well, except the original Thunderbolts weren’t too old, and every book seems to have a “New” in front of it these days — but writer Fabian Nicieza evidently decided that intricate plotting was the secret of success and hied down that road.

It’s … I don’t want to call it “sprawling,” because the next word after that is “epic,” and that’s not right at all. It’s filled with many flailing plots that refuse to come together and instead jut out of the main body of the plot like arrows out of a practice target. But there’s a lot going on in this trade, and there’s little to indicate any of these plotlines are being wrapped up.

The Commission for Superhuman Activities asks the Thunderbolts to humiliate the Avengers, which they do. Then the team has a fight with the new Squadron Sinister, reformed by the Grandmaster. Then there’s the final three issues, which does put an end to Captain Marvel / Photon’s mental problems but leaves other danglers: What will the new Swordsman do? What’s Zemo playing at? And is he playing his new girl? What’s up with Moonstone? What will Speed Demon do now? Will the Thunderbolts’ new member remain?

Plot fodder for future issues, you say? Well, maybe. But two things occur to me:

1) We went down this road with Chris Claremont on Uncanny X-Men, where he spun off new ideas like crazy without ever resolving them. Nicieza has been good about resolving his stories in the past, but you never know …

2) There is a sense that this title is tossed about by the whims of editorial. The Swordsman is a reminder of the crossover with Wolverine that ran straight through the middle of v. 1. “House of M” marred v. 2. Here, the status quo of New Avengers makes up the first third of the story, and Carol Danvers resigns from the Commission on Superhuman Activities — off panel — so that she can have her own series.

Nicieza, aided by artists Tom Grummett and Rick Leonardi, may be doing its best, but this is a very densely plotted series, fully of revelations, double crosses, and scheming Nazis. The title itself seems in very real danger of flying apart when the next crossover comes flying through. Like, oh, say, Civil War …

Grade: C+

Avengers / Thunderbolts, v. 1: The Nefaria Protocols

Collects: Avengers (v. 3) #31-4, Thunderbolts #42-44 (2000)

Released: March 2004 (Marvel)

When Count Luchino Nefaria begins a plot to change the world, who’re you gonna call?

The Avengers! And the Thunderbolts!

The 2000 crossover between the two titles was tied to ionic powers, which are … well, you see, their bodies … it alters the … Hmm. Ionic energy makes people glow odd colors, seem to have a corona and leak energy from the eyes, and allows them to be superstrong and fly (eventually) and come back from the dead (also eventually). Possibly there are other powers in there as well.

Now in the X-Books, that alone would be enough for a 12-part crossover. But that’s not enough for Avengers writer Kurt Busiek and Thunderbolts writer Fabian Nicieza. So not only does Avenger Wonder Man and Thunderbolt Atlas have ionic powers like Nefaria, Nefaria’s daughter, Madame Masque, was a former lover of Iron Man, one of the Avengers. Add in Nefaria and Masque’s ties to the Maggia, an organized crime syndicate, plus the Grim Reaper, brother of Wonder Man and the Vision (kinda), who’s working for the Maggia … well, you’ve got seven issues jammed full of plot.

That’s not to say there aren’t fun moments or characterization. Seven issues is more than enough time to allow the characters to act like themselves, have fun little moments (like Vision asking teammate Warbird out to dinner, while his ex-wife the Scarlet Witch watches), and otherwise act as if this another chapter in the characters’ lives, rather than “event.”

For the most part, The Nefaria Protocols is a fun ride, although it is occasionally extremely dense to the point of requiring decryption. The difficult part to read is the Thunderbolts issues. While the Avengers issues are wonderfully self-contained — except for following Dr. Pym’s swashbuckling alter ego as he runs around, starting bar fights with science nerds — the Thunderbolts issues are knee-deep in their own subplots. On one level, this is admirable, both from Nicieza and Marvel; Nicieza rewards readers of Thunderbolts and does a wonderful job of avoiding forcing his readers into buying the entire crossover, and it wasn’t long ago Marvel would quash subplots during crossovers (Peter David quit X-Factor for just that reason). However, I’m on a different level: that of someone reading the trade out of sequence of the rest of the series.

It’s easy to see the contrast in styles between Busiek and Nicieza in The Nefaria Protocols. Both will mine deep in past continuity and refine it for storylines. Busiek will occasionally sacrifice pacing for comprehension, although I don’t think he does in The Nefaria Protocols. Sometimes, however, Busiek’s stories read as if their primary purpose was to wrap up loose ends (Avengers Forever, for example). I’m not sure whether it’s laudable or condemnable in artistic sense. I enjoy those types of stories, especially when they seem well researched and heavily footnoted, but it does make the stories difficult to read sometimes. In this TPB, Avengers #33 seems the strongest example of this: assembling all the threads of Madame Masque’s life and tying off the loose ones.

Nicieza will skip the detailed explanations and draw out the suspense, so we see several plotlines running in the background: the Scourge, who Techno has in the tubes, what Andrea Sterman is going on about, what’s eating Moonstone, etc. I don’t know if Nicieza planned these as trailers for Avengers readers who were crossing over, but they read like spare cogs and wheels bouncing around inside the engine block in the trade. (Not that I want them taken out; when I buy a reprint, I want all the story reprinted.) Nicieza seems occasionally use obscure characters and plot points because he enjoys obscure characters and plot points. I mean, he resurrected a Humus Sapien, a character that won a Marvel contest but never even saw print, in Thunderbolts #55.

Art is provided by George Perez on the Avengers issues and Mark Bagley on the Thunderbolts. Both are accomplished superhero artists, able to tell a story with a great deal of action, and Perez, the veteran, shines in his Avengers finale. Normally, I enjoy Bagley’s work, but he clearly comes off in second place here. Thunderbolts #43, for example, has the characters standing around a great deal, which doesn’t exactly play to his strengths. All his females have the same exaggerated curvaceousness — a staple of the superhero genre, to be sure, but with so many women in spandex, it becomes monotonous and distracting, especially when you see how Perez draws them. Some might say there’s a bit of sameness in his faces as well. Still, it’s much more than competent, so there’s little real room to complain.

Unfortunately, this book appears to be out of print or on the shadowy edges of OOP that Marvel’s printing policies creates. Still, copies are available on E-Bay, and it’s well worth your time hunting it down.

Grade: A-