Comic Info
Comic Name: Thunderbolts (Volume 2)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Artist: Todd Grummett/David Ross
# of Issues: 5
Release Date: 2007
Thunderbolts (2) #101
Reprints Thunderbolts (2) #101-105 (June 2006-October 2006). A war is coming, and it isn’t the Civil War. As the Thunderbolts regroup, they find that the Grandmaster has reassembled the Squadron Sinister with plans for Earth. Using the Civil War as a cover, the Thunderbolts are assembling an army of villains to combat the Grandmaster…but who is plotting against whom? The Thunderbolts have always have always skirted the edge of being heroes, but as in a world where Captain America is a renegade, could Baron Zemo be a hero?
Written by Fabian Nicieza and illustrated by Tom Grummett (with additional art by Dave Ross), Civil War: Thunderbolts ties in with Marvel’s big crossover event Civil War. The series picks up after Thunderbolts returned to its original numbering from New Thunderbolts title collected as New Thunderbolts: Right of Power.
I always enjoyed the Thunderbolts. The original series started strong with a unique concept and developed into one of the more interesting team books of the late ’90s. The series hit a rocky point with the whole professional wrestling storyline, but New Thunderbolts showed potential. The Civil War once again provided an interesting war ground for the villains turned heroes with true heroes like Captain America being outlaws.
Thunderbolts (2) #105
The storyline in this collection is a little divided. The first two issues of the storyline are set-up for the bigger story of Zemo vs. the Grandmaster and then it segues into the true Civil War crossover. The Civil War did provide a great cover for the team’s “collection” of villains for their upcoming war and Nicieza does a better job than many in truly tying into the big event.
Part of the problem I generally have with big events (today) is that they feel that everyone should have a separate mini-series to tie into the bigger limited series. This title decided to just have a tie-in with Civil War which was smart. You didn’t have to really read Civil War to understand this title and it didn’t disrupt the flow of the comic’s storyline…that is how a big event should be used!
Civil War: Thunderbolts is one of the better and smarter Civil War tie-ins. I think that the Civil War portion of this story could have even been bigger to really explore the idea of the villains being heroes and the heroes being outlaws, but the story had a nice concise tie-in to the event. The overall Thunderbolts story is a bit truncated with the meat of the Grandmaster vs. Zemo battle occurring in the next collection Thunderbolts: Guardian Protocols.
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