THUNDERBOLTS #130 Review

Thunderbolts #130 presents part two of a four-part crossover that began in Deadpool #8 and continues in Deadpool #9 and Thunderbolts #131. Norman Osborn stole data regarding the Skrull Queen’s secret weakness (getting shot in the head) from Deadpool, who, seeking payment, attacked Avengers Tower. After battling through booby-trapped floors to Norman’s office, Deadpool ran into the Thunderbolts, with Osborn commanding from a completely different building. Now, the fight begins…

THUNDERBOLTS #130
“Magnum Opus” Part 2
WRITER: Andy Diggle
PENCILER: Bong Dazo
INKER: Joe Pimentel
COLORIST: Frank Martin
LETTERER: Albert Deschense

PLOT:

Outgunned, Deadpool pinches an experimental teleporter and blips to his smelting plant hideaway. While the Thunderbolts track him, planning to drain his computer and bring Osborn his head,Deadpool calls an unnamed contact for help. The assault interrupts their discussion, and our anti-hero faces round two alone. He bug-sprays Ant-Man, sonic bombs Ghost, and kicks Paladin in the head. He can’t bring himself to shoot Black Widow, though, because she’s “kinda hot.”

THOUGHTS:
If you need a review of Deadpool #8, here you go: Daniel Way wrote a dull sequence of lame drone fights and asinine joke-attempts, failing the legacy of a character who requires a measure of intelligence to pull off and delaying the promised clash. With funny characters, poor writers try too hard to stuff a quip into every panel, diluting the real gems with grating logorrhoea. In Thunderbolts, however, Andy Diggle keeps the irreverent voice even and concentrates on a few great self-aware jokes of the sort that make Deadpool beloved. But this isn’t Deadpool’s book…

Craving a fix of Diggle’s vicious and grimy take on Thunderbolts, this cartoony, Deadpool-centered installment initially disappointed. Instead of setting the story in the title’s mean world, Diggle appropriated Deadpool’s tone and perspective, making it feel more like a Thunderbolts guest appearance in Deadpool’s solo title than a full crossover between them. The issue after a new team’s introductory arc should go to further characterization and settling into a groove, but these still-undeveloped Thunderbolts just act as punching bags off which Deadpool bounces bullets and yellow-captioned japes. Diggle needs to establish this transitory book’s identity, not surrender it to another title’s plot and protagonist.

I found more fun in the second and third read-throughs, because accepting it as a good Deadpool story rather than a hijacked issue of Thunderbolts let me tune out my brain and enjoy the guest-artist’s bursting interpretation of Diggle’s always-topflight action writing. If you want the smarter, crueler Thunderbolts with black-ops missions and sly double-crosses, then, sorry, that book returns in May. For now, we have a fairly entertaining explosion escapade.

FAVORITE QUOTE:
“Wait a second. You’re tellin’ me Norman Osborn found the cure for cancer and he turned it into a weapon?”

RATING:
3 webheads out of 5. Please leave a comment on the issue or the review!

REVIEWED BY: CrazyChris