The Main Event Comic Book Reviews 5.17.08: Thunderbolts
Posted by Dennis Twigg on 05.17.2008
A week having nothing to do with mega crossovers!
Thunderbolts: 120 General: In the penultimate issues of Warren Ellis' Caged Angels arc things really begin to fall apart in Thunderbolt Mountain. Norman Osborne is becomingly decidedly more goblinish, Swordsman has begun a paranoid coup and skewered Venom, Penance and Doc Samson continue their therapy, and the level-headed members of the team are trying to fight through the physic control of the psychic ‘prisoners' being held. Writing: Seeing Warren Ellis unleashed and given the ‘green light' with Norman Osborne is utterly amazing. Simultaneously acknowledging and teasing the reader about Norman's history and attitude, the first pages had me chuckling and excited for the inevitable. The battle that follows showcases exactly how formidable the man in charge at Thunderbolt Mountain is. The continued inclusion of red shirt guards only adds to the insanity as they make off-hand comments about the Civil War and generally act as a means of showing exactly how bad things in Thunderbolt Mountain would seem to anyone with a semblance of normality. Art: Mike Deodato Jr. lifts Ellis' storytelling to its full potential. Whether he's doing cracked out facial expressions, maniacal cackling, or explosions the work feels fluid, but dark. His depiction of the guards, although they are entirely expendable and generic characters, humanizes them rather than allowing them to blend into the background of super heroics (or villainy). Overall Score: A. I could not ask for more. Now, let's just see how all the threads tie together for the end.
