In a sign of obvious perversity, two days after I eviscerated Kurt Busiek's JLA/Avengers I went out and bought another Busiek Avengers miniseries. In all fairness, I have to say that it's pretty good.
Avengers/Thunderbolts, cowritten by Busiek and Fabian Nicieza, fits more snugly inside its writers' comfort zone than the bombastic JLA/Avengers. And unlike Busiek's first Avengers/T-bolts crossover, which followed a generic fight-and-team-up format, this one capitalizes on the two teams' long history of enmity, suspicion, and friendship to draw them into conflict.
I also like the series because it features two proactive, rather than reactive, groups of heroes. While the Thunderbolts act in a fairly cliched manner (by building a giant device that will Save the World... Or Will It?), the Avengers initiate an intelligent plan to keep tabs on their enemies. Much of the story's drama arises from the fact that this plan forces the Avengers to lie to one of their own, while placing another member in a situation where, Donnie Brasco-style, he begins to identify with his supposed enemies. All the acts of heroism so far have also been acts of betrayal.
The series also creates a convincing element of doubt about the Thunderbolts' motives; even if they are genuinely reformed, their methods of operation raise the constant threat of a backslide. I particularly like the scene in the third issue where the Thunderbolts shake down the Wizard for help; if they are to remain heroes after this story, that scene would make a great treatment for an ongoing series featuring the Thunderbolts as dirty-cop superheroes, the Vic Mackeys of the Marvel Universe.
Stylistically, the series avoids its writers' worst excesses - with only fifteen characters spread over six issues, this feels like a luxury compared to JLA/Avengers. The plot is rich but not needlessly baroque, as Nicieza's Thunderbolts tended to be, and the dialogue and narration are largely clear and naturalistic. Issue two plays coy games with Iron Man's narration, and mostly succeeds.
The art is less consistent; Barry Kitson and Gary Erskine turn in a surprisingly rushed job in issue two, but in the third issue Kitson's replaced by a much more polished Tom Grummett. But the art here serves only to tell the story; the real attraction is the series' portrayal of extremely intelligent characters performing increasingly murky actions.
This web of deception and uncertainty and shifting allegiances could lead to a brilliant Resevoir Dogs-style showdown or a hackneyed let's-all-blow-up-the-big-Maguffin finish. The series is only halfway done, so it's difficult to guess, but the beginning has been promising enough that I'll take a chance on the finale. The second and third issues in particular both end on high notes that leave me wanting to know what happens next, which is all you can ask from a serial adventure story. This is the Busiek crossover that's worth your attention.
Posted by Marc at May 11, 2004 2:05 PM