Thunderbolts #110 - Marvel (2007)

I will pick up the first issue of anything Warren Ellis writes. Usually, I pick up all of the following issues (see Nextwave and New Universal). Other times I only pick up a few and then I decide it's not for me (see Jack Cross).

This time, I'm not even going to buy #111.

It's not all Ellis' fault. He wasn't given much to work with, here, given that this title is forced to be mired in the Civil War storyline. I got this issue because I was interested to see what Ellis does with this group of characters but I'm not impressed with this introduction. I read Ellis books because I really like his take on what people with superpowers are like. I also like the way he writes dialogue and action scenes. I don't like Thunderbolts #110 because it's like there's no Ellis in it.

Sure, Norman Osborne starts the issue off by "having a talk" with Bullseye in a darkened room and he goes all "I am the closest thing to God" on him but even that doesn't have the right feel. Ellis gets in a couple of digs at popular culture and what a bunch of sheep the general public is, but there isn't any bite to it.

I don't know. Maybe my distatse for the whole Civil War: Frontline thing has soured me on anything it touches but this book doesn't interest me at all. I liked the idea of Thunderbolts back when Kurt Busiek created them. I also liked Suicide Squad a lot when Ostrander was writing it. I bring up Suicide Squad because that's closer to what we have in this T-Bolts incarnation. Except Amanda Waller never put on a green suit and lobbed explosive pumpkins at people.

Or, did she?

Anyway, this isn't so much a review as a reaction. If you are into the Civil War, this is an excellent continuation of the story. If you don't like it, stick with New Universal or one of the other books that has yet to be infected by this meta story.

In related news: Noetic Concordance's own Chuck W pointed me towards this parody of Civil War from the excellent Scans Daily LJ community.