THUNDER Agents (Mini USA) di N.Spencer & W.Craig

[Azrael]

It's not part of the New 52 continuity, and it doesn't even have characters that most people are familiar with, but T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents is still one of my favorite books that DC prints today. Sharp pacing, unique voices for its characters and a rebellious, almost serrated visual style makes this an underrated gem. While the overarching plot of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents getting caught in an underground uprising might pass new readers by, writer Nick Spencer does produce some quality human moments, particularly as the speedster known as Lightning pushes beyond all limits to earn his redemption. Artist Wes Craig produces some fantastically dynamic work, particularly as Lightning cuts loose, twisting the panel (and his teammates' flailing bodies) as jetsam in his supersonic wake. (Sam Keith, who draws the flashback sequence, is a smart pick by editor Wil Moss, as he's got this scratchy, misshapen vibe that immediately screams both evil and an unreliable narrator.) Occasionally, however, Spencer's longer narrative of double-crosses and deceit drags a little longer than you would like, leaving the central theme of the first arc — redemption — a little light. Still, execution alone makes this a book worth reading, and the brief lightning strikes of grace and humanity make T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents a must-read.

8 out of 10

Da Newsarama

[Capitan Italia]

Bella, mea culpa per averla notata quando era già iniziata (ma prendevo già un po' di spillati vari...) spero di recuperare quando uscirà in volume! 

[Azrael]

Preview: T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS #5

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[Capitan Italia]

  Ne manca solo uno! 

[Azrael]

Ne manca solo uno! 

Sei contento per un motivo particolare? 

[Capitan Italia]

Perché poi posso ordinare il volume! 

[Azrael]

In an era of cheap comic book deaths and resurrections, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents was the title that bucked the trend by tackling the hereafter head-on. Rather than have readers worry about if their heroes were going to die, Nick Spencer and company made it simply a question of when, as this government-sponsored team of damaged goods struggled to redeem themselves before their superpowered enhancements inevitably did them in. It was a simple concept, yet it was extremely effective, providing moments of strong drama and characterization for these flawed, doomed individuals.

Yet lightning can only strike the same place so many times. And as he largely removes the key ingredient to making this story rise — namely, tension — Nick Spencer takes the humanity and resonance out of this well-crafted series, letting it collapse under the weight of its own convoluted backstory of double agents and super-science gone awry.

While the past few issues were tense and dangerous, as the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents found themselves trapped in between two factions of a subterranean cool war, Spencer spends much of this issue on exposition, as we learn handler Colleen Franklin's true loyalties. If you haven't been keeping up with this series, however, you're going to be confused, as this script is extremely self-referential, especially as the story picks up again in its last few pages. But along the way, Spencer does something unexpected — and detrimental — to his storyline that ultimately takes the teeth out of the past few issues. This could have been a knock-down, drag-out reckoning, with Colleen and wisecracking double-agent Toby Henson mulling over their losses under heavy fire. Instead, we get an overly light, unbelievably bubbly aftermath that kind of smacks of "Mission Accomplished" naïveté.

While Mike Choi delivers a bright introduction that evokes the clean, angular designs of original series artist CAFU, it's Wes Craig that brings most of the goods for this issue, art-wise. Aside from the surprise return of a few characters — the duo look surprisingly old — Craig otherwise has a jagged, beautiful style that fits the dangerous, alien world that's currently in turmoil. One of Craig's major gifts is that he can portray speed like nobody's business, so watching Raven swoop in to land a punch or watching someone pull out a gun to land a killing strike, you're caught off-guard with his dynamic angles. That said, nobody's perfect, and Craig still can't quite pull off a saccharine sequence where the Subterraneans celebrate their newfound victory. Much of that is due to the fact we don't have enough setup or understanding to really empathize, but the Iraq-style visuals of statues being pulled down and couples tearfully hugging comes off as self-conscious rather than self-assured.

Nick Spencer, at his best, has a confidence in his craft not unlike Brian K. Vaughan, with truly human characters working within a broad, yet clearly defined environment. His take on Colleen and Toby, that cute, combative couple, provides plenty of evidence to his prodigious skills. That said, he also sometimes can fall victim to that urge of letting the external plot supersede his strong protagonists. Even with a visually interesting backup story by Michael Uslan and Trevor McCarthy on the psychedelic, horrifying Undersea Agent, Spencer seems to be tripping up even as the finish line is in sight. It's all too neat, too clean for this series — in a lot of ways, by even briefly opting into the revolving door of comic book deaths, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents has lost that spark that made it so unique.

5 out of 10

Da Newsarama

[Azrael]

Preview: T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS #6

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[Azrael]

Goodbye, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. I'm going to miss you. So in this book's honor, I'm going to tell two stories: the story of how it lived, and the story of how it died.

For my money, Marvel exclusives and deals with AMC aside, I always thought that T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents was some of Nick Spencer's best work. When he was on his A-game — and make no mistake, the first half-dozen issues or so were pure Spencer A-game — he was like the Second Coming of Brian K. Vaughan, moving from quirky and talkative to powerful, visual, moving. There are elements of that in Spencer's final issue, as AWOL agent Colleen Franklin has one last heart-to-heart with Toby Henston, the smooth-talking salesman who was essentially chained to two warring entities: the white hats known as T.H.U.N.D.E.R. and its terrorist opposite, SPIDER.

But at the same time, this series also betrayed one of its central concepts — the idea of death as a redemption for sins past. Last issue I went to town on Spencer and company, but I raged because I loved. Having a book where the core concept is that these are fundamentally broken characters whose death is a certainty isn't just a recipe for sure-fire tension, especially in an industry where resurrections and writer fiat have become the norm. Having the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents burn out rather than fade away was also a powerful theme, and seeing disgraced runner Lightning see his death racing towards him — and still finding the strength to move forward — was always far more interesting to me as a reader than the ever-shifting loyalties between T.H.U.N.D.E.R. and Spider. Without giving too much away, Spencer does save part of his message — namely, about second chances — but in certain ways, death gave many of his characters a bit more meaning than they had being alive. It's ironic that two of the most fully-developed character of the bunch are the only ones unable to escape the Reaper, and it's those scenes that are far more compelling than Colleen's sudden transformation into a renegade.

Art was always been one of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents's great strengths, as well. From the beginning, editor Wil Moss was batting way out of this series' league, netting artists like George Perez, Walt Simonson and Howard Chaykin to jam on this anything-goes kind of book. But for my money, the best decisions Moss and company made for this book was CAFU and his successor, Wes Craig. Craig was more of an iconoclastic choice, sort of this scratchy, punk-rock vibe that really soared when it came to speedy, forward-flowing action. But CAFU, the original artist behind this series, will always be my favorite. T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents was, in my mind, DC showing a great deal of trust to a largely unknown artist, and I think that gamble paid off in spades. Imagine Barry Kitson with just a sharper edge, a real cinematographer in a pencil artist's body, a guy with a real sense of composition, of acting, of style. The look on Colleen's face, for example, when she receives her last message from T.H.U.N.D.E.R., is just heartbreaking, even without Spencer's truly moving dialogue.

When T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents first came on the scene, it struck like lightning. But a lot of things took place behind the scenes — Spencer going exclusive at Marvel, DC relaunching their entire catalog, the usual struggle of sales versus survival — and ultimately, this series about mortality had its own accelerated date with destiny. This series didn't burn out, but instead had to fade away, making the best of what little time it had to make for a powerful story. Do I think it could have ended more strongly? I do. Do I think that this was still a fantastic series, and one of the best that either Spencer or DC have put out in recent memory? I do.

So farewell, Nick Spencer, from the company that Superman built — you have enough Marvel and creator-owned work that I know we won't see the last of you. Farewell, Toby and Colleen, an odd couple that was one of the best on the stands. Farewell, NoMan, and Lightning, and Dynamo, a team that always did good work, even when no one was watching.

Farewell, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents — you were too bold to live, too strong to die. You were a damn good comic book. And you will be remembered.

6 out of 10

Da Newsarama