2.0 out of 5 stars
Concept doesn't hold water with subsequent readings, Dec 24 2003
Ce commentaire est de: Thunderbolts: Justice Like Lightning (Paperback)
With the Marvel Comics series Thunderbolts, writer Kurt Busiek pulled off the surprise of the '90s. The finale of issue #1 revealed that this super-team, appearing as a result of "Onslaught", was really the Masters of Evil, posing as heroes in a plan to conquer the world in the absence of the FF and the Avengers. While it was a great trick, and some of the later issues were okay, I had a hard time swallowing the premise the further I read. Reading this trade collection only reinforces that. The reason why? Well, I've been reading Marvel Comics for quite a while, and I agree that you need to occasionally shake up the status quo and tweak characters in order to keep things interesting. I had no problem accepting a few of these villains posing as heroes, but Baron Zemo was just too much to ask. As far back as I can recall, this guy has been portrayed as an egotistical, ranting, power-mad schemer, and for him to simply slip on a different costume and convincingly adopt a heroic air as "Citizen V" was absurd. While I feel that Kurt Busiek is definitely one of the most talented writers around, this one thing knocked Thunderbolts out of whack. It doesn't ruin the story, but it requires a major suspension of disbelief for long-time Marvel fans. One other complaint about the writing: for a Busiek story, there seems to be more emphasis on fighting than on dialogue. I understand that there should be SOME fighting to establish which side these guys are pretending to be on, but I would have preferred more emphasis on the story. Also, the lackluster art by Mark Bagley and others did nothing for me.
HOWEVER... I will give it two stars for the nostalgic aspects of the story; namely, the appearances of lots of other third-tier '70s characters. Also, I found it interesting that some of the Thunderbolts, who have been considered hard-luck cases as villains, seem better fitted to their roles as heroes.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
One of the last Marvel hero titles, Nov 30 2002
Ce commentaire est de: Thunderbolts: Justice Like Lightning (Paperback)
Marvel has undergone a renaissance in the last few years (in terms of creativity, if not sales) but they have definitely neglected their traditional audience. Thunderbolts was a product of the old administration and was a real Marvel book in style and substance. However, its now to be replaced by a hip (= embarrasingly dated within 5 months) version of Supervillain Fight Club, with zero connection to the original idea (and zero likeability). Avoid that travesty, buy this TPB which showcases some of their earliest and best stories
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5.0 out of 5 stars
My favorite comic series, Aug 31 2002
Ce commentaire est de: Thunderbolts: Justice Like Lightning (Paperback)
These guys were always my favorites. Before thast fateful day where I lost interest in comic books, I had every single issue. The first few year or so's worth of stories are still the best, where we get the bad guys NOT becoming sudden heroes, which was something unheard of in Marvel superhero books. The last page of the first issue is a classic. The stuff collected in this TPB is gold.
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