I only made it two issues into this new incarnation of the Thunderbolts until I dropped it, realizing that Daniel Way and Steve Dillon were not to my tastes, despite my fondness for the characters involved. Way’s take on the Punisher was too far removed from the Greg Rucka version that was just wrapping up – and in some ways, this Thunderbolts title was probably to blame for that. Plus, I was sad that Jeff Parker’s run on the book was ending as well, as I really enjoyed what he did with all the low-rent characters he was utilizing. But someone had the bright idea that there’s no reason why a book called Thunderbolts didn’t have anything to do with Thunderbolt Ross, so they kicked out the old guard – including Thunderbolts mainstays Songbird, Moonstone and Abner Jenkins – and put together a team full of murderous vigilante types that really have no business being on a team. True, Punisher had been in that loose-knit, unofficial Marvel Knights team, but that disintegrated as soon as it began, and Frank Castle just screams ‘loner’ at all times.
Anyway, I do like the characters in this book individually – Deadpool, Punisher, Red Hulk, Flash Thompson’s Venom, and I suppose Elektra. Also involved are an obscure Hulk villain named Mercy, which intrigued me, and apparently The Leader, aka Sam Sterns (you better reco’nize), has been re-powered once more in the Red Hulk fashion, making him Red Leader. There’s enough potential here, however misbegotten the book’s conceit might be, that this could entertain me. So when Charles Soule came on board as the new writer, I decided I should probably give it a chance… which I didn’t actually do until months later. I recently binged on all his issues, and now that his latest is out, Thunderbolts #18, I can write about how weird it is.
You wouldn’t think it, given the cast of brutal murderers and hardass soldiers involved, but somehow this is being played as a comedy book now. Kind of. It’s actually sort of a tonal mess, with extremely cartoony art from Jefte Palo that contributes to that. One supposes that’s a hazard when you’re trying to write an ongoing series that involves both Deadpool and the Punisher. The set-up is essentially that Ross has gotten this group together as a means to an end, employing these people when he needed their talents to accomplish the mission du jour. The quid pro quo was that each member would put their names into a hat, and if their names were drawn, they would get to choose the mission they’d go on. Punisher’s turn involved taking out the Paguros, a double-secret crime syndicate that he’d been hunting for years, because every criminal in New York history owes them a favor at all times – including this yuk-yuk down-on-their-luck Nobili crime family who has been trying to get some “consideration” from the Paguros only to be constantly disrespected. As Pun-Pun and the T-Bolts (you’re welcome, hipsters trying to come up with band names) zero in on the Paguros (minus Deadpool, who got sick of sitting in traffic and wandered off to go get pizza), suddenly aliens invade, because oh yeah, this is an Infinity tie-in.
If you were wondering where Supergiant of the Black Order has been, this is one of the places she shows up, and she brain-fries Red Leader. This leaves Punisher, Elektra and Venom to do the job, while Red Hulk fights aliens and tries to corral the unleashed Mercy, whose schtick involves killing people she thinks are ready to die with metaphysical powers no one can stop. Ross tries to steer her towards the alien jerks, as his only means of controlling her involves manipulation and dealmaking, and each one he strikes is likely a deal with the devil. This would be foreboding if every Palo panel didn’t make Red Hulk look like the Infraggable Krunk from Dexter’s Laboratory. Also Punisher is trying to convince Venom he needs to start killing in the room full of bad guys trying to kill them, and the three hapless Nobili goons have suddenly Terrigen-Misted into Inhumans, giving them fancy new powers. One of them still gets shot immediately, mistaken for an alien invader, and the other two start murdering the jerks who mistreated them as well. Then one of them decides to kill himself because he doesn’t want to be a freak, leaving the head guy, Gordon Nobili – now a spike-headed purple guy whose skin occasionally pipes up with the faces and voices of his dead ancestors – wanting to kill the Punisher.
Oh, and Deadpool runs into the escaping Paguros at the pizza joint and kills them. Then the Punisher probably bangs Elektra in his Battle Van before they head off on a road trip. Next issue, they’re going to be hilariously arguing over directions!
So, yes, this book is all over the place, with no apparent idea what it should be. On one hand, hey, maybe that’s defying expectations and moving the Punisher away from always being isolated from the rest of the Marvel Universe at large, assuming you can swallow this version of him where his hardass nature is constantly undercut by wacky shenanigans, exaggerated illustrations and happy coitus… and the fact that he wears a red skull on his chest in a world where the Red Skull exists as the most evil of al, which means he might as well be wearing a swastika. It’s just really weird overall. It’s kind of fun on occasion, but it also just doesn’t feel right at all. There are team books where dysfunctional character dynamics make for good reading, but you have to be able to accept the reasoning that they’d stay around each other despite their differences. This book almost makes sense, enough so that you can understand why they’d try it, but always has the undercurrent feeling that this is a Team That Should Not Be.
