THE APPEAL OF THUNDERBOLTS 
by Michael McClelland 


THUNDERBOLTS 18:  
Let me start off by saying
that in my opinion, this was the best issue of THUNDERBOLTS so far. I am
the guy who absolutely hated the first 8 issues of the THUNDERBOLTS.  I
hated the art.  I hated the dialog. I hated the premise.  The "villians
pretending to be heroes" didn't ring true to me. The characters didn't
ring true.  I just didn't relate to it at all.  But since issue 12 the
book has gone in a direction that I absolutely love.  The characters have
become people that I know, people that I relate to.  If Carol Danvers is
the Avenger I most relate to, then here is a whole team of people that I
relate to 10 times more than Carol (except for Jolt--more on her later).

The story begins where the TB's have been the last 11 or so issues --
perched on the EDGE.  They stay on edge the entire issue.  Tempers flare.
Bonds bend and break.  Morale slips. Conviction wavers.  Each member of
the team has a different, a wonderfully different motivation.  Motivations
that keep leading them to the edge (or rather winding them up there).
Moonstone's comments last issue to Graviton about HIS lack of direction
could just as well apply to the THUNDERBOLTS. They are being shaped by
events -- not shaping them. Events are happening to them, beyond their
control, without their consent. It's just like life -- well MY life
anyway.  Someone said life is what happens while you are making other
plans. This is incredibly relatable to me. So much more so than Iron Man
or Cap "deciding" they are going to be more proactive or change the
direction of their lives --and then doing it. The Thunderbolts are almost
like a collective Hulk from the 70's trying desperately to get away, be
left alone, catch a breath and yet being hounded and pounded from all
sides.  Beset upon by heroes and villians alike.  Everyone from the
Masters of Evil to the LA media has plans for our protagonists -- If you
won't come willingly to the edge -- the edge will certainly come for
you...

I LIKE the Thunderbolts because they all have distinct personalities and
quirks and flaws.  The Avengers are all so damned good that they can seem
like cookie cut outs in terms of motivation and character. The
Thunderbolts, on the other hand, seem "heroic" to me BECAUSE of their
flaws.  Because they have to stuggle to come up with the right thing to
do.  It doesn't come easy for them. It comes damned hard.  But they are
trying.  They don't automatically know right from wrong (not even Jolt).
Captain America has an innate sense of what the right thing to do is (at
least in most of your opinions if not mine); but the Thunderbolts have to
strain to their limits to know what to do -- and even then they don't
necessarily do what they should have -- just what was easiest -- well,
that's certainly not heroic; but is is totally real.  That's why when they
do pull off the occasional real act of heroism it really shines through.
Heroic acts practically seem like rote to every other Marvel hero and so
have little impact (to me anyway). If Spiderman saves the elderly lady
from the burning building its a pretty ho hum thing. Spidey is always 100%
good. He doesn't need to think--he's practically an automaton performing
preprogrammed acts of goodness. But if Atlas does it, well, that's a whole
different ballpark. That's a noteworthy act (not because a bad person
doing a good deed occasionally is better than a good person doing good all
the time; but because it's real. No one does good all the time unfailingly
automatically unthinkingly -- we all have to struggle -- or at least I
do).

I love the fact that Abner can't fix his own Mach I suit (though it
appears he *did* have it up and running in time for the battle).  It's
very humanizing that he had to agonize over it. Tony Stark could have
fixed it with a bobbie pin and a bagel in less than a heartbeat.

I love Eric's new single-minded honor system. He's so morally ambiguous
that he pratically has to chant a mantra to follow his chosen course of
action.  This may make him seem like a dimwit or a complete mook, but by
god, that's how I think most of the time. In fact, Eric has gone from
being a character I thouroughly despised (oh no, he's not one of the
villians this issue is he? Yuck!) to one of my favorite Marvel characters.
Every thought balloon this guy has is worth the price of the book.

I love Mimi's temper outbursts. Who wouldn't be cracking under the
pressure the Thunderbolts have been through the last few nonstop issues?
Well, most every other Marvel hero. But that's why I like Mimi.  She's
been a villian all her life. She's hung with the bad dogs. She's acting
like she'd act in the past (if we're gonna be persecuted we may as well
get some dough!)

I never liked Jolt.  I always thought she was a bad Jubilee clone.  A
rather self-indulgent character that was too good, too powerful, too brand
echhh. But I was finally won over this issue.  Jolt has tried desperately
to do the right thing.  She even seems to know what should be done. But in
spite of that, everything still turns out wrong. She's still a hunted
villian running with a bunch of criminals. She hasn't caved in on her
principals though despite it all. You gotta admire that. The scene between
her and Eric is the best kind of Marvel comics writing.

I admit to being in love with Moostone.  I have been for a long time,
since her appearances in Hulk. In fact, I think she was the first female
villian that I ever found interesting or intimidating (anyone remember
Thundra?) I loved how she was feeling edgey without her coffee. And man,
does Bagley know how to draw her! That panel with her and the tool belt...
ahem! er uh ... I need a moment alone...

I loved every minute of the Crimson Cowl's well organized and corporately
structured set up.  Benefits. Sauna. Movie theatre.  They even come and
scoop you up after some hero trashes you.  I wouldn't have to think twice
about accepting her offer -- but the Thunderbolts will. And that is why I
love this book and these characters so. Cap or Spidey would figure out a
way to get out of the situation none the worse for wear, without doing
anyone any harm, without compromising prinicpals. They'd have a brilliant
plan and come out smelling like a rose with everything wrapped up nice and
tidy. But the Thuderbolts won't. They'll probably be worse off than before
and in the middle of a big mess. But they'll try. They'll keep trying. And
they'll agonize over each choice they get to make -- that is when all
their choices aren't being made for them.

That's why I love this title and indeed, this particular issue so. It's
just like life... or my life anyway.  It's more inspiring to me than the
Avengers because I'm clearly not an Avenger. I can't take heart from their
heroic deeds... but I might be able to pass muster as a Thunderbolt and if
THEY can keep trying-- well, then, I can to. And maybe just maybe one day
we'll win one, the Thunderbolts and me.

The Thunderbolts is Marvel's best written comic.  Mark Bagley's art gets
better every issue, granted I wouldn't mind seeing Perez on this book, but
you can't have everything. The AVENGERS is a top notch book and overall it
is the best superhero book on the stands, the writing, the art the
characters are all superb; but the Thuderbolts appeal is pure writing.
The art is good and supports the book, but I'd never buy the book for the
art. The characters are excellent, but only because Kurt has made them so
-- I'd never buy this book for the trademarked characters if the weren't
being written so well.

This book has all the ambiguity and uncertainty that attracted me to
Marvel characters like Hulk and Spiderman and even Captain America back in
the 70s.  THUNDERBOLTS is the book that most reminds me of the books that
addicted me to this medium some quarter century ago...

I am wary of the relative low sales of this book. I am afraid it, like the
other books that have managed to hit me on such a personal level is doomed
to extinction...

(And I was interested to see the Asgardian Enchantress claim that Eric's
crude Earth weapon would have NO effect on her. (A luger at that!) Could
it be that the beauteous Enchantress is bulletproof while rugged Thor is
not? Or doth the Enchantress bluff?)

Michael C McClelland