Saturday, August 17, 2013

THUNDER Agents #1

The T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents comic was one of my favorites in its original incarnation in the 1960s, so every subsequent attempt (and there have been many) has to be measured against the original.

And boy, the reboot attempts have been all over the park. Some were quite good, with artist like George Perez and Dave Cockrum. Others have been less inspiring.

The problem is how to handle the team - should they be brought up to date, left in the '60s or used in a timeless sense?

Which brings us to this issue. Happily, writer Phil Hester seems to be moving toward a classic approach, but sets the comic in a modern era. The team is facing an attack by the beautiful but deadly Iron Maiden, but must gather its forces for the fight.

That leads us to an origin story of sorts for Dynamo, the powerhouse who tends to lead the attack. But the origin should probably have been put off for a while - we spend too much time learning about his mixed bag background, and not enough on heroics.

In fact, the entire issue is handed over to the whole "recruit the team" trope, instead of just diving into the story.

The art by Andrea Di Vito is solid superhero fare - strong, with good character designs, But backgrounds are almost nonexistent.

So the latest in a long line of reboots of the original, beloved series is OK, but it doesn't feel like the creative team has really "cut loose" yet. This comic has a long way to go to match the pure fun of the original.

Grade: B-

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