Thunderbolts Engage!

One of Marvel's more offbeat titles that I have been reading and enjoying is Thunderbolts. I hopped on the bandwagon after Civil War when Warren Ellis took over writing it. I had not previously read much Thunderbolts at all up to that point, but I thought I'd give the new cast of crazies a try. Ellis's two arcs, Faith in Monsters and Caged Angels, were very entertaining and well written. The sheer magnitude of insanity came through on every page. My only complaint was Mike Deodato's art, while good, was a bit too photo-referenced for my taste. Norman Osborn looked a little too much like Tommy Lee Jones.

I was a little disappointed when I heard that Ellis was leaving Thunderbolts. I had heard good things about writer Christos Gage, but I was unsure he could hit all the same notes as Ellis. I liked the dark humor, the brutality, the fact that this was a government sponsored team of the most dangerous lunatics in the Marvel Universe with a PR department. Add into the mix that the next few issues are the requisite Secret Invasion tie-ins, and I had low expectations. And buying comics on a budget like I do means that if a book fails to impress, it stays on the shelf.

Despite my misgivings, I've read the first two, and I have to admit that Thunderbolts is not on my drop list yet. Gage has shifted the focus onto Norman Osborn which, after his total meltdown at the end of Caged Angels, has some very interesting potential. The latest issue #123 has plenty of action, as the Thunderbolts are deployed to Washington, D.C. to help battle the Skrull invasion force. After impressively taking out some Skrull warships, the team's collective mojo hits the fan again, as we see Moonstone negotiating the terms of her betrayal, and Osborn confronted with visions of Spider-men, sure to send him over the edge again.

The best part of this issue is Osborn setting Bullseye and Venom free, probably not the wisest move ever. Other great moments from the issue:

- The Thunder-skrull

- Venom's new diet of Skrull heads

- Bullseye's "friendly fire"....whoops!

Thunderbolts remains my monthly dose of madness. You all should check it out if you haven't already. Pick up the trades, you won't be disappointed.

Action Figures as Art

Check out this art display that shows you what your action figures are up to while you sleep. Seriously. Mickey Mouse is a disturbed little fellow.

Is "Red Hulk" Almost Over?

Yes, I started reading [Red] Hulk after World War Hulk. Yes, I stayed with it this long, despite Jeph Loeb's attempts to make She-Hulk into an icy, icy, bee-otch in issue #1, turning Rick Jones into a giant, blue, armadillo-man (who should have been Red Hulk, in my opinion), the Giant Robot Betty Ross-faced Anti-Hulk Harpy Squadron™*, and Bruce Banner/Hulk written as if Greg Pak's fantastic take on the character with Planet/World War had never happened.

I have overlooked all of these things to this point, but issue #5 finally got under my skin. The issue picks up with Thor challenging "Ol Rulky" (bleh) , proclaiming that he must be taught a lesson. RH responds with his prickly wittiness that he does not believe in gods, despite the fact that he is punching one in the face right now. But the thing that really gets my dander up, is Loeb's take on Mjolnir, the mighty hammer of Thor.

First, we see RH holding Mjolnir and leaping high enough to reach escape velocity, all while towing an astonished Thor behind him. Then, RH explains that he has studied Thor and his enchanted hammer, and realized that while he cannot lift Mjolnir off the ground (not worthy), he can swing it around in zero gravity. Okaaay...if that is the case, then we set up the argument that physics do apply to an enchanted hammer. Fine. But don't then show me, three panels later, RH using the hammer to fly through space!

If RH can only "push" the hammer around in zero gravity, thus circumventing the enchantment that requires worthiness to wield it, then he definitely can't use it to break every other law of physics and propel himself through the vacuum of space.

The best line in the whole comic was "To Be Concluded". I certainly hope so.


*not actually trade marked

New Mythology

Devon Sanders at Second Printing had a great post on comics being the new mythology.
Give it a read here.

Welcome to Bill's Beta Ray Blog. I will endeavor to use this space to entertain you with my reviews of the comics I read, and other geeky things I like. My hope is to update this a least once a week, maybe more often down the road, and really get some good discussion going about the all the fun stuff of the comic book world.

Next post I intend to give you a few quick hits of things I've read recently and my take on each of them, sort of a likes/dislikes of the past few weeks of comics. Welcome aboard.