"Faith in Monsters: Part 1"
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Mike Deodato Jr. (p&i), Rain Bareto (colours)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Team books are never easy. Excepting high profile books such as Avengers or X-Men, it's often hard to get readers interested in a group of characters that might not have such an easy hook as you'd find with a solo title. Such a lot rests on the success of the team dynamic that the web of relationships requires extra effort on the part of the writer, and often a more committed investment on the part of the reader. Plotting is also frequently more complex, as it's important to give every character something interesting to do to justify their place on the team, and it's hard to keep every reader happy as different elements of the book will likely appeal to different sections of the audience. Then there's the importance of making a book with a large cast accessible to new readers, especially in the case of a repurposed and heavily-marketed title like this one. Finally, this issue of Thunderbolts has the less-than-enviable task of making the slightly implausible team of all-star bad guys that was introduced in Civil War #4 work as more than just a throwaway "cool" concept, and the mixed reaction from fans to their appearance in Millar's book suggests that this last hurdle might be one of the most difficult to overcome.
Yet despite all these factors counting against him, Warren Ellis has shown potential in this first issue to fashion a silk purse out of a sow's ear. I've only recently got into Ellis' comic book work, but over the last couple of months I've devoured his fantastic work on Planetary and The Authority, and still have a lot to catch up on. However, I felt that his more recent work for Marvel - namely the "Ultimate Galactus" trilogy - was constrained by editorial meddling, which resulted in a truncated and flat finale. Considering that Thunderbolts is more work-for-hire for a group of characters for which Marvel obviously has big plans (as if we needed reminding, the "From the pages of Civil War" banner on the cover hammers the point home that this is meant to be an important title in the post-Registration-Act Marvel Universe), this book feels like a surprisingly natural fit for Ellis' style. There's a lot of material springing out of the events of Civil War which is ripe for exploration, and Ellis uses this introduction to his government-sponsored team of super-villains to make some salient points about the nature of propaganda, and the way in which subtle media messages colour our view of such issues as terrorism, crime, violence and politics. Of course, there's more traditional super-hero fare too, but it's nice to see that Ellis hasn't forgotten that his story has grown out of an event which contains relevant parallels to real-world events, demonstrating more political insight in this one issue than Civil War has managed in its six instalments so far.
As for the introduction of the new team, well, the jury's still out on that one. Some characters receive more attention than others, with a result that we get very little new information about Penance, Venom, Swordsman and Songbird this issue, and new readers like me might have hoped for a broader overview of the main players in order to get our bearings before launching into the story. However, Ellis' approach probably makes more sense: an issue of exposition and character recaps would have been redundant for longtime readers and probably quite dull and boring for everyone else, so the decision to let the readers learn about the post-Civil War Thunderbolts "on the fly" is a wise one. The characters which are explored more fully this issue are compelling: Ellis' handling of Norman Osborn as a controlled, knowledgeable and skilled manipulator (rather than the cliché master planner of so many Spider-Man stories) gives us a team leader who is instantly captivating and darkly charismatic, making for a far more sinister bad guy than the gibbering madman than the Green Goblin was often reduced to. Osborn's businessman-like "interviews" with his Thunderbolts show the same kind of psychological insight that Ellis has demonstrated in the pages of Fell, using elements of past continuity to reinforce his story, such as Bullseye's allusions to Frank-Miller-era Daredevil, rather than treating his characters as blank slates. Even if we don't really know how a lot of the villains are going to function in this team (we only get a brief glimpse of many of the Thunderbolts here) the tone that Ellis establishes, along with the detail that he adds to the setup, definitely make me want to learn more.
Mike Deodato's art complements Ellis script well, producing some real tension in the interview scenes involving Bullseye and Moonstone thanks to his atmospheric lighting and strong grasp of body language. His Norman Osborn is very obviously modelled on the actor Tommy Lee Jones, but after the initially jarring first headshot, it's easy to get used to and actually makes for quite a fitting and original choice. Osborn's lined face shows his battle-worn experience, and combines with his intimidating gestures and glares to give him a powerful countenance, making him look every inch the leader of a gang of villains. Deodato's visuals also reinforce the more down-to-earth elements of the book, notably the subplot involving the very human and relatable story of the anti-registration hero Jack Flag. Jack and Lucy's apartment looks authentically suburban and lived-in, and the scenes of street-level violence ring true, evoking an old-fashioned superhero vibe which clashes with the militaristic atmosphere of the super-villains nicely. I'll be interested to see how the artist handles the fight next issue, as his handling of this instalment's talking-head scenes seems to show a moderate improvement over even his recent stints on Amazing Spider-Man and New Avengers, and I'm keen to see whether that will translate to the action sequences too.
This is very much an issue of setup and laying of groundwork, and as such it's difficult to judge at this point whether Ellis' Thunderbolts will be worth following for many issues to come. It's good to see a writer take the time to build up these characters into something more than a shallow team of A-list super-villains, and I hope that the prominence of the plot thread which deals with Jack Flag is a sign that Ellis is planning to examine the anti-registration heroes' reaction to the Thunderbolts in just as much detail as the Thunderbolts themselves, as I still don't think I've seen a Marvel title make the most of the dramatic potential that's inherent in the conflict. The artwork is solid, and the political commentary is a welcome slice of intelligence that should quell the fears of anyone who thought that this Thunderbolts team would be the comic-book equivalent of a dumb action movie. I won't go overboard with my praise, as my positive reaction to the book has probably as much to do with my low expectations as it does with the contents of this first issue; however, this is a far more solid and readable relaunch of the series than many expected, and I'll be interested to see how it progresses once the Civil War hype has died down.
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